Paper Doll
Use the Rule of 3 to Improve Your Productivity
It’s Monday — the first Monday of a new month, of a new quarter, and the last quarter of the year. It may suddenly feel like a lot is riding on getting things crossed of your list so you can make those dreams come true before 2023 is in the rear-view mirror.
RECAPPING THE ESSENTIALS OF TACKLING YOUR TO-DO LIST
Back in May, in Frogs, Tomatoes, and Bees: Time Techniques to Get Things Done, we looked at a spate of productivity concepts for breaking down the hours of your (preferably time-blocked) day to effectively use your discretionary time (that is, the part of your schedule not determined by your boss, school, or firmly-scheduled obligations). We started with the essential elements of accomplishing things:
Knowing what to do — This involves a brain dump to capture every potential task stuck in your head, adding to it from everything in your various in-boxes and buckets (GTD-style), and creating a master list, whether that’s pen-on-paper or a task app.
Knowing what to do first — Prioritizing tasks involves a complex intersection of what is important and urgent. We shorthanded the process with the Eisenhower Matrix (which, as explained in Paper Doll Shares Presidential Wisdom on Productivity, wasn’t invented by the Ike we like, but was attributed to him due to a speech he gave and was made more famous by Stephen Covey).
The Eisenhower Matrix gives you the opportunity to (literally or just figuratively) graph each task from your massive brain-dumped list to identify where it falls along a continuum of importance and urgency. From January through mid-April, filing your taxes is important, but it only becomes more urgent as St. Patrick’s Day is behind you and April 15th draws nearer.
Conversely, this Friday’s registration date for an adult education class on French cooking has what appears to be an urgent task; however, if learning how to make Julia Child’s famed Boeuf Bourguignon isn’t that compelling and you were only doing it to please your mother-in-law, it may fall low on the importance scale.
Julia Child on KUHT/By KUHT via wikimedia commons
A big part of identifying the value of a task may involve looking at what your motivation is. You perform extrinsically-motivated behaviors in order to receive some external reward (or to avoid an external punishment). You might work at a job for a paycheck, work hard in a class to get the grades that allow you to get a scholarship, or make that Boeuf Bourguignon to keep the peace between family members (because it’s hard for people to snipe when their mouths are full).
Intrinsically-motivated behaviors are those that you do because they fulfill you personally. These include passion projects like volunteering, participating in hobbies and sports, or even simultaneously compelling but challenging life activities, like parenting.
Sometimes, you may find yourself frustrated that the very things you value for your sanity-preserving self-care are less valued by society. (This is largely because, as we discussed in our series on toxic productivity, late-stage capitalism values producing work that yields revenue, generally for the people above you in the hierarchy. Sigh.)
Of course, the ideal is to find opportunities for extrinsically- and intrinsically-motivating behaviors to dovetail. When that happens, the things that are important are easier to accomplish because they give you personal fulfillment and extrinsic rewards.
Making something a high priority, per se, doesn’t ensure that you’ll do it, but if that task is important, not just for keeping you out of debtor’s prison but also making your heart sing, you’ll do it less begrudgingly, and if it’s urgent, you’ll find you’re less likely to procrastinate.
You’re probably not going to find that your love of the game will allow you to become a professional pickleball player — more power to you if you do! — but you may find that by becoming more efficient and effective at your for-a-paycheck job will yield more free time to pursue a passion that could turn into a new livelihood.
Once you gauge your each task’s relative importance and urgency, you can move forward to knowing what to get done today (vs. delaying to later in the week), what you might delegate, and what you can hang it in the maybe/someday closet.
Do it! — The final piece of the puzzle involves making time to do what you’ve decided to accomplish.
MANAGING OUR DAYS BY MANAGING OUR HOURS
Back in that post I referenced, Frogs, Tomatoes, and Bees: Time Techniques to Get Things Done, I reviewed well-known and lesser techniques for hunkering down and getting tasks done. I encourage you to read the prior post for details of the methods you find less familiar, but in general, the post reviewed:
Pomodoro Timer by Michael Mayer CC By 2.0 Deed
- The Pomodoro Technique — At its most basic, the process involves identifying a task to work on now, setting a timer for 25 minutes, focusing on that task for 25 minutes without interruption, and taking a short break. Proponents believe it short-circuits procrastination but detractors note that it prevents getting into a flow state.
- Tocks — This variation on the Pomodoro Technique involves working 45 minutes rather than 25, and adds the step of taking note of distractions as they arise for later analysis.
- The 90-Minute Focus Block — Here, the work blocks expand to 90 minutes and the breaks extend to 20. The expanded time frame is based on research in neurobiology and how our brains use potassium and sodium ions to conduct electrical signals indicates a biological component to our ability to effectively focus.
- 52/17 Method — Splitting the difference between the traditional Pomodoro and the 90-Minute Focus Block, this accents 52-minute sprints of dedicated and intense work followed by mentally-refreshing breaks. It’s backed by behavioral analysis rather than neurobiology.
- The Flowtime Technique — This method starts like all of the others, with uninterrupted work sessions, but instead of ceasing at the behest of an alarm or other external force, you work until you start to feel distracted or mentally or physically fatigued. While this method involves a lot of administrative work for logging both distractions and statistics regarding work patterns, it’s probably the most ideal for creative endeavors, as you ignore the clock and embrace the flow.
These methods work in concert with the principles we’ve discussed regarding time blocking, particularly from these two posts:
Highlights from the 2023 Task Management & Time Blocking Summit
Putting it all together, you figure out what you need to do (overall), identify your priorities, and block your time to ensure ample space in your schedule for accomplishing tasks. Then you get to it!
USE THE RULE OF 3 TO KEEP LIFE FROM GETTING IN THE WAY
All of the above is great for once you get your butt in the chair and have identified a specific task, but let’s face it, getting to that point? It’s a lot.
If you work in an environment where most of your daily schedule can be firmly set in stone (or bytes) with very little to distract you, you’re lucky. But most people experience a multitude of interruptions from co-workers and bosses and tiny humans and senior parents (whether they have physical challenges or just need tech support). Others are dealing with mental and physical health crises and have limited spoons (that is, energy and capacity) to get through the day, let alone accomplish prioritized tasks.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, there’s a productivity principle that can help you get a foothold when things feel like their going off the rails.
It’s called the Rule of 3.
At its most basic, the Rule of 3 asks you to apply your focused attention, intentionally, to three goals or main tasks for a specific time frame. Generally, and the way we’re going to examine it, that time frame is a day, but you could apply it to a week (or a four-day conference, or a working weekend) or whatever period of time you need.
The key is that you are concentrating on a small number of crucial tasks to maximize your focus, your effectiveness, and your overall productivity. The steps are simple:
Identify three key tasks.
When you plan your day, identify the three most important goals or tasks that you want to accomplish. These may all be work tasks, or they could be a combination: one key work task, one goal item for your family, and one for self-care.
These three should be whatever you think will have the most significant impact on your personal projects, your work projects, or whatever matters the most to you.
And obviously these aren’t the only three things you’re going to get done in a day. You’re not going to skip processing email or picking your kid up from Drama Club or brushing your teeth. We ALL do more than three things in the day. But the Rule of 3 says:
Whatever else I’m doing today, I am absolutely focusing my time and attention to
GET THESE THREE GLORIOUS TASKS COMPLETED!
We’ve already talked at length about the value of the Eisenhower Matrix in prioritizing, and that’s a great place to start, but there are other concepts to help you pick your three key tasks.
Parkinson’s Law states that work expands to fill the time available for its completion. We’ve all had days where we fiddled around and didn’t start working on “the thing” until just about the time we knew we had to being in order to finish on time.
But imagine not doing that. Imagine getting the thing done. And then the next thing. And one more. Imagine not taking all the time available and just taking the time necessary.
Limiting yourself to three tasks creates a sense of urgency. If you recognize that to honor your obligation to yourself, you will focus on achieving the three key tasks, you cut procrastination off at the pass. No fiddling.
Next, experts in cognitive psychology have found that we generally have limited attention and cognitive resources. We get tired. We get bored. We get distracted. We get antsy. We get hangry. By narrowing your focus to a small number of tasks, you are able allocate your attention and mental energy more effectively, which aligns with the Rule of 3’s idea of prioritization.
Finally, Hick’s Law is a psychological principle that says that the time it takes to make a decision increases with the number and complexity of choices. Once you limit your choices for the day to just three key tasks, you are reducing the signal-to-noise ratio and the decision-making complexity. The less you must think about doing, the more you can focus on the task at hand. (And remember, you can always do more of your important (and urgent) things once you’ve done your big three!)
Commit to each of the three priorities and focus.
OK, yes, you still have three things, and you’ll have to decide which of these to do first, and second, and third. You’ll have to figure out into which time block you’ll slot each item. And then you’ll have to blur out two of them while you focus on a third.
In theory, the Rule of 3 calls on you to focus your energy and attention on completing these tasks before moving on to less critical or lower-priority activities. And obviously it discourages multitasking and giving into distractions while working toward finishing the key goals. You can use any of the focused work-session techniques listed up above once you sit down to focus on the task, but before you can focus on the tasks, you have to commit to them, to the idea that you WILL do these three key tasks today.
