Archive for ‘Time Management’ Category

Paper Doll on Planning & Prioritizing for Leadership

Posted on: July 14th, 2022 by Julie Bestry | 8 Comments

You’re used to reading what I have to say about organizing and productivity in the pages of the Paper Doll blog. It might be easy to imagine me as some disembodied robot, typing away. But I am a real (and lively, and talkative) person, and I’ve been delighted to spend the early part of this summer getting to talk about my favorite topics with other experts for the benefit of people interested in guidance on these issues.

In fact, I’ve done four interviews over the past two months, three of which have been for podcasts, which I’ll tell you about later in the post. But today, I’d like to tell you about a really interesting (and FREEEEEE) opportunity for you to learn about planning, prioritizing, and leadership. (And remember, leadership isn’t just about being “in charge” at work. We lead in our homes, in our volunteer areas, and in our communities. Wouldn’t it be nice not to be overwhelmed there, too?)

I’d love for you to join me, along with a few of my beloved productivity colleagues (Frank Buck and Augusto Pinaud, about whom you heard oodles back in Paper Doll Picks: Organizing and Productivity Podcasts), and twenty other specialists for a FREE, 21-day, virtual event.

This event is for those of you who have a desire to accomplish more (of the right things) but have less stress, and to stop feeling stuck or frustrated because you’re not further along. (And since we’ve just come off a five-part series on toxic productivity, you know how that hamster wheel gets us spinning in circles, but not necessarily getting anywhere.)

The official name for this event has so many words in it, you’d think it was a Paper Doll blog post!

The Leader’s Asset: How To Increase Your Leadership Capacity & Reduce Overwhelm Through More Effective Planning & Prioritizing!

Before I forget, you can head over to my special link http://theleadersasset.com/JulieBestry to register. (This isn’t an affiliate link. I don’t get anything out of you registering except the joy of knowing I get dibs on saying I introduced you to this series. But as you’ll see, I’m pretty psyched about it.)

Each of us joined with The Leader’s Asset founder, Robert Barlow of Perpetual Aim (Personal Leadership Solutions), to record video interviews on subjects covering:

  • How to plan and prioritize to reduce your overwhelm
  • Ways to effectively beat procrastination
  • How to accomplish more (of the right things) in less time
  • Solutions to gain control over your email
  • Tips, tools, and strategies to make planning and prioritizing more effective
  • Dealing with distractions and keeping urgent tasks from derailing your focus
  • And many more nuggets of wisdom and learning

These are not long, droning PowerPoint presentations. Instead, these are short, information-packed, conversational interviews with zero fluff. Every interview with Robert clocks in at about 20 minutes. (OK, you know I’m a talker, so mine is a few teensy minutes more!)

The point is that you will walk away from each interview with actionable strategies you can use right away and some newly-tweaked mindsets that will, as Robert says, TAKE YOU TO THE NEXT LEVEL!

So, would you (or your spouse, or your bestie, co-workers, and pals) like to hear from a diverse group of experts on how to be more successful leaders by really grasping the whole magic of planning and prioritizing? 

How does it work? Once you register, you’ll get a welcome email, and then beginning Monday, July 18th, you’ll get an email each morning with a link to that day’s interview. Again, the 21-day series is free, but you’ll also have a chance to upgrade to a VIP package, with lifetime access to the recordings and some special opportunities Robert has in store.

So come on and register for The Leader’s Asset Interview Series. 

Curious about who else is participating besides me, Frank, and Augusto? I don’t want to spoil any of Robert’s surprises, but I can give you a preview of some of the variety of talent he’s put together for this series, which includes:

  • Bob Wendover has built a business helping people beat burnout, improve workplace problem solving skills, and develop critical thinking capacity.
  • Oleg Konovalov is a global thought leader, author, business educator, consultant, and C-suite coach. He’s known as the DaVinci of Visionary Leadership, and uses his research to help entrepreneurs and managers identify their strategic needs in the terms of leadership.
  • Shanda Miller is a leadership coach, trainer, and writer, and author of the book From Supervisor to Super Leader.
  • Eva Medilek is a coach who teaches high performance success habits so her clients can  leave behind their burnout, overwhelm, and exhaustion.
  • Divya Parekh combines her biopharmaceutical career with experience as a coach, author, consultant, and speaker to help individuals become better leaders.

