Spring is in the air. On my daily walk in Central Park this morning, it was a thrill to see the variety of Spring flowers blossoming all around….big patches of yellow daffodils and candy striped tulips on the ground below, white cherry blossoms and forsythia on the trees above. Combined with warmer temperatures, brighter sunshine and bluer skies, Spring ushers in a welcome burst of energy and the hope of new possibilities.
January is “Get Organized Month”, an official holiday designated many years ago by the professional organizing industry. It makes total sense because January is the time when we have this urge to take control of our spaces, our schedules, our habits, so that we can achieve whatever other goals we have set for the year.
I’m often asked, “What do I mean, never check email in the morning? At all?” I’m not against this powerful communication tool, but it’s also highly addictive. Research shows people now spend an average of 19 hours a day on screens. Can you just imagine all the things you could check off your to-do list by cutting down your email time?
Happy Summer! I hope that wherever you are, you are enjoying the shift in rhythm that comes with longer days of sunlight, warm weather activities, opportunities to get together with friends, outdoor concerts and festivals, and the ability to connect to nature by just being outside.
To that end, we are kicking off a series called Self-Care Summer. From now until Labor Day, we’ll be sharing Blogs with concrete ways to re-fuel our bodies, minds, and souls.
Are you getting less done in a day than you used to? Do the days when you could speed through your to-do list, checking off one task after another, seem like a distant dream? I’ve lost count of the number of clients over the past few months who have told me that they used to be able to put fourteen things on their to-do list and knock them all out. Now, they put fourteen things on their list, but they're lucky if they get through eight of them. They end up feeling frustrated, disappointed, and like they're failing themselves.
We all have the best intentions to contain our work to the workday and create clear boundaries between our work and personal lives. But what happens when you truly must get back online to work in the evening after dinner, social or family time to keep on top of your workload? I hear it often from clients. It’s a common struggle to have more to do than fits in a workday.
Whether it’s paper or digital, there are a few principles I recommend to structure your to-do's so your list becomes approachable. The great unlock is to remember that a to-do is not connected to a when rarely gets done. Each to-do has to get assigned a day or a time. Otherwise, you're just hoping to do it when you remember it or when you have a free moment (which doesn’t ever seem to happen). Instead, with just a few actionable tips, your to-do list can transform into a realistic game plan to get your most important tasks done.
It’s not just retirement that can put us in this situation. Sudden job loss, illness, or choosing to stay home to raise kids all remove the external structure generated by our work lives. As much as we may sometimes feel slaves to our work schedules, the structure is also powerful and grounding, as an organizing principle for our lives. So, how do you organize your days to be meaningful and fulfilling when you are not tied to an outside schedule?
You can fortify your willpower with some very practical actions that make it easier to stay on track. Instead of just asking, ‘How do I maintain my discipline to eat healthy’, the question you can ask is, “How do I organize my time and space to encourage eating in a healthy way?” That slight shift in approach can set you up for success, giving you the scaffolding and support you need to follow through on your goals.
Organizing is about identifying what is important to you and arranging it in a logical way that gives you access to what you use and love so that you can live the life you choose.
Once you determine that your goal is to create a system that works for you, success begins with picturing your space when it’s done. How? Think Kindergarten.
