Tag: to do lists

  • Get 10 More Hours Out of your Week

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    If you are a busy professional, then chances are you have more money than time. If you constantly feel like you need 30 hours in a day to get everything done then it is time to take a closer look at where you spend your time. What if I told you that you can get 10 more hours out of your week?  Get organized and be real about what can be done in a given day or week and you will stop the dread and get more done.

    The Law of Delegation. If someone can do the job 75% as well as you can, delegate it. This could apply to the office or your home. At the office, we often take the stance of it takes too long to train someone to do a task, so I will just do it myself. That is very short sighted. If you take the time to train a person, then that task will be off your plate forever. You can’t be penny wise and pound foolish with your time.

    At home it could be dry cleaning, mowing the lawn, making dinner, doing laundry, house cleaning, etc. House keepers, dry cleaning companies that pick up and deliver, yard service companies, personal chefs. They are available in all metropolitan areas to help you get these activities off your list. If you don’t need help year round, consider hiring help for just a few weeks or months to get you through busy times at work, during an illness/surgery or after the birth of a child.

    Time Blocking. If you want to get something done, it needs to be on your calendar. Most people have hopes for their week instead of a schedule. Everything that you do in a week should be on your calendar (except for maybe meals and bathroom breaks). You may even need to put sleep and exercise on your calendar to ensure that you are hitting your target amount.

    Daily To Do vs. Master To Do. Constantly looking at a long master to do list is daunting. If you have a day in the office (or at home) that you are dedicating to getting lots of smaller tasks done, I recommend creating a list just for that day. We always feel more accomplished when we get to cross things off a list and it will help keep you focused. Don’t put more on the list than you can reasonable get done in a day and don’t be aggressive. It feels much better to completely finish the list and pull more off the master list than to not finish.

    Keeping a master to do list of EVERYTHING that you need to get done will help take the pressure off having to keep all of that information in your brain. My master list has everything from fixing a dripping sink, buying lacrosse supplies for my daughter and sending a birthday card to making business calls and registering for a networking event.

    What’s for Dinner? That is the dreaded question of the day. Whether you have a family or not, this one seems to cause everyone stress. The biggest roadblock to healthy eating is poor planning. Take a few minutes to plan each week and do one grocery shop. If you are too busy, consider ordering groceries from peapod.com or hometownharvest.com. If even that is too much time, hire a personal chef like Shirlé at www.fourcornerscuisine.com

    Night before prep. Mornings set the tone for the day, so make them as stress-free as possible. Prepare your work bag, clothes, lunches and kid’s stuff the night before.

    Done, but not perfect. I love this mantra and I think everyone needs to adopt it (except for accountants doing tax returns). Don’t set yourself up for failure or waste precious minutes by trying to make everything perfect. Send the birthday card even if it is late, the recipient will still appreciate it. Bring store bought items to the picnic because you had a crazy week. Stop stressing about things that only matter to you!

    Say “No”. The main reason that we have too much on our plates is that we PUT too much on our plate. It seems simple, but it is the hardest thing to learn. Next time you are ready to say “yes” to something, consider what else in your life you are saying “no” to. I guarantee that you will feel better saying “no”, than you will only putting in 50% effort to the thing you said “yes” to.

    If you liked today’s post, you’re welcome to use it in your own newsletter or blog as long as you include the following blurb: Tara Rudo, Life Strategist, helps working moms and families focus on what’s important. Get our FREE weekly tips and advice at www.NoMorePiles.com.

    Image courtesy of arztsamui at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

  • Oops…I Forgot My Underwear

    You know how it happens. As mothers, we are in charge of packing everything for a vacation. We pack for our kids. We make sure that the clothes are all cleaned before we leave. We pack the food and entertainment for the trip. We make sure that the mail gets collected, the plants get watered, etc. AND….we have to pack for ourselves. Years ago I made a packing list for a basic trip. Unfortunately, time has passed and I am married with two kids and I have never sat down and updated my list. I made a new list for the kids and their stuff, but I never updated my own list. So, as I unpacked the suitcase of my stuff and the kids stuff when we arrived at Great Wolf lodge last week, I was shocked to find out that I didn’t pack a single pair of underwear for myself (LOL, right?).

    What makes this even funnier is that I never put underwear on my list. I never put it on the list the same way I never put ‘contact lenses’ on my list….they were a no brainer! What I have learned in this adventure (had to find a mall and buy some new underwear, pronto), is that with my mommy-brain in full swing there is no such thing as a no-brainer. Here is the valuable nugget that I want to pass along to all of you: Don’t depend on your brain!

    Lists exist so that you can idiot proof the packing process. They exist to take the stress out of remembering what you need to do. Here is a great basic site that you plug in a little information and it will give you a packing list: https://upl.codeq.info/. My recommendation to you is that you take this basic list and add or subtract anything that you notice is missing as you pack. Save that list and then you will have a template for your next trip. This will help you avoid the embarrassment of forgetting your underwear!

    If you liked today’s post, you’re welcome to use it in your own ezine or blog as long as you include the following blurb: Certified Professional Organizer, Tara Donohue Rudo, CPO, helps families, solopreneurs and mompreneurs focus on what is important. Get her FREE weekly tips and advice at www.NoMorePiles.com.