And that’s just scratching the surface. So I invite you to come play in The Leader’s Asset Interview Series sandbox with me, Robert Barlow, and these experts. Take 20 minutes a day to get some gems on how to improve your planning and prioritizing so you can work smarter (and healthier), lead better, and enjoy it all more.

UPDATE: The schedule has been announced, and my interview will go live on Wednesday, July 27, 2022! (Frank’s is Tuesday July 19th; Augusto’s is August 6th. But register to find out the whole schedule and start watching on Monday, July 18th!)

DIDN’T I SAY SOMETHING ABOUT PODCASTS?

I did! 

As I mentioned at the top, I’ve been delighted to have been interviewed for three podcasts recently. In my own way, I’ve been working on different aspects of “leadership” in terms of bringing productivity and organizing to a wider audience, beyond my Paper Doll family, clients, and speaking audiences.

I’ve written recently about how I’ve just recertified as a Certified Evernote Expert (formerly Evernote Certified Consultant). In the next month or so (schedule: TBA), I’m excited that I’ll be a guest of the fabulous Ray Sidney-Smith on his new season of the Getting More Done with Evernote podcast. Ray always asks insightful questions and our mutual geeking out over Evernote will make you feel like you were in the room with us.

Toward the end of the summer, I am agog to report that I’ll be a guest on The NAPO Stand Out Podcast with the savvy and chic Clare Kumar! We had an amazing and free-wheeling conversation about some of my favorite organizing topics!

And bringing this all full circle, because Dr. Frank Buck was the one who introduced me to Robert Barlow for the interview series, I was recently on an episode of Frank Buck: Productivity for Total Control & Peace of Mind. He even named the episode “Julie Bestry: Don’t Apologize…Organize!” and you know how I love that!

Listen to the podcast at the show link or via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you like to get your podcast mojo going, and lookie, the YouTube video is embedded below. The magic of the internet! (But hey, if you enjoy what we have to say, please click through to YouTube and leave a comment so Frank can feel the love, too!)

So, it may be the lazy, hazy days of summer, but I’m trying to keep you entertained and informed on all things about organizing and productivity.

Oh, and if you sign up for The Leader’s Asset Interview Series, please let me know (so I can do a happy dance), and feel free to come back to this post and let me know any gems you learn from the interviews, whether mine or from one of the other experts.

Happy summer!

Toxic Productivity In the Workplace and What Comes Next

Posted on: June 13th, 2022 by Julie Bestry | 14 Comments

WHAT IS TOXIC PRODUCTIVITY?

Productivity is a good thing, right? You’re hitting the goals you (or your team, or your boss) set, you’re working effectively (on the right things) and efficiently (zooming steadily toward your accomplishments). What could be bad?

Toxic productivity is when that drive to be productive is taken to unhealthy extremes. In a toxic work environment, employees lose motivation and self-esteem due to the external forces created by employer policies and/or management, as immediately recognizable in the now-classic Office Space.

However, toxic productivity can also stem from unhealthy expectations for what personal productivity should look like, and this can be driven by the workplace, by parental and educational influences since childhood, and even by genetic makeup.

Self-generated toxic productivity reads as workaholism, a drive not only to be productive at all times (and sometimes at all costs), but to appear productive at all times. In the past year, it has been called productivity dysmorphia, an expression which if not coined, was certainly popularized by Anna Codrea-Rado. (We’ll dig deeper into her article next time!)

Because it is the impulse for productivity as a process, rather than the achievement of the end result, that characterizes a sense of success, for someone suffering toxic productivity, there’s no sense of satisfaction. For the workaholic, there’s always an aching pit in the stomach that the end result could have been better or that they could have accomplished more. There’s no joy in crossing the finish line, because there’s always another finish line.

Those dealing with workplace-driven toxic productivity may fear losing seniority status or career security if productivity decreases. But for those whose identities are tied to what they have accomplished, self-esteem is often derived from getting stuff done, so it can be hard to find a personal off-switch. Work/life balance — a dubious concept in the first place — is hard to achieve when you identify your value in life by what you achieve at work.

