3 Organizing Skills for a More Productive Work Day

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3 organizing skills for a more productive work day

 

Office workers waste an average of 40% of their workday.  Not because they aren’t smart, but because they were never taught organizing skills to cope with the increasing workloads and demands according to the Wall Street Journal Report

Does your workday evaporate and suddenly it’s the end of the day? Do you think you lack skills to manage quickly multiplying projects? Does your day feel chaotic rather than organized? It all comes down to learning skills for prioritizing, organizing and planning to help you manage your work and your work load.

 

Prioritizing: learning the skill of knowing what to do

There are many good ideas for your work. Not every idea has equal benefit. Some times these ideas can be linear in implementation and some times these depend on preliminary successes. Start by gathering all these ideas together in a list.

This is strategic planning time where you create a big picture of what will move your business forward. This planning can be accomplished annually or monthly with an overview of goals for the year and specific actions assigned to a month. Without this planning, you may be working on tasks that keep you from bigger accomplishments and increased revenue. With this planning you are prepared for the weeks, months and quarters ahead that yield the results you want to see.

On your planner, schedule this time on a mid-month morning for a monthly overview. You can use a dashboard with data to drive your assessment of successes and next steps for planning. This dashboard can be consolidated data from customer information, income and expenses and marketing information. By assessing your successes, you are celebrating and setting plans for next steps.

Intuitively you may know the priorities and may be ready to list these. However, an additional professional tip is that you may need to talk through your priorities to set these.  Having a list may not be enough to help you strategize. Partner up with a trusted colleague or advisor to help you sort through and sequence your list.

 

Organizing: learning the skill of when to do

Drill down to the specific tactics to gain traction on your plan.  Week by week specific tasks will accomplish this.  Set aside weekly planning time to be prepared for the weeks, months and quarters ahead. That weekly planning time should occur at the same time every week. Use time blocking during your weekly planning time to schedule these tasks.

With the best plan, limiting distractions is key.  Set a time in your day to check email and update information received by text or other communication. These distractions take time and energy away from your actual work.  If you find yourself low in energy, drink water or take a short walk outside or around the office.  At times a “warm up” is needed to move into a work flow.  Add time at the end of a work session to leave yourself notes on where you ended to jump start your next session.

 

Organizing: learning the skill of how to access and categorize resources

This is the most frequent flaw for work.  With multiple projects, you want to have outstanding organizing to find what you need when you are ready to work. This organizing pertains to how to access and categorize your resources and materials to work.  You will have to organize your resources and documents digitally and on paper. Set up your resources by the name of the projects and the name of the client. Create digital files for the documents that parallel paper files. These can be on your device desktop digitally and should later move to document files. Paper files can be easily accessed in a file cart or a physical desk top sorter.

 

Planning: learning the skill of tracking

Next, keep this plan easy to see and accomplish. There are many ways to organize this information.  Digital planners and apps such as Asana and Trello help you schedule your work, consolidate the information and keep you accountable with reminders.  Paper planners such as Planner Pad, Bullet Journal or Blue Sky week at a glance planners offer you visual support for your plan.  Write in and record as much as you can to keep you on track on your work. A professional tip is to color code your projects.  Color coding is instant recognition of a project. Use post it notes in colors that coordinate with each project or dry erase colored markers on a white board to keep your work easy to see.

 

Planning: learning how to manage multiple priorities and work as a team

Workloads are increasing exponentially. How we do keep going with more and more to do?

  • Collaboration with colleagues for a team approach. Your skills may not match the work requirements.  A colleague could help you learn a new skill and become more efficient.
  • Communication with your colleagues with real data on time allocation. Share the time it takes to accomplish a task so that those you work with know this information.
  • Delegation with an assistant can help you do the most important work.  Carefully delegate with small tasks leading to bigger tasks. Provide check points for your collaboration to ensure you are both on the same page.
  • Further planning to ensure your priorities are on track.

The skills of prioritizing, planning and organizing will all help you be more productive each day. In addition, remember to prioritize self-care to maximize your efficiency, your effectiveness and your productivity. It is most important to get a good night’s rest every night. By combining your new skills and priorities you will reap the benefits.

 

 

 

4 Ways to Build Structure and Boost Productivity while Working From Home

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Many of us have transitioned to working from home in the past year.  Working from home affords us benefits like flexibility throughout the day and easier commute. However some of these benefits make being productive more difficult for those with ADHD.  It’s easier to be distracted, schedules are less stable, and colleagues feel more isolated.   In order to be productive, those with ADHD need structure in their day and in their space.

