This is a Fall Facebook Contest: You can win an (amazing) 60 minute massage from Sarah-Elizabeth Whitcomb. I have had a small craniosacral massage from Sarah-Elizabeth and I will tell you that I have never experienced anything like this before. More info on her services: HERE.
What you must do to *win*:
1. Take a photo of What Motivates You. Idea: FALL FOLIAGE! There is so much of it out there now…but if the weather turns bad before you take your shot…punt!
2. Provide a sentence or two about what is in this photomotivates you to be your best.
3. Upload the photo to my EpS facebook page: with your motivation sentence(s), by October 14, 2013 at 5 pm.
4. LIKE my EpS facebook page.
5. WINNER(s) will be announce on my facebook page by Oct. 22! So get photo-shooting!
We’re talking # MOTIVATION at EpS this month. Are you in? Quick video HERE.
Fall = busier. Enter multitasking. It’s the way to do more things in less time, right?
Maybe not. Recently I read an article by Melissa Balmain entitled Confessions of a Recovering Multitasker. Melissa writes,
“imagine my surprise at learning that, technically, [multitasking] does not exist. We can’t think about two tasks at once. Instead, our brains ping-pong between them wasting precious seconds of time and causing errors to pile up”.
In the day, no matter how hard you try, does it ever seem possible to get through everything that you set out to do in the morning? Do you attempt to do two tasks – or more – at once? Perhaps the reason for the failure is BECAUSE you are trying to do multiple things at one time.
In her article, Melissa writes of a phone conversation she had with a good friend while also trying to make dinner and the ensuing result was a burnt meal and a conversation that she could not remember. I myself have had phone conversations such as these, where my attentions are distracted so far elsewhere, that it barely registers that my friend is telling me something that should require my undivided attention. So, clearly, my efforts to try and accomplish more things in less time were fruitless, and just like Melissa, I was left feeling guilty and unaccomplished.
So what’s the solution? If we can’t multitask without the results being more unproductive than not, how on earth do we accomplish all that needs to be done? The answer, counter-intuitive to many, is focusing on one single thing at a time. Try this experiment and let me know how you do. When you begin a task, such as writing a “typical” report that you write, estimate how long it will take. Write down your start time. Go about your business in the normal manner, answering calls, emails, etc. as you are doing the report. Write the end time. Now, another day try this again with a similar report. Write down your start time. This time, commit to shutting off your email and turning off your ringer. Do not answer anyone who comes in unless they are in a true emergency situation. When you are finished, write down your end time. What is the difference? How does the first report on the first day compare with the estimate? How about the second day and the second report? Statistics and “real life” experiments that I have conducted show an average 50% time savings with single-tasking. How did you do?
Are you ready to save about half your time to have an ultra-productive fall? Relax, take a deep breath, and do things one step at a time.
Most people I am running into these days are lamenting the end of summer.
One woman I saw at a networking event told me she wished August lasted forever. Yes, perhaps. When we live life fully, though, we have fewer regrets. My work helps empower people to achieve more each day- so that those truly important items ARE done- and that includes enjoying summer YOUR way. Sue West and I are back: Listen here: Get Ready for Fall – August 9, 2013 or read on.
Sue: Where did the summer go? I am hearing that question a lot.
Carol: Right. Most people I know perceive summer as if they were still a child…it can somehow seem “endless” since it can be void of structure. Sue: Yes…and if we are lucky enough to have a certain amount of freedom from “the regular grind” in summer, this affords our brain to recharge and come out more creative on September 1st. So let’s Design Our Fall!
Carol: Hi, this is Carol Williams, productivity coach at EpS, Efficient Productivity Systems.
Sue: And this is Sue West, Life Transitions Coach and AD/HD specialist
We have joined together as the Design Your Days Duo
90 minute workshop with a recipe for success
for this series of audio interviews to give you short, “use today” pieces of advice, in 5 to 8 minutes. If you like this podcast, please LIKE our Facebook page for tips on your newsfeed several times a week.
Carol: Last time we talked about the ‘Summer Shoulds.’ We talked about how to re-frame those summer days, to determine what you Really Want out of those days. Now, we are wrapping up summer and looking at fall. The Back to School ads are out in full swing, and the August air brings a twinge of a chill into the air. Thoughts turn to sweaters, soccer, and Halloween. Perhaps this impending season change evokes a feeling a sense of a new start.
Sue: We have 4 tips for you today to help you with this transition. We’ll look at What Gets In Your Way of having a fall that works for YOU.
First, losing your adult children to college or to their first apartment can be the emotions which get in your way. Your kids are graduated from high school and this is your first Fall without them at home; they are off to college.
So, first things: Set up a schedule or Skype time when you can stay connected or get on Facebook. Be where they are. Second, set up some dates with friends, with couples, and even go on a retreat by yourself. Fill your time, at first, with activities, if you think you’ll have a difficult time.
