Peace of Mind Organizing

Accepting help

5 November 2013

Sometimes I wonder why it is so hard for most of us to accept help. By the time I’m called into a client’s home, she (or, sometimes, he) typically has contemplated hiring me for weeks, months, or years. And typically that time is filled with guilt, self-recrimination and stress.

The reluctance to accept help isn’t limited to hiring someone, though. I’ve observed that it can be difficult to ask for help from friends or family members or even accept help when it’s offered.

Accepting help is a big part of how I try to let my life be easy. There are many things I’m not good at that my friends are. For example, my friend, Sally picks out all my wall paint colors. I’m absolutely inept at that. I’m a bit color-challenged, I’m easily overwhelmed by too many choices and I lack confidence in my design abilities. Sally is great at it and loves doing it. Hooray!

My friend Geralin helps me with sticky wardrobe choices. If I’m going on TV, I call Geralin for advice on what to wear and how to accessorize. If I want to knit myself something, I’ll check with her to make sure she thinks the sweater would be flattering on me. (One time she replied with a succinct “Not on my watch!”) Geralin is great at this and it seems as natural to her as breathing. Why wouldn’t I ask her help?

I have a wonderful housecleaner who comes every week. He does a much better job than I ever would and he relieves me of a dreaded task. Same goes with the guy who mows our lawn.

I no longer have a problem accepting help, whether hired or gifted. I know I love helping people, so I believe my friends when they say they want to help me. I have no trouble charging my clients for my help, so I have no difficulty paying others for theirs.

Is there anything in your life you’d benefit from getting help on? Ask for it!

The Active Every Day challenge

1 November 2013

My friend, Shannon Wilkinson, of Perception Studios has launched her Active Every Day in November challenge.

Her goal? To get us up and moving. Being active is so important. As another friend Margaret Lukens, says, Sitting is the new smoking. So if you take on Shannon’s challenge, every day in November you’ll purposely be a little more active than you ordinarily would.

For me, that might mean:

• Using the stairs instead of the elevator
• Taking my dog for longer walks
• Staying on the cardio machines for an extra five minutes (or longer)
• Exercising more than three days a week at the gym (that would be huge)
• Parking farther from the entrance to a store or office building
• Dusting off my Wii Fit and doing some dancing or exercise games

You get the idea. Whatever your activity level, take it up a notch and get a little more active than usual. Every day.

If you choose to participate in the challenge, you can post your activity on Twitter with the hashtag #ActiveEveryDay. Or post to or tag the Perception Studios Facebook page. Be sure and read about the challenge on Shannon’s blog post for rules and her ideas of activities and ways to share.

I’m looking forward to purposeful activity this month!

The virtues of a nice lined notebook

29 October 2013

I have a fondness for a nice notebook, particularly one with lined paper. I’m somewhat particular, but luckily there are a lot of notebooks that meet my exactly standards. Way back in 2008, I blogged about some notebooks I’d been enjoying.

When I want to put together a planner-type notebook, I go for respositionable-page, ring-bound notebooks, like Levenger’s Circa notebooks or the Arc Notebook from Staples. (I blogged about the Arc Notebook in July of 2012.)

Lately, I’ve been more interested in making task lists in my notebooks than using them to organize projects. I use lined notebooks to capture my thoughts on various topics. I like having one go-to notebook so that I can peruse the results of previous brainstorming sessions.

In December 2011, I discovered the At-A-Glance Planning Notebook with Circle the Date. (I wish I could provide a link, but they’re no longer selling it!) Here’s a photo of a blank page.

Listed vertically on the outside margins are the months and numbers 1 to 31. You circle the date and fill in the year, which for some reason really appeals to me. I think it’s because it’s a visual reminder to date my notes, which are so important when I’m looking back at them.

I love the feel of the paper and the subtlety and spacing of the lines. Love love love. I also love the orange and grey color scheme. Just today I came to the “Time to Reorder” page, so before long I’m going to have to switch notebooks. As I mentioned, they’re no longer selling this particular model, but the good folks at At-A-Glance were kind enough to send me some products to test out. Among the products was their Planning Notebook with Reference Calendars notebook, which is quite similar. Same subtle lines but no circle the date. And it has a 12-month calendar at the bottom of each pair of pages, which is really handy in a meeting.

These would be great notebooks for task lists. But that’s not how I use them. Here are the kinds of things I capture in my planning notebook:

• Potential blog post ideas
• My Be-Do-Have exercises (see Margaret Lukens’ Be-Do-Have wee book to see what I’m talking about…this is a really useful planning exercise)
• Ideas on any shifts I’m considering to my business model
• Notes when I’m reading a book
• Notes when I’m taking a class
• Reflections I capture when I’m on vacation

For me, having one place to write down these kinds of thoughts is so important. If I were to have different notebooks for different types of topics, I’d inevitably not have the right one with me (or I’d grab the wrong one). All the entries are arranged chronologically, since I just go to the next available page when I’m about to start a new note or list. Convenient, easy and, for me, really effective.

P.S. At-A-Glance provided me with a free shipping coupon code to share. If you order at least $50 in products from their website use the code GRFSXX3 to receive free shipping. It expires 12/31/13.

Have you upgraded to iOS 7 yet?

25 October 2013

If you have an iPhone or an iPad and haven’t yet upgraded to the newest operating system, iOS 7, I’m going to give you one good reason to do it.