Structure your schedule.

Having a structured day with certain times assigned to work boosts productivity.  Since your work day can expand beyond traditional hours while working from home, begin by limiting your workday. Set hours for you to begin and end work that align with your family. With ADHD you may feel the need to work longer hours because you have not accomplished tasks within traditional hours. Challenge yourself to work within these boundaries and use this time as if a timer were set.  By structuring your schedule you are also prioritizing the time for self-care. Adding self-care to your schedule, such as setting a nightly bedtime, is an added bonus for productivity.

 

Create structure in your work flow.

In an office environment outside your home, the routine of the day creates an external structure that keeps you on track. Create that structure with an beginning of the day, beginning of the work day, end of the work day and end of the day routine. Start the work day with the most important tasks first so you know you can get these done.  By creating routines, you will feel the flow of the day more naturally.

 

Delineate your home office space.

It’s easy to move from space to space in your home, while at work you have an assigned spot. Your home office should be one or multiple assigned places. When you have a structured space, you also have easy access to your resources. Your home remains organized because your resources are not scattered among several places.  Delineate your home office space to create structure for your work.

 

Create connection times throughout the day.

Isolation creeps in when working from home and that keeps you from being productive. There are many ways to connect while not in the office. Create connection times with a zoom coffee break. Begin meetings with time to connect with a two word check-in that describe how you feel before you get down to business. Parallel work with a partner while working on a project by setting a beginning and end work time.  There are many ways to stay connected virtually.

 

Creating structure for your day helps you be more productive as well as prioritize self-care. Take advantage of one of these strategies this week and learn the benefits.

 

How to Make Decision Making Easier

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how to make decision making easier

 

We hear a lot about decision fatigue right now. That is how many decisions we make each day and how we are overwhelmed by these. Make decision making easier with these key concepts. There are many ways to make this simpler and more effective.

 

Opinions matter

Making a decision comes from a variety of perspectives and opinions.  Getting opinions from a few others helps you make a decision easier with their help and thoughts. Encourage feedback especially if it is not in line with your original thoughts. Make sure you don’t overload your options and keep to 3 opinions to expedite your decision.

 

Small chunks and small steps

Big overwhelming decisions can be broken down into small chunks and small steps.  Break down the process into manageable steps that you can tackle over time. As you move forward with each decision, the next decision becomes clearer and clearer. It’s not always necessary to have a decision completely finalized.

 

Prioritize

Prioritize the energy and time for a decision. A breakfast decision is not the same priority level as business decision. Place time and energy where you get the most return for the most importance of the decision.

 

Limit choices

Too many options?  Begin by limiting these choices. The essence of a decision is choices. We avoid decisions when there are many choices.  Limiting choices can include having a rule about how many choices to have as options.

 

Trust your intuition

How are you feeling? What is your gut telling you? What is intuitive? These are the essence of trusting your intuition. That intuition can be your whole reasoning. Intuition affirms the decisions are make.

 

Go with truth and kindness

“Sometimes decisions are hard, not because one choice isn’t clearly better, but because the hard choice is also the right one, says Scott Young. The truth is always the best decision.  When decisions are complicated, often it is because we are avoiding a core value.  Remember we don’t have to like the best decision for it to be the right decision.

 

21 Self – Care Routines for 2021

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21 sekf-care routines for 2021
Each year I share routines that make life easier.  Routines are a foundation for time management, efficiency and productivity.  With that in mind, routines are top strategies to making time for what is most important.  These small steps also make it easy to concentrate on what is a top priority.

Why self-care?

Self-care is vital for our mental and physicial well being. Often routines are often the most difficult tasks to manage for those with ADHD.  And those with ADHD also struggle with self-care.  This year I wanted to start by reminding everyone about the little tricks that make life better.

What is self-care?

By definition, “Self-care is any activity that we do deliberately in order to take care of our mental, emotional, and physical health,” according to PsychCentral. These are routines that are intentional to help with mind, body and spirit rejuvenation.  This list of 21 routines will help you feel more in control of what is certain right now. As well, as you get started you will feel less anxious and more hopeful.