After a while, though, it’s not about how to fill your time until they return home. They’ll be changed when they do. So now is a wonderful time to review what YOU love to do – hobbies, volunteerism, perhaps start a new or another business. What do you want so that you can expand your life?
Carol: The second tip is “don’t forget soccer”.
Soccer is fun, but don't forget it's a time commitment
Last year, I found myself driving all over New Hampshire for my oldest son’s soccer games. I did not realize how much dedication this was going to take on my part. So this tip, really, is all about taking your “sideboards” into account when Designing Your Day so that you are not surprised when they do, and they will, impact your day and your available time. So, if you have children, take a good look at what activities they will be involved in and how that will impact your time. When you receive the game schedule, take it out, and transfer all those games, including prep and driving time, to your calendar. You’ll be glad you did.
Sue: If you have AD/HD, transitions into different seasons with their different schedules are especially challenging. Switching gears is just a struggle. But there’s definitely hope.
Take some time and try this exercise. You can sit quietly and visualize, or take a walk, or sit down and write about it. What you’re going to do is imagine it’s the first day of your new schedule – you might be grand babysitting, or getting your own children back onto a Fall schedule.
Imagine or write down every step of your day, from what time you wake up to what you wear – very specific so you can sense the whole experience and almost live it. Write out your routines for the morning, routines for the evening. And start using them a week or two before your new schedule starts, to give yourself some practice time and some stress-free time to get used to a new schedule.
Carol: The last tip is also child related. If you have a child or children at school, the likelihood is high that they will get sick since they all get back together, the weather gets colder and doors get shut tightly. Plan a little flexibility into your schedule. Have a plan B ready for when little Johnny wakes up with a fever.
Plan for inevitable illness
Take a minute and think back to last fall when crisis hit, how you solved it, and how that worked or did not work for you. You can plan for it now, which will take off the stress in the moment when you have another parent to drive, when you have already set yourself up to work from home, etc.
Sue: To wrap up, we just provided 4 examples of What might Get In Your way when designing your day in the fall. In the next podcast we will dive deeper into these “stuck” places, and as we wrap up 2013, we will continue to move through the Design Your Days process. At the end of about 12 podcasts, you will look back and find that we’ve provided an excellent overview of our process.
If you want don’t want to wait for 12 podcasts…come join us on Friday Oct 18that the Center for Health Promotion in Concord for the next Design Your Days Workshop. Check our Facebook page for registration information.
If that date does not work, we offer the Design Your Days workshop to YOUR group of business owners, so please contact one of us for more information and to get us on your schedule.
Do you ever feel like you have one foot on either side of a crevice? Do you dance, do you jump, do you fall through? If you’ve ever felt conflicted, listen and/or read on, to get clear in 9 minutes. From Sue West and myself, the “Design Your Days Duo!”
Sue: “I really want to focus on my growing business that is my passion. But I need to pay my bills. I feel stuck.”
Carol: “I sell equipment that earns me a good living, but my true business dream is not much more than that- it’s just a pipe dream at the moment. What should I do?” Carol: Do any of these sound familiar to you? If so, you have found the right place. This is Carol Williams, Productivity Coach at EpS, Efficient Productivity Systems.
Sue: And this is Sue West, Life Transitions Coach and AD/HD specialist
We have joined together as the Design Your Days Duo for this series of audio interviews to give you short, “use today” pieces of advice, in 5 to 8 minutes.
Carol: Last time we spoke about Clarity as it relates to becoming better organized and shared some A-HA moments when our workshop participants began Designing Their Days. When we get clear, we open ourselves up to the possibilities that are often hidden just below the surface.
Sue: Today we are going to address 2 questions- because those questions, or questions like those, could pertain to you. If you are a creative entrepreneur, or, if you think you want to be a creative entrepreneur, you might have those questions locked up inside.
Carol: When we work with someone in the Design Your Days framework, we ask, What Gets in Your Way? This is the first step in seeking clarity. If you think about the questions above, they are really pointing to WHAT might be getting in each person’s way.
Sue: Let’s start with the first question. Growth, new passions but then ah, yes, reality strikes.
Try a couple of important ways to direct your thinking: (1) a reality check on the financial gap (2) Where’s the passion, really? (3) Focus – defining that more clearly and (4) Stuck – and how you’ll know that you’re beginning to get Unstuck.
Here are questions to answer which will help you figure out how to create enough time for your business, and also get your bills paid:
Get clear on what amount of income you need to pay for things you NEED, not want. This gets you two important pieces of information: What’s the financial gap between your business income and your bills. But also it asks you to put some “skin in the game,” by identifying if there are things you think you need in your business or in your life, but really, they are “wants,” not “needs.” Liz Pullam Weston writes about this practice. This is the reality picture. And keep track – especially if you’re not now – even of cash or debit out of pocket. Most people spend more than they think.