OK, let’s step back.
Paper Doll recognizes the need for a reality check. You will not always be able to tackle all three key tasks first before getting on with your day unless your efforts do not require the involvement of other human beings (whether tiny humans or large egos).
For example, last Friday, my car was finally ready for pickup. It’s been a long two months since it was stolen, recovered, and had to go through many, many repairs. (For reference, Organize to Prevent (or Recover From) a Car Theft tells the initial tale; everything since has been a nightmare of dropped balls, global supply chain failures, and random poopyheads.) But I also wanted to get my flu shot and had two essential financial tasks.
The car issue was actually a series of interlocking tasks. I had to confirm the specifics with the body shop, and wanted to view and approve all the work before paying my deductible and returning the rental car, which involved more phone calls and scheduling, and I needed to approve the last round of digital insurance payments.
The car goal was both important and urgent, as I didn’t want to be charged for further days of the rental car, and frankly, I missed my adorable red Kia Soul as if it were a child away at summer camp for far too long. But while most of the car’s mechanical and body work were completed, there were a few painting-related flaws, and a review of the final no-longer-estimated estimate yielded lots of new questions. However, by staying single-minded on the task and not being distracted by calls, texts, and emails, it eventually got done, and I felt an immense sense of relief and completing this key task for my day.
Getting my flu shot involved confirming that my pharmacy had the flu vaccine and that no appointment was necessary. (Last year, appointments were required and only given on certain days of the week, which often conflicted with my client schedule.) And the bank tasks, though easy, were dependent in part on the arrival of the mail, and the fill-in postal carrier did not deliver the mail until close to 6 p.m.
Celebrate your wins!
Being successful with the Rule of 3 means acknowledging completion of the task and feeling satisfaction. Far too often, we rush through what we must do without celebrating that we’ve actually done it. However, taking the time to celebrate wins improves your confidence, boosts your motivation, and will make it easier to approach other tasks (especially long-avoided ones) with verve.
For a sense of psychological benefit of this step in completing key tasks (particularly those we might define as “adulting,”) I direct you to Hazel Thornton’s recent post, High Five Friday. She explores turning this celebration of completion of key tasks from a solitary act into a social one, and as I’ve watched people follow Hazel’s lead, the evident delight people experience is palpable!
Re-evaluate, or Lather/Rinse/Repeat: The “What’s Next?” Step.
OK, so you figured out what to do, did it, and gave yourself an atta-girl or atta-boy. Now review the process. Evaluate your progress to determine the big question: what’s next?
(Fans of The West Wing recognize the power of those two words. Lin-Manuel Miranda created this video for the late, great The West Wing Weekly podcast. There are two profanities within (at :50 and 1:04), so please be forewarned.)
This is the time to evaluate your progress (and your process for getting there). Determine the next three most important tasks to focus on, whether that’s for the remainder of today, or for tomorrow, or your next key time period.
You’re creating a continuing cycle of identifying key tasks, prioritizing them, completing them, doing a happy dance and high-fiving yourself, and reevaluating what worked and what didn’t. All of this is designed to help you maintain a higher level of the good, non-toxic kind of productivity that keeps you aligned with your ultimate goals.
Why does the Rule of 3 work?
First, it’s simple, so you may actually try it. Everyone loves a new productivity technique, but the more working parts, the less likely you will be to do more than think about using it.
Second, three is a magic number.
Whether it’s “lions and tigers and bears” or “faith, hope, and charity” or if you’ve been hearing a lot about the Roman Empire lately, “friends, Romans, countrymen.” It’s easy to keep three daily priorities in your head, so if you check in with yourself at lunchtime or mid-afternoon to see how you’re doing on your goals, you can mentally measure your progress in seconds.
Finally, and most importantly, the Rule of 3 is an effective approach because it prevents the overwhelm and decision fatigue that often results from having a long, fiddly, and overwhelming to-do list.
The Rule of 3 is an effective approach because it prevents the overwhelm and decision fatigue that often results from having a long, fiddly, and overwhelming to-do list. Share on XNarrowing your focus to just three tasks sets you up to more efficiently allocate your time and energy, so you can accomplish more meaningful things. Again, this may be work, but could be personal enrichment or self-care. Completing a project for work may be important, but exercising and having essential medical appointments and living a fulfilled life are of inestimable importance and urgency. In other words, you matter. Paper Doll says so!
ADAPT THE RULE OF 3 TO YOUR NEEDS
As with any productivity concept, the Rule of 3 is a only guideline. There is no “boss” of the Rule of 3 in the same way that practitioners of GTD look to David Allen; indeed, I’ve done extensive research and have yet to find an originator. I originally read about the Rule of 3 almost ten years ago in Chris Bailey‘s The Productivity Project: Accomplishing More by Managing Your Time, Attention, and Energy.
Bailey, in turn, learned of it from J D Meier in his book, Getting Results the Agile Way.
I strongly believe that the “rules” in productivity only exist to give us lanes to follow. Stick to the rules until you identify ways you can modify them to more effectively support you. Then head off-road. Do you, boo!
You may choose to use the Rule of 3 daily, or only on work days. Perhaps you’ll find you only need it when life gets overwhelming, or when you’re counting down days to vacation and have to focus on what allows you to actually get out of Dodge and get to someplace sun-drenched.
However you apply it, the key concept is that you’re going to maintain a balance between setting ambitious goals and being realistic about what you can accomplish within a specific timeframe with your entirely human, non-robot, body.
For Further Exploration
If you’d like to read more about the Rule of 3, consider the following:
Get More Done With the Rule of 3 (The Art of Manliness)
How to Use the Rule of 3 to Get More Done and Regain Control of your Day (The Ladders)
The Rule Of Three: A Productivity Hack to Achieve Your Goals Right Now (Dan Silvestre)
If you focused on just three things today, what would they be?
Paper Doll Post:
Paper Doll Organizes You To Prepare for an Emergency
September is National Preparedness Month.
The variety of emergencies to consider is mind-boggling. Last week, we observed the 22nd anniversary of 9/11 and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill experienced its second active shooter since late August.
Just this month, massive floods have overwhelmed Libya, Hong Kong, and Greece, and closer to hope, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and the festival-turned-city of Burning Man in Nevada were all overwhelmed by storms and floods.
A little over a week ago, a 6.8 magnitude earthquake caused devastation in Morocco. There always seem to be wildfires in the United States, while in the past year, smoke from Canadian wildfires drifted down through the U.S., causing breathing problems for allergy and asthma sufferers. Two weeks ago, there was a landslide into a grocery store parking lot in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, a few hours from me.
Fire and smoke, flood and blizzards, tornadoes and hurricanes — they can’t be ignored, and though this isn’t a forum to discuss global climate change, it is essential that we change and upgrade our emergency preparedness habits.
Organizing is a key principle in emergency preparedness. Without organization, there’s no way to communicate with loved ones, quickly locate what you need to protect yourself during the emergency and recover afterward, or get to a safe place and arrange for a secure location during the recovery period.
We can’t cover all aspects of emergency preparedness in one post. I recommend everyone visit the federal government’s Ready.gov to get started with emergency and disaster preparedness.
CREATE AN EMERGENCY KIT
Building an emergency kit involves is more than making sure that you have first aid supplies, although that’s important.
Start with the essentials
- Water and non-perishable food for several days — Depending on how widespread the emergency is, you may not have access to restaurants, cooking facilities, or electricity. It’s estimated that you should have one gallon of water, per person, per day and note that while water doesn’t expire, those dates on bottled water refer to the expiration of the plastic bottle, after which the chemicals in the plastic begin to break down. Periodically through the year, replace your emergency water bottles with new ones and use up the old ones before the expiration date. For food, aim for high-energy, high nutrition things that your family will actually eat. Be realistic, not aspirational!
- Can and bottle openers — If you have canned/bottled emergency food, please make sure you have a way to access it.
- Dining supplies — An emergency probably isn’t the best time to be picky. Stock paper plates and towels, and plastic utensils and cups.
- First aid kit — Stock your own if you’ve already got many of the supplies, or purchase a pre-made first aid kit from the pharmacy section of a Big Box store (Target has nice ones) or Amazon.
- Things that make stuff light up or go — That means extra batteries, chargers, and power banks. Keep matches in a waterproof container, or get a few long-handled lighters. Cell phones have flashlights, but you don’t want to wear down your phone’s battery if you don’t have access to electricity or your car in an emergency. Almost all modern cars have USB outlets for charging your phone, but if there’s a chance you’ll be in an older vehicle, there are chargers you can plug into a car’s cigarette lighter.
An NOAA Weather Radio — I recently tried to help a client with low vision set up her inexpensive emergency weather radio, and we were disappointed with the poor quality and the lack of intuitive design. CNN has a good article on The Best Emergency Radios in 2023. In addition to one that takes batteries, a hand-crank option not only relieves your fear of running out of power, but it gives elementary school-aged kids an activity to occupy them and make them feel useful.
- Plastic sheeting and duct tape, in case you have to shelter in place, and masks (to prevent inhalation of dust, contaminants, and germs). If it was good for nothing else, COVID got most of us in the habit of having masks on hand.