1. Get to bed at the same time each evening and get up at the same time each day to get your best rest.

2. Drink 2 glasses of water each morning to start hydrating.

3. Curate your news and social media to spend learning and not stressing.

4. Curate your friends and keep only the positive, empowering, supportive people as part of your tribe.

5. Curate your thoughts each morning with a personal mantra that speaks to your strengths and your successes.

6. Take time outside for a walk or 5 minute stroll for mental clarity.

7. Set a time to see your doctor and meet with questions prepared about your selfness.

8. You or a family member empty the sink of dishes each morning and evening.

9. Meal plan each week. Dinner together makes for happy families.

10. Do a tiny laundry load daily or 3 times a week.

11. Reset your home each Sunday in preparation for your week.

12. Host a family meeting each week for family communication and collaboration.

13. Tidy your room daily.

14. Keep a glass of water with lemon in it all the time.

15. Connect with your spirituality once a week.

16. Connect with a friend once a week.

17.Start each meeting with a personal & professional check in.

18. Give back by volunteering to help others.

19. Give back with donations to local charities.

20. Set a pause daily to reflect on gratitude.

21. Keep your calendar easy to see and easy to read.

Routines are difficult to maintain.  If you are at a loss, start with the first routine. That is a powerful self care routine that can make every day better.  If you want to start small, choose just one routine, practice it and let it sink in for you. If you have good routines already, perhaps one of these will add to your already good self care. Building routines are worth the effort to make life easier.

In Honor of Get Organized and Be Productive Month 2021 “How do I start getting organized?”

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January is National Get Organized Month. A new year energizes us to edit, refresh and pare down our homes.  Getting organized is always one of the top 3 new year goals.

 

Of all the questions that I am asked about organizing, the most common one is “how do I get started?”  With all our good intentions, and possibly more time because of COVID-19, it is common to have paralysis or procrastinate. Organizing can be overwhelming and difficult to get started because we don’t know where to or how to get started. Here are three recommendations to jump start your organizing this month.

 

Make it easy

Declutter as you go to make it easy to organize. Use a shopping bag to drop unwanted items into every day. Drop the bag off each week at a local philanthropy’s thrift shop. You are doubling up with decluttering and doing good work.

 

Set a date and a time to organize

Make an appointment with yourself and set a date to organize. It’s like all other appointments. Writing this date in your calendar makes you commit to getting started. Choose a time that is good with respect to low distractions and high energy level. Plan on multiple 2 hour sessions to work rather than an entire day or an entire weekend. If you still feel overwhelmed, plan on starting with just 15 minutes. In 15 minutes, you can clear your closet floor, shred papers from file folders and declutter a toy chest.

 

Get support for your efforts

Support is critical to getting started with an organizing project.  According to research, a major reason for not getting organized is not asking for help.  Teamwork makes it easier whenever you start any project. Look around for support with a “clutter buddy,” a friend who cheers you on and supports you making decisions.  Working as a team makes it easier to reach your goal. You can find support in a professional organizer, coach, or therapist who help you define new perspectives, create a plan and help you follow through with your work.

 

Have a compelling reason

Company coming is one of the most compelling reasons to get organized. However, there are many compelling situations that can motivate us. With the unexpected circumstances of the last three years, many of us are making a personal decision to live life through experiences not stuff. We want less to take care of at home to be able to enjoy and live life more fully. Having a personal, specific reason to get organized gets you started. Your compelling reason could be emotional well-being and less stress which are powerful starting points for you.

 

Make your intention a reality this year by taking the first steps in starting your organizing projects. Your sense of well-being will be the biggest benefit.

 

Working with a Professional Organizer: Same Day. Same Intentions. Difference results.

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working with a professional organizer

 

Because of COVID-19 we have lately had more time to declutter and organize our closets. We have the best intentions, however it is hard to get started and still harder to let go of items.  We may have the skills to declutter and organize like professional organizers.  What we are learning is that it was not necessarily a matter of how much time we have.  It is a matter of procrastination. It’s easy to put off getting started and getting organized.  Here is a tale of the same day with the same intentions with different outcomes. Names were changed to keep client confidentiality.

 

Working without the support of a Professional Organizer

Sandy knew that it was time to let go of professional attire and suits.  For weeks she had told friends she intended to organize her closet.  Finally, she set a date on her calendar to work in her closet. At 9 am she walked with a friend. At 10 am she called another friend. Continuing on with the day, she continued to procrastinate. Before she started, she offered to drive her cousin to work, offered to practice driving with her daughter, and ordered lunch. She texted to find out when the nail salon would be open.  Finally at 2 pm she started editing.

Decluttering was harder than Sandy thought.  It was much harder and taking more time. There were many items that did not fit so these were easier to declutter and donate.  Sandy would pull out an item only to put it back. After two hours, Sandy took a break to assess. She had 3 bags to donate. She was not making the progress she wanted to make and felt discouraged.

