Goals

One of the things I’ve done recently is set some goals for myself. I’ve always had goals, but they’ve usually been vague ideas - I wanna lose weight, I wanna get in shape, I wanna get organized, I wanna speak Spanish, I wanna play piano. Yadda yadda yadda.

As I have learned the hard way, there are a couple of major problems with having only  vague ideas as goals.

How do you keep track of your goals?   At any given time, I have so many things I want to do that I can’t even name them all.  I’m like a magpie. Something shiny catches my attention and I drop the worm I just worked so hard to dig out of the ground to flit after whatever-the-shiny-thing-is.  Case in point: this blog! I have wanted to have a blog for years. I’ve doodled with blogging. I’ve got a handful of subscribers, even (yay!), but I haven’t kept the blog going on a steady pace. Something else came along and I just forgot to blog.

How do you know when you’ve actually achieved a goal?   When I started this blog, I never thought through exactly what I wanted to do with it, or how many posts per week I wanted to do, or how many readers I wanted to have. The end result of my poor planning was that I never knew if my blog was “good enough” to keep going.

The cure for the No-Goal Blahs!   Recently I took part in a 30-Day Challenge created by Chalene Johnson. Chalene is an exercise coach/motivational speaker who is most famous as the creator of TurboJam and TurboFire, as well as several  other exercise programs. Chalene not only advocates writing down goals,  she twists it just a little and has you write down your major goals once a week, every week, forever.  And then, she says to  look at the list EVERY DAY.

Wow. Such a little thing, but so powerful.

I thought I knew what my goals were, but over the past few weeks they’ve evolved and crystallized in ways I didn’t anticipate.  I’ll talk about my goals and progess in later posts.

Chalene’s 30-day Challenge is located here: http://www.chalenejohnson.com/products-page/product-category/30-day-challenge/ (I have no affiliation with Chalene, other than being a fan!)

She also has a new book called Push: 30 Days to Turbocharged Habits, a Bangin’ Body, and the Life You Deserve.  I put a link on my Amazon recommended list on the right side of the screen, if you're interested.

Starting over. Starting fresh. Not abandoning my dream!

I have been away from my blog for a long, long time. I could let it become just another in a long list of projects I’ve started and abandoned. Or I could suck it up and make my dream a reality.

What was my original dream for my blog, anyway?

When I started writing, I wanted to share things that have helped me become a better person. My life has been spent fighting my chronic procrastination and defeating the Demon Disorganization. I look successful to everybody else, but I always feel like a failure inside. And so, I was thinking –

• Maybe other people feel the same way?
• Maybe I have things to say that could help other people?
• Maybe I can share ideas, projects, or products that have helped me?

And so, here I am again.

Starting over.

Starting fresh.

NOT ABANDONING MY DREAM.

Getting Things Done

I recently re-read an organization book that still intrigues me, Getting Things Done by David Allen. The book is already a classic and its productivity methods have spawned a multitude of websites devoted to all things GTD. Some people seem to be obsessive-compulsive about GTD, especially the technology crowd. In a way, some of the websites I’ve seen remind me of the Star Trek “Trekkie” crowd in their freaky devotion to the method.

Freakiness aside, I have to admit that for the normal working mom there’s a lot of common sense in the GTD system. Here are the basic steps:

Collect – This is a fancy way of saying “write everything down.” And boy, does Mr. Allen mean everything. The whole point of GTD is to capture every single task that you need to do now or ever want to do in the future into one place. That way, your brain isn’t constantly stuffed full of “I need to” or “I want to” thoughts. (My personal thought is that this collection process is very similar to the list that Rita Emmitt suggests in her book, The Procrastinator’s Handbook.)

Process – In other words, go through all the stuff on your list and decide what you’re going to do about each item. Basically, you’ll either decide that things are still relevant or no longer worth completing. If a task will take less than 2 minutes, you just do it on the spot. If it will take longer, it stays on the list.

Organize – This step forces you to categorize your tasks and decide what the next action on each project should be. The next action concept has been helpful to me. Sometimes I really want to do things but procrastinate because the project seems overwhelming. Breaking things down into smaller steps somehow makes things seem more manageable.