    Image: Suat Eman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

  • Procrastination is a Useful Tool

    As I was sitting in my office practicing the fine art of procrastination, I began thinking about why people (me included) procrastinate. I came up with two basic reasons:

    1. It is something that you just don’t like to do (or there is something you would rather be doing)

    2. It is something someone else told you to do

    I can DEFINITELY think of examples of these from my life! In fact, I have left this blog post several times to send emails and make myself a cup of hot chocolate. What I began realizing during this thinking session is that procrastination can actually be a really useful tool, if examined. Sounds crazy, but stay with me for a minute. First, make a list (or just look at your current to do list) of all the things you procrastinate about. Next, break them into two categories: things you don’t like to do OR things someone else told you to do.

    Now, let’s look at the second list first. If it is something that someone else told you to do then it probably means that a boss or co-worker (or husband/wife/partner) is involved. This could mean it is a really important item and it really needs to get done, but you have been putting it off because you don’t like being told what to do. Well, that is just your ego talking, so let’s move it to the first list. If it is not really important or someone was just dumping their unwanted stuff on your plate, then you need to decide if you want to fight this battle or not. Maybe you have been a doormat and allowed them to dump tasks on you for awhile and you need to stand up for yourself and have a sit down with them to work it out. Or maybe, it is something small and not worth the fight which means you need to move it to the first list. This list should now be empty because everything was either given back to the giver to deal with or moved to the first list.

    The fist list is now full of things that we just don’t like to do or just seem to always find something more interesting to do. We are now down to a problem of motivation, not living by your priorities or time management. There will always be things that we don’t want to do but since they are important to us so we need to find a way to motivate ourselves to get them done. I like to set a timer and say to myself that I will sit down for 30 minutes and work on X. After my 30 minutes, I can leave it alone until tomorrow and that makes the task less painful. I also use my favorite shows as rewards for completing dreadful tasks. If I finish X, then I get to watch Survivor or Top Chef.

    Some items on this list may be there because you said ‘yes’ to something that you really shouldn’t have. You weren’t living by your priorities and being real with yourself about the time you could devote to another task or activity. My advice is to ‘suck it up’, finish the task and put it down as a lesson learned. If you are a ‘yes’ person by nature, I HIGHLY recommend that you never say yes on the spot. Create a patent line that you use when asked to commit to something like, “I don’t have my calendar with me, so let me check my availability when I get home and get back to you”. If you are at work and your calendar is right in front of you try, “I have several projects working right now, but let me take a look at things and see if I can fit it in. I will get back to you later today”. This will give you time to really think about whether you WANT to put this on your to do list.

    These last few items on your procrastination list may still be sitting there due to poor time management. My excuse for leaving this blog post several times before its completion was that I “needed” to send a quick email (that turned into 4 emails). I was “really” thirsty and wanted something to drink. That it would only take a second to answer the phone, check my facebook, see if I got any new emails, etc. If I had just sat down and only opened my blog and written this post in one sitting, it would have been done in 15 minutes (or so, with editing). Instead, it took me an hour and 15 minutes. I know I am probably not the only person around that has suffered from this time management affliction, but if I had just done it, then I would have already moved on to a more enjoyable task and I would have stopped moaning and groaning over an hour ago.

    So, the moral of the story is that you can learn a lot about what you enjoy doing and what you are really passionate about from looking at your procrastination patterns. Next time you are saying ‘yes’ or signing up for something, take a good hard look about where they are going to end up on your list. Are they going to be at the top of your to do list? Or are they going to be at the bottom of your to do list for the next 3 months?

    If you liked today’s article, you’re welcome to use it in your own ezine or blog as long as you include the following blurb: Certified Professional Organizer, Tara Donohue Rudo, CPO, helps families, solopreneurs and mompreneurs focus on what is important. Get her FREE weekly tips and advice at www.NoMorePiles.com . Photo is courtesy of www.freedigitalphotos.net

  • When your schedule falls apart

    We have all had those days (or series of days) where nothing seems to go according to plan. Mine began this past friday morning when my 17 month old woke up with a fever and obviously felt terrible. Instead of me getting to the gym for my hour of Bodypump and going out to lunch with the kids and my in-laws, the kids and I spent all day sitting on the couch watching Nick Jr. Definitely not what I had planned! By the end of the day, my 3 year old was climbing the walls because he was tired of sitting around. My 17 month old still felt terrible and didn’t want to be set down. Here we are on Monday morning and things are starting to get back to normal, except that everything that I had on my agenda for Friday has gotten pushed to Monday and now there is twice the amount to get done.

    For whatever reason on any given day our schedules get derailed. It could have been a broken down car, an illness, traffic or the weather, but there are plenty things in our busy lives that can make our day fall apart. The key to getting through days like this is the remember:

    • Some things are just out of our control!
    • Don’t stress, most of the things on our to do list are not life and death items.
    • Tomorrow is a new day!

    From an organizational perspective, we now need to focus on what happens with today’s to do list when we get derailed.

    1. If there is something that ABSOLUTELY needs to get done today: delegate it or call in a favor to get it done. Have your neighbor give you a ride to the car repair place. Have a family member/friend watch the kids for an hour or two. Ask a co-worker, employee or even your boss to handle the situation. There is always a way to get something done if it really needs doing.
    2. Prepare yourself for a busy day when you are back in the swing.
    3. Reallocate some things on your to do list to other days so that you have a more reasonable amount of work to get done.

    The biggest thing to remember when you get a day (or two) like this is that, “this too shall pass”. It happens to everyone….even organizers!