We have a stationary bike parked in front of a wall-mounted TV. This summer, I created the habit of working out with the bike while watching my summer-obsession TV show, S.W.A.T. on Netflix. I was going great guns until I went to Australia and my routine was disrupted. And now I’ve found it hard to motivate myself to get on the exercise bike. But I’ve found a solution that’s working for me!
Tagged with: exercise, motivation, rewards, yoga
I made the switch from paper to electronic task management many years ago. As I blogged about last year, I created a Daily Task Management Trello board that was working really for me. But then I started creeping back toward paper and pen
Tagged with: bingo, motivation, productivity, task management, time management, trello
Asking yourself “What do I choose to do?” rather than “What should I do?” or “What do I need to do?” can calm you and actually make your more willing to do the task at hand.
Tagged with: getting to good enough, motivation, podcast, shannon wilkinson, task management
Back in 2011, I created a Bingo board to hep me get non-urgent tasks done on a regular basis. I blogged about it four or five times and today have selected one of the most useful of those posts to repeat to spread the word about the value of building fun into your task list.
Tagged with: bingo, jacquelyn kittredge, motivation, productivity, task management, worth repeating
I often mention the power of setting a timer for a short period of time to gain focus and accomplish a lot. One fun way to set a timer is to create a playlist of songs that ends after a set period of time.
Tagged with: 15 minutes, decluttering, motivation, music
On January 5, 2008, I cleared off my desk. And I kept it cleared off, on a daily basis, for about four years. I’ve blogged about the effort and the rewards of maintaining a clean desk. I’m a huge advocate.
Tagged with: clean desk, habits, motivation, productivity
A year ago today, I first blogged about To-Do List Bingo. I created a bingo board after reading a blog post about social media bingo from my friend, Jacquelyn Kittredge of e-bakery.
Tagged with: bingo, jacquelyn kittredge, motivation, productivity, task management
Last year, I created a bingo board that turned out to be a powerful motivator for me to accomplish tasks that are important to do regularly, but aren’t urgent (so weren’t getting done regularly). For me, that’s stuff like social media posts, blogging, following up with clients, past and present, tending to my website, stuff like that. You might have an entirely different set of tasks you want to accomplish regularly.
Tagged with: bingo, motivation, productivity
When I saw Jacquelyn Kittredge’s e-bakery blog post about her social media bingo card I got really excited. I love the idea of turning those “I should” daily tasks (like keeping up with your social media) into a fun game.
Tagged with: bingo, jacquelyn kittredge, maryann devine, motivation, task list
Tagged with: clutter, clutter clearing, focus, motivation
I’m all for doing things well and keeping commitments. But sometimes, just a little bit of effort is better than no effort. And sometimes if you make a little effort, it can turn into more effort.
Tagged with: exercise, mark forster, motivation, routines
In my newsletter, which goes out today, I mention the power of focus and how by setting a timer for a short period of time, I can get a lot done. (This is a refrain here on the blog too). I also mentioned that sometimes instead of (or in addition to) a timer, I’ll play a playlist of songs that ends after a set period of time.
Tagged with: 15 minutes, declutter happy hour, decluttering, motivation, music
Last night I heard a great NSGCD teleclass called “Strategies for Becoming an Effective Change Agent,” given by my friend Janine Sarna-Jones, CPO® of Organize Me in New York City.
Tagged with: change agent, janine sarna-jones, motivation, nsgcd
As I posted a week ago, I love the week between Christmas and New Year’s. Traditionally, it’s the week that I get my ducks in a row, plan for the coming year and basically get my act together.
Tagged with: goals, holidays, jennifer hofmann, motivation, planning, spa day
Even though I’m not going anywhere or doing much for Christmas (besides being a dinner guest), I woke up this morning thinking, “Hey it’s Christmas Eve Day. I don’t want to work.” So I decided to take a half day off.
Tagged with: motivation, time management
As I mentioned on Friday, I eagerly anticipated the Extra Special Holiday Spa Day at Inspired Home Office, which I participated in on Saturday. I thought I’d report on this very cool experience.
Tagged with: decluttering, havi brooks, jennifer hofmann, motivation, spa day
I’ve written here before about my love of Mark Forster’s book Do It Tomorrow and Other Secrets of Time Management (there’s a link to the book on the right hand column of my blog). For at least a year now, I’ve been working on integrating elements of his system into my life. One of those elements is to create a “will-do” list of tasks that I actually expect to accomplish on a given day. These are individual tasks, as well as daily tasks like responding to yesterday’s email, voicemail and snail mail.
Tagged with: mark forster, motivation, time management
This week, as part of my Level III certification program through the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization, I analyzed the book Making Peace with the Things in Your Life, by Cindy Glovinsky (link at right).
Tagged with: cindy glovinsky, clutter, decluttering, disorder, motivation
Last night, as I worked on the Estonian Garden Wrap, a seemingly complicated and sort of overwhelming (for this novice lace knitter) knitting pattern, I realized that broken down to its simplest elements, it’s really pretty easy. And that’s not unlike any overwhelming project, like getting organized. Let me explain.
Tagged with: decluttering, empowerment, knitting, lace, motivation, perfectionism, productivity
Whenever I start working with a client, we talk about the vision they have for the space. I’m not talking about specifics like furniture placement. I want to know what the client is hoping to experience in the room, the feeling that she wants to get from the space. I ask the client to close her eyes and really feel it.
Tagged with: decluttering, focus, motivation, productivity
My point: I didn’t clear off my desk yesterday before ending the work day. The reason is that end of the work day didn’t involve my desk. But still, it was a shock to arrive at my desk this morning and see some clutter on it. The worse part is that it was very little clutter—it would have literally taken about 60 seconds or less to put everything away.
Tagged with: accountability, clean desk, desk, don't break the chain, ikea, motivation, sally brown
On my way to a client’s house this morning, listening to NPR, I heard a story that made the hairs stand up on my neck. It was a story on Morning Edition about Larry Woodard, a Dallas, Texas, man who was falsely convicted of raping and murdering his girlfriend. He languished in prison for 27 years, all the while writing letters asserting his innocence and requesting re-investigation of the case.
Tagged with: attitude, balance, empowerment, motivation
As I’ve endlessly documented in this blog, I vowed this year to form the habit of clearing my desk at the end of each work day. The idea was that I would start work each morning with a clear desk, a clear mind, and major productivity. It’s something that I’ve strived for for decades and never been able to achieve.
Tagged with: accountability, clean desk, desk, don't break the chain, motivation, productivity
The habit I’ve been trying to instill with the Don’t Break the Chain method that I wrote about in a recent post is clearing my desktop at the end of the workday.
Tagged with: accountability, clean desk, decluttering, desk, don't break the chain, goals, habits, motivation, productivity, time management, workspace
As part of my new emphasis on time management this year, I started off the new year by checking out some productivity blogs. I came across this great post on the wonderful blog Lifehacker that introduced to me a concept that in just a few short days has really had an impact on me.
Tagged with: clean desk, don't break the chain, goals, habits, motivation, time management