Review – I must admit, so far I’m a failure at this step. To keep the GTD system working, it’s imperative to go over your whole list at least once a week and track your progress on each item. I’m getting better at collecting, processing, and organizing, but I let things slip through the cracks because I don’t keep track of where I’m at on all my projects. I pretty much procrastinate on my weekly review until things go so haywire that I have to start all over again at step one – collect.

Do – Alas, this step sounds so simple yet is so hard. I love to READ about doing things, and THINK about doing things, and PLAN to do things. I don't always love to DO THINGS, though.

The goal of the GTD system is to develop a concrete to-do list that you can refer to at any given time. Of course, as a procrastinator, knowing what to do isn’t the hard part. Getting myself to actually do what I need to do sometimes feels like mission impossible.

Of course, this is a drastic oversimplification of the GTD system. If you’re interested, the book is worth your time. Or if you want to read all about it for free, there’s an overwhelming amount of information on the internet devoted to all things GTD.

Happy collecting/processing/reviewing/and most importantly - DOING!

I’ve spent some time this week looking back over 2008. Last January, I set myself three specific goals: get organized, clean up my house, and send family birthday cards on time. I have to admit, the birthday card thing went by the wayside early in the year. For the most part, though, I’m happy with what I’ve accomplished. My house is in much better shape than it was last year at this time. My office is reasonably organized. I’m learning to make lists and track my commitments on paper instead of relying on my overburdened brain cells. I admit that things aren’t perfect, but the improvements I’ve made are starting to accumulate.

I realized today that I love the end of the year. This is a season of joy and promise, a time to make crazy resolutions and promises to improve myself. Like most people, I’m thinking about making a new set of resolutions for the coming year. Before I commit to anything, though, I want to share what I learned in 2008:

Don’t let “things” rule your life. During the past year, I have learned that if I don’t control my stuff, then it will control me. I was constantly berating myself, even though the negative feelings should have been aimed at my overstuffed cabinets, crammed closets, and junky drawers. In the past few months, I’ve sold, given away, or donated literally hundreds of items, from clothes to dishes to Christmas decorations. And do you know what? I’m less stressed out and much happier with myself, and I can’t think of a single thing that I miss.

Control what comes into your house. I’ve learned to stop and think about things before I even buy them. Do I really need the item? Do I have room to store it? If I decide to take it home, I make sure to have an appropriate storage location and container planned in advance. Above all, I’ve learned how important it is to control junk mail, newspapers, and magazines. Just because the post office delivers handfuls of clutter to my house every day, nobody says I have to keep it.

Be patient but persistent. As much as I might want to make a change, I have to keep in mind that everything takes time. My house was a disaster zone, but it had taken years to achieve that level of slobbiness. There was no way I was going to change overnight, no matter how hard I tried. Putting my life and my house back in order has taken me months, and while I’m nowhere near done, I have made an awful lot of progress.

If you mess up, don’t give up. Just like bad habits form over time, new habits take a while to develop. If I find myself slipping back into my old, bad habits, I don’t immediately give up on myself like I used to. Instead, I ask myself what went wrong, what can I learn from this mistake? Then I make an adjustment if necessary and move forward with a positive attitude.

What have you learned this year? I'd love to hear...
Happy New Year, everybody!

Am I Hard-Wired to Crave Organization?

I’ve been attending mandatory training this week as part of my recent promotion. One of the instructors, Bill Jeffries, gave an interesting presentation about the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). I’ve read about personality testing before and have always been skeptical of anybody who claims to be able to predict human behavior. At first, the MBTI profiles sounded sort of like the Zodiac signs. Ever notice how a billion people read the same horoscope in the morning, but no two people have exactly the same day? However, I actually learned a little about myself during Mr. Jeffries’ class.

As it turns out, I’m an ISTJ, one of the most dutiful and boring of all the 16 personality types. Well, maybe I’m being a little hard on myself. Here’s a report summarizing the ISTJ personality: http://www.geocities.com/lifexplore/istj.htm

For me, the most eye-opening quote in the whole profile is this: ISTJs “pride themselves on their organization, yet often think it is still not quite good enough.”

