I sure hope you're enjoying the summer as much as I am. The simple pleasures and time with my sweetheart is what brings sunshine to my days, so not too worry if the sun hides behind clouds, I am still happy for what I have.
 
One of the very few items of inspiration in my home is a small stone placed on our bathroom counter that says simply ‘Gratitude’. It reminds me that life is great and to be lived with joy. I don’t have many objects of this sort because they cause clutter and more work to clean around. I prefer my space. Yet this object has one simple powerful message, so it stays. Besides, with my fiancé painting up a storm, our home is full of beauty and inspiration already.
 
I am going to admit, writing this post today was a bit of an effort. When I am busy with life, projects and helping others I sometimes put off blogging and writing articles. Sometimes I am just not inspired to do this; rather I would like to be knee deep in an organizing project.
 
The idea for today’s post came to me as I was doing some reading and I felt it was overdue. So, I sat down, started typing, and out it came.
 
And now for today's post. Enjoy...


Advice for the Expert and Novice Procrastinator
 
It’s Thursday afternoon, and Tracy realizes that her proposal for her newest client is due by the tomorrow morning. With a busy night of family events planned, she knows that if she doesn’t get this done prior to leaving work she is going to be dropping the ball. So far this proposal is only in outline and finishing it in time seems difficult. Can she do it? 
 

For many people the tendency to procrastinate is basically normal and at worst it creates unnecessary time pressure and some inconvenience. We all occasionally put off doing things, avoid action or feel unmotivated at times. I could have put my name in that first paragraph too.
 
Then there are people that really have a hard time. They may seem incapable of getting things started, let alone done. We’ll call them ‘expert procrastinators’ as they, more often than not, find themselves immersed in stress and open loops. For them it may feel like living on the edge of a storm, constantly.
 
Today, I’ll share some easy methods that can help anyone, ‘expert or novice procrastinator’ beat procrastination and get back to feeling less stressed and more productive today.

1. Watch out for, acknowledge and counteract ‘deferral thoughts’ such as “I can send the report tomorrow”, “I will take the trash out after I watch my show” or “The dishes can wait till I need them for our next meal”. Instead, when you have these thoughts, try to take it from another angle and tell yourself “If I do the dishes now, I can enjoy the rest of the afternoon without this hanging over my head”.
2. Stop waiting for you to feel motivated and inspired to take action. It’s true, and I too have experienced it, we like to think we must feel ‘inspired’ before we act. In reality, most times it’s getting started that gets us more motivated to continue. Once you get started, one small task leads to another and before you know it some great progress can be made and that will inspire you to keep going.
3. Reward yourself. After completing a task give yourself a little treat. It can be anything you like and can afford, maybe even a nice walk around your neighbourhood or a sweet treat to enjoy.

 
 
Article to blog… done!
My reward… cake and a walk!
 
Have a grrrrrreat day!
Michelle 

Go ahead and ask, you won't be the first...

If you want to know what simple activity can consistently make someone better organized, I will answer 'The ability to make quick objective decisions'.


To Decide or Not to Decide. 
Learning to ‘make decisions’ on everything, as soon as it crosses your path, and dedicating time and energy to follow through on your choices, are two important aspects to staying organized.

Not being able to make decisions, and putting things ‘here for now’ is a challenge that plaques many, for various reasons. These reasons, or shall I say ‘Obstacles’ are mainly due to what I will call ‘technical error’.
 
Technical Error is not having a proper, easy to access ‘home’ for things. Then again, sometimes the 'obstacle' leading to this 'decision making challenge' can be related to fears or even perfectionism. Yet anyway we slice it, learning to make objective decisions about what we keep, where we keep it and whether or not we act on it is very important in my opinion.

So to help you and those you know make better choices about what to keep and what to do with it, here are some tools to share.

To help you make quick decisions I have a free copy of the '4 Decisions to Make with Tasks and Mail' for you on my site.

Then if you want to take a look at thinning out or eliminating any piles of business cards, magazines, brochures and over stuffed files you can find great 'Tips to Weed your Tasks and Paper' here.

And if letting go is hard, stay objective by asking yourself these questions about your stuff:

When it comes to Paper:
Is it a duplicate?
Is it current?
How often will I refer to it?
Can I get it elsewhere if I need it?
Do I have time to read it?
Do I want, or truly need this?
Is replication very difficult?
Does the law require I keep it?

