Category: Calendar

Build a Staircase to Successful Adulting

8/24/2020

Imagine standing in the bottom of a deep pit, looking up and wondering how you will ever get out! Actually, most of us don’t have to imagine that...we experience it every time we look at our long To-Do lists and bulging calendars (assuming you even have those...not having them is more like realizing you’re at the bottom of a deep well but being unable to even see the sky). It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the only way out of a deep, dark pit of any kind is to climb out. You need a ladder, a rope, a staircase, or a lot of well-placed toe- and hand-holds. Then it’s just a matter of climbing one carefully-planned step at a time. Well, today I’m gonna teach you how to build yourself a staircase leading out of that pit of endless tasks, chores, projects and appointments that make up “adulting”.

As with building any sturdy, reliable staircase, the first step is always to set aside planning and building time. Constructing it in a slap-dash-as-you-go fashion will leave you with nothing but a rickety pile of lumber that could give way at any time, sending you back down to the bottom of the pit with potential injuries. So, if you don’t already have a calendar, get one. It can be an app you use on your phone/tablet or a good old-fashioned paper day planner...whatever works for you. Add to it a weekly appointment with yourself, preferably at a consistent time and in a quiet location with limited interruptions so that you can focus. Do not blow off this appointment...EVER! I know, I know...you’re busy...things come up...the kids never give you any peace and quiet. Just remember: you are stuck in a pit! Nothing can be accomplished--for anyone--until you manage to pull yourself out of it. So finding a way out should be your #1 priority!

During your first appointment, create a blueprint for your staircase by considering your hierarchy of life priorities. What’s at the top? Health and fitness? Time with family? Your career? Knowing exactly which side of the pit you want to emerge on will determine how you build your staircase, so it’s worth recording your hierarchy and referring back to it whenever you’re not sure how to prioritize. For more guidance on how to determine this, go back and read the Achieving Simplicity post from August 3, 2020.

Next, you'll need to gather all your building materials. This involves brainstorming about everything you think you might need to do this week. Include errands, chores, phone calls/emails, research, work and home improvement projects, appointments, volunteer work, meals, and all other commitments and responsibilities. This step will become easier in time as you gain a sense of which materials (to-do items) you really don’t need for your staircase and build up a stockpile of the ones you use each and every week. Keep a running task list that you continually add to as you think of new things.

Once you have a comprehensive list, identify the components you really don’t need and get them out of your way. In other words, delegate as many tasks as you reasonably can and eliminate or defer the optional things that don't align with your top priorities. (Here’s where that blueprint really comes in handy!) Where might you be able to relax your standards or expectations to make this climb a bit easier? What optional tasks can wait? By the way, relaxation time is not optional. While you may need to tweak how much of it you get from one week to the next, trying to make do without it is like building a staircase without any hardware. Eventually it will collapse under the pressure.

Now you just need to order your steps. Fill out your calendar and daily tasks lists while answering these questions:

What are the must-do, high-priority items? Do these as soon as you can to get them behind you.
Where can you use the “set it and forget it” (for now) strategy? Tasks like starting a load of laundry; sending an email that requires a response before you can move forward with next steps; setting up dinner in the slow-cooker before you leave for work, are all good candidates. Tee up the tasks that require only a quick action from you in the morning so that they can continue making progress without you while you work on something else.
Where are you likely to have pockets of wasted time during your day? Use them to your advantage! Bluetooth technology allows you to make phone calls or send important text messages while driving or doing the dishes. Check and respond to work emails while waiting at the doctor’s office. Put in your airpods and clean the bathroom or cook dinner while you’re on hold with the billing department. Fold a load of laundry while waiting for your kids to get ready to leave the house. (I get a lot done while waiting on King Holdon and Queen Waitaminute of Dillydally.)

Once you’ve completed your staircase, you’re ready to start climbing. But first, don’t forget a daily safety check. Each morning, consult your plan, just as you would double-check the reliability of each step before placing all your weight on it. If you discover a weak or missing tread up ahead, don’t panic...just replace it. It’s a whole lot easier to tweak your staircase as you go through your week, than it is to try to climb out of that pit without one.

Download our FREE Week-Ahead Planner to help you get started.