This is it:

It’s called Control Center and it’s the screen you get when you swipe up from the bottom of any screen, even when your phone is locked. From this screen, with one touch you can:

• Turn on the flashlight
• Access the clock app (which includes alarm, timer, stopwatch and world clock)
• Pull up the calculator
• Take a picture

That’s right. They’ve made the four things I use most often available instantly with one swipe. To me, that’s worth any inconvenience I might have experienced getting used to the new operating system. (Though, actually, I loved iOS 7 from the start.)

From the Control Center screen with one touch you can also:

• Control your music
• Adjust the brightness of the screen
• Put the phone in Airplane Mode
• Turn on or off WiFi
• Turn on or off Bluetooth
• Put the phone on Do Not Disturb
• Lock your screen’s orientation

I know some folks can’t upgrade because of space considerations. But if you’ve been dragging your feet just because you’re averse to change, it might be time to reconsider. Come on in, the water’s fine.

Worth repeating: Being happy with less than perfect

23 October 2013

I wrote this blog post two years ago after hearing Harold Taylor speak about perfectionism. I loved his take on it and was happy when I re-read this post yesterday. In case you didn’t catch it the first time around, this is definitely one worth repeating.

A week ago, I attended a time-management seminar offered by Harold Taylor. It was terrific. I’ve been inspired by Harold Taylor’s words of wisdom for going on 20 years now and he didn’t disappoint.

Much of the material was familiar to me, but he still offered some great stuff to chew on. One was a new take (for me) on perfectionism. I’ve long known how paralyzing perfectionism can be. I’ve seen the detrimental effects on my clients of feeling like everything has to be done perfectly.

But Harold had me thinking about it in a slightly different way. For example, he defined a perfectionist this way:

A perfectionist is someone who spends a greater amount of time on a task than it merits.

What a wonderfully simple definition and one that is really useful in my life.

Harold said that the amount of time you spend on something should be in proportion to its value. So no need to get nitpicky on a single email to a single person. However, if you’re writing an article to be read by thousands, that deserves a little more of your time.

He also mentioned the law of diminishing returns: The nearer you come to perfection on a task, the more time it takes. In other words, you don’t get a fair return for the extra time trying to make something that’s already good even better.

What I took away from this is that doing something well, but not perfectly well, is very smart. If I’m tempted to not send something I’ve written because I haven’t gone over it yet again with a fine-toothed comb, I can ask myself, as Harold suggests, “What’s the impact if this is the best I do with this?”

Harold suggests that if your value is tied up in what you do, rather than who you are, you’re more likely to get caught up in this perfectionist trap. That’s excellent food for thought.

I think this “good enough” mentality can really free up some time. I’m planning to experiment by embracing it whole heartedly in my work in the coming month and try to note whether (a) I actually do save time and (b) whether there are any negative consequences to it.

This is going to be my mantra in October, courtesy of Harold Taylor:

Just because we can do better doesn’t mean we have to.

Preventing late fees

21 October 2013

This month, I forgot to pay my credit card on the 17th. I don’t know what happened. I never forget. But on Saturday, I realized that the bill was due two days before and I’d forgotten.

Luckily, I had a back-up plan. About 18 months ago, at the advice of my friend, Shannon Wilkinson, I had arranged an automatic payment of the minimum amount due on the 17th, for instances just like this. I like to pay my credit card in full every month and up until now had done that before the automatic payment would kick in. But, since I forgot this month, at least the minimum payment was made and I avoided a late-payment fee.

I doubt I avoided an interest charge, to my dismay. I haven’t paid an interest charge in a couple of years, since I paid off my cards back in 2011. But a couple of days’ interest on a not-huge balance isn’t a big deal.

I could change my automatic payment so that the whole balance is paid, but I worry that that could spark a cash-flow problem. So, for me, this backup measure is a good one.

Late payment fees can add up and are definitely worth avoiding. If they’re problem for you, perhaps you could arrange for the minimum to be paid like I do. This month, I was sure glad I did!

(I do get an email reminder about the payment, but I think I’ll adjust it so that it comes closer to the due date and I don’t blow it off.)

Do you have any other tips for automating payments, not forgetting due dates, or otherwise avoiding late-payment penalties?

More wisdom from Mark Forster

16 October 2013

Over the years, I’ve written 47(!) blog posts that mention Mark Forster, my favorite time-management guy. Mark really enjoys thinking about things like time management and productivity. I’ve been a fan ever since I read his book Do It Tomorrow and Other Secrets of Time Management seven years ago.

So of course I had to post here when I learned that today Mark released a new e-book, called The Pathway to Awesomeness: How to Get Things Done and Live a Productive Life. The book is comprised of blog posts he’s written over the last decade or so. I immediately bought it and have just started reading it. I’ve probably read four entries, and that’s enough for me to recommend it to you.

Each entry is short and digestible. Mark’s a prolific blogger and he’s plucked some real treasures out of his blog for this book.

The book’s divided into 14 sections, including:

• The Beauty of Simplicity
• Set the Right Kind of Goals
• Be Flexible, Not Enslaved!
• Manage Your Time to Stay Productive
• Avoid the Plague of Procrastination

If you’re in the mood to ponder such topics, then you’re in for a treat. And it will only cost you $6!

The book is available from Amazon US, Amazon UK and the publisher, Hyperink. On Hyperink, you can buy it in Kindle, iPad, Nook and PDF formats. (Be forewarned that transferring a book to your Kindle from Hyperink is more complicated than Amazon’s One-Click.)

The thing that amazes me about Mark Forster is intense curiosity in exploring subjects like these. I look forward to giving the book a good read.