 

Working with the support of a Professional Organizer

My client and I set a date and determined we would meet for a 3 hour session to organize closets. After discussing the goals and taking a tour of the closets, we decided that best place to start would be a place where clothes have been stored rather than edited.  The client admitted that it was easier to move the clothes to another closet than eliminate.  We started working in auxiliary closets that are in spaces for less frequently worn clothes.  We pulled each item out to review whether it was in good condition and still fashionable.  We started to declutter and after 2 hours had over 250 items to donate to local charities.

This strong start to decluttering led to organizing the remaining items. We grouped the clothes by short sleeve, long sleeve, sweater and suits.  Then, we placed the items accordingly in 2 closets.  Donation places will be open soon so I took the clothes with me to drop off at local philanthropies.  The entire process took 3 hours to start, finish and exceed the client’s goals.

 

What’s the result

When we invest time and energy in decluttering and organizing, we want big results. Working with a professional organizer helps you accomplish your goals efficiently and productively.

  • Having a professional organizer with you, it’s easier to let go of more items.  The gentle pressure of another person guiding you helps you make decisions.
  • A professional organizer helps you get started and finish up.  There’s no procrastinating with a professional organizer working along side you. Because items leave at the end of the session, there is no regret or back sliding.
  • Bonus of organizing! We found some treasured keepsakes too! In one closet was a cherished cub scout uniform to pass along after taking photos.

 

Regardless of motivation and intentions, working alongside a professional organizer has multiple perks.  We are here to help and support you throughout the decluttering and organizing process! Accomplish your goals and get the results you want when you work together.

 

 

 

 

7 Simple Organizing Tips To Keep Life Moving Forward

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7 simple organizing tips to keep life moving forward

Life keeps moving. It’s moving fast and it’s easy to get bogged down, especially with our new normal. Your fatigue, anxiety, extra time spent resolving a challenge or a regular work week can get you behind in organizing and staying organized. Here are simple organizing tips to keep you organized on a regular basis.

 

Get through daily paper work and mail.

Paper is can paralyze us with so much paper coming in. Set up recycle and shred to easily sort the mail daily or at minimum weekly.  It takes 5 minutes daily or 30 minutes weekly to do a quick sort and triage.

Have a grocery plan and a dishes plan.

Food makes everyone happier! It takes a few extra minutes to order online, however you are saving time and money in the long run.  Make your grocery plan on the weekend so that it can arrive before the week starts.

Paper plates have a new sparkle if you are not getting your dirty dishes done each night. Create partnerships within your family to load, unload, and clean up each night after dinner. That includes taking out the trash.  Your future self- that’s tomorrow’s self- will appreciate this more than you can imagine.

Check your calendar each morning and evening.

Our best plans can turn against us without checking our calendar each day.  It’s a good start and end to the day to be organize, prepared and proactive.  Add tasks, appointments and projects all the time to your calendar to keep it current in real time.

 

Have a donation bag available all the time.

When you try on something and decide it’s scratchy, the wrong color or too hard to keep from wrinkling is the time to drop it into your bag. We drive by drop off sites all day and simply bring the bag to your car and drop off when it is full.  You will find it is much easier to do the laundry with fewer clothes too.

 

Keep laundry moving

I have seen loads of laundry washed and dried, yet not back to the closet or dresser.  Break loads into smaller units to get that final step complete. Set up your laundry room for success!

 

Host a daily home and work reset

We wish we had a magic want to get all the items and papers back to where they belong.  Since we don’t  have that wand, we need a daily reset at both home and work. That’s where your family comes in to partner with you here.

 

Self-care is a daily priority

Self-care looks like a lot of different things in our lives. It’s going to be on time, exercising, eating healthy, taking a shower, reading a magazine or facetime with friends. Whatever self-care looks like to you, be sure you are keeping it a priority every day.  We need to laugh, get outside and get to bed to be our best selves.

 

It is hard to keep all these organizing maintenance tasks going. If you find a lapse in one in particular, focus on that for a week. It is also easier once you have your family on your team too.

The Value of Transition Time

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Transitions are a part of every day life. There’s big transitions, like going on vacation.  As well there are little transitions all day with text alerts, or changing the laundry while making dinner or working on a project and answering a phone call. Whether it is coming and going to work or school or starting or ending a vacation, these times can be especially challenging with ADHD. It’s not easy to switch between tasks.  Set-switching, the official name for transitions, is an aspect of self regulation, intertwined with time awareness, hyper focus, indecision and procrastination.  The value of transition time, the time between tasks, meetings and family, gives you time to reset and get ready for what’s coming next. For people with ADHD, this is especially valuable.

