Productivity and You

October 27, 2008 at 7:03 pm (Blogroll, time management)
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Denise with friends

Denise with friends

I’m sitting in my den writing this time because it’s warm and cozy and I’m watching Design on a Dime on HGTV.  I’m about to head out of town to a coach’s retreat at a great little beach down the coast and wanted to write before I left.
Clearing my schedule so I could go on this retreat really brought up a topic that is near and dear to my business.  Helping people to use their time to their advantage.
The reality of life is that there is a finite amount of time for you to work within.  If you do not accomplish what you set out to accomplish today, there is always tomorrow.  Or, is there?
What you, I and everyone else is challenged with is fitting everything we have to do within a specified amount of time.  When I was a stay at home mom I always thought time was endless.  The boys would go out to play and I’d be in the house trying to stay on top of the housework.  When I went back to work I struggled with the whole double/triple schedule that most women have to keep up with when they are moms.  I kept playing with the schedule, always trying to fit more in, until one day I realized I just had to learn how to say ‘no’.
So, today I want to give you a few tips on how to go about managing your schedule, and in essence, managing yourself.  Do you have to get up an hour earlier to get things done that wouldn’t get done if you didn’t?  Are you the main maid, cook, concierge, cheerleader, tear dryer, yard maintenance, corporate mogul?  Well, of course you are.  Whether you are single or married with ten children you have the responsibility of all of the above.
The first tip of the day is to write out the monthly schedule.  If you work a retail schedule that you only have about a two week notice on what your work schedule is.  Take the time to transfer it to your paper calendar schedule (if you don’t use a pda).
Then, start adding in other permanent scheduled events (like bill paying) into your planner/calendar so you don’t forget major events.  Children’s events, concerts etc can be added as you learn about them.
Remember, no matter what you do, you need to take care of your relationships with other people.  Your job may or may not depend on the networking that you do.  Of course, mine does, so I am always adding to my planner those networking events that everyone is asking me to attend.  I keep on going and going like the battery bunny.  So much so my husband asked me last night how did I know about so many restaurants in the area.  Guess I’ve been going a bit much…
Your success in managing the amount of time you spend on any one activity is measured by whether you are finishing those activities.  Sometimes we do not give ourselves enough time to complete a project.  Or in some cases we allow everyone and their fires to direct our lives.  Try the second tip I have for you today.
Your second tip is to eliminate your distractions.  You know you get distracted.  For me, sitting in my den or anywhere in my house is the kids walk through, the phone rings for them, or the realization that when you work at home and you know the laundry needs to be done, the floor mopped, you and me too…become distracted by the other things you need to do.
So this tip is all about setting priorities.  If you work at home, like I do, you know that you have to set work times, house times, family times, errand times.  I write into my planner that I stop work at a specific time.  If I don’t stop working because I’m on a roll with a project, then it is my choice to do that.  If I stop work early because I’m frustrated with how a project is going, again it is my choice, but I know that I can switch modes and clean house for an hour and come back to the project with a fresh perspective.
I have however, worked outside the home, and know the feeling of getting the kids off on the school bus, eating on the run to get to work on time (sometimes by 6 am) and then rushing home to make sure my kids didn’t feel like latchkey kids.  Cooking, cleaning and taking care of family and work without running a calendar/planner can cause stress headaches and anxiety.  Try scheduling these into your planner and not letting them overwhelm you.
Well, take these, see if they fit with you.  As you come across problems, email me at denise@progressiveorganizingsolutions.com   I’d love to hear from you.
Denise

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October 11, 2008 at 12:33 pm (Blogroll)

traveling again and again can play havoc with your schedule. pay attention to necessities so you can maintain!

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Why Do You Want to Get Organized?

October 11, 2008 at 4:32 am (Blogroll, home organization, organizing information, organizing space, time management)

Okay, I’ve finally realized.  Saying you want to be organized does not mean you want to change your time wasting habits so you can stay organized.  I realize also that you may want to get organized for what you think may be the right reasons, but I can tell you that your reasons may not go deep enough to ensure you stay organized.

How can I say these things?  Experience.  Plain and simple I’ve worked with enough people over the last two years of home organizing to know that people do not think beyond “let’s get some help.”  You, they, or us.  It doesn’t matter what our original reasoning is when we decide that we want to do a project, there are steps that you must take to reach the end result.

One of those reasons you must define for yourself, if not for me, your organizer, is why you want to get organized.  I can tell you that if you want to get organized because your boss said you have to, or if your mom hires an organizer to help and you are rebelling against interference from your parent, that getting organized will not work for you.

You have to want being organized.

Let me say that again.

You Have to Want to Be Organized.

Without knowing that you want this for yourself any money you spend on having an organizer come to help you will be wasted.