For those whose identities are tied to what they have accomplished, self-esteem is often derived from getting stuff done, so it can be hard to find a personal off-switch. Share on X

Are you asking, “What’s the problem?” Focusing on productivity means high achievement, and if your sense of self is measured by what you achieve, how will you ever get off that roller coaster? How will you ever stop chasing the high of “having done the thing” you set out to do? When do you get to breathe?

If you always feel that you should be getting more done, you may feel guilty when you’re not producing — and this can include needing that sense of accomplishment through housework, hobbies, or any competitive impulse where the drive eclipses the enjoyment.

If you feel more and more worn out rather than energized by whatever you do, that’s toxic. And like any poison, it will drain you of your vitality.

An obsession with productivity can not only lead to a lack of productivity, but can eventually cause leisure sickness, where during your downtime, with family, or while on vacation, you’re unable to relax and enjoy the moment, as you may become disconnected from the idea of existing without working toward a productive end.

Today’s post is going to focus on toxic productivity in the workplace, and what’s being done to countermand it. Next week, we’re going to dig deeper and look at how we can target toxic productivity and productivity dysmorphia at the individual and societal levels to be productivite in a more healthy way.

TOXIC PRODUCTIVITY AROUND THE WORLD

Have you ever heard of 996? China made the news last year because many workers were on a 996 schedule, working 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week! 

Meanwhile, in Japan, there’s a corporate culture that leads to workers performing up to 80 hours of overtime, often unpaid, each month. It’s called Karōshi, “death by overwork,” and it’s marked by an extreme performance of company loyalty, both on and off the clock. Employees, legally granted twenty vacation days per year, regularly fail to take half of them.

For what it’s worth, this overwork doesn’t help Japan’s productivity, which falls behind the United States, France, Germany, Italy, the UK, and Canada. 

Lest you think that this is only a problem in the Far East, be assured that this kind of toxic productivity is alive and not-so-well right here in the United States. For example, according to Project Time Off, in 2016, 55% of Americans did not use all of their paid time off. That’s 658 million unused vacation days, one-third of which did not roll over to the next calendar year or get reimbursed financially. Poof. That time off just disappeared, and the dollar value of that time went into company coffers.

In 2019, the last pre-pandemic year on record, 768 million vacation days went unused — and less than a quarter of Americans used all of their available paid vacation! Oddly, a 2019 study showed that one in three Americans would be willing to take a cut in pay in order to get unlimited vacation days. This is pretty puzzling. Workers want more vacation, but they’re unwilling or unable to take all of the paid days they have!

Why might this be? A recent TikTok (sigh, yes, I’ve become one of those people) showed an imagined conversation. A representative of Human Resources was cheerleading the advent of summer work hours, where staff would be allowed to leave at 3 p.m. on Fridays. Dubious, the worker asked if workload expectations would be scaled back accordingly.

The “boss” character noted that staff would be encouraged to work late on Thursday evenings to make up the workload. After the employee pointed out the irony, the boss character noted that, simply put, they wanted both the same level of productivity and credit for offering work/life balance.

The grim humor aside, this is the reality for most workers, and it’s not just about vacation hours. More and more, I’m seeing articles about “sad desk salads,” popularized by the Jessica Grosse novel of the same name.

From Life Is Too Short for Work Salad to The “Sad Desk Lunch” is Now Even More Depressing as Employees Return to the Pandemic-Era Office to this older (not-entirely-comedic) video, Sad Desk Lunch: Is This How You Want to Die?, the toxic drive for productivity (or to appear productive) is dangerous.

The problem isn’t salad, but dining at one’s desk while continuing to work through lunch. We know the continued sitting is bad for physical health. The lack of socializing (even for introverts) and inability to take cognitive breaks from labor (and physical breaks from the workplace to get fresh air) are bad for mental health.

None of this is new. Workers’ fears of being replaceable and the corporate message of being a “company man” or “company woman” have been around for a long while. And now, there’s an overwhelming uncertainty as we struggle through a third summer of COVID and into inflation and a prospective recession. (Sorry, this isn’t the usual chirpy Paper Doll topic!)

