Tag: personal development

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EpS Events Get Organized More time in my day Time strategies Uncategorized

What Gets in the Way- When you are Designing Your Day?

You get up. Get ready. Today is an open book. Today I have a little time. Today I am not booked solid….I can “finally” catch up.

Sound familiar? Does it work? Many times – no.

What gets in YOUR way? Sue West and I explore this as part of our Perspectives Podcast Series. Listen here: WHAT gets in your way? or read on.

Sue: Well, whether we like it or not, we have arrived. It’s 2014, another ball has dropped, and we are hearing, and could be feeling, “this year will be different”. But is that little voice in your head saying….really? Why should it be any different THIS time?

Carol: Hi, this is Carol Williams, productivity coach at EpS, Efficient Productivity Systems.

Sue: And this is Sue West, AD/HD and life transitions coach

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. If you like this podcast, please LIKE our Facebook page for tips on your news feed several times a week.

Carol: As you may know, Sue and I take participants in our Design Your Days workshops through our unique process of What, Why, Wants and How. Today we’re going to focus on WHAT – What gets in your Way when you are designing your day? We’ve chosen two of the most common themes we hear and we’ll offer strategies for effectively addressing those WHATS.

Sue: “I know I am at my best, when I’m feeling organized.” That’s what a client said to me about her business and about her life in general. She went on to say “I’m an organized person.”  “My business started growing. I wasn’t really paying attention; I was just getting the work done. Now, I turn around and yikes – I’m lost and overwhelmed,” So I asked what gets in her way of getting back on track, she said this:

“I don’t know how to prioritize. It ALL seems important.” And that was a familiar statement.

If this sounds like you, here are key questions to start designing your own solution:

  1. You need one place to put everything, so that you have an accurate picture of everything you need to do, BEFORE you set priorities. How well is your “capture” tool – paper or technology – working for you?
  2. How often are you looking at your list? Should be morning and end of day, plus if something big changes during the day – not an email hijacking your priorities, but a bonafide reason to change priorities set earlier in the day.
  3. What makes something a priority in your world? This you may have to notice for yourself as you sit to review your list tomorrow. For example, today, my highest priority items went like this: scheduling several client meetings, talking to a prospective client for awhile, answering a few questions about my Board work, interruption by the new person who will be doing the plowing at my house, writing my mother with info I’d promised because she only has email two days a week, and writing this podcast, because we both wanted a day or two to review and practice. So, my priorities were based on: client relationships, future client potential, response time standards I have for Board emails, the knock at the door by Mike, my mother’s constraint of the two days, and a deadline Carol and I decided on. See it’s not just money and deadlines; it’s more complex, and quite unique to each of us and what’s going on in our world.

Carol: Sometimes we hear about how “holidays” get in our way. We hear something like, “If it weren’t for all the “extra” of the season, I’d be more organized”. The solution lies in learning from those experiences. Since we are now past the holiday season (even though I WAS humming at the beginning of this…yes…) it’s still fresh in our minds. What could we have done differently to ease the stress a bit, as we look back? Record this in your new calendar for 2014 in a place where you will see it at the end of October. That’s right, start planning right around Halloween for what’s to come. When you make the time to reduce, eliminate, or delegate some of the tasks associated with the holidays, while embracing the traditions you hold dear and allowing time for those, the season will be much more joyful and you will emerge on January 1 feeling ready for the new year.

For example, I have a client who has recently downsized her home. Many of the family’s belongings that relate to “annual” decorations are kept in a storage facility. She recently recounted a meltdown that she had in December when finding that she had 8 bins of holiday “stuff” to find a place for. Much of it was given to her by a well-meaning relative. Her husband gently suggested that they choose only 2 bins and leave the other 6 in storage, at least for this year. They decorated together that night, and delighted their children in the morning. The message here is “How Much Stuff Is Enough?” Are your memories weighing you down? If so, find ways to let them go and get the extra weight OUT OF YOUR WAY.

Sue: To wrap up, we just provided two examples of What might Get In Your way when designing your day. If these struck a chord with you, we know you’ll get much more benefit from our Design Your Days workshop on Friday Jan 31 at 9 am at the Center of Health Promotion in concord. Register by calling them at 603.230.1121. Or you can check our Facebook page, Design Your Days, which has the signup link too.

In the next podcast we hit the next question, WHY? as 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.

CAROL:

If you cannot attend our January session, 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.

Again, you can find us on Facebook as Design Your Days or contact us individually through websites:

Sue’s is www.OrganizeForAFreshStart.com

Carol’s is http://www.efficientproductivity.com/

If you found our advice valuable, please consider sharing our podcast or blog with colleagues and friends.

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Get Organized More time in my day prioritize procrastination productivity in the workplace Time strategies

Ready for a Break? Plan Now- Just a Little- to Jumpstart January

What does the Thanksgiving Holiday mean to you?

How does it relate to your productivity?

In the U.S., most of us will enjoy an extended weekend very soon. Some of us may already be away for the week- I know 2 people in that category personally. The question I have is….what will you do or not do, and how will you feel about those decisions?