- Fire extinguisher — You should have these in your home and car anyway. At the very least, get the hand-held kind that look like bug spray cans. Consider emergency fire blankets, too!
- Sanitation and hygiene items — Disinfecting wipes, hand sanitizer, and garbage bags with plastic ties (the latter in case you lack access to bathroom facilities) keep you healthy while you wait things out. Also consider what feminine supplies and other personal hygiene items you might need.
- Whistles or other other noisemaking devices help you gain attention and seek assistance — If you don’t have a whistle, consider what else you or your kids might have handy, like kazoos or toy instruments.
- Maps — Remember paper maps? If you have to evacuate your community when cell towers are down and your usual routes are closed, a paper map enables you to navigate to safety.
- Comfort items — Depending on the type of emergency you face, you could be away from home for several days. Pack a complete change of clothes and well-fitting, sturdy shoes for each person, plus a sleeping bag or blanket for each individual.
If this is overwhelming, you may want to start with a ready-made 72-Hour grab & go kit.
If, however, you really want to built the ideal emergency Go bag, sites like Emergency Prep Gear have robust suggestions.
Another great resource is the American Red Cross Emergency Preparedness Checklist.
Remember items specific to you or your family members
- Got a baby? Think through everything the tiny human might need — Formula and bottles, diapers, wipes, etc. If you normally pump your milk, make sure you have a workable backup in case your pump is inoperable or unavailable.
- Prescription medications — I may be able to go a week without my Flintstones Complete vitamins, but not my diabetes medicine. Either keep a week’s worth of your meds in your emergency kit and switch them out each time you refill your prescription (so you’re never taking expired meds, and use the “emergency meds” right after you get a refill); otherwise, make sure your meds are grab-and-go ready at all times!
- Non-prescription items — Know your pain relievers and which work best for different kinds of pains or fevers, and pack OTC meds for all manner of tummy distress. Don’t forget contact lens solution!
- Pets are part of the family, so be sure you’ve got food, water, and meds for Fido or Fluffy
Don’t forget about papers, money, and things that work like money
If there’s a widespread electric outage in your community, credit and debit cards may not work, and if you’re used to using Apple Pay on your phone for most purchases, lack of data if cell towers are down may be a shock. Only you know how much cash on hand will make you feel safe, but consider getting the kind of under-clothing money belt you might use for international travel to keep your emergency funds hidden and safe.
If you can’t currently afford to keep any cash on hand for emergency situations, try putting away even one dollar at the end of each day in a cookie jar or piggy bank. Set an alarm on your phone to remind you daily to build up that at-home emergency fund.
During and after an emergency, you’re going to need to be able to access important family documents (or at least photographic evidence of them). Keep copies of insurance policies (at the very least, the page with your policy numbers, toll-free claim number, and declarations page).
You also want to make sure you have access to your family members’ ID and bank records. Secure them electronically in a cloud vault (for when there’s electricity); if you leave your home with paperwork (such as when you evacuate during a home fire or wildfire), be sure their secured in waterproof container.
Ready.gov had a great page for financial preparedness for emergencies. That link is a treasure trove of checklists, financial safety advice, instructions on how to built an emergency financial first aid kit, and a stack of PDFs and links to help you safeguard your financial situation during times of emergency and recovery.
The time to organize and prepare for an emergency is now, when there is no emergency. Brainstorm what you couldn’t do without. You’re not towing your house behind your car, but you do want to trigger any possible items you might not consider in the heat of the moment.
DEVELOP AN EMERGENCY PLAN FOR GETTING OUT OR STAYING PUT
Once you’ve got your emergency kit in place, it’s time to develop your emergency plan. Again, you don’t have to re-invent the wheel, as Ready.gov has a series of checklists for specific circumstance and needs:
- People with Disabilities
- People with Pets
- College Students
- Seniors
- Working with your kids to help develop your emergency plans
- Modifying your plan by location, because not all emergencies happen when you’re at home with your preparedness supplies. Have plans for when you’re at work and kids are school.
- Developing Emergency Plans for Your Business
Create a Written Plan
Once you’ve gone through everything I’ve referenced here and everything at Ready.gov, you’ll be able to start developing checklists for what you need, whom to call, where to go, and how to get there. It may seem excessive, but a written plan will help you organize your thoughts.
Maintain multiple copies of your plan in various locations: in your glove compartment, on the bulletin board or in an uncluttered desk drawer at your office, and within easy reach of major household exits. Talk through the plan every so often with your family.
Teenagers and older kids should know what’s relevant to them (like finding their siblings and arranging to meet at an agreed-upon location) and might keep a copy of the plan in their lockers. Your elementary school-aged kids should have emergency contact cards so if they get separated from family members they can make sure the grownups around them can contact the right people.
Practice Makes Perfect
Practice fire drills and escape routes in your home and office, and don’t just talk about it, but walk through the route. Identify a meeting point outside, away from the danger and be sure to designate someone to count heads.
Mention your escape routes to overnight guests in your home. If you have a card in your guest room with the Wi-Fi password, put info about the escape route there. (Everyone pays attention to Wi-Fi info; it’ll catch their eye!)
Beyond your home, develop an evacuation plan that considers all possible contingencies. If you need to drive yourself and your family out of town, know your community’s civil defense procedures to ensure your plan doesn’t contravene the official route. Don’t get in trouble with the authorities during an emergency!
Talk About Talking (During an Emergency)
Identify a long-distance communications point-person — Grandma in Boca? Your college kid in another state? Make sure they have a copy of your emergency plan and they they know the route in case your family members gets separated, can’t reach one another, but can reach the at-a-distance person.
Plan communications alternatives if family or co-workers are far-flung or traveling. Funnel updates to your long-distance point-person to share.
While the most important thing is to organize your safety, everyone will operate more effectively if they can reduce the stress related to not knowing what’s going on.
Five Minute Warning
What if you had only five minutes to rescue beloved possessions?
Your emergency plan will help you safely evacuate your family and make sure you have the absolute essentials. But what about items of sentimental value or things insurance can’t ever replace? What could you safely gather and take with you if you had only minutes to leave?
Never delay a safe departure, but consider these issues now in case you face a situation where you will have little opportunity to safeguard items of sentimental value. (Tips for parents: if your tiny human has a much loved stuffed animal, get a duplicate to keep with the emergency kit.)
Baby & Teddy Bear Image by StockSnap from Pixabay
In an evacuation, you can’t bring all of your family photos and scrapbooks. (But do make sure each of you has one recent photo of every family member in case your family becomes separated.)
Start now by identifying, digitizing, and uploading the photos that you’d miss long after the emergency is over. Seek help from a professional organizer who specializes in organizing photos, either through NAPO or The Photo Managers.
One more excellent resource for helping you develop your emergency kit and all of your plans is my colleague Judith Kolberg’s book Organize for Disaster: Prepare Your Family and Your Home for Any Natural Disaster or Unnatural Disaster.
HAVE THE RIGHT INSURANCE BEFORE YOU NEED IT!
- Do you have homeowner’s or renter’s insurance?
- Is your insurance policy up-to-date?
- Is your coverage equal to your recovery needs? Do you have replacement-value coverage? Do you know that replacement value is not the same as market value? Replacement value means insurance will provide funds equal to the pre-loss value, not the original value, of an item.
- Have you included an insurance rider for any recently-acquired big-ticket items (including jewelry, collectibles, and electronics)?
- Do you have a sewage backup rider? If your sump pump fails, things can get ugly…quickly!
- Do you have flood insurance? This can only be purchased from the National Flood Insurance Program and is not part of homeowner’s or renter’s insurance. See how flood insurance risk is evaluated below, and enter your address in the FEMA Flood Map Service Center to see a flood map for your area.
GET AND STAY INFORMED
Download the FEMA app to your phone; then make sure everyone in your family does, too. (Don’t forget the seniors!) Learn about the kinds of alerts the government may put out, including wireless emergency alerts (WEA) and the Emergency Alert System (EAS).
Next, know what kinds of disasters might happen in your area. It might be obvious for a newcomer to California to read up on earthquakes, but other situations might be a surprise. If your home is far from a river or ocean but experiences surprisingly heavy snowfalls, warm spring rains could bring flooding.
Also, know how your community prepares. As a native of Buffalo, NY, the first “incapacitating” snowfall I experienced in Tennessee ranked up there with a typical Tuesday back home, but I quickly learned that unlike Buffalo, Chattanooga was not prepared to deploy zillions of snow plows and salt trucks. My city is flanked by mountains, and while snow and ice melt by mid-morning at my house, getting up and down the mountains can be treacherous or impossible.
Have that NOAA Weather Radio radio I mentioned above. And while it’s easy to assume that you’ll just know if there’s a potential hazard in your area because “someone” will call you, people will be dealing with their own issues. Make a habit of monitoring the local radio or TV news when inclement weather is approaching.
Be Ready for the Nationwide Emergency Alert Test!
Finally, on Wednesday, October 4, 2023, at 2:20 p.m. Eastern Time, FEMA and the FCC are planning a nationwide Emergency Alert Test of WEA and EAS capabilities. The government wants to ensure that the systems are effective for warning about emergencies, particularly at the national level.
The WEA part of the test will go out over all cell phones.
