I noticed a trend. Work is now supposed to be your fulfillment. You are supposed to work your bliss. If you aren’t happy at work, you are doing something wrong. This new expectation adds to the pressure of perfect body, perfect house, perfect relationships, etc. Now even your job has to be perfect.

Like the other things, no job is perfect either.

My Grandma says if it were fun, they wouldn’t call it work and pay you for it.

This isn’t to say you shouldn’t try to find a job that makes you happier or create your own work. I did after all.

But, don’t expect work to completely fulfill you. Even in jobs you like, you will get stressed and have to do things you don’t like to do. (Please not another financial month end.)

If you are in a stinky job at the moment, what if you thought of work more in terms of character development and learning? Every job can teach you something about yourself, the world and teach you skills.

I was very shy when I started working as a fast food cashier in high school. Four years later I could talk to people.

You can also think of your job as being in service. You are serving someone with each job or no one would give you money for doing it. That’s another viewpoint to take.

If you aren’t in an optimal job right now, it’s o.k. You don’t have to feel badly or like this is another area you aren’t living up to expectations. Improve the job you are in with your work ethic, your attitude and making your space your own. Keep your eyes out for opportunities to do more of what you love to do.

In the meantime, find your fulfillment elsewhere – in your family and friends, in volunteering, in your spiritual life,  in a hobby. Work doesn’t have to be your fulfillment for you to have a good life.

Welcome to this week’s issue of Weekly Simplicity Tips.

This week was unusually super busy. How did I handle it? Join in the Change Your Relationship to Time class. Starts Monday, Set. 9.

I have the best readers, quite a few of this week’s tips came from you.

And here are more pictures of our Labor Day Weekend trip.

Pictures by Brea Dargis

1. Reader Mary says you can also sell old high school year books for cash. (Last week I said to sell old textbooks)
2. Another reader says we can opt out of credit card offers here.
3. And other junk mail from here.
4. Make books at Snapfish instead of scrapbooking if you don’t have time for it.
5. How are you speaking to those you love?
6. Write on your calendar when you need to refill your prescription before it runs out.
7. Sandra says "I have a board I created the width of each spool apart. My nails are longer and my bobbin fits on top the spool" But, it’s similar to this Pinterest Picture.

   

New Time Class- Limited Room – September 9, 2013

Attention: Hurried, overwhelmed individuals with too much too do and not enough time to do it

5 More Reasons You’re Going to Want This Class

6. Find out how to plan instead of always putting out fires. Yet, let go of over-planning.

7. You will get clear on what is important to you. You’ll get in touch with your soul and see what is best for you and your family.

8. You will make friends that "get you." I always love how supportive the classes are with one another. As someone recently said, "Now I know I am not alone."

9. You will learn to soothe yourself with self-compassion.

10. You will play with the fear and ego that keeps you in panic mode.

http://www.encouragingcoach.com/programs-timecourse.html

We were away last weekend and busy all week. So today I had a bigger pile of papers than usual. I did my TV pile method.

I turned on No Way Out on the TV. I like the movie but I’ve seen it quite a few times and don’t need to have my full attention on it.

I sat on the living room floor with my pile in front of me. One by one I picked up a piece of paper and decided what pile it went in. These were the piles I needed this week

• trash
• to file
• receipts
• magazines
• recycle
• coupons
• exercises
• recipes
• to do/data entry

Once everything was sorted, I used the commercials to put it all away.

Trash got thrown out. I filed the to files. Receipts I shredded (tax receipts went into the to file pile).

The magazines went into the magazine rack which I quick glanced through for any magazines to be recycled.

Coupons went in my coupon folder.

The exercises were ripped out of my fitness or yoga magazines and put in my in box. The exercise articles go in an expandable file folder sorted in categories: upper body, abs, lower body, full body, yoga, pilates, cardio, ketteball

The recipes go in my menu planner. When the slots get overfilled, I let go of recipes I probably won’t make.

Another commercial gave me time to put the local college’s arts schedule into Google calendar, my hair appointment from my schedule card, some to dos on my to do list (and I put the cooresponding paper into the take action folder)

Now my inbox is empty.

If you are feeling behind, or the house is a mess or your to do list is huge you may feel the need to catch up. But, how do you catch up in an all ready full life?

Stay current

The most important part of catching up is staying current. I’ve seen this a lot – someone neglects the daily and weekly stuff to concentrate on catching up. They never finish catching up and now they have things to catch up on that they neglected because of catching up. This is called running in circles.

If you stay current you know that eventually you will catch up.

In my time class, someone always says they don’t have time to keep current much less catch up. There are usually two reasons for this:

1) They haven’t actually kept current. It’s a lot faster to do mail daily or weekly than a huge pile every once in awhile. Doing dishes after each meal goes quicker than washing every few days once food is dried on. Clearing off the kitchen table before every dinner doesn’t take as long as trying to sort through a week’s worth of stuff. Keeping current also alleviates some of the procrastination of seeing a big mess.