Get specific and clear on your passion: What are you passionate about, in particular – what facets or activities? Are there other creative ways to deliver on the passion or use similar skills, but in a part time paying job? Think chapters or phases of time. Can you do something else part time, for pay, which helps with the bills. It’s the combination of part time and growing business that might help your situation.
Get clear on what you mean by “I want to focus.” How is it that you are “focusing” now on your business? What does focus look like to you – the number of days or time of day? Look at the time and the activities. Are they payoff activities? Again, this is where tracking can come in; keep it simple, but effective. What can you do differently, do less of, or do later on, if the activity is not, today, making you income? Saying “no, not now” is not the same as saying “no, forever.”
Talk with others or with a coach and figure out whether you are maximizing the time you DO have on your growing business.
When you think you are stuck, how “a little less stuck” would feel – how would you KNOW that things ARE improving. Do you have a plan of ANY sort, so that you know when you HAVE made progress, when you ARE headed in the “upwards” direction, so that “stuck” begins to feel “less stuck.”
Carol: Thanks Sue…great ideas. Now, on to the second question. This person sells equipment, and that person makes a good living from selling it. But- boredom can prevail when your job does not excite you. When the passion dips, productivity often dips too. Procrastination enters- and sales can plummet. How can a creative entrepreneur follow his or her dreams while earning a living? Do we all need to be “starving artists?”
No. The trick is to keep your passion alive, while continuing to earn your living. This does not mean “throwing the baby out with the bathwater.” Have you ever heard the saying, “yes, you can have it all, but not all at once?” Tracking progress can really help, and here are some ideas as to how that could happen.
Bookend your weeks. At the beginning of your week, map it out. What one thing can you do to move your creative project forward? Can you block out a couple of hours on Wednesday night to do x, y or z? At the end of your week, evaluate. How did it go? Did you do it? If not, why not? Could you have changed anything? Learn, and move on.
Bookend your months. After 4 or so weeks of bookending, what has been done? How far did you THINK you’d get, versus how far you actually got? Learn, assess, move on.
Bookend each quarter. After 3 months of doing steps one and two, you should have a little data. You may be much further ahead, or much further behind, than you thought you might be. But goals that are measured are far more likely to be achieved. Think, pause, and measure for success.
Carol:
As a reminder, you are listening to a podcast series. We’d love your feedback. If you have a question you’d like answered, please visit our new Facebook page called Design Your Days. If you’d like to add yourself to the successful professionals we help go from good to great, contact one of us to get started with personal coaching. We’ll help you become more AWARE, and kick off the transformational process of Designing Your Days.
We are also the co-creators of the Design Your Days framework, which we teach in workshops, so if your group of business owners is ready for us to speak at your group, please contact one of us!
Please LIKE us on Facebook as Design Your Daysand/or contact us individually through websites:
Do you ever have one of those days when you have made plans at 9 am, only to find that at 5pm very few of those original plans have been accomplished?
Do you ever feel that planning is actually a waste of time? Yet, somewhere buried in the back of your mind, you know this is not true. You read somewhere to “plan the work and work the plan”. But how is this done? Let’s look at clarity as a state of mind to achieve so that those productivity strategies start to stick.
Clarity leads to productivity. But this is not just productivity for the sake of “getting more done”. Rather, I am referring to productivity that’s effective- that you are doing “the right” thing at any given time (not just “busy”).
Do you long for the feeling of being back in control? Do you crave feeling less harried? Try these habits for 21 days then email me back and let me know how you did.
Find new and creative ways to say NO. For example, when someone asks you to commit to something, get in the HABIT of saying, I need to check, and get back to you. Then, stop and think. If I COMMIT to that, what will it mean? Might I have to bail out at the last minute? How might I then be viewed- as reliable or something less? We all know those people who smile and nod, but somehow, they just don’t follow through. Decide to be that person who does what he or she says and says what he or she does
Get outside- every day. Even if it is just for 15 minutes. At this time of year, getting outside is easier for most people. Since the sun is rising by 5 am and not setting until about 9 pm, and it’s getting progressively warmer, the habit of “Outside” becomes easier. But we still have to establish the habit. What do you stand to gain from “going outside?” Just breathing the fresh air is clarifying. If we walk, jog, bicycle, hike, or do any other physical activity, the clarity only increases. Decide on a time of day to get out. Then try. When you fail, just try again, and again, and again. Reflect on what you learned with each “failure”.
Delete One Thing. When you feeling overwhelmed, spill out all your to-do’s on a list. After this, remove 80% of those to-do’s. Why 80%? Because, according to the Pareto Principle (the 80/20 principle), 20% of your work helps you achieve 80% of your results. However, those who are seriously overloaded may think this rule does NOT apply to them. So, as a step in the right direction, delete just one item. Quickly scan your list, and find one thing that is not absolutely critical. Delete it. If you can keep going, please do. You will find that deleting the items that do not “sing” to you will become easier with practice.