If your phone is turned on, you’re going to get this alert, and it will probably be loud! If you’ve got baby in your house, be forewarned and maybe put any cell phones in the garage for the hour surrounding the test or otherwise muffle the phone under blankets. (You could turn your phone off, but then you won’t know if it works for you.)
Starting at 2:20 p.m. ET, cell towers will broadcast the test for approximately 30 minutes during which time all WEA-compatible phones within range of an active cell tower should get this test message:
“THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.”
(If your phone is set to Spanish, it will display: “ESTA ES UNA PRUEBA del Sistema Nacional de Alerta de Emergencia. No se necesita acción.”)
The EAS bit of the test will go out over radio and TV, just like the annoying Emergency Broadcast System tests we all recall. No big whoop.
Ironically, in case there’s widespread severe weather or some other major emergency, the test will be postponed from October 4th to October 11th.
Do you feel organized and prepared for an emergency? What do you wish you knew before you faced a weather emergency or other kind of disaster? Please share in the comments.
Paper Doll Post:
Paper Doll Says: Don’t Get Stuck in a Rut — Take Big Leaps
Are you feeling stuck? When you flipped the calendar to the new month and realized how close we are to the end of summer, and even the end of the year, were you struck by a gnawing feeling that you’ve been mired in the same place for too long?
Are your New Year’s resolutions the same every year? Do you make the same wishes, have the same complaints, and feel like you’re Groundhog Day-ing it through life?
At the end of May, in Organize Your Summer So It Doesn’t Disappear So Quickly, we talked about how the lack of structure, novelty, and sensory clues for the passage of time (along with lack of self-care and an excess of technology) can make us sluggish. We may keep doing the same things, over and over. We may not notice that sometimes we are very efficiently doing the wrong things.
Perhaps it’s time to stop doing some things, start doing other things differently, and to take bold strides on other things altogether.
Although most people think of professional organizers in terms of their possessions, I usually talk about how I help people manager their stuff. Stuff is more complex than just possessions. Your stuff may be what’s piled up on your desk or precariously balanced on your kitchen counter or squished into your closet.
Alternatively, the stuff causing you overwhelm may be the excess in your schedule rather than your space. The temporal, rather than the tangible, can also weigh you down.
However, it’s possible to be crowded out of your enjoyment of life by other than too much in your space and schedule. You could have so much going on in your brain that you can’t accomplish what you want.
The stuff in your head could be ADHD. It might be anxiety or clinical depression. And it certainly could be fear. In fact, several years ago, in Paper Doll Talks With Smead About Fear & Disorganization, I shared how fear holds us back.
Too much, or at least too much of what doesn’t serve you, can keep you from moving forward, from taking leaps. Today, we’re going to look at how to get out of a rut and then consider taking bold leaps forward.
HOW TO GET OUT OF A RUT
Investigate Your Life
Pull on your Sherlock Holmes deerstalker hat, twirl your Hercule Poirot mustache, jump in your Nancy Drew blue roadster, and think about what’s feeling stuck in your life. Let’s start by identifying the symptoms of being in a rut.
Have you lost your enthusiasm? If you can’t pinpoint obvious reasons (lack of recuperative sleep, diagnosed depression, a bed that’s just too comfy) for not wanting to get out of bed, you may be in a rut.
When someone asks you what you want — what to do, what (or where) to eat, or where to go, whether for the afternoon or for a holiday — do you mentally check out? Sometimes, when you’re in a rut, you can’t even imagine different ways of doing things.
You’re not broken. You’re probably in a rut.
The next step is to figure out why? Is it you, or is it what’s in your space, your schedule, or your head (that shouldn’t be) or what’s not there that should be? Understanding the root cause is essential.
It is too much of something? Is there clutter that’s keeping you from entertaining in your space or feeling relaxed enough in your home to pursue your activities? It may be obvious, as this is an organizing blog, but check your space for excess. Are you in a rut physically because you always have to move things off the counter to reach the microwave, or pull suitcases out of the closet to get to your clothes?
Do you have too many activities filling up your schedule? I don’t just mean work-related, though too many Zooms or in-person meetings can wear you down. Maybe your kids are signed up for so many after-school activities, which means you’re constantly schlepping them to-and-fro. Maybe you’ve been in the same clubs with the same people for what seems like forever.
Have you outgrown the life you’re leading? I’m not suggesting you need to take the 10:25 to Reno and leave your job and family behind. But there may be aspects of your life that no longer fit, like a too-small pair of jeans that makes you feel like you can’t really breathe.
It’s possible that you’ve grown out of the things you’ve collected. When my sister was in college, she had a few small elephant-themed items, and soon it became habitual for people to give her elephants in the form of earrings and knickknacks and stuffed animals. Somewhere after a few decades, I noticed that she wasn’t displaying the elephants. She was over the elephants.
And again, you may have things in your schedule that don’t serve the person you are, or the person you want to be. You calendar might not be overloaded, but the things in your calendar may no longer be giving you joy. Are you going to that book club because you’ve always gone or because you love the books and the people? (If you’re going just because you love the cheese plate, be assured that you really can buy that yummy cheese and eat it all yourself.)
Cheese board photo by Andra C Taylor Jr on Unsplash
Track the Clues: Routine or Rut?
If, while playing detective, you find it hard to actually detect what’s wrong, you may need to get more granular. Pick a random week (or start with a day if a week seems overwhelming) and take note of what you do and how your week (or day) flows.
- Are there things you do the same way, over and over?
- Does each day’s schedule blend into the next?
- Do you have trouble differentiating between the average Monday and the average Thursday? (Does every day feel “average?”)
You may be thinking, “But Paper Doll, I have a routine! Isn’t the best way to make sure everything gets done to have a routine?”
Yes!
But also no, not always.
Routines and ruts are related concepts, but they have distinct differences:
A routine is a planned and organized set of tasks or activities that you regularly follow. Your laundry routine makes sure that you don’t have to send your tiny humans to school in Wonder Woman bathing suits under their clothes. Your morning routine gives you the centering, mindful energy, nutrition, and caffeine to keep you from smacking your annoying co-workers with a keyboard.
You design your routines to help you manage your time, reduce stress, and increase efficiency.
Conversely, a rut is a stagnant pattern, one that makes you feel unmotivated or unfulfilled. When you’re in a rut, you may find yourself going through the motions without any sense of intentionality. You’re doing what you’ve always done, getting what you always got. (The longer you’re in a rut, perhaps the less you get back?)
A routine is a deliberate; you structure the sequence of actions and schedule them to create a order in your life. A routine empowers you. By contrast, the stagnant nature of a rut — because you are no longer deliberately evaluating the success and productivity of the routine but just mindlessly abiding by it — may leave you feeling unfulfilled at best, and trapped at worst.
Ruts may occur in our diets, our personal activities, our careers, or our relationships. While Woody Allen isn’t exactly a favored source of inspiration these days, the movie Annie Hall has an apt quote.
While routines can be healthy and productive, ruts are usually associated with a lack of progress and satisfaction in life. We often consider “improvement” to be the key sign of progress, but in some cases, breadth, depth, or variety may also be evidence of progress.
Putting it all together, a routine helps you achieve a groove. But sometimes, treading that same ground, over and over, turns a groove into a rut.
The Magic of Intentionality
Once you see where your life is lacking progress, variety, or fulfillment, you can achieve more of what you want by intentionally making changes in various ways:
- Subtract — Look at what’s blocking your energy and take those obstacles away. If you’re not doing your workout because there’s junk piled up in your workout room, use all the resources we often talk about to sort, clear the clutter, move things to more logical homes, and/or donate, sell, or discard what no longer fits your life.
If there are activities that no longer float your boat, jump overboard. You might have to relinquish responsibilities and it could momentarily inconvenience others to have to find someone to handle the role you’ve done uncomplainingly for far too long. That’s OK.
Offer to help your replacement with the transition, but stand firm on letting go of tasks that don’t nourish you personally or professionally.
- Add — If you’re in a rut, just taking things away probably won’t solve all of your problems.
Having more empty space may mean you don’t have as much housework to do, or it could make you uncomfortable. If you finally eject all of your ex’s stuff from the house, the emptiness may make your space, and even your life, feel cold or lacking. Mindfully consider what you might enjoy having in your space.
Similarly, emptying your schedule of undesirable obligations may not be enough. Having all that extra time may initially make your life feel empty. You needn’t fill every moment all over again with different activities, but do open your mind to exploring what you may have not realized you were missing.
Start by adding self-care activities to slowly fill up a small number of those relinquished schedule slots. Remember to make time for sleep, mindfulness or meditation, exercise, nutrition, and uplifting social relationships. Feed your body and your mind to jump out of that rut.
Daydream and allow for possibilities you never previously considered. Just because you never considered yourself artistic or creative before doesn’t mean you might not explore a painting class or community theater. Maybe you’ll try to acquire new skills or knowledge relevant to your goals, but remember that personal fulfillment or enjoyment is a good enough reason to have new experiences.
Not everything is about productivity. Let joy be enough.
- Prioritize — Once you know the negative effects of the rut you were in and have considered how you want to replace (or enjoy the absence of) the tangible, temporal, and cognitive clutter you had before, figure out what’s most important to you.