Well, well, well. The whole point of this blog is that I’m trying to get better organized and I’m not getting it done to my satisfaction. Hmmm. Now that I’m armed with this new level of self-awareness, what will change? Not much, probably. But at least I know why procrastination and disorganization drive me crazy.

I found a test on the internet that gave me a similar result as the one from class. Here’s a link, if you’d like to give it a try: http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp

I’d love to hear what your profiles are. After all, if you’re bothering to read this blog, you and I must have something in common. Are we just hard-wired to crave organization? Will anything we accomplish ever be good enough to make us happy?

Get a Card Cubby (and Save a Little Piece of Your Sanity)

Isn't it funny how the simplest inventions can sometimes make the biggest difference in your life? I stumbled across an advertisement for the Card Cubby in a national magazine a few weeks ago and ordered one on a whim. I've been using it for over a month now and I absolutely love it.

What in the world is a Card Cubby, you ask? Well, it's sort of a cross between a wallet and a file sorter. It has plenty of room to hold not only credit cards, but also frequent shopper cards, blood donor cards, insurance cards, business cards, prepaid phone cards - you name it. Everything gets filed in alphabetical order and is immediately accessible at a moment's notice.

Imagine stopping by the deli to grab lunch and being able to present your frequent diner card to be stamped. Or remembering to spend that gift card from last Christmas because it was filed neatly away under the store name. Or being able to get 50% off your dry cleaning bill because you kept up with the coupon from the Sunday paper. Woo hoo, it doesn't take much to make a crazy working mother happy, does it?

Do yourself a favor - buy yourself a Card Cubby. And guys, remember that Christmas is coming up. At only $24.95, a Card Cubby is an inexpensive gift that your wife, mother, or sister would appreciate for years to come.

To see what I'm talking about, go to www.cardcubby.com and enter code number CC209 for a 10% discount. You'll be glad you did!

Need Help Focusing?

As you can tell by the length of time since my last post, I haven't been writing for a while. Not for fun, anyway. I have to write at my day job, but sometimes I just can't concentrate, no matter how hard I try. Maybe it has something to do with being a sleep-deprived, 42-year old working mother of a 4-year old?

One day a few weeks ago, I was surfing the web looking for something, ANYTHING, that would help me focus on the report I was writing. I stumbled across this interesting website that advertises music that can stimulate your brain, raise your IQ, and help you acheive peak mental performance. All this, and it’s LEGAL.

I read everything on the website and decided it looked at least pseudo-scientific. Classical Music has always been believed to stimulate the brain, but this music has been infused with tones and pulses that act on the brain to create specific brainwave patterns. Through sound, the brain is essentially coaxed into different patterns to help with concentration, relaxation, creativity, even sleep.

It sounded wonderful, but the price tag seemed high and I didn’t buy it. Armed with a little knowledge, I surfed around and found that someone named Dr. Jeffrey Thompson was famous for producing similar music CDs. You can probably tell by now that I'm an endlessly curious creature who loves to dabble with new things. I decided I had to try it, so at lunch I threw caution to the wind and drove over to the local Barnes and Noble.

That afternoon, I popped the discs into my computer, plugged in my headphones, and starting writing. The music seemed distracting at first, but I kept plugging away. When the CD ended I realized I’d been writing non-stop for almost an hour. The rest of the afternoon, I kept up my concentration and finished the report in record time. I hadn’t been that focused in a long, long time.

Placebo effect, you ask? Maybe, but the thing is, the music still works for me. So much so that I’ve bought several more selections. I’m being sincere when I say that the music helps me, especially when I’m writing. I can slowly go from being a fuzzy-headed, coffee-swilling mess to a writing machine. Sometimes when I close my eyes and concentrate on how my body feels, I think I can feel the music pulses inside my brain.

I know, I know, I sound like a kook. But if you’re an of-a-certain-age woman like me, who’s willing to acknowledge that you need a little mental help, you might think about trying out one of these music CDs. What do you have to lose?