I find things fall through the cracks when I don’t use my calendar well. I use an electronic calendar because there are more events for me that I can copy and paste from email and online. Plus, I am able to have reminders go off so I will do things and not forget. And finally, it gives me more room to enter things. But, you can use whichever type of calendar works best for you. Here are some ideas for using a calendar:

• When you finish an action that requires a response, write “Follow up with H” or whomever, into the date you expect a response. So if I send a newsletter test to someone and know it needs to go out Friday, I put in my calendar to follow up Thursday to make sure I have approval.
• If there is a speaking engagement, training or some event that needs preparation, put in the calendar preparation time as you put the event in your calendar. So 3 weeks before book club I have, “Put book on hold at library”. 2 weeks before I have, “Start reading book club book”.
• For birthdays, weddings and other events, enter buy presents/make cards 2 weeks before. It pops up annually just like the actual date if you do a recurring event.
• When you get something you need to do by a certain date through email, put the email text into the calendar description. Whenever you get something that you are going to put in the calendar, ask, “What information I will need to do the task.” If you get an email saying call J with the phone number, add the phone number to the calendar so you won’t have to search later. If you have a webinar to attend, put the call in information right in the calendar post.
• To help in creating new habits put them in your calendar. Put decluttering into your calendar at 7pm or your best time so your “I forgot to do it” excuse flies out the window. Google Calendar has a goals addition to help schedule your goals. Learn more here.
• Add to your calendar recurring tasks you want to do like vacuuming the stairs, calling Grandma and paying bills. Come up with regular get-togethers with your friends.
• Make your next appointment (hair, doctor, massage) while you are at the office so you don’t have to remember to call later. Plus you get the premium spots versus calling last minute.
• With most digital calendars you can add multiple calendars so you can see your spouse’s, kids schedule, clients or co-workers to make it easier to keep track and create meetings.
• Only use one calendar – not one paper and one digital or one personal and one work or you may double book.
• At the beginning of the year, block out days you want to take off – like vacations, or hard anniversaries or a day after that big event or project is complete.
• For meetings put the notes or agenda into the calendar event.
• Block off a monthly catch up day where you have no appointments and meetings so you can catch up on tasks.
• Check your calendar often, but at least at the end of the day and in the morning. At the end of day, see what you can prepare for the next day.

If you are looking for a digital calendar, here are some options:

1. The one I use, Google Calendar
2. Any.do combines calendar and tasks
3. Kin connects with other things like Trello, Facebook and Wunderlist.
4. CloudCal is for Android
5. Fantastical is for Macs
6. Busy Cal also for Macs incorporates travel time, etc.
7. Accompany includes cheat sheets for the people you are meeting with.

For more time ideas, join my Change Your Relationship to Time class

I’ve been watching some of the Olympics and am currently enjoying the swimmers and gymnastics right now. Such drive and hard work! They are focused and lean into the support of the team, coaches and family.

This week I’ve noticed the inspiration I’ve gained from seeing these athletes at the top of their game. I’ve heard myself say, “I can walk an extra time around the pond.” Or, “Let me see if I can hold this plank an extra 5 seconds.” I went out walking yesterday morning even though I really didn’t feel like it.

As I walked I was thinking that if watching these games can give me more motivation, maybe I need to pay more attention to what I am watching and reading.

What we input into our minds does affect how we do things. A crime TV show may make us more anxious or tired. We all know what watching a bunch of news does to us. A cute cat video may make us feel happier (may I suggest this one.) Too much social media has us comparing our lives to others’ “airbrushed for consumption” lives. Social media can make use feel restless or we may feel its addictive qualities and have to keep checking it. Or we can use it to build relationships and scroll past the stuff that makes us outraged.

We can pretend that what media we consume doesn’t make a difference, but for most of us it does. (Especially for us sensitive souls.) Media is also individualized, affecting each of us differently.

So this week notice how you feel when you are interacting with certain shows, songs, or social media. Are their any changes you want to make?

New Year’s Resolutions are like fun wishes.

I prefer Annual Planning so there are plans for the things I want to do. I found most of the goal setting workbooks I tried only stuffed my life with more to do’s I didn’t have time for.

So I created my own Annual Planner which along with goal setting includes time ideas and ways to simplify the year. It’s the system I use to go from goals to accomplishments.

This year I did my workbook and came up with some aspirations.

Then I played with a new online program called Trello. You can create cards, add pictures and checklists and move the cards around.