Of course, if there’s been one positive of the these past 2 1/2 years, it’s that workers are no longer willing to be taken advantage of. I’m sure you’ve noticed that there are fewer cashier lanes open in stores, and most restaurants have signs on the front door, warning patrons that they are short-staffed. While I don’t want to get political, I completely agree with this tweet:

 

CONQUERING TOXIC PRODUCTIVITY FROM THE TOP DOWN

The tweet’s point is apt, but the question becomes, how can we maintain healthy productivity in the face of corporate greed?

In the middle of the 20th century, that was a role filled by unions. Now, productivity will be controlled in three ways: by governments setting policies for the betterment of society, by companies recognizing their long-term self-interest in treating employees better, and by individuals either working from within to change company culture or leaving for different workplaces or starting their own businesses.

(Full disclosure: A little more than twenty years ago, I left a toxic industry, and a particularly toxic workplace, and became a professional organizer. The impact on my physical and mental health was an absolute net positive. But, of course, becoming self-employed is not a panacea for everyone, as we’ll discuss in greater detail in next week’s post.)

Japanese efforts to counter Karōshi were iffy at best; they mandated that employees took their vacation days and set corporate office lights on timers to go off at 10 p.m. And, like the TikTok example, they shortened work hours on the last Friday of some months, but it turns out this was more of a marketing effort to get workers to use their off hours to shop!

So what might actually work?

Curtailed Office Hours and Remote Work

You may have seen on the news last week that 70 companies of varying sizes, from mom-and-pop restaurants to corporate entities, in the United Kingdom are testing 4-day workweeks this summer. Like the TikTok example with a token carving away of two hours, these blue-collar and white-collar workers will be paid for their usual (generally, 40) hours per week, but will only have to show up for 80% (so, generally 32 hours); in most cases, the same level of productivity will be expected.

On the one hand, this will give parents the opportunity spend more time with their children, and all workers the chance to make medical appointments and attend to other life necessities. On the other hand, if workers are on-site (whether in offices, restaurants, or stores), they’ll lack the appealing flexibility of work-from-home jobs that became so popular during the earlier stages of the pandemic.

And the research does overwhelmingly show that WFH office workers did not need micromanaging and were as, or more, productive than when they were in the office. Indeed, an Owl Labs study found that, “On average, those who work from home spend 10 minutes less a day being unproductive, work one more day a week, and are 47% more productive.” 

That said, there are people who missed the camaraderie of the office and the transitional headspace of commutes. Remote work is one way to improve working satisfaction and defuse the toxic productivity bomb, but it isn’t a solution for everyone.

Better Work/Life Boundary Expectations

In 2016, France took a different approach. Recognizing that the digital, always-on era means that office employees can’t achieve “work/life balance” if there’s increasingly little daylight between their “work obligations” and their actual lives. So, France amended its labor laws such that in any company of 50 employees or more, you cannot email an employee after official work hours. 

BOOM!

French Café Photo by Stephanie LeBlanc on Unsplash

Imagine leaving work, going to a café, and not having to be bothered about work until the next workday!

This “right to disconnect” rule isn’t the only thing France has done to improve quality of life. All workers get 30 paid vacation days a year and 16 weeks of fully paid family leave. For comparison, the United States has no nationally guaranteed paid vacation policy and no national policy guaranteeing any paid family leave. Just saying.

Oh, and in case you didn’t make it to 1:48 into the video at the top of this post, France is second only to the US in terms of productivity (GDP per hour worked).

A year after France created this right to disconnect, Italy did the same, and then Spain! In 2018, Belgium followed suit, announcing that 65,000 federal civil servants would no longer have to answer calls or emails from their bosses outside of working hours. Portugal passed a labor code banning employers from pestering employees during their “rest period” except for emergencies, and this applies to both office workers and remote workers. Managers who breach the policy can be fined!

Oh, and last year? Ireland instituted a right to disconnect rule applying to all employees. Your boss can’t contact you by email, phone, or text during your off hours. 

Does your workplace (or nation) have any policies that ameliorate the tendency toward toxicity? Please share in the comments, below.

Next week, we’re going to continue this series by delving more deeply into what we, individually, can do to shut down personal tendencies toward toxic productivity and reverse productivity dysmorphia. We will examine:

  • Healthy productivity strategies
  • Ways to unplug from work and from a sense of obligation to do rather than just be
  • Beneficial habits and routines
  • A reading list for seeing yourself, and what you accomplish, in a more wholesome way.