Do you want to work on your body? Your spiritual well-being? Your professional development? Do you want to taking dance lessons or spend more time reading?
Spend some time writing down everything that was missing from your life when you were in a rut, and what you want to experience instead. Then pick your top two priorities.
Why two? If you are working on just one priority, and achieve it, turning to the next on your list will make you feel like you are starting from scratch, which can be demotivating. Focusing on one priority, but having a backup that gets a little attention, means you always have an proactive alternative to consider when you need a pause.
Why only two? Focusing on changing more than two areas of your life simultaneously usually leads to overwhelm. The goal is to lighten your life, not weigh you down.
- Break it down — Once you figure out what you want, figure out what gets you there.
Let’s say your rut was dietary. No matter how much you love tacos, having Taco Tuesday every week, with no change in the ingredients or dining companions or cooking responsibilities can be a bit much. Break your proposed life changes down into small steps and reconsider everything.
Maybe your spouse will cook more often; perhaps your family will experiment with group meal planning and grocery delivery, eliminating Thursday shopping trips (and the need for a babysitter).
- Reinvigorate your routines — Remember what we said about the difference between ruts and routines. It’s OK to have routines; just be intentional about them.
Getting out of a rut doesn’t mean abandoning all structure from your life and schedule. It doesn’t mean never cleaning the bathroom; it does mean giving yourself permission to delegate the task your teenager (either as a life lesson or in return for car privileges) or hire a cleaner.
It doesn’t mean never taking your kids to their activities, but it does mean exploring the alternatives — trading off with your co-parent, with other kids’ parents, or (if your kids are old enough) arranging for a car service — so the time you spend going to your children’s activities are more often related to seeing or participating in those activities (as a supportive audience or coach) because you are now more fulfilled.
Use the time management skills you’ve learned from this blog and elsewhere to use the Eisenhower Matrix to put more of your attention on tasks with high importance and/or high urgency and reject or lessen the things with lesser value to your life.
- Replace the bad stuff with good stuff — This is a follow-up on the advice to add and subtract. If you were in a nutrition rut, you might eliminate the purchase of empty calorie foods. If your life has been filled with the equivalent of empty calories, eliminate the distractions of app notifications, clutter in your workspace, and interruptions from people and relationships that don’t fit your greater good.
- Stay flexible — If you’ve been in a rut for a long time, empty space (in your home, your schedule, or your mind) may feel scary. You could be tempted to create lots of new routines with just as little flexibility as before, and you’ll find yourself worn down again. Leave yourself open to adapt to new possibilities. Nobody gets out of a rut overnight. Have patience with yourself.
- Welcome support — Reach out to supportive friends or family for help brainstorming, noticing habits, or seeing new pathways. Professional organizers and productivity coaches can help you find new ways to make changes in your space, schedule, or thoughts. If you’ve been weighed down by more problematic thoughts or feelings, consider how a therapist can provide valuable perspective, guidance, and support. You’re not alone.
For more on excaping a rut:
You 2.0: How to Break Out of a Rut (Hidden Brain podcast)
How to Get Out of a Rut in 8 Steps (Master Class article)
How To Get Out of a Mental Rut, According To Psychologists (Well+Good article)
Getting Off the Treadmill: Six Ways to Break Out of a Rut (Science.com article)
Finally, and especially as we’re approaching the Jewish New Year at the end of this week, I encourage you to revisit Organizing A Fresh Start: Catalysts for Success for motivation and support.
HOW TO TAKE A BIG LEAP
The opposite of a rut can be a leap.
Sunset Leap by Kid Circus on Unsplash
Once we figure out what to stop doing, and start examining what we’re going to do differently, we give ourselves permission to think on a grander scale.
We have lots of reasons why we don’t take leaps, and they are similar to why we stay in ruts. Why make waves? Why risk new problems? We generally step back from taking leaps because of fear, and those fears may or may not be warranted, but they definitely keep us in limbo, wanting but never trying.
I’m a cautious person by nature. I suspect that’s true of many professional organizers. We’d rather prevent problems than have to fix them, even though our arsenal of skills helps us do both.
In college, I never took Italian because I feared doing damage to my GPA, and I was a decade out of graduate school before I realized that never once after I left academia did anyone, ever, ask about my GPA. Studying Italian these five years has brought joy to my life; my only regret is that my introduction came from the cartoon characters in Duolingo and not the the professors and fellow students at Cornell 35 years earlier.
There’s no wrong time to take a leap. There are certainly wrong ways. Selling your wares for magic beans isn’t smart; giving up your well-paying career to become a professional surfer when you’ve lived your entire life in Iowa probably won’t yield a secure life. But I’d like to share the advice on leap-taking I’ve gleaned from a few articles I’ve read lately.
Regrets, I’ve Had a Few
In Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda: The Haunting Regret of Failing Our Ideal Selves, the author looks at the published research of Cornell University professor Tom Gilovich and former grad student Shai Davidai in The Ideal Road Not Taken: The Self-Discrepancies Involved in People’s Most Enduring Regrets.
They identfied three elements of our sense of self, the:
- actual self — the attributes a person believes they possess.
- ideal self — the attributes people would ideally like to possess (including their “hopes, goals, aspirations or wishes”)
- ought self — what a person feels they should have been, based on duties, obligations and responsibilities.
Through six experiments, Gilovich and Davidai looked at two areas of discrepancy — what they call ought-related regrets and ideal-related regrets.
When people look back at their lives, they cope fairly well with any discrepancy between what they thought they ought to have done, in terms of duties and responsibilities, and what they actually did. Basically, we forgive ourselves when we feel like we ought to have dieted and exercised, we ought to have been more attentive to our studies, or we ought to have been better at managing our money.
Conversely, when we fail to take actions that could allow us to become our ideal selves, those regrets remain unresolved; we don’t get over our failure to act to become whomever we might have been.
Most tellingly, Gilovich said, “In the short term, people regret their actions more than inactions, but in the long term, the inaction regrets stick around longer.”
This brings to mind two of my favorite quotes:
“It is never too late to be what you might have been.” ~ George Eliot
It is never too late to be what you might have been. ~ George Eliot Share on X“The life you have led doesn’t need to be the only life you have.” ~ Anna Quindlen
The life you have led doesn't need to be the only life you have. ~ Anna Quindlen Share on XRisky Business
Do You Rarely Take Risks? Maybe it’s Time You Do, talks about how mindful risk-taking can be extremely rewarding. As we age, we’re more likely to settle into our comfort zone, and that coziness of comfort zone can easily leave us mired in a rut.
The article shares the advice of clinical psychologist Carla Marie Manly, who warns that as we age, we tend to turn more toward fixed mindsets than growth mindsets, narrowing the new opportunities we give ourselves. Manly advises that we first work to be conscious of the fact that we’re prone to lock down, which enables us to be aware of our fear and then deal with the related discomfort.
Manly argues in favor of acknowledging our discomfort but choosing risks that we find compelling. They don’t have to be big risks; the “riskiness” might be as small as ending up with a meal you don’t love as much what you usually order. But organizing your life to experience things that are new, different, and outside of your comfort zone increases the chance that you will increase the size of your comfort zone!
Respect Yourself. Don’t Reject Yourself.
One of the best things I’ve read lately related to taking leaps came from this article from Ness Labs entitled Turning Fear of Failure Into Increments of Curiosity.
So often, when we fail to take a leap, we do it out of fear of failure, particularly the fear of others judging us, especially if we fail.
The focus of this excellent piece is that we should approach bold strides as if we were scientists. The scientific method says, “Hey, let’s try this and see if it turns out the way we expect.” And if it doesn’t? Science says, “That’s cool, too! Because now we know!”
The article recommends making small moves and iterating again and again, creating bigger growth loops. It’s a short piece, and I recommend reading at least the end, where the author walks through the steps of an intentional life experiment for getting past the fears that keep us all from moving forward.
But my favorite part of the piece was near the beginning. The author, Anne-Laure Le Cunff, recalls being ill at ease about applying to a selective academic program abroad; she feared she would not be accepted. Le Cunff’s mother noted, “It’s not your decision to make.”
This was a “wow” for me. When we hesitate to take action out of fear that we will not win, or be accepted, or hired, or loved, we are taking the opportunity to reject or accept us out of the hands of the panel or the company or the person whose decision it should rightfully be.
The Big Leap — It’s Your Decision
Nobody can make the decision for you as to whether you will make bold strides, or when, or how.
The following short film examines a dilemma at the top of a ten-meter diving tower: to leap or to risk the embarrassment of climbing all the way back down. I think you’ll find it worth the price of admission. (Note: Almost all of the dialogue is in Swedish with English subtitles, but there are a few English profanities. Consider yourself forewarned.)
Fortune favors the bold, or so goes an ancient Latin proverb. Would you leap?
Paper Doll Post:
Paper Doll Explores New & Nifty Office and School Supplies
There’s something about the start of September that makes many of us hearken back to our youth and the rich potential of a fistful of new school supplies. Cast your mind back and I bet you can recall your favorite crayon. Mine was periwinkle, more for the funny name than the demure hue. (As you might imagine from my wordy posts, and as Paper Mommy will quickly confirm, I’ve never exactly been demure.)