 

Build in and write in transition time

Take your awareness of the need for transition time to the next level by building this time into your schedule. You can do this by adding slots of time into your planner. Think through the time needed to transition as it is not all the same. To transition after a meeting, add 10 minutes between meetings and your next task. Add 30 minutes if you want to finalize notes and organize your action plan. For zoom meetings plan on logging on 10 minutes early. Write in the travel time between in person appointments and add a cushion. That means that you will likely be on time or possibly early. Adding in this time lowers your stress too.

 

Create transition rituals

We can use physical rituals that happen during transitions. No matter if the meeting is in person or zoom, we need time to reset after a meeting. Make it a habit to walk around the office of your work from home office to reset your thoughts and give yourself a physical break.

Movement and breathing can be physical ways to transition. Stretching and deep breathing give us a lift as we move to the next activity.

You can pair a ritual with a transition.  If you always have tea with your task, you can pair up to ease the transition.

 

Use technology to create a buffer

Technology can helping us prepare and transition to the next activity.  We can use the “Countdown Method” with multiple reminders set to alert to transition. Setting multiple reminders on your smart devices and home digital assistants reminds you a transition is about to happen.

 

Add structure

Giving yourself permission to stay on a task for a duration of time is a strategy too.  If you have assigned a single task to a day, such as Financial Friday, then you have permission to keep on that task all day.

Time blocking adds structure to your transition as well. This happens when you set aside to do specific work at a specific time. By deciding ahead of time the assignment, you can transition in another time block without making an additional decision. You are freed up to do the work rather than decide what is the next transition.

 

 

Work from home tips

While we are currently working from home, you need stronger transitions to help you work productively and create a boundary between home and work. Here are a few suggestions to create a transition time during your work from home time.

  • Walk the dog
  • Drink a glass of water
  • Add analog clocks to important transition locations
  • Create work boundaries with alarms to end the day

 

Incorporating transition time is a work in progress. Keep it in mind as you start these new strategies.

How I use the Notes App

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How I use the notes app

 

Of all the apps that are on our phones, the Notes app is frequently our default app to use.  Most of my clients have used the Notes app to capture thoughts, ideas, information and passwords.  There is tons of information in this app.  However we can add a level of organization to using Notes app that will give it more function and organization.  There are many ways to use this app for lists, routines and notes.  Here is how I use the Notes app.

 

General information about Notes app

  • As you enter the first line, that line because the name of the list. It is in bold font for this reason.
  • Notes app has a search function and you can find your list this way with the name of the list on the top line.
  • Notes app is cloud based and can be accessed by all your devices for free.
  • Note app can be shared with others to create and use lists together.
  • Notes can be printed, shared by email or text, and locked for privacy.
  • Photos can be pasted into individual notes or as a note.
  • If you press lightly inside a note, a pop up with font options appears.

Lists

The Notes app is easy to use for lists.  Add lists would you like to have with you all the time. General lists include shopping, grocery, kids’ clothing and shoe sizes, Christmas list, air filter dimensions, medication list or any list you want to reference while out shopping, at a meeting, at a doctor’s office or away from home base. The lists I use most frequently are for business. There is a consignment list for that three month time, action lists for particular clients and a list of favorite products I share frequently with clients.

 

Routines and Reminders

Notes app can be a daily routines and reminders list with check lists.  Add a list of routines with a check circle starting each item of your list.  (Find that check circle on the bottom right of your device while working in the Notes app.) Create the list of what you want your routine to include or a series of reminders for a specific task.  As you check off, you won’t forget tasks.  Un-check the circles at the end of your work or when you have completed this series of routines.  Repeat and use again and again.

 

Notes

Depending on your typing ability, Notes app is a great choice to take notes during for personal reference, during meetings and to capture ideas.

  • Notes app can be used to reference materials of all types.  Gathering information and consolidating it can be done here.  Be sure you add a title as the top line to find your information. My clients are information seekers and like to have access to this.
  • Meeting notes are easy to find and review.  When I meet with clients, I listen, take notes in this app and share these with clients.  At the top of the note I add the name, date and session number of our meeting. It helps us track our actions and remain accountable to planning.
  • Wonder where to keep your big ideas?  It’s here within this app. I love that as you add information, the cloud keeps this updated.
  • Each year I highlight my big accomplishments. The list is named 2020 Highlights. I add to this list throughout the year and check it at the end of the year. It’s fun to see this from previous years too.

 

Over the years as I have used the Notes app more strategically. The more I use it, the more I love it!