Paper Doll Picks: Organizing and Productivity Podcasts

Posted on: May 9th, 2022 by Julie Bestry | 21 Comments

FINDING THE RIGHT EXPERTS

I’m often the most tech-savvy person my clients know. One lovely client in her eighties often greets me at the door and just hands me her iPhone. “There’s a devil in it,” she half-jokes, and she’s happy to relinquish it to me for what is usually an easy fix.

Conversely, my college friends, mostly guys, laugh at the idea of me being technological. On the phone, I once fretted over having possibly failed to install memory in my computer because it didn’t “click.” After an hour of various difficulties culminating in the uncertainty over installing the memory, I groused, “Shouldn’t it click? Y’know, like how after I put on my lipstick, I close my compact and it makes a satisfying click?!” They’re still teasing me about that apparently “non-techy” description.

There’s an old expression: In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. Leaving aside the able-ist nature of the expression, I feel comfortable using this to explain that while some people feel that “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing,” I think that the more you know, the more you realize that you don’t know, and the more inspired you are to seek out experts.

As such, I’m starting a new feature, Paper Doll Picks, where I will occasionally provide links to bloggers, authors, and other experts to whom you can turn when you need a little extra help.

As a Certified Professional Organizer, I’m an organizing and productivity expert. As an Evernote Certified Expert (formerly Evernote Certified Consultant), I know more than your average user. And, as a former television executive and lifelong TV viewer, I can spot when an infinitesimally small clue (a cough, a camera shot resting an extra second on a wine glass, or a character’s lingering glance) means something and will be able to connect it with things that happen seven seasons later.

But in the kitchen, I’m a perpetual newbie and need to turn to Paper Mommy. (For a variety of life skills — cooking, addressing an invitation to an ambassador and spouse, medical stuff of all stripes, I turn to her. We call it Opening the Mommy Encyclopedia.) 

Nobody is expected to know and be able to do everything. Sometimes, that other old rubric is important: it’s not what you know, but whom you know!

Today, I want to introduce (or re-introduce you) to some excellent podcasts and podcasters.

THE APPEAL OF PODCASTS

If you don’t listen to podcasts, stick with me here. I admit, I don’t listen as often as many people seem to do. But when you’re walking or working out, when you’re stuck in a doctor’s office waiting room or waiting for a much-delayed flight (as Paper Mommy is doing, just as I’m writing this), podcasts have distinct advantages.

They’re as informative as blog posts and articles, but you can take it in while doing other tasks. Every try reading a blog post in the bath? You can’t read an article while driving, and if your commute is by train, subway, or car, audio is far less marred by bumps. (You won’t get carsick listening to an organizing podcast, but watching text bounce up and down may not be good for your equilibrium.)

Another nifty advantage to podcasts is that you can control the speed at which you listen to (or watch) podcasts! I listen to almost everything on 1.25x speed because I’m an impatient person. When a speaker talks at “normal” speed, I feel like I’m being held captive by Dory in Finding Nemo when she’s speaking Whale. Sooooooooo slowwwwwwww!

Conversely, when I’m trying to listen to podcasts in Italian, the language I’ve been diligently studying for 4 years, the organic speed of language just zips right past me, and I only get a handful of words. By the time I realize I understood anything, they’re onto the next topic. Listening at .75x helps me make out the words without going into Dory mode.

ORGANIZING AND PRODUCTIVITY PODCASTS

These are a few of my favorite podcasts in the realm of organizing and productivity.

NAPO Stand Out Podcast

The NAPO Stand Out Podcast — This official podcast of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals began in 2018 with an interview of its first guest, my stellar and stylish colleague Geralin Thomas of Metropolitan Organizing. Now, it’s just a few shows away from its 100th episode.

The NAPO Stand Out podcast offers up compelling interviews with NAPO members and subject matter experts (like author Gretchen Rubin, friend-of-the-blog Allison Task, whom I interviewed in Paper Doll Interviews Life Coach, Author, and Kid-Schlepper Allison Task, and Indistractable author Nir Eyal). 

For the first few years, the show was hosted by Sarah Karakaian of Nestrs. (You might know Sarah and her husband, a home improvement, design, staging, and short-term rental management team from HGTV, their Thanks for Visiting AirB&B podcast, or Instagram.) 