When it comes to Clutter ask:
When was it last used?
Is there a specific date I will need this again in future?
How hard would it be to replace again if I needed it?
How does it make my life more purposeful or better?
Is it beautiful or loved?
Does it reflect the person I am now?
What is worst case scenario if I toss it?

Now, if you still struggle a bit with the questions above and/or still need a little help to decide where to put things, take a closer look at the information in my 2010 article The-top-questions-to-ask-yourself-about-your-stuff


OK, all good? Ready to tackle it alone? Great!

Not looking forward to going it alone?
Just don't have the time?
Or is being objective impossible because you can’t see the forest through the trees?

Call me, its my passion to help. 

Try this basic exercise to 'Managing Commitments' 

1.  Write down on a blank piece of paper one project, situation or task that is on your mind that you need to ‘get done’.

2.  In just one sentence describe the intended outcome so that you could check this project off as ‘done’. 

3.  Then write down the very next physical action required to move this project or task to completion.

Commonly the best thing that comes from doing this is you having a clearer definition of what ‘done’ looks like, and the very next step you need to take to get there.

Nothing has happened yet, after all, the task has yet to be done. Yet for many, after doing this simple activity, a sense of added motivation can be felt as up until now it was just a thought nagging at your subconscious mind. Now you know what 'done' looks like and can place this task in priority with other tasks and projects also written down.

Podcast on topic here

I am happy that spring is just around the corner, and I am excited about my coming new tele-seminar on Time Management coming up in April. As I work on a few more details to have everything ready to go by launch date, I find myself having to manage my time carefully to get the important things done.

You can learn how to do this too, and I would love to help..

In today's high tech, fast paced world, where we are experiencing distractions more than ever before. Our mobile phones, our email and the urges to multitask in an effort to get more done are adding up, and for many this is bringing on a feeling of overwhelm. Getting anything truly significant done in this environment is a wonder.

One trick to actually accomplishing some of the greater tasks on our plate is to give ourselves a big enough buffer. We need to accept the fact that interruptions will come, and e need to block out enough time in our day to accommodate them.

So what's a good guideline?

Well that's hard to say, as it depends on the task. A good starting guideline would be that if you had a task that you estimate will take 2 hours, try blocking 3 instead. Throw a short break in the middle of it too if needed. 

Yes, you can probably expect interruptions, just don't encourage them. When you schedule your work sessions you should turn the ringer on the phone off, shut the office door and ignore email as much as possible.

(Did you know that for every interruption you experience you automatically lose 5 minutes or more of concentration? This can add up very fast.)

If your working on task and giving your concentration to the task a good 1 or 2 hour session may be a good enough chunk of time to get some significant progress going on, and then you can break for a time to make sure no fires have broken out.

Another trick is that when you are in the middle of work and an idea or thought comes into your head that you absolutely can not forget about, just take one minute to write it out and put away to deal with at a more appropriate time. The idea is to just clear your head of the distraction by getting it in a place where you know you can find it later and then quickly get back to what you were doing.

Please enjoy these ideas gathered from 'The Disorganized Mind. Coaching your ADHD brian to take control of your time, tasks, and talents' by Nancy A. Ratey. Forward by John J. Ratey, co-author of 'Driven to Distraction'  

This truly informative and inspiring book has a lot of great insights and strategies to share. Today I would like to share some great strategies taken from Nancy's chapter on 'Time Mismanagement'. I encourage everyone to check this book out soon to learn more on time and task management and to share it with others.

Hear the Passing of Time
Try wearing a sports watch that is set to beep every hour. You can also use a PDA and consider the vibrating feature if you like a silent alarm instead. This technique will help you become more conscious of time and the length of an hour.

Divide your day into 'Quadrants'
Sometimes too much detailed schedule planning is not the answer. If you don't react well to detailed time management systems try dividing up your day into sections and then plug in a list of a few goals to acomplish in each. For example, these blocks could be 9-11, 11-2 and 2-5.

See both the big and little pictures
Keep a monthly and a weekly calendar. This way you will see the larger picture while still having a view of your more pressing weekly commintments.