Why?  Simply because your mind will not be paying attention to the lessons you should be learning/remembering while working with your organizer.

The next thing you need to know is What is expected of you, and what to expect from your organizer!

I can hear some of you saying, ‘well isn’t the organizer supposed to be organizing?’ or ‘I’ll have her come in, but I have too much to do to work with her.’

What is expected of you?  A dear question to my heart.  If you don’t know what involvement is required of you then you should ask.  You wouldn’t start a project at work without knowing the parameters of the job.  So why would you hire someone to help you get organized if you didn’t want to stay organized?  Obviously you wouldn’t.  However some people do.  They want the organizer to come in and basically clean up their clutter and mess and then wonder why it costs so much more than a house cleaner.

So what should be expected of you is that you are expected to pay attention to the questions the organizer is asking you about your belongings.  Pay attention to the methods she or he is using to help you make decisions about your belongings.  Even if you have to write them down.  Then make sure you ask questions yourself.

What do you expect of your organizer?  Honestly only you can answer that.  There are some guidelines though.  Check out their website and see the services they offer.  Use it as a guideline for yourself when you ask what their service will entail for you.  Every job is different and every organizer has different services they offer.

You need to decide what you want out of getting organized.  Once you have your reasons down pat, take the time to research organizers in your area and find one that you like, that can encourage you, guide you, tease you or incite you to action.  Then get busy getting organized and put into place the methods and processes that will keep you organized.

Well, enough for now.  This weekend is my 30th high school reunion and I am so looking forward to it all that I’m off to bed to rest up for the hours of fun ahead!

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Productivity,Time Management, or Self Management

October 1, 2008 at 11:58 am (Blogroll, home organization, organizing information, organizing space, productivity, time management)
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Do you feel your productivity needs a boost?  If you’re not completing tasks that are helping you reach your goals then productivity is an issue for you.  What’s behind the lack of productivity could be any number of things, but today time management is what we’re going to focus on.

Time management is really a misnomer.  There is only so much time in any given day.  So the real, the only way to rephrase time management is by saying self management.

Take a look at the distractors in your work day.    If you wake up late is your entire day ruined?  When you are at work do you take long breaks between working on different projects.  Do you have the skill and knowledge to complete the work you are working on?  Do the office cronies come in and distract you by talking about personal issues or asking you to do something at the weekend?

These are all valid distractors at work.  Think about how you would stop them from occurring.

The first one, waking up later than you should, as long as it is not a habit of being late to work should be okay if you still have time to focus in on what needs to be done.  Just remember that “the early bird gets the worm” addage.  If the boss is at work early, and he or she constantly sees that you have his or her work ethics of being there early then they may trust you more to be getting your work done and give you bigger and better projects.

Taking long breaks can break your concentration, but is at times unavoidable.  We do need to restore our energy levels.  I have been reading Life Hacker and found a neat 10 step blog entry on the Top Ten Ways to Stay Energized http://lifehacker.com/5054947/top-10-ways-to-stay-energized.

What you don’t want to do is to stand in the kitchen or at the water cooler and lose all focus.  Certainly go out to lunch instead of staying in even if you brought lunch from home.  If you can go listen to the birds, sit outside to eat and let your brain rejuvenate.  It’s when we refuse to allow our bodies and minds to rejuvenate that we start to lose our edge in whatever we’re doing.  Yes, I guess this means meditation is a good thing.

Know your stuff.  If you’re given a project, a report to write or something similar and you do not know how to get started or how to complete it and you keep putting it off how does that make you look to the boss?  The key here is to use those strategic alliances you have been building with all the networking you’ve been doing.  Call or email someone who does know how to do what you’re seeking to learn.  Is there any harm in asking?  NO!  Is there harm in not getting the project done?  YES!  So ask!

Cronies, friends, and family interrupting your train of thought when you’re on a roll and working as hard as you can, can destroy a thought process quicker than anything I know of.  It can stop you dead in your tracks.  Your mind will go off to Fiji with your cronie’s vacation plans or you’ll be stuck in the kitchen with the grandmother who can’t decide if your child should have soup or a sandwich for lunch.

Controlling interruptions is perhaps one of the hardest things to get past.  Previously, I’ve written that if you can, turn off the phone ringer, close your door, hang signs that you’re busy or on a deadline, but the biggest one you need to remember is self-management.  Only you can say to your co-worker, I’m busy.  When grandma calls, and you answer, say to her, I trust your judgment.  She will call less.  Your co-worker will realize he or she should be working too and the boss will see that you don’t waste time.

Well try these things out and let me know how it goes.  I’m always open for ways to help others get organized, be more productive and share them with others.

Denise

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