Now, the podcast is hosted by Canadian professional organizer and TV personality Clare Kumar, an all-around cool chick with a laugh that can draw in even the grinchiest of grinches. Clare specializes in helping Highly Sensitive Persons (HSPs) optimize their professional performance, and she has her own podcast, Happy Space with Clare Kumar, all about helping HSPs find their own happy spaces.

The NAPO Stand Out podcast invites organizers, productivity experts, and anyone interested in these fields to listen in as guests share their successes, challenges, best practices, proven strategies, industry developments, and fabulous anecdotes.

Take a peek at the most recent episode, Discover Your Organizing Style, where Clare interviews Cass Aarssen about how her own struggles with clutter led her to create the Clutterbug Organizing Styles.

Watch and listen to past episodes through the archives at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Stitcher, and elsewhere.

Smead’s Keeping Your Organized Podcast

Smead’s Keeping You Organized — It still breaks my heart a bit that this magnificent video and audio podcast, hosted by John Hunt, is no longer being produced. It was an amazing podcast designed to provide all manner of practical and philosophical organizing and productivity information to viewers. 

John is a delightful interviewer — you can see him being interviewed for an early episode of the NAPO Stand Out podcast, here — and all sorts of North American professional organizers got to share their expertise.

Happily, all 278 episodes of the show are still available, including the eight times I was the guest. You can listen or watch those here, or at the episode page:

041: Secrets to Organizing a Small Business

108: Fears that Keep You from Getting Organized

153: Paper vs. Digital Organizing Part 1

154: Paper vs. Digital Organizing Part 2

203: How to Get Organized When You Have an Extended or Chronic Illness – Part 1

204: How to Get Organized When You Have an Extended or Chronic Illness – Part 2

263: Essential Lists for Organized Travel – Part 1

264: Essential Lists for Organized Travel – Part 2

Sadly, all of my appearances were from before I had a decent video podcast background or lighting, so you may want to listen rather than watch (or risk being distracted by weird shadows and my often–weird hair).

The Productivity Lovers Podcast

The Productivity Lovers Podcast is hosted by two of my friends and colleagues, Certified Professional Organizers Cris Sgrott of Organizing Maniacs and Deb Lee of D. Allison Lee.

Both are organizers and productivity specialists; Cris is also a coach and speaker who specializes in senior move management and helping people with chronic disorganization and ADHD. Deb is a digital productivity coach and possesses one of the greatest analytical minds of anyone I know. (Deb’s my go-to for solving online platform kerfuffles, but also for making sense out of things that seem incomprehensible.)

Launched one year into the pandemic, Cris and Deb’s podcast was a balm for any lonely organizer’s (and organizing client’s) soul. Listening along when I get my 10,000 daily Fitbit steps in or watching the video version as if I were Zooming with them, I often find myself talking back to these ladies, forgetting that I’m not really part of the conversation — because they are that warm, friendly, funny, and honest.

At least once an episode, I laugh at how they make one another laugh, with much of the humor coming from their mismatched productivity styles. Deb is all-digital; Cris is hybrid but leans into her love of paper planners. Cris calls herself a Hot Potato Productivity person, while Deb is super-focused.

Cris and Deb cover all sorts of productivity issues, from paper planners to Inbox Zero, the Pomodoro Technique to how organizing is portrayed in the media. Every episode is a lighthearted  conversation between two friends, but the audience is never forgotten, as they invite our responses on their Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube pages.

Come for the conversation, stay for the detailed show notes and discussion points. Pick from the audio versions via your favorite podcast app or on the episode page; watch for the video version on YouTube a week or two later. Here’s a recent episode, to give you a taste.

Organize Your Stuff

Organize Your Stuff — My colleague, buddy, and fellow mastermind group member, Maria White of Enuff With the Stuff hosts this podcast, which invites people from all points along the organizing spectrum to help them see possibilities.

While Maria has been on hiatus for a bit, there are 37 episodes covering topics ranging from “Do You Trello?” (yes, dear readers, I do!) and “Organized Adulting” to “Finally Accomplish Goals Using the 48 Week Achievement Guide” (with our fellow masterminder, Karen Sprinkle) to “Drastic Downsizing for Tiny Living” (for folks eager to learn more about living in a tiny house). Maria accents self-compassion and realistic approaches as she interviews industry experts and provides her insights and tips on organizing.