My Goals board looks like this:

When you click on a card it looks like this:

I have it set up so the dates in Trello come up in my Google Calendar. I also love my goals board because it is visual which is motivating to me.

I can’t wait to start moving cards into the done column.

I shared the method I use for my work: Pomodoro Method. 25 minutes work – 5 minute break.

But, what to do on your break? It seems like such a short time. Yet even 5 minutes can bring your focus back. Here are some work break options:

• Walk somewhere
• Get something to drink like water or tea
• Pray
• Journal
• Take some deep breaths
• Sit in silence
• Do some stretches
• If you are at home – dance to a song or sing a song. At work listen to a song with headphones.
• Massage your shoulders
• Step out into the sunshine or look out the window
• Have a positive conversation
• Self-Compassion Break
• Check in with yourself or pick a question from a check in jar
• Think of 5 things you are grateful for
• Write a quick note to someone
• Break down a project
• Read a magazine article
• Do a 5 minute meditation (type in “5 minute meditation” in YouTube and you’ll find many options.)
• Take care of any plants
• Take a picture, color, draw, write or do something creative
• Declutter your desk

What are your favorite work breaks?

Photo by: Jocelyn Durston

During my Change Your Relationship to Time class, I talked about how important work breaks are for focus and energy. A regular break schedule is helpful if you can do that. Research says the maximum people can stay focused is 90 minutes. So if that is you, you can take your breaks every 90 minutes.

My attention span isn’t that long, so I love the Pomodoro Technique – 25 minute focused work sessions with a 5 minute break.

What does a focused work session look like?

• No checking Facebook or YouTube.
• No checking your phone or email.
• Staying with one task until complete or you have your break.
• No multi-tasking.
• Giving your task will get your full attention.
• Not interrupting yourself.
• Writing down any other tasks you think of as you are doing your Pomodoro instead of switching tasks.

This method also makes sure you are breaking tasks and projects down into small enough chunks (no more than 25 minutes). A great anti-procrastination technique.

I used to think that this was so lazy taking a break after only 25 minutes. But, when I don’t my mind wanders. I start to read on Facebook. I say, “What would a quick check of my email do?” Next thing you know I have fallen down the rabbit hole and lost an hour of work time. I either take a planned break or my mind decides to take a break for me. The second way is less productive for me.

You can use a simple timer, or an app to time your sessions. I use my kitchen timer since I work from home.

To begin your Pomodoro:

1. Choose a task you want to do.
2. Set the timer for 25 minutes.
3. Work on your task and stay focused.
4. When the timer goes off congratulate yourself and write down a checkmark for one completed Pomodoro.
5. Take a 5 minute break.
6. After 4 Pomodoros take a longer 15-30 minute break.

Don’t know what do do on your breaks? Here are some 5 minute relaxation ideas.

This is just one method for work and breaks. You can modify the time based on your level of focus. The good news is he more you practice focusing, the easier it becomes.

Photo by Mark Hunter

It is easy to get sucked into reading email every time it beeps. But then we might not get anything done. I am continually reminding myself if I open email I have to do something with it besides read it.

In a Forbes article on how millionaires manage their email, I came across an idea called the “321 Zero Email System”.

1) Set a time to check and process email 3 times a day. That means read AND take action. Only reading your email is a procrastination tool and a way to get a little adrenaline kick. If you don’t do anything with it, it’s a waste of time.

2) Set a timer for 21 minutes try to get to inbox zero (no emails in the inbox.) Whether you get there or not isn’t the point. The point is to stay focused on doing something with the emails. The 21 minute timing can be fiddled with depending on how much email you generally get.

Some other email tips that I use:

• If you use Gmail, get the priority email box so the important email is at the top.
• Use unroll.me so you can get a daily digest of newsletters and ads. A quick scan of one email is much faster than reading the emails one at a time.
• When you are sick/on vacation/just behind on emails and are feeling overwhelmed by the backlog try doing it a day at a time. Monday do all the emails from the past Mondays. Tuesday do all the emails from the past Tuesdays (Or as much as you have time for.)
• Create a next action email folder for things you have to do – but also put the action on your to do list.
• Do at least one project before processing email or reading Facebook.
• If you have a job that requires you do be more email available, make sure you do your task first, then check email. If you are constantly interrupting tasks to check email you will be much less productive.
• Turn off the email notification on your phone.
• Try to have all of yesterday’s email processed by the end of today. If you get too much regularly – start unsubscribing. (Unroll.me is an easy way to do that as well.)
• Keep your emails short, yet kind. Always read over before you send noticing if there might be questions the other person may have when reading it. If so, clarify your email.