In summary, practice makes permanent. Or, at least it makes a line in the sand that you will tend to follow again and again. Routines, as boring as they may seem, will set our minds free to be our creative selves. When we treat ourselves right by saying No, or Not Now to the events, people, and tasks that don’t serve us, we open ourselves up to fully focusing on the tasks which do serve us. When we get outdoors, our psyche is awakened and different pieces of our brain are enlivened. When we delete that one thing from the list, we come closer to actually completing the list, which leads to satisfaction and motivation. That motivation leads to a sense of control.
After 21 days, you may start to feel less harried. You will likely be running in fewer directions. A sense of calm and peace, that you perhaps forgot was there at one time, will begin to return. In turn, your goals will start to become realized. This will not happen overnight, but I promise, it will happen.
Let me know what habit you try on for 21 days. I’d love to hear from you.
Did you spend your weekend frantically pulling together your taxes, or, did you take care of yourself? It’ easy enough to say we want to take better care of ourselves. Difficult to do… oh so difficult.
When Sue West and I last joined you via podcast or this blog, we asked you some questions:
What gives you energy?
What drains it?
And then we gave you a way to set priorities for what you want to start with for your own self-care, plus suggestions on how to “get started” or get “un-stuck.”
Once you begin SOMETHING it’s easier to KEEP GOING. The momentum carries you along, while you wait to get motivated… because sometimes we just don’t have the motivation!
Now that we know better what we want, and what we don’t want, how do we get there?
Carol: Sue, I love this challenge. It’s one of my favorite hurdles to help my clients over. The challenge is that what you need to do SOUNDS very simple, but, can be ANYTHING BUT simple. Our bodies, biologically, resist change! There is even a NAME for this: Homeostasis. Anyone who has ever tried to stop smoking, go on a diet, etc. knows this, but now, you can STOP FEELING BADLY about yourself for it. Time to trick yourself!
So the first tip. #1 Share your intention.
Tell a friend, coach, or partner what you intend to do MORE of or LESS of.
Ask that person if he or she can receive a call or an email if necessary.
Simply saying your goal out loud, and announcing it to another person will build in accountability and work its way into your subconscious.
Watch yourself and be amazed.
Sue: I often use the phrase “Path of least resistance.” Tip #2.
Let’s say you want to start going to the gym in the morning or walking. The path of least resistance? Get EVERYTHING ready the night before: lay out your clothes or pack your bag, get your work outfit ready, too, and the music you want to listen to. Go to bed a little early.
Take away any reason you might say you can’t go when morning comes.
Grease the skids. Path of least resistance. Figure out your phrase to make it EASY to move ahead.
Carol: Your shared intention is this: You want to walk each day at lunchtime, but you are accustomed to working through lunch.
Tip #3: Try the “if/then” technique. Our brains are wired to receive this message.
“IF” I am tempted to skip my walk, THEN I will call Betsy and ask her to come with me. As you can see, it’s helpful to have a support team here. Betsy can be your accountability friend in tip one, or someone else.
Sue: Last tip #4: Attach your new habit or ritual to one that ALREADY works for you.
For example, read through your mail and paperwork during the time you make dinner, while you’re waiting for something. Or while your children are doing THEIR homework, do your paperwork.
Or support the habit in ways that have worked for you before: You used to count points on Weight Watchers and record them; how about recording how well you’re doing with your exercise habit each day?
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In closing, we have some EXCITING NEWS to share.
Carol and I are rolling out a new workshop called
DESIGN YOUR DAYS: Making Your Time Count.
It’s for women business owners who struggle with time and energy management. Staying productive in life and in your work. What’s different about this workshop? This is about finally figuring out how to design your days in ways that work for you. Not what someone else tells you should work. But working with us and our DYD framework to figure it out with you and for you and how you think, work, and handle what comes your way. Is this you? If so, please join us in Vermont, contact me or Carol, or watch for upcoming workshops and a retreat.
You’re going at full speed but not feeling you’re getting anywhere;
You’re feeling stuck. You’ve reached a plateau and you’re not moving ahead;
You want a fresh, creative look at how to manage your time and design your days.
You know what to do … you’re not doing it though. You’re in your own way sometimes.
Our first Design Your Days workshop will be at the Hampton Hotel in Colchester, VT on May 2 and is part of the WBON (women business owner’s network) which is a statewide, Vermont business organization. More information is available by clicking the WBON logo below or here at this link: Annual spring conference.
As a reminder, you are listening to (or reading) our podcast series. We’d love your feedback. If you have a question you’d like answered, please email us at productivelifetransitions@gmail.com
