Eyerolls and sighs

I’m a big believer in following a high energy path with anything you’re working on. If you don’t feel energy at the center of your body when you think about next steps in what you’re doing, it may be time for a change.

Eye rolls and sighs are your body’s clue that you’re on a low energy path. Sometimes these are obvious – oh, my! But sometimes only you can see and hear them like maybe when: Continue reading

100 Days of Wellness

I’ve been looking for a local meditation class and stumbled on this site with 100 wellness exercises. The videos are short, 4-6 minutes each, and focus on different aspects of feeling better – by being more grateful, clearing clutter, getting more sleep, beating sugar, and… you get the idea. It’s a great list.

Being a “get it done” kind of girl, I was like, “I’ll do all of these today,” and started to click through one to the next. But I decided instead to stop and spend a day on each one. I’ve tried to remind myself lately that I have time. I don’t have to get everything done right away. It’s a huge temptation for me to think, “Yes. Check. Got it done. Move on.” And rarer for me to take the time to deeply contemplate a thought or idea – especially if it’s a challenge or something negative about who I am or how I think. Continue reading

Declutter before you organize

You’re tired of searching for a pen every time you make a grocery list and decide to organize “that” kitchen drawer. You go out and buy nifty dividers. But when you refill the drawer, you still can’t find a pen!

What might have gone wrong?

  • You have too much stuff in the drawer.
  • It isn’t grouped into “like” categories.
  • No one stuck to the organized drawer plan.

The toughest part about organizing a loaded drawer, stuffed closet, or overflowing garage shelves is that before you organize you have to declutter. And decluttering takes time, focus, and a willingness to get messy before you see results which is why decluttering often gets skipped. Continue reading

Thoughts and tips on using a paper planner

I’m a big proponent of using a paper planner over a digital planner. Here’s why.

The Internet
When you log into an e-planner, you face all the time sucking temptations of the web: checking email, surfing YouTube, reading Facebook or Instagram posts, and, and, and… If you are trying to get organized for the day – or keep organized during the day, the last thing you need is a temptation to lose focus.

Working in a quiet place of your choice
You may keep a paper planner at your desk – or you may work in a quiet place away from your desk. Wherever it works best for you to plan and focus, a paper planner goes with you. No electricity or log-in required! Continue reading

Running errands efficiently

Tightening up on small tasks during the day saves time and helps keep your head clear when you’re super busy.

For example, if you have errands to run that don’t have specific deadlines, pairing them up to run them as a group saves time and energy – both yours and gas in the car.

Here’s a quick organizational exercise to help you run errands more efficiently.  Continue reading

How to form a new habit

The cool part about habits is that they’re your brain’s way of saving on thinking. When you try something new, your brain records what you’re doing and after you do the same thing multiple times, your brain says, “I’ve got it! You can run on auto-pilot now.”

That’s why you don’t have to think about how to drive every time you get behind the wheel of a car. And how when you take a shower or brush your teeth your mind can wander. How many of us come up with brilliant ideas in the shower? You can thank your shower habit for taking over giving you time to think.

A great way to form a new habit is to tie it into an existing habit. Then your brain can use some of the same cues you had for an old habit and re-purpose them into a launch pad for a new habit.

Let’s say you want to start exercising. What habit can you tie into to make this a successful launch? You have thousands of habits strung together that make up each day. What are you going to bump out or add to? Continue reading

Why my grocery list is in Excel

We all have 24 hours a day. What you do with your time can feel crazy and out of control. Or you can grab the reins and choose the work you want to get done.

That being said, getting organized is best done in baby steps. Save 5 minutes here and 20 minutes there, and pretty soon you have time to think. Or time to start an exciting new project. Or time to relax and zen out for a bit!

And that’s why my grocery list is in Excel.

First, let me say that I will put off grocery shopping until I am down to eating dry soup and crackers. It’s not that I dislike groceries, I just don’t like grocery shopping – with the shopping carts that never get washed. The people who park their carts in the middle of an aisle as they ponder a purchase. The cashiers who talk to the baggers about how tired they are and how they can’t wait to get off work. It’s a little draining so I try to be really quick about it. Continue reading