How to stay focused

What if your life were theater?

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If your life was a play, is it something you’d go see?

  • What’s your story?
  • Is the plot line interesting with a number of surprise twists?
  • Is your life a drama? A comedy? Is it musical theater?
  • Are there interesting characters in your life story?
  • How’s the pace – are things moving right along?
  • Is there a beginning, a middle, and an anticipated end?
  • What will the audience walk away with at the end of your show?

If your life were a play, would you live it differently than you are now? Continue reading →

Embrace the facts – and move on

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Do you ever have these types of thoughts run through your head?

  • What if there’s traffic and I’m late?
  • Will my flight be on time and will I make my connection?
  • I want to talk to the new person at work, but what if they don’t want to talk to me?
  • What if my kid picks a career path I don’t like?
  • What if it rains tomorrow?

Continue reading →

Complaining is not a strategy

organizationalhabits Big project ideas, Building your personal brand, Business tips, Changing habits, Organizational Exercises, Setting organizational priorities , , , , , , , , , ,

If you find yourself complaining a lot, it’s time to stop. Complaining is a waste of your time and other people’s time. If you don’t like something, try to fix it.

If you don’t know how to fix it, that’s awesome. That’s your challenge! Study the stuff that bugs you to see if you’re complaining about things that really matter to you. Or is complaining just a bad habit?

A few things of note: If you’re complaining about a person and you’re doing it behind their back you’re not going to change anything. Continue reading →

What’s your “Why”?

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At the end of one of the first talks I gave on Organizational Zen, a participant said he understood that if he wanted to stop wasting time it would be great to have a larger goal in mind.

It’s just that he didn’t have any bigger work to do. He had raised his children and run a successful business, and as a retiree, felt like no one needed him anymore. He asked how he should spend the last years of his life.

Oh, my. No one can answer that question for you; it’s something that comes from inside and only you can bring it to life. Continue reading →

Your time is valuable; set your intent!

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When I am giving a talk, or I’m working with a group on organizational skills, the first question I ask is about intent. The question of the moment is:

“What do you want to get out of this class?”

Thinking about why you are doing something helps you focus on the task at hand. And when I’m giving a talk, I want people to focus, to listen with an end-goal in mind. It’s not that I think the content is so important; it’s that I think each person’s time is so important.

Which gets to the bigger question, and the one I hope you ask yourself before committing your time to any work, project, or person:

“Is spending time on this something that’s important to me?” Continue reading →

Why did you waste so much time?

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For as long as I can remember, I’ve been organizing people – neighborhood kids, playground antics, school functions, friends, and businesses. I like getting things going. I like getting everyone involved. I like big conversations. I like to make things happen.

So it’s no surprise that I ended up working as an account executive for an advertising agency. I thrive on being the organized one amidst chaos. And ad agencies are the epitome of business chaos. Get a room full of Art Directors and Copywriters. Add in Presidents and CFOs who are former Art Directors and Copywriters. And try being the only one who has a deadline to meet. Yeah. I can do that. I can make that happen.

Then how about a bigger challenge? How about keeping an entire direct marketing company organized? Boston. Appleseed’s. I thrived.

Continue reading →

25 tips to help improve your productivity at work

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Being organized at work isn’t all that different from being organized at home. You just have more people to deal with. The number one productivity tip I can offer for each is the same: Write it down. Writing things down saves your brain from trying to remember everything you have going on. And seeing things on paper helps you sort out and prioritize.

Use one calendar to write down meetings, appointments, and important deadlines. And use a planner to write down your daily tasks and things you’re keeping track of.

“Do I have to write everything down?”
“No, just the things you want to get done.”

Here are 25 additional tips to boost your productivity at work Continue reading →

What’s your personal brand?

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Businesses build or chip away at their brand with every customer interaction. Brands like Nike, L.L.Bean, and Coca-Cola are known for specific and calculated brand elements – like style, functionality, innovation, customer service, reputation, price, or comfort.

Brands are designed to make customers feel good about them and companies spend millions making sure they do! The payback is that best customers stay with them – sometimes for a lifetime – because they feel they know and trust them.

You are also a brand that you build or chip away at every day. The goal of creating Organizational Zen in your life is to help you make time to do your best work – to help you focus on the big stuff by getting the small stuff taken care of. And that’s a huge part of what your personal brand is.

Think about your personal brand
If you asked three members of your family, three friends, and three co-workers to describe you, what would they say? Be honest. No one is reading this but you. And remember this isn’t what you’d like to be – it’s how people see you in your everyday interactions. Make three columns and write down as many adjectives as you can that describe your personal brand for each group. Continue reading →

How “creative avoidance” messes with your obit

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Creative avoidance is the fun stuff you do to skirt getting to the big stuff. When you’re pondering a big, juicy project, it’s hard to get started for many reasons… And if you don’t have time, you have the perfect excuse!

“I’d love to get this done but I don’t have time.” Continue reading →