When you think about a calm weekday, what comes to mind? This is a day when you aren’t on vacation. It’s not the weekend. Just a normal day. A day without overwhelm. You aren’t “crazy busy”. The day is calm. Productive. Full. Fun. Calm. What does this day look like?...
There is a lot written about using Friday afternoon as a time to wrap up tasks for the week and plan for the week ahead. The theory is that this is the time of the week when things are winding down for the weekend and we aren’t at our best for deep work and...
I read a blog post from Cal Newport that referenced an article by Dan Kois in Slate. The article discussed how Gen X and Boomers remember a time when there weren’t laptops, cell phones, and readily available internet enabling us to take our work home with us. In the...
We all have due dates. Many times, we are working right up to the deadline to get things finished. I was listening to a podcast where someone mentioned they schedule both due dates and “do” dates. This intrigued me. My Perspective I’ve had several posts suggesting...
The last few weeks, process and systems have been on my mind. At work, departments often have processes so that the approach to the work is consistent. These processes should also make the work quicker over time because the process to do the task becomes familiar....
There are a lot of sayings about time and money. Time is money. Time is something money can’t buy. The list could go on. Yet, I think one of the biggest points when the comparisons are drawn between the two is that time is finite while money is infinite. You can...
Sometimes in work or life we find ourselves “down a rabbit hole”. What we mean when using this metaphor is that we started on one project or piece of research, got sidetracked with some additional information and then started to explore other connections and related...
A podcast the other day mentioned a James Clear quote from his book Atomic Habits. “You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fail to the level of your systems.” James Clear This got me thinking about all the systems we use each day to get our work done. ...
Sometimes our perception of time speeds up and other times it slows down. There has been a lot of research on why this happens. Our emotions, priorities, and age all factor into the equation. Here are a few examples of speeding and slowing time. When we...
In May, Seth Godin had a post on his blog that really struck me titled Chores. There was one statement toward the end that summed up the idea perfectly. “The truth is that if we stop doing chores, we have to do real work instead. The things that aren’t...
There are a lot of benefits to the routines that give our lives structure. They streamline our tasks. Let us navigate responsibilities with ease. Provide calm and stability to our days. Yet, they also lead us to live on autopilot. We go through the motions without...
When we think about our work, there are times for input and times for output. The input moments are the times when you are taking in information. This could be doing research for a project, attending meetings, coordinating with others, or reading a book or...
Our days are full of schedules and to do lists. We have them in both our work and personal life. Days are spent transitioning between the schedules and lists. When we do have a minute to take a breath, we often fill the time with a screen of some type. This was...
Time confetti is a concept coined by Brigid Schulte in her book Overwhelmed. The term is used to describe all the bits and scraps of time that pull us in lots of directions. As a result, we are rushing from one little thing to the next. When life is full...
Time is often associated with words that are used to describe money or financial situations. One example is the concept of time windfalls. Moments when you are time affluent and can spend time on things beyond your day-to-day responsibilities. Research in...
As we think about physical bins and containers for our homes, we look for that perfect size. We want everything to fit. However, if the bin is too large, we still find a way to fill it over time. This perspective can go beyond the physical things we own and apply to...
Word pairs are such a great way to learn more about how we approach the world. They can also help us realize how others may approach the same thing differently. The segmenter vs. integrator pair considers both time and space. SEGMENTOR: A segmentor wants to...
Advice often given by time management experts is to put space in your calendar for unexpected events. A project has gone off track. A team conflict to resolve. A quick turn client request. A sick child that needs to be picked up at school. The list could go on....
Today is National Simplicity Day. The day honors the life of Henry David Thoreau and advocates a life of simplicity. While Thoreau lived in a world without the distractions of today, this thought still rings true. “Our life is fritted away by detail…Simplify,...
Many take vacations during the time between the 4th of July and Labor Day weekend. Some take long trips with their family and friends. Some take Fridays off making every weekend a long weekend. Others take random days to go to a baseball game, zoo, water park, or...
Most focus on social media these days are the downsides. We mindlessly scroll losing hours of our day. We feel depressed comparing ourselves to others “perfect” social lives. We can become more isolated and shut off from the real world. The list can go on. What we...