The best news is that the more staircases you build, the better and quicker your construction becomes. With a well-drawn blueprint and the right tools, building a staircase to any solution can be easy peasy.

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Take Command of Your Household

3/21/2015

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Running an efficient household requires some organization and lots of communication, especially in today's hectic world. In some ways, this has become easier with the advent of shared calendars, electronic reminders, to-do and shopping lists, and menu planning apps. But there's something to be said for leveling the playing field with an old-fashioned, low-tech solution that everyone in your household can access the same way. One has only to glance at Pinterest to see that household "command centers" are more popular than ever for keeping families connected and informed.

No two command centers are the same. Aside from being an effective means of communication and organization, yours should also reflect the personality of your family and blend in with the rest of your home, something that takes a little planning.

Here are a few tips for setting up an effective command center in your home:

Location, location, location - Finding the right spot is key. Ideally, you want a central spot, like the kitchen, where everyone will see it as they are preparing for the day ahead or near the most-used entrance/exit so that it is the first and last thing family members see as they are heading in or out the door.
Keep it simple - Nothing kills organization and communication like a cluttered, visually-noisy message board. You don't want vital information getting lost among a gazillion pieces of paper or important meetings overlooked on a crammed calendar. Give some thought to the most important components to include in your design, and consider the amount of space you have available to comfortably display each element.
Remember function over form - Obviously guests are going to see your command center if it's centrally located in your home, so you don't want it to be an eyesore, but as with all other organizing systems, you won't use it if it isn't easy to use. Therefore, take into account the mechanics of changing calendars, writing on whiteboards, pinning notes and reminders, etc. Make sure you can reach things adequately and easily maintain your system, whatever it is.
Consult your family - You may not need tonight's dinner menu posted, but the kids may want a few hours to get mentally prepared for liver night. Since this system is for everyone's benefit, make sure you design it in a way that will benefit everyone by asking for their suggestions on what to include.
Measure twice, drill once - It's helpful to create paper templates of each item and tape them to the wall in the layout you want before you put holes in the wall, just to make sure everything fits the way you envision it.

To get you started with a few ideas, here's what I've incorporated in my family's "Command Central". We were very tight on space, so I had to be selective in what I included:

Dinner Menu: I've included a spot for posting the weekly menu. To save space, I display only today's dinner (to warn the kids) and tomorrow's (to remind me what I need to thaw out or prep). The cards area easy to swap out and can be saved to give me meal ideas for future weeks.

Weekly Calendar:
My husband and I share a Google calendar, but I post just the key events and reminders for the coming week for the kids' benefit. I purposely chose to make this a "white board" (just a glass picture frame that can be written on with a dry erase marker) rather than a traditional-style calendar to give me more room to write in. I find that merely transferring the weekly highlights from my online calendar to the board helps me better focus on the week ahead.

Mail holder: I collect the mail and sort it immediately into a file system I have that works great, but occasionally my husband gets mail he needs to deal with himself. Rather than leave it lying around on a table for him to ignore, I put it in the top slot of the mail sorter. After several weeks in here, I feel I can safely throw it away, and it least it isn't getting in my way in the meantime. ;-)

I use the other slots for important/emergency phone numbers so that we don't have to look them up and for my kids who are at the age where I am just beginning to leave them home alone for short periods of time.

The full-year calendar (with paydates circled) attached to the front comes in handy for quick reference without consuming lots of extra space.

Key hooks: As you can see, we have a lot of keys, and we share many of them, so we needed a central spot for these. My husband also decided to hang his nail clippers here so that he can always find them!

I added a little decorative frame for a whimsical touch. Just because you're organized doesn't mean you have to be boring!

Utility Basket: We desperately needed a place for storing pens, pencils, scissors, and glasses, so I added a basket to the wall.

Family Identity: The whole concept of a command center underscores your household's need for unity, so why not display some items that symbolize who you are? In our case, "S" is for Sheridan, and we celebrate our Irish Catholic heritage by displaying an iron celtic-design cross.

Your command center should be as unique as your family is. Hopefully these ideas will give you the inspiration you need to take command of your household!

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Build a Staircase to Successful Adulting

Take Command of Your Household

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