Bring Home More Bacon

Save time and money at the grocery store by creating a list of items that you always need… or want.

Be realistic – if you’re always trying to cut down on sweets and eat more vegetables, make sure to include some healthy dessert so you don’t stock your fridge with rotten veggies and sneak out for late-night ice cream runs.

Make it easy: Keep your shopping list on a bulletin board near the kitchen and attach a pen on a string. Save the list in a Word document on your computer desktop and print out a couple of copies to tack on the bulletin board.

Don’t rely on your memory: Write down items that you need as soon as you think of them. If you get in the habit of doing this, your cupboards will always be stocked with everything you need.

One Step at a Time

It’s important to start the morning with an objective for the rest of the day day – a one sentence declaration of what you think you can accomplish in the next 24 hours.

For me, today’s plan was the usual: sit at a coffee shop with all the other laptop junkies and get as much work done as I possible. The question on my mind in this situation is always… how much is it possible to get done in a day?

So, this morning, I had this ah-ha moment while I was brushing my teeth. Not quite Newton with the apple, but genius in it’s own way. I realized that there’s a scientific formula for a productive day. It’s Simplicity+Reward=Productivity First, you must answer the question, “What is the one thing that if I accomplished today would make me feel totally satisfied?” The answer will probably come to you right away – it’s that nagging feeling of guilt and procrastination that you’ve been carrying with you for a couple weeks. How great would it feel to let that go?

Make sure it’s a task small enough to realistically pull off before midnight. Start small, and you’ll be able to celebrate sooner. And, of course, if the project that’s nagging at you is a huge undertaking, break it up into smaller pieces. What part of that project can you finish today? If you want to re-tile your bathroom, but haven’t even started choosing the color of tile that you want, start there. Or better yet, start with a trip to the tile store, just to browse around. No pressure. The hard part is getting out of the “what if” stage. Once you’re actually in front of a book of tile samples, you’ll be totally inspired to do the rest.

So you have the the first part of the formula. Write it down. What is the one thing that is weighing on your conscious, making you feel too guilty to enjoy a day off?

12-Step Program

If you keep finding your “To Do” list buried under a pile of old bills – and you’re having trouble getting things accomplished – you could use some age-old wisdom discovered by the ancient Egyptians. It’s over 5000 years old – but still pertinent today. It’s called a calendar.

In my Organizing businesses, clients often ask me if I have a formula to help get things done – and I do – but I always make a joke about this “mysterious ancient Egyptian formula” that can help them accomplish their goals.

The calendar is a great tool for breaking long-term goals into smaller, more “doable” tasks. Answer these questions below, and then follow them for 12-months, and you will achieve your goal for the year.

1. Grab a piece of paper and answer the question – what would you like your life to look like on July 2nd, 2010? Be as descriptive and detailed as possible – fill the entire page. Will you be living in the same place? Working at the same job? What would be the best possible situation? Keep it realistic enough to be achievable, but don’t play it too safe. This is the life that you want to work towards in the next couple of months.

2. Next, take the paragraph that you’ve written and underline the “active sentences”… choose sentences that contain goals that you can work toward. For instance, underline a sentence “I want to travel to Italy,” because going to Italy is a goal.

3. Next, make a list of the goals that you underlined, and leave space for numbers 1-4 beneath each goal. For instance:

Travel to Italy:

Then begin writing the smaller steps that you will need to take to accomplish this goal. With the “Travel to Italy” example, you can write:

Travel to Italy:
a. Calculate the total amount of money I will need for the trip and divide it by the number of months before I want to travel. This will be the monthly amount that I need to save.
b. Set up a separate bank account to save for the vacation with automatic withdrawal of the monthly amount that I want to save.
c. Buy a travel book about Italy.
d. Subscribe to a blog about Italy to stay current with restaurants and entertainment.

Once you get started writing the list – you’ll probably find many more than 4 bullet points!

4. Break your larger goal into 12 steps – one for each month. You will be surprised at how easy it is to accomplish one goal a month… and how fast the time flies!

5. Write each goal on the last day of each month on a calendar with a reward  for accomplishing it. Make the reward something that you never allow yourself to do. This will give  instant-gratification while you’re patiently working toward a long-term goal.

Time Travel

I bought this travel checklist from Knock Knock
http://www.knockknock.biz/catalog/categories/pads/classic-pads/pack-this-pad.

I’ve used it for several vacations now, and finally ready to post a review about it.

Honestly, I think it’s a little overwhelming. When I first bought the list, I was excited about the prospect of remembering every single detail of things to pack for a vacation. There are about 17 categories and  over 100 sub-categories on the list of things to pack. I don’t think there’s a single item that isn’t on the list.

Earplugs, umbrella, reading glasses… Yup. I’d be surprised if you missed a thing – with this notepad perched beside your suitcase.

Although, after using this list a couple of times – I’m starting to get annoyed. Especially last Thursday, when I was taking two duffel bags to Portland – one for my computer and books, and another for clothes. 3 days and 288 miles later,  I’ve decided I don’t need an 100 item list for every time I leave town.

I mean seriously:  pantyhose? nail polish remover?

Instead, I sat down at my computer and started typing what I really need into a Word document. Here’s what I kept:

• I like the space to list special events, because it reminds you to think about whether you need to pack clothes for special occasions – maybe your “fancy clothes” are too sexy for grandmother’s birthday party, so you should bring a cleavage-covering scarf. Or your brother always wants you to go hiking and your jogging shoes always get dirty. You can prepare in advance for occasions when you can’t run home to change clothes.
• The Local Weather section is an excellent reminder to check forecasts. You might actually need an umbrella for San Diego – or sunglasses for Portland, Oregon.

I made two separate lists – one for a weekend getaway, and another for longer vacations. I’m sure I will modify them and create new packing lists for each type of vacation. Hopefully, one for India in the next coming year!  Stay tuned…