Too much free time can spell DANGER.

Today I helped a client Design Her Long Weekend. When you have too much “unplanned time,” do you feel that it’s “wasted”? Do you “not know where the time does? Do you feel like it’s a waste- so you tend to fill up your time with “productive” ventures instead? This is common and was the case with my client.

My client and I focused on a strategy that I’d like to share: Majoring and Minoring. Think of your college undergraduate years. Perhaps you had a major and a minor. By default, more time and energy is expended on your major, right? In work and in life, we mostly find ourselves with more to-do’s than will fit in our bucket. So, run yourself through your weekend. What would you WANT it to look like…if you had it YOUR way? That’s right…be selfish. Start there. Then, add in the non-negotiables. Really look- are they truly “givens” or is there any wiggle-room if they don’t fit your version of the ideal long weekend?

Set your intention, make some plans that are needed, and accept the outcome. You will find that the power of intention is, in fact, very powerful.

Next week is December? Forget the goals-I am writing off the year- see you in January!

Thanksgiving can be a quiet time, if you dare. When others are watching football or taking that after dinner nap, you can take advantage of that quiet time to focus on yourself and your personal and professional goals. Strategic and creative thinking requires downtime.

Some questions to ask yourself are:

  • How “big” do your want your December Holidays to be?
  • How will you address your “important, but not urgent” tasks in December, so that you hit the ground running on January 2?

Two strategies to achieve the goals you identify:

  1. Honor your desired outcome with the “pause and reflect” method. How? When a request comes in, decide that you will “pause and reflect” rather that furnishing an immediate answer. This pause allows more holistic and strategic thinking than may otherwise happen.
  2. Use the “if/then” habit: Help implement the strategy above by bringing it directly into your life. For example, IF my employer asks me to work late, THEN I will check with my spouse before agreeing to it.

A little Thanksgiving Planning can go a long way to enjoying the holidays and jumpstarting January. Be well, enjoy every bite, and above all – express gratitude.

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EpS Events Get Organized prioritize Uncategorized

What motivates you? 3 Examples of what works, and one that doesn’t work.

Your motivation: Is it…

Fall Scenery?  Your children? The promise of an exotic trip?

Or is it…

…the vision of becoming a leader in your field?

find your vision, pursue your goal, use your motivation

The opportunity to give more and better in your own unique way…to push the limit of who you think you are to who you could be? Is it the opportunity to create something that nobody has created?

What it is NOT:

None of the above are “right” or “wrong.” But, did you notice what was *not* in the list? That’s right…”more money.”  Compensation is what many people claim they seek, but an MIT study shows that actually…there is much more to “real” motivation and innovation. Stay tuned until the end of this blog article.

MOTIVATOR 1:

If you answered “fall scenery”:

focused people are more productive
focused and organized people motivate themselves and others

Science reinforces that the beautiful fall images we’ve been seeking on the EpS facebook page TRIGGER POSITIVE EMOTIONS that actually HELP US FOCUS.

And what happens with focused people? You guessed it…they are more Productive.

MOTIVATOR 2:

If you answered “the promise of an exotic trip”:

You might be someone who gets excited by new challenges. Many of my clients are in this category. Stimulation and new-ness are key. Factor 3 in this Psychology Today article supports this motivator: read here.

MOTIVATOR 3:

When we operate beyond the “make more widgets, get more compensation” mentality, our motivation actually suffers from the promise of more compensation, if a more comprehensive set of motivators is absent, according to a recent MIT study.

This video is worth watching. It highlights that 3 factors, autonomy, mastery, and purpose, weigh in heavily as the prime motivators for those seeking motivation through cognitive skill. What this means is that when our thinking moves BEYOND a certain, carrot-and-stick level, which is a mechanical skill level, we DO in fact, need “more.” Have you heard, “I have the money but I still feel empty inside?”

motivation, purpose, passion
Where is your blue sky? How will you make a difference?

Watch this video. Start thinking….what do I want to master? What’s my purpose? How much more autonomy would I want to take on my current or future work situation?

Autonomy, mastery, purpose…now we’re talking Motivation. Be great.

-Carol

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EpS Events Get Organized More time in my day multitasking productivity in the workplace Time strategies Uncategorized

Feeling Busy this Fall? Multitask away- or not.

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.

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AD/HD EpS Events Get Organized More time in my day prioritize procrastination Uncategorized

Back to what? 4 strategies for the transition so you aren’t left in the fall breeze without a backpack.

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 18th at 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.

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AD/HD Get Organized More time in my day prioritize procrastination Uncategorized

Design Your Days, Step One: Get Clear in just 9 minutes.

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!”

listen here: JUNE 20.2013

Or read here:

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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.”
    1. Talk with others or with a coach and figure out whether you are maximizing the time you DO have on your growing business.
    2. 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.

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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 Days and/or contact us individually through websites:

Sue’s is www.OrganizeForAFreshStart.com

Carol’s is www.efficientproductivity.com/

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