It doesn’t matter whether you’re in kindergarten or graduate school; it doesn’t matter whether you’re being forced to return to the office after a few years of remote work or ready to embark on setting up your own home-based workspace, there’s something powerfully motivating about new office supplies and decor to help you get and stay organized and enthused.
The point of today’s post is not to encourage you to purchase clutter and pile unnecessary items up around your workspace; nor is it to give you lists of supplies you and/or your tiny humans already have. Rather, it’s an opportunity for you to see the potential of your space in a new way and consider what features or colors might boost your enthusiasm.
STICKY NODES
Post-it® Notes are fun and colorful, but they’re not entirely environmentally friendly, even when recyclable. Dry-erase (and wet-erase) boards are better for the planet, but they’re usually drab white and lacking delight.
Meet Sticky Nodes — the best of both worlds — they’re dry-erase sticky notes!
Sticky Nodes are:
- Erasable — Write with dry- or wet-erase markers, then wipe (or spritz and wipe) to start fresh.
- Restickable — Affix Sticky Nodes to any smooth surface, reposition at will, and they won’t leave a mark. Sticky Nodes use a unique “smooth-stick,” adhesive-ree technology, so you don’t have to worry about damaging your paint job.
- Reusable — Re-use face of the Sticky Node by erasing with a dry-erase marker or a damp cloth; re-use the whole Node by moving it to where it’s needed, over and over again.
Around the office, at school, or in your home, put them on file cabinets or walls, whiteboards or chalkboards, mirrors or windows.
Capture and organize your genius thoughts, scribble notes, brainstorm on your own or with your need, or mix-and-match to help you study or tech. At home, post the WiFi password of the day draw a comic to greet your tiny human at the end of the school day. Your kids can keep track of weekly schedule items in their lockers, and at the office, you can make clear when you’re available to be bothered or to be left alone. Stick Nodes have all the same uses as sticky notes, but you don’t have to fill your trash can.
Sticky Nodes come in three colors: blue, yellow, or green, and in three (unicolor) package options: 5 Sticky Nodes for $28, 10 for $49, or 20 for $84, and include a two-year limited warranty. Orders over $75 ship for free in the US. (Note: Sticky Nodes doesn’t accept returns, except when covered under the warranty.)
Personally, I’d like to see them add more colors to the line-up. (Periwinkle, anyone?) Additionally, it would be nice if they had mix-and-match packs; for example, if you got the ten-pack, you might prefer 5 blue, three green, and two yellow rather than an entire batch of blue.
If you’d like to try Sticky Nodes, they offer a sample kit, which includes one yellow node and one black fine-tip marker for $12, shipped for free in the US! (At that price, it might be more affordable just to get a 5-pack!)
No offense to Sticky Node, but Paper Mommy‘s drawings are better!
Sticky Nodes also recommends and sells fine-point Expo-branded dry- and wet-erase markers (scroll down at that link) but you can also easily find these at any big-box store or Amazon. Pick a wide-enough array of colored markers so that you can color-code your Sticky Nodes for your own purposes. Assign a color to each kid in your family, or give a color to each daily task or task-group (to do, to eat, to wear, to read, etc.).
POPPIN’ FRESH!
Some products are just motivationally magical, and Poppin’s line of office furniture and supplies accomplishes this through color (and high-quality).
Poppin’s desk collection includes monitor risers, stackers, letter trays, organizer caddies, desk-drawer organizers, mixed-use organizers, accessory trays, file sorters, and two of my favorites for stand-up organizing style, 9.75″L x 12.25″H x 3.75″D magazine file boxes ($21):
and 12.25″L x 9.75″H x 3.75″D lacquer-like file boxes ($26):
I’m also always amused by the 6.25″L x 2.8″W x 1.25″H Softie Grip Grass doohickey ($16.50), designed to hold pens, cards, and the random fiddly things on your desk.
The desk organizing color scheme includes white, blush, dark gray, aqua, slate blue, sage, and sky, with some products available in fewer colors.
But as cool as their desktop products are, I always seem to covet Poppin’s wall organizing products. Here’s a little video to introduce you to the variety of options in their Small Space Organization Collection, designed to make use of vertical space.
As noted in the video, products in the line can be affixed to the walls with adhesive or mounted (using screws), and some of the products are magnetic and can be used to attach the to metal items (like filing cabinets) or to other products in the line. Poppin has:
- wall shelves ($25), measuring 3.25″W x 4″H x 12.5″D, in blush, dark grey, slate blue, and white
- wall pockets ($25), measuring 12.5″W x 7″H x 2.5″D, in blush, dark grey, slate blue, and white
- wall cups ($14.50), measuring 4.5″W x 4.5″H x 2″D, in white, blush, dark grey, and slate blue
Each of the above products in the line are made of sturdy plastic polystyrene with a matte finish and come with removable adhesive strips, magnets, and screws for mounting. The removable adhesive strips hold up to 2 pounds; the magnets hold up to 1 pounds, and screws hold up to 15 pounds.
Poppin also makes dark grey fabric pinboards in two sizes, a 12.5″L x 12.5″W x 0.5″D square ($29) and a 25″W x 12″H jumbo version ($55).
And, of course, they have a variety of pretty pushpins in assorted colors. But what I like best about Poppin’s “small space” line for making good use of vertical space is a product (actually three) they barely promote. There’s the white magnetic dry erase board ($26), measuring 12.5″W x 12.5″H x 0.5″D. But let’s face it, a plain white dry-erase board, even a magnetic one, isn’t that much to write home about.
But two other versions, with the same measurements and at the same price, up the ante. There’s the lined White Magnetic To-Do Dry-Erase Board:
and the lined White Magnetic Weekly Dry Erase Board, pre-printed with the days of the week.
Of course, Poppin has pretty magnetic holders for the dry-erase pens and matching-color magnets.
Can’t you see these doing triple-duty at home, work, or in a dorm room?
TIKTOK MADE ME BUY IT
OK, TikTok didn’t actually make buy anything, but that’s what the voiceovers on so many of the little “advertainment” videos say. But TikTok did help me find two intriguing products.
PrintRGo
The first nifty office/school supply I saw recently kept appearing in my TikTok feed. It’s a tiny printer, and while I’m not the kind to push gadgets, I immediately saw the appeal of the PrintRGo thermal pocket printer. (Make sure you use the menu in the top right corner to switch from UK to US pricing.)
The use case may seem narrow, but if you’ve ever taken a biology course and had to label parts of a cell — and remember that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell — or an studied for anatomy class where you had to learn a complex series of muscles, you know that you learn by spaced repetition and visual support.
Free-hand drawing and labeling is a pain, as is making copies. This little 3.4″ × 3.5″ × 1.6″ printer uses no ink, so you never have to wait for the ink to dry; instead, it uses adhesive-backed thermal paper to print at a maximum resolution of 203 DPI. (It does double-duty, so it also works some fun magic as a low-resolution photo printer and a label printer.)
Unfortunately, TikTok videos don’t embed particularly well, but this link will give you an idea of how the PrintRGo works.
In each box, you get a PrintRGo printer, charging cable, one roll of thermal paper, and a user’s manual. PrintRGo works via Bluetooth using the Phomemo app, and functions Android and IOS devices. It’s wireless, so you just pair it with your phone (just as with other Bluetooth devices like a Fitbit or keyboard) and you’re ready to print!
Take a photo with your phone, use the app to print it from your PrintRGo, and it thermal prints to sticker paper (at a speed of 10mm per second), and once you have your little masterpiece, printouts can adhere to your notebook or study cards.
Full-price for the PrintRGo is $78, but it’s currently selling at the official website for $48.
If you’re not comfortable purchasing from a TikTok advertiser, Amazon has a number of similarly adorable options that seem to work on the same principle, using the same Phomemo app. One version is the Phomemo M02 Pocket Printer ($49.99).
Bookmate
The other TikTok school/office supply that caught my attention disappeared from my feed (as often happens) when I fat-fingered (fat-thumbed?) the corner of my phone. No matter, because my fabulous friend and colleague Hazel Thornton independently sent it to me in a private TikTok message with a note, “New product for a blog post?” Indeed, it is!
Bookmate from AchieversMust appears to be designed primarily for teachers and students, but really anyone who reads and tends to annotate, take notes, or mark pages for followup will find it useful for reducing clutter. Bookmate combines one magnetic case (which holds sticky tape flags for marking pages and pen loops so you always have a writing tool or highlighter handy) and a magnetic base.
The case allows for you to refill the sticky flags, and you can use any standard tape flags to refill the Max or Pro cases, or purchase the same specific colors from AchieversMust. (You can only refill the Lite version with their tape flags. FYI.)
You put the magnetic base inside the front of your book or notebook and the magnetic case (with your tape flags and pens) sticks to the front. (The company claims the magnet is strong enough to adhere through a hardcover book, but I’m a twinge dubious.)
Some photos show users hanging glasses or sunglasses from an outer loop. Again, TikTok videos are wackadoodle when it comes to embedding, but you can see Bookmate in action on the Instagram page.There are three versions of the Bookmate:
- Max — has four pen loops (two on each side) and a 200-count of flags in ten different colors, for $39.95
- Pro — has four pen loops (two on the left, two on the right) (two on each side) and a 100-count of flags in six different colors, for $33.95
- Lite — has two pen loops (one on each side) and an 80-count of 2 different tape flags, for $19.95
They offer free shipping on all orders above $60. Also, from now through September 10, 2023, you can buy two at 10% off each or buy 3 at 25% off each. (There’s also a 30-day money-back guarantee.)
EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN
I remember visiting my father’s law office when I was a child, and I noticed that every attorney’s desk had a serious-looking leather desk pad. As a student in the 80s, my real work desk was wherever I found myself — a library study carrel, my bed, a random table in an empty classroom. By the time I started working in television, the closest anyone seemed to get to a desk pad was a giant desk calendar.
Nowadays, nobody is using a desk pad for blotting a fountain pen, but desk protectors are back in style. I was roaming through a big box store this weekend, looking for a lightning cable to use in my rental car (as mine is still in my stolen, damaged, recovered, and still-not-repaired Kia), when I noticed a stack of what looked like miniature yoga mats.
It turns out they were oversized desktop mouse pads. The one that caught my eye was a 35″ x 16″ pink, flowered, onn.-brand (yes, it’s “onn.”) XL Desktop Mouse Mat with an anti-slip base. The style is called Surf. (It also comes in grey and rainbow-stripes.)
And it was only $9.88!
It’s been a long time since I looked for a mouse pad or a desk mat, so I was surprised and delighted by how many products, marketed as either oversized mouse pads or desk pads, were available to brighten up the work space.
Yes, the real purpose is to give you a larger space to roll your mouse while keeping your glass or wooden desktop free of scratches, spills, dust, stains, and all matter of the detritus that ends up crumbly and sticky and yuckified on your desk. But why not feel like you’re basking luxury while doing homework or eking out a living?
First, I found this Bubm Desk Pad Protector Office Desk Mat made of faux leather. It comes in three sizes: 23.6″ x 13.8″, 31.5″ x15.7″, or 35.4″ x 17″. The description stated that it was “waterproof and easy to clean, made of heavy-duty, durable PU leather,” and cleaning it is allegedly as easy as wiping with a damp cloth. Particularly nifty is that it’s reversible, so the version I picked, below, labeled “purple”
is actually light pink on one side and a mauve-y purple on the other. It comes in ten other versions with both soothing and oh-so-bright color combinations.
The price of the one above is $13.99, though other color combinations are about a dollar less.
Even if you only peruse Amazon, you’ll find a wide of color schemes to fit your workspace mood and decor, from the perky (one has a neon-themed scribble of “Good vibes only”) to more muted options like the one above. To close out, let’s look at French Koko’s 36″ x 16.5″ Floral Dream desk mat.
Do you find yourself looking for a refresh this time of year? Do you wish you were starting the year with a bouquet of freshly sharpened crayons? Are any of the above options appealing for you, or have you found a new favorite while you’ve shopped for school or office supplies lately? Please share your thoughts below.
Happy September!
Paper Doll Post:
Organize to Prevent (or Recover From) a Car Theft
HOW I LEARNED ABOUT “KIA BOYS”
It all started with a voicemail. I heard voices mumbling, and then a teenage girl said, “Hi. I’m just wondering, did you lose a car? Call this number back because, um, we just saw a red Kia, so if you’re missing a red Kia call this number back because we just saw someone drive away with a red Kia.”
I get a lot of robocalls, recorded messages meant to sound like personal calls. On my office line and cell, they want to talk to me about my car warranty or a problem on my “Microsoft computer” or, since the pandemic, let me know my company is due $26,000 per (non-existent) employee for the Employee Retention Tax Credit.
But I have a red Kia Soul, which I just paid off last month. So instead of hitting “delete,” I saved the voicemail (from an hour earlier), grabbed my key fob, and ran outside to my parking space. I clicked, but heard no “whoop whoop.” Repeatedly clicking, I searched left to right, thinking perhaps I’d parked a few spaces away in either direction. No car. No broken glass. Just nothing.
I pinched myself, sure this was one of those dreams, like the one where it’s the end of the school year and you haven’t ever attended class. I called the number back, and began a harrowing day. I learned that at 8:50 a.m., the caller and three fellow homeschooled classmates were walking into the gym associated with a church around the corner, just 0.8 miles away. The car thief, startled by their approach, “got back in the car, hit a fence, and drove off through a field.”
The thief drove my car into the church’s enclosure fence
Unfortunately, they didn’t think to call the police at the time, but after their volleyball practice was over, they came out to find that before they’d interrupted him, the driver had tossed all of my insurance and registration paperwork (as well as, inexplicably, my umbrella and the car parts he’d broken) all over the parking lot and the edge of the field. The girls found my number on the insurance papers and called me at that point.
From there, I called the police. I received a dutiful visit from an officer whose serious demeanor reminded me of Tim from The Rookie.
Next, I spent the afternoon making an insurance claim over the phone, which was made more difficult by a powerful thunder/lightning/hail storm and tornado watch and a four-hour power outage that knocked out my landline.
This was no ring of car thieves. (Kias have the VIN number etched on every engine part, so chop shops don’t want them.) It was, as witnesses and doorbell cameras eventually identified, a teenage boy. Apparently, mine was not an uncommon experience. As I learned from the numerous salt-in-the-wound emails my friends and colleagues sent me, it was an attack by “Kia Boys.” These teenagers learn (from videos propagated across YouTube, Snapchat, and TikTok) how to exploit a flaw in some Kias and Hyundais to start them with just a USB cable, steal them, go joyriding, and abandon the vehicles after a bit of nefarious Ferris Beuler’s Day Off fun.
Kia and Hyundai just settled a $200 million lawsuit which should have meant theft victims like me would be reimbursed for damages, towing and car rental costs, and other out-of-pocket charges racked up as a result of this thievery. There would also have been software upgrades, extended alarms, and stickers to warn off would-be thieves. However, last week, a judge delayed approval of the settlement, saying “it fails to provide “fair and adequate” relief to vehicle owners.”
ORGANIZE TO PREVENT YOUR CAR FROM BEING STOLEN
If being organized guaranteed a car wouldn’t be stolen, professional organizers would be immune. However, there are proactive measures to make your vehicle less vulnerable and deter potential thieves from targeting your car.
- Keep your car in your garage. This recalls the quote, “A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.” The safest place for your car is in your locked garage rather than in the driveway or on the street. Of course, this means that you might have to reduce the clutter in your garage and organize it to make room for your household’s cars.
- Park in well-lit, well-populated areas, especially at night. This obviously isn’t foolproof, as my car was stolen in broad daylight, at approximately 8:40 a.m., with 40 apartments directly facing my parking space.
- Remove valuables from your car when you’re not in it. Keep a basket or bin in your vehicle or the garage to make it easy to carry things from car-to-home at the end of the day.
- This advice isn’t designed to clutter-shame you, but why tempt thieves who might steal the contents of your car even if they don’t steal your entire car? My car was practically empty; not counting jumper cables in the hatchback/trunk area (which the thief never accessed), the only non-paper items in the interior car were two umbrellas, a $10 phone charger, and my driving eyeglasses.
- The less you have in your car, the easier it is to remember what was stolen and to report it to the police (in case they can track fenced items) and your insurance company.
- If you must leave valuables in the car when you are out and about, hide them to make the contents of the car, if not the car itself, look less desirable. Stash things in the trunk or under the seat, or even in an empty dog food bag or diaper box.
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- If there are valuable things in your car that you cannot conveniently remove (like children’s car seats or assistive devices like wheelchairs), at least make an inventory of what you own so, in the worst case scenario, you know what’s missing and what needs to be replaced.
- Remove personally-valuable items from your car. I’m amazed whenever an organizing client says, “Oh, I left my purse in the car, let me go get it.” Wallet, checkbook, phone, family photos, toddler’s favorite stuffy? If you’re not in the car, they shouldn’t be in the car, not just because some things tempt thieves, but because your life will be much more inconvenient if you not only lack your car but also your allergy medicine or your chid’s schoolbag with homework or your credit cards.
- Don’t keep any unnecessary personally-identifying papers in the car. However, if stopped by police, you must provide your license and registration, and most jurisdictions now ask for proof of insurance. There’s a safety tradeoff related to keeping insurance and registration information solely on your phone (even in a secure cloud) vs. in the car, and your state and region may have specific rules for digital vs. tangible records.
- Don’t keep other people’s personally-identifying papers unattended in your car. Whether you’re a doctor, lawyer, professional organizer, or whatever else, don’t leave client files easily accessed by ne’er-do-wells.
- Never leave your car running if you are not sitting in it. In the past, I’ve been tempted to get a detachable keyring so I could leave my car running while using my mail key ten feet from my car. Imagine the guilt and frustration you’d feel if you made it that easy for a bad guy to take your car!
- Never leave your keys in the car.
- I don’t just mean your car keys; if a thief has your car and your keyring and your insurance/registration papers, he can figure out where you live (even if the car was stolen from elsewhere) and access your home and your family. Yikes!
- I don’t just mean the keys shouldn’t be visible. Don’t leave keys in your glovebox or console or under the floor mat!
- Always Lock Your Car — Thieves are opportunistic. Don’t make it easy for them.
