Happy New Years! Hope you are ready to have an awesome year. Ready to make some changes? Here is what I recommend: 1) Start Now! As I mentioned previously, now is a great time to start looking at your year. Doing the typical “New Year’s resolution” game is not very helpful for many. Now that you are through the holidays, the gyms are starting to clear out, etc., you can make your changes. 2) Start (or Stop) One Habit. If you could just make one change this year, what would it be? If you could start one habit that would multiply and have an exponential impact on your life, what would…
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Evernote Templates
Having trouble getting started with Evernote, check out Evernote Templates! They are a great way to integrate Evernote into your productive life. You can use them for everything from budgeting and brainstorming to writing and project management. Any kind of planning you want to do, Evernote Templates can help. Check them out at Evernote.com/templates. Side note, once you save a template from the link above, the way you access it is by clicking on “Template” inside the body of any new note you create. You’re welcome. Enjoy!
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“Reference Books”
Do you have any “reference books” in your house? Yeah, me too. I have quite the book collection. Nothing wrong with books. In fact, books are awesome. We all need to read more. However, being a book hoarder may not lead to your desired result of reading more. Hoarding is unhealthy. When you hoard, you have to protect, manage, organize and replace whatever you are hoarding. Typically this takes time and money. I would also argue hoarding is bad for ideation…an important activity for us Idea Addicts! If you are a book hoarder, one of your famous lines to yourself and others is probably, “Oh, I need this book. It is…
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Bullet Journal Update
It is official. I have been using a Bullet Journal for one year now. I’m still liking it and planning to stick with it. Two ways it has helped me include: 1) Reducing the number of tasks that stay on my list without getting done. Because I have to write them down again and again, the BuJo forces me to either get them done, delegate them or just delete them altogether. 2) Decreasing the time needed for my Weekly Review. I typically was taking a couple hours to do my Weekly Review previously. Now I am able to do it in less than an hour. For more info on the BuJo,…
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Increase Productivity with a Weekly Review
With all the things you have going on, it is probably hard to keep everything straight. Something I’ve been doing for over a decade is a Weekly Review. I spend one to two hours a week looking through the previous week, my goals and the following week. Then I make a game plan for the upcoming week. Getting Things Done gives a whole system to the Weekly Review. However, it is possible to keep it simple too. Basically, you need your calendar, to-do list and goals. Glance over everything and decide what is going to happen this next week. Of course, leave margin for interruptions. Do you already do a…
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Prepare For Your Quarterly Offsite
It is mid June. Time to take a final look at your goals from the second quarter and start preparing for your Quarterly Offsite. Let the fun begin! Why Quarterly Offsite I do a personal retreat every quarter to help me rest, rejuvenate, set goals and prepare for the next 90 days. For me, annual goals are a bit too much. So many things happen in the course of a year to change them. So quarterly goals work better for me. The Basics Typically I set aside two days for my Offsite. Usually it includes the following: Getting away from home. Turning off interruptions, including devices, email, texting, etc. Spending the…
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Nap or No Nap?
Do you take naps? Shhhh…I take naps. Think I’m lazy? Here is a great resource on napping: 5 Reasons Why You Should Take A Nap Every Day. Don’t worry if you are not good at napping. Practice makes perfect!
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Baby and Bath Water
We have all heard the saying, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.” Good advice. It is important to not throw away the good when we are making changes. It can be hard to determine how best to do this, though. We can also use this proverb to keep us from taking risks. The result can be more of the same, which could be worse. I’d love to get your advice. How do you make changes and keep the good without throwing out the bad?
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Lose Your Phone, Eliminate Distractions
Do you constantly look for distractions? A social media notification… An email… A text… Even better, a phone call!!! All of these hits give us a shot of excitement. They also take a hit on our productivity. Decide to spend a couple hours a day, and maybe even one whole day a week, where you turn off your phone or at least put it on “Do Not Disturb.” Your life will not end. I promise. Most importantly, your productivity will greatly increase. A key to more productivity is remaining undistracted. Start with a fast from your distraction device, aka your phone. #LoseYourPhone
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Bullet Journal Resources
What is a Bullet Journal? There is a lot of flexibility with how you use a Bullet Journal (BuJo). Essentially it is a non-digital way to keep track of your calendar, tasks, ideas…and the list goes on. Why would you not just use digital tools? Different reasons for different folks. For me, I was looking to reduce distractions and noise. At the same time, I wanted to be productive and focus on the right things. I was looking for a simpler solution. Where do I begin? For those just starting out with a Bullet Journal, I recommend limiting yourself to just a couple blog posts on the topic. Then, just get…