2) They have too much on their plate. They said yes to too many things. Their kids are in too many things. Maybe at the moment they are parenting kids and taking care of elderly parents. Maybe they are taking care of little kids all day. Some periods of life are busier than others.

If you start doing just the current things first and discover you never have enough time, you will want to evaluate what you don’t need to do. What you can delegate. What needs to be put off until a different time in your life. You need to make the hard choices or your life will always feel out of control.

Add on to your current by a little bit

If you do the mail daily, add on 5 pieces of paper from an old pile. Do yesterday’s email, glance for urgent recent emails plus two older dates of email.  When you put clothes in the closet from laundry, evaluate a couple clothing pieces that can go to Goodwill. When you get a new magazine, recycle the old one before you even read it if you haven’t had time so you can start fresh. When you make your bed, declutter a couple things from the bedroom while you are there.

This is where people start getting uncomfortable. “I will never catch up that way. It’s not enough.” Then they start neglecting daily stuff to concentrate on the backlog. They never catch up.

If you are doing anything over the current – you will eventually catch up.

Make time to catch up faster

If you want to go faster, plan time. Turn off one TV show and gain 30-60 minutes. Get someone else to drive the kids or have them bike to practice for a month. Take a day off work to catch up at home. If you are catching up at work, come in early or stay late. Miss some meetings you attend regularly. Get someone to cover a volunteer duty for a couple weeks. Go on a facebook, magazine, gaming or news fast for a week or two. What can you let go of for a time so you can catch up faster?

Get help

A client of mine hired some people for a Saturday to get a bunch of things done at the house that have been on her list for a long time. It was so satisfying to get those checked of on one day. My grandma had a housekeeper when she was a working mom. Even a couple hours every couple weeks will save you time. Declutter with a friend who can keep you on track. Hire a teenager to do some yard work, filing or computer tasks. Hire a handyman to for a couple hours to fix all the broken things. Order online and have things delivered. Get in an accountability group to keep you motivated. If no one at home is helping you, make that a priority. What help do you need?

Catch up day

Have a regular monthly catch up day. This is a day you don’t have appointments. You don’t plan social events. You don’t go to meetings. At the beginning of the day, you write down what you want to catch up on. Start work then take a break. Work, take a break. Breaks will help you keep up the energy. Use a timer to keep you on track. It’s also helpful to check in with a friend. In some of my groups, they meet online at the top of the hour work for 30-45 minutes, then check in for “way to gos” and support.

Notice what you have done

It’s easy to beat yourself up about falling behind. When you are de-motivated, you tend to quit. Catching up seems to take too long, so you don’t try anymore. One way to counteract that is to notice when you have done something. Really notice the clean table and smile. When you get through a bunch of email, congratulate yourself. Look at your beautifully made bed for a few seconds before leaving the room. You will feel more successful which will make you want to keep it up.

Feeling behind? What is one thing you are going to do to catch up?

Welcome to this week’s issue of Weekly Simplicity Tips.

Back from Labor Day weekend trip to a lake with friends and family. Unpacked, a load of laundry in the washer, mail gone through and now time to do the Tips. Hope you had a wonderful weekend.

Pictures by Brea Dargis

1. What are you storing, just in case? What would be a better use of that space?
2. Sell your old textbooks for cash as a new school season is here.
3. Don’t take the free, cheap pens.
4. Before you buy it, ask if you are willing to do the work to maintain it.
5. Edit your wardrobe and carefully select your pieces so you don’t have a closet of clothes that kind of fit and you kind of like.
6. Buy packages of the same sock to make matching socks faster.
7. Say no to ask many kid’s freebies as possible – kids’ meal toys, party favors, noisemakers – things that only amuse for a short time before becoming clutter.

New Time Class- Limited Room – September 9, 2013

Attention: Hurried, overwhelmed individuals with too much too do and not enough time to do it

5 Reasons You’re Going to Want This Class

1. "I just don’t have enough time," will no longer be your mantra.

2. You’ll find rushing isn’t a necessity.

3. You will get through your to do’s with more focus. Taking action is good. Feeling scattered is not.

4. You will discover how to feel like you and what you do is enough.

5. To do lists are yours that won’t seize you up as soon as you look at them.

http://www.encouragingcoach.com/programs-timecourse.html

I am reading the book Zero Waste Home [aff link]  by Bea Johnson that I got from the library. The book is all about simplifying life by reducing what you throw out. Some ideas from Bea:

• Watch what you bring in the house like disposable stuff, freebies and junk mail.
• Reduce what you need: shop less, declutter, reduce packaging, drive less, print less, watch less media that makes us want to consume
• Re-use: bags, use a re-chargeable, re-usuable or refillable alternative for disposables, borrow, barter, buy used, repair, re-think an object
• Recycle – and think about what will happen at the end of a product life before you buy it. Earth911.com can tell you where to recycle hard to recycle items
• Compost
• Rags instead of paper towels, stainless steel water bottle instead of disposable water bottles, reusable jars and containers instead of plastic bags, cloth napkins
• Empty leftover drinking water to plants
• Use smart power trips for your electronics so they reduce energy consumption
• Create notebooks out of old school papers
• Read magazines online or on an e-reader instead of bringing them home
• Use online billing
• Clean your fridge filters twice a year for better efficiency
• Drip irrigation uses 50% less water than sprinklers
• Turn the shower on to get wet, turn it off when washing and shampooing, then back on the rinse

Lake Michigan. Beth Dargis

I went to the beach this morning by myself. All week I have been longing to go to the beach. But there didn’t seem to be time and it’s a pain to gather everything needed and the drive is about 25 minutes. This morning I wasn’t going to make any more excuses. I got ready in about 5 minutes and drove to the beach. I walked the beach, did some swimming and read by the channel the boats go down. I really enjoyed myself. I felt renewed.

See, the beach was something my son and I did together. Usually weekly during the summer. My husband and daughter sneeze at the sun and don’t like being hot. This is the first year I decided it’s OK to go to the beach just for myself.

We work hard at our jobs and taking care of friends and family. We will sleep less, over-volunteer and stop what we are doing for a friend. But, we aren’t willing to do a little work for something that will bring us joy.

We all get these little longings and desires for something that we know would make us feel happy. Then we start making the excuses for why it’s too hard to make it happen. Especially if it’s just for us.

I had to get over that guilty resistance and pack my bag. I had to get over my, "I don’t want to make the drive." Once I got there I had the best time. I had energy for the rest of the day and I was in a  good mood.

This week, listen for those little longings and make one happen.

Can you do one thing at a time?

We’ve all seen the studies that claim multi-tasking isn’t efficient. Some studies say multi-tasking is up to 40% less productive. The main reason is that we aren’t doing two things at once. Instead you are switching attention back and forth. Each time you switch attention you lose time re-settling into the other task.

But, from my time class I have found most of you don’t believe it. The majority of the people in my classes believe you have to do multiple things at once to get everything done. I can see society is doing as much if not more multi-tasking than it used to.

People don’t just eat – they have to be driving or interacting with media. Too often you can tell the caller on the other end is doing something else and you don’t have their undivided attention as you talk on the phone. Interaction with work, with other people, even leisure time is done in short spurts.

One thing that saddens me which is lost is flow. I love the feeling of writing as the words come and I am connected with my work. Or listening to a song so intently it goes to my soul. Or being enthralled with a bird on a walk.

You lose that deep connection, that immersion, that flow when you check your email every time it beeps. Or watch a movie while you are playing an internet game or stop every few minutes during a work project to check Facebook.

Even if you don’t believe multi-tasking is inefficient, why don’t you experiment today with immersing yourself in one thing? Even if you multi-task everything else, see how doing this one thing feels.

I’d love to hear your experience in the comments.

***

Pix by Barb

Welcome to this week’s issue of Weekly Simplicity Tips.

We had a summer cool down this week, so we got outside for lots of hikes. 

Cedar Waxwing

Pictures by Brea Dargis

1. Spend at least 5 minutes planning your next project, instead of jumping straight into it.
2. Keep your mind focused on the current task rather than 2-3 tasks ahead for less stress.
3. Make an appointment to get your eyes checked or any other appointments you have been procrastinating on making.
4. What is your mind obsessing about lately that you need to write or talk about to get it out of your head?
5. Use a can opener to open those hard, plastic packs of new stuff.
6. An old cassette case makes a great iPhone or iPod holder.
7. Rub a walnut on wooden furniture to take care of dings.

New Time Class- Limited Room – September 9, 2013

Attention: Hurried, overwhelmed individuals with too much too do and not enough time to do it

Ask yourself: do you want to live your life in a constant state of hurry and worry?

When it comes to time, have you tried system after system but nothing works?

Or do you keep all your to dos in your head hoping you don’t forget anything?

Or worse, have a time system that takes so much time to manage you wonder if it’s even worth it?

We all want to feel in control of our time, but how do you do it?

My goal is to change your relationship with time:

http://www.encouragingcoach.com/programs-timecourse.html

As with anything else, having good tools makes simpler living easier as well.

• Calendar – I prefer Google calendar, but one you can take with you is ideal. But, that doesn’t mean you schedule something immediately. You still want to think before saying yes.
• The Declutter Calendar so you can take care of one small area at a time
• Quiet time space daily for silence and centering
• A labeler so everything is neatly labeled. Feels better than my messy scrawl.
• A money program that tracks your spending and updates at a click of a button. Mint.com is good.
• Automatic savings from your bank that moves money every paycheck
• A journal to uncover your needs and discover what is important to you
• Routines – so you don’t have to re-decide when to clean, pay bills, etc.