- Consider a Steering Wheel Lock. — Yes, they’re ugly and clunky and haven’t really been updated since the 1980s when The Club was popular, but if you don’t have a manufacturer-installed software/hardware solution, a visible steering wheel lock can act as a deterrent.
- Use Wheel Locks — If you’re going to be away for an extended period of time, whether your car is at the airport or outside your home, or just fear your wheels or tires being stolen, wheel locks (AKA: lug nut locks) prevent thieves from (easily) removing your tires and wheels. The locks require a special key to remove the nuts. I have them, but unluckily for me, the evildoer wanted my entire car.
- Talk to your insurance company, your dealer, and mechanic about installing any/all of the following:
- An Alarm System — Most modern cars already have alarm systems set when you lock the car such that if someone tries to break in, a loud, annoying sound alerts everyone in the vicinity. However, there are after-market alarm systems to make the alarm louder and of longer duration.
- A Kill Switch — It’s possible to install an electrical device that prevents your car’s engine from starting unless you engage a hidden switch, and it’s a surprisingly inexpensive option. Thieves won’t be able to start the car, even if they have the keys.
- A GPS Tracking System — There are electronic systems and services that allow you to monitor your vehicle’s location so that if your car is stolen, you can tell information and they can find the car. My car’ Kia e-Services allowed me to see the last location I parked (which is helpful in a crowded mall or airport), but it only works in confluence with my phone. A subscription service like Kia Connect or OnStar can actually monitor the location of the car at any time.
- Failing all this, buy an Apple AirTag and link it to your Apple ID account; then tuck it into the upholstery of your vehicle.
You’ll be able to track your car, just as you can use Find My to find your phone or computer. (Car & Driver has a list of similar car trackers.) However, don’t try to recover your car on your own or face off with the thieves; let the police do that!
Again, these precautions aren’t perfect, but you can significantly reduce the risk of a break-in or car theft.
ORGANIZE TO RECOVER FROM A CAR THEFT
If your car gets stolen, it’s important to take prompt action to increase the chances of recovering your vehicle and minimize potential damage.
Recover Procedurally and Physically
1) Contact the Police — Report the theft to your local law enforcement agency as soon as you realize your car has been stolen. Provide them with all necessary details, including your vehicle’s make, model, color, license plate number, VIN (Vehicle Identification Number), and any distinguishing features. Update police with additional information that might help them locate your vehicle, such as any recent sightings, potential locations where the car might have been taken, and any personal belongings that might have been inside the car.
2) Notify Your Insurance Company and Start a Claim — Contact your insurance company to report the theft. They will guide you through the claims process and provide instructions on what information and documentation you need to provide. Your insurance company should also be able to arrange for a rental car, depending on your policy.
If your stolen car is recovered but damaged, you will owe your comprehensive (not collision) deductible, as I explained in Organize for an Accident: Don’t Crash Your Car Insurance Paperwork [UPDATED]. Be prepared for the work to take a long while. I’m two weeks into the process and the estimates haven’t been completed!
3) Notify the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) if you’re required to report auto thefts in your jurisdiction. (Ask the police officer who takes your report, check the DMV site, or call to verify.) If someone tries to register a car with your VIN, it should pop up in the DMV’s system as stolen.
3) Try to Find Your Car, but Don’t Get in the Way of the Police — You are not a professional, so don’t step on law enforcement’s toes. However, there are some things you can do:
- GPS Tracking — If your vehicle is equipped with a GPS tracking system, notify the tracking company about the theft. They may coordinate with law enforcement locate your vehicle.
- Check Your Trackers — Track your AirTag’s (or another tracker‘s) location.
- Reach Out on Social Media and in Your Community — Utilize social media platforms to share information about your stolen vehicle, including photos, a description, and any relevant details. You can also share the information with local community groups and online forums to increase awareness. Do not post your personal (off-platform) contact info, though.
- Check Nearby Surveillance Cameras — If the theft occurred in an area with security cameras (e.g., parking lots, streets), contact nearby businesses or property owners to see if they have any surveillance footage that could help identify the thief or the location where the car was taken.
- Ask witnesses to call the police, and give names of witnesses to the police. If call a main number to provide updated information, reference your police report or case number.
4) Keep Organized Notes and Documentation. Write a time-stamp in the corner of the page as you keep a contemporaneous log of everyone you contact at the police, insurance company, towing company, and other services.
You’ll need to provide your VIN number, license plate number, insurance policy number, and police report number over and over. Highlight them on the paper or bold and enlarge them on your screen for quick access. Keep a record of all the information related to the theft, including names of officers, agents, adjustors, or employees with whom you speak. Make a special subfolder for email correspondence with your insurance company or body shops.
5) Prevent Identity Theft — If the thieves gain access to any of your personal information through papers left in the car, be diligent in monitoring your financial accounts and credit reports for any signs of identity theft.
The sooner you take action after your car is stolen, the better your chances of recovering it. It’s also crucial to remain patient and work closely with law enforcement and your insurance company throughout the process.
Recover Emotionally
Call a friend and have them come over and sit with you while you deal with the initial aftermath. If nothing else, they can be a calming presence and body double, watch your kids or sit with your elderly relatives, or make tea. They can answer your landline if you’re on your cell or vice versa. They can take contemporaneous notes while you’re speaking with the police or insurance so that you don’t feel overwhelmed. They can help you brainstorm what might have been in the car, and make sure you don’t miss any steps.
Seek support. You have been a victim of a crime, and while this is not in the same realm as a home invasion or physical attack, it is a violation. Consider speaking with a therapist to handle any anxiety that the situation provokes.
DON’T LET A CAR THIEF LIVE IT UP ON YOUR DIME
Pause or disable any car-related services. Once I’d dealt with the police and insurance, I was frustrated knowing that I would not be able to listen to satellite radio in the rental car. It suddenly made me very angry imagining that not only would I be unable to bop along to 80s songs or listen to Dragnet on Radio Classics, but I realized, “This little miscreant could be in my car right now, listening to Howard Stern!”
Oh, Joe Friday, if only you could have caught the guy!
A little Googling taught me that while you can suspend Sirius XM satellite radio service for up to six months, you can only do by calling, not online. Sirius will only suspend the service for a month at a time, and you must call back to continue the suspension or resume service.
Consider what services are connected to your car so you can avoid the tale told in The Creepy Second Life of a Totaled Tesla.
HOW TO BE AN AMATEUR SLEUTH WITHOUT GETTING IN THE POLICE’S WAY
The night of the theft, after the storms and tornados were behind us, just as a lovely rainbow appeared, my neighbor and his friend offered to drive me around the neighborhood of the church where the thief had dumped my belongings. Behind the church, we saw the small area enclosed by a wooden fence and the portion knocked down by the thief.
Yup. Those are tire tracks. (Would you call that a field?)
We could also see the tire tracks where the thief drove through what the witnesses called a field, but is really just a grassy backyard; on the other wise was an opening onto a suburban street. The guys walked across the wet lawn and dropped a pin on their phones.
My neighbor leads the way across the wet field; his brave friend is wearing shoes he’d literally purchased an hour earlier. Thanks, Jonathan & Andrew!
We then drove to the pinned map location and around the neighborhood, with my arm stuck out the window to see if my key fob could set off the alarm. No luck, but I felt a bit better knowing we’d tried.
AN UPDATE ON THE THEFT OF THE KIA
The witnesses’ coach contacted the police and helped the girls make a detailed report; she also contacted the church’s pastor. He and his wife picked up all of the items the thief dumped in their parking lot. Remember the storms and tornado watch? Had these kind people not connected, my registration and insurance paperwork (and umbrella!) might have ended up in Oz.
When I retrieved my possessions the next day, I learned that the pastor had also made a police report (since it was the church’s fence that the thief hit during his ill-considered escape from the piercing eyes of four teenage girls). Better yet, the church has outdoor security cameras!
In this bad news/good news/bad news story, the good news is that the police recovered the car the next day. (They even fingerprinted it, just like on TV!) Doorbell footage shows the car was abandoned approximately 15 minutes after the girls saw him, and no more than 30 minutes after it was stolen. And both the dumping of my papers at the church and abandonment were within a mile of my house (in a cul-de sac about one-tenth of a mile from where I’d been clicking the key fob the prior night).
The bad news is that the car was pretty extensively damaged; in addition to front-end smooshing, the ignition system was destroyed and the car isn’t drivable. There’s also unknown functional damage, plus the formerly pristine interior was left a muddy mess. It’s now in the hands of the insurance company and the collision shop.
As with any bad experience, there are always moments of lightness and humor. In addition to leaving behind implements of destruction and thievery, the hoodlum left a ziplock bag filled with about $20+ of quarters. Pinching the bag between my thumb and forefinger as if it were a dirty diaper, I turned it over to the police officer (who gently rolled his eyes when I suggested it might have drug residue on it). My sister tsk’ed that the bag could have held a rare coin, something to fund any non-covered repairs. And my friend suggested the thief planned to take my car to an arcade, or possibly a laundromat. (Considering how much mud he tracked into my car, I’m guessing the latter.)
For what it’s worth, at the end of the day of the theft, storms, and tornado watches, there was a sign of hopefulness.
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