Remember, email is a relatively passive activity. Be aware of letting the phone/email suck you in so you are participating less in the world.

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Photo by Ian Lamont

I was disturbed when I read this article, about a women whose life looked perfect from the outside and social media but she killed herself. In the article Beth Landam writes, “Increasingly, most of us are living two lives: one online, one off. And studies show that this makes us more vulnerable to depression, loneliness and low self-worth.”

Proposals, weddings, events, crafts, kid outfits all need to be Pinterest and share-worthy. The article tells of a women who has part of her apartment clean and well-decorated so she can take the pictures there, while the rest of the house is a mess.

I think this is why I rarely post pictures of beautiful organizing solutions I have done that would be perfect for Pinterest. One – because I am not very crafty and my DIY isn’t all that gorgeous. Two –  because I don’t want to perpetuate the perfectionistic ideal.

You can have a functional file system that isn’t amazing to look at or photograph a cake that lost part of its frosting. I like beauty and design, but is it worth it to over-design everything in your life? Most of us don’t have that amount of time.

As you go throughout your week, notice when you are trying to make something look better than it is for the approval of social media friends. You are enough – burnt cookies and all. (Or maybe I am the only one who burns things?)

My first day back to the beach this spring and the weather was sunny and beautiful. I walked the pier admiring the sailboats on the blue Lake Michigan. Ducks walked among the rocks. A five-year old girl was running through the cold water screaming with delight.

I wandered over to the canal. As usual people were fishing. But, I saw something I had never seen before. A teenager fishing and playing on his phone. I thought fishing was the beacon of restfulness. A place to come back to calm. Instead, he had the pole set up against the rail to catch what goes by. On the phone he missed the quiet, the water, the birds, the lovely air.

Once that phone came into view I noticed more. A girl with a high-pitched voice was talking loudly about insurance. A mom is on her phone as her two kids play in the sand. A group of teenagers play on their phones instead of playing volleyball with the net next to their blankets. Two women text, presumably other people, as they sit next to each other in short beach chairs.

I don’t ever recall seeing that many phones on the beach. I think part of it for us in the northern hemisphere – we have been inside this cold winter. Technology kept us company. We didn’t realize we had been using it more and more. We got out the the habit of enjoying nature and hanging with friends just to talk.

Any technology habits you want to change this season.

My email was getting behind. My project turnaround time was growing. My husband ate pizza for dinner two nights in a row.

I was feeling very frustrated. How did it all get so out of control? I know there was more work because several program launches for clients were happening at the same time. I was also trying to get it all done before we went camping for Labor Day weekend.

But, I can usually fall onto my time systems. Into my head popped a conversation we had in my Project Class about email. Email is quick, fast and there might be a few easy to do tasks in there. Much easier than working on a daunting to do list.

So I was popping into email in between every single task. I’d answer some emails then maybe do an email task that was pretty easy. And back to email.

My projects and important work weren’t being touched because instead of following my to do list I was falling into the email trap.

Immediately I went back to my email processing schedule. Email processing, not email checking. Email checking without processing tends to waste time.

I answer simple emails during processing time and more time consuming emails I put on my to do list for the next day. Quickly I started to catch up on my backlog of tasks because I was no longer interrupting myself by checking email.

When I wanted to go into easy email, I had to remind myself to do what was more important.

Has email sneakily started taking over your time?

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You can learn about my time systems in my Change Your Relationship with Time class.

I’ve had quite a lot of emails saying they can’t remember the password to the calendar. Or to the chat room.

Each site has different rules – must contain a number, must contain a special character, must not contain a special character, must be at least 6 characters, must be a four number pin. Plus it’s not safe to have the same password for every site anyway.

I have tons of passwords to remember. I wouldn’t be able to if I really had to remember them.

I use Last Pass to keep track of my passwords. I have one master password and Last Pass remembers the rest. It even comes up with tricky passwords for places if it want it to. I like it because I can use it on my computer, my laptop and my phone allowing me to work wherever.

I also like to use it for filling out forms. You add your profile and it will fill out the forms at shopping sites, etc. No need to type it in each time. I love the time it saves.

Dashlane is a similar program if you want to try that one.

If you have passwords you need to share with a team, Mitro is a good option.