Organize Your Stuff is audio-only, so feel free to take it with you wherever you go, whether via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or on the Organize Your Stuff episode page. Take a tiny taste of the show as we pull episode #14, Tickle Yourself Organized, out of the vault. As you may have guessed, she interviewed me, your own beloved Paper Doll!

Anything But Idle (and the Super-Friends)

Anything But Idle is hosted by Ray Sidney-Smith and Augusto Pinaud, and it would be one of my favorite podcasts even if these guys didn’t delight me by inviting me on the show on occasion.

Ray is the Ryan Seacrest of productivity podcasters; he’s everywhere! In addition to Anything But Idle, he currently hosts or has previously hosted oodles of productivity-adjacent podcasts, including:

  • The ProductivityCast with Augusto and regular contributors Francis Wade (about whom I’ve written several times, including at Paper Doll Shares Secrets from the Task Management and Time Blocking Summit), and Art Gelwicks. The show explores personal productivity and includes interviews with experts, reviews of both the scientific literature and mainstream media takes on productivity, and looks at technology’s role in, and effects upon, achieving what you set out to do.
  • Getting More Done with Evernote, where Ray talks about product updates, interviews Evernote experts (including staff of the big green elephant company), and answers submitted listener questions. The show has been on hiatus since last year, but Ray is re-launching soon, and I’m going to be a guest. Whoohoo!
  • Productivity Book Group — This is a quarterly book club and podcast rolled into one, and the archives include episodes dating back to 2013. You could create an entire productivity-themed reading list from the archives of this show, read the books, and then listen to the associated episodes to augment your understanding. The show isn’t limited to professional productivity; one recent episode focused on Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin’s The Home Edit.
  • ProdPod — Dating back to 2011, this might be the one that started Ray’s podcasting empire. In under two minutes, each podcast explores a productivity-related topic, like minimalism, procrastination, burnout, or indecision.

While I am a Certified Evernote Expert, Ray lives and breathes Evernote, and is one of two people (fellow organizer Stacey Harmon is the other) to whom I turn when an Evernote issue makes my hair hurt.

But back to Anything But Idle!

Ray partners with Augusto Pinaud, a bilingual productivity and technology sweetie pie of the highest order. His company, Productivity Voice, is the umbrella over Augusto’s coaching services, books, and podcasting work. In addition to co-hosting Anything But Idle and the ProductivityCast with Ray, Augusto has hosted Connecting Invisible Dots, a limited-run podcast focused on looking at the big issues, like personal definitions of time, achieving focus, and understanding priorities.

Wow, and all those shows don’t even include all of the podcasts represented by Anything But Idle’s regular guests. (Sometimes I think I may be the only guest they’ve ever had who doesn’t have a podcast!)

Anything But Idle bills itself as the “Productivity News Podcast.” Every week, Ray and Augusto introduce productivity and technology stories in the news and discuss their relevance. Guests are given the opportunity to read (and think about) the articles and editorials in advance, so listeners are treated to a lively, informed discussion. This opens up the floodgates for really wide-reaching, unexpected, extemporaneous chat; as a guest, I’ve felt supported, and as a viewer or listener, I always feel entertained and better informed.

Each week also includes a round-robin opportunity for each person to present a technology or productivity resource. There’s always at least one thing (and usually many) to make you go “hmmmmm.”

You can watch the podcast live or catch up on past video versions of the episodes at the show’s YouTube page; the show is live at 6 p.m. EST most Monday nights. (Click “Set a Reminder” on the show page to make sure you don’t forget.) If you prefer audio versions, you can peruse the Anything But Idle episodes archive, or subscribe and listen on your favorite podcast app at Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Android, Spotify, or Stitcher.

The most recent episode is up in all locations, but you might find it fun to watch their 100th episode. I was a guest, and a REALLY fun time was had by all.

Frank Buck: Productivity for Total Control & Peace of Mind

Frank Buck: Productivity for Total Control & Peace of Mind — Dr. Frank Buck is a longtime educator and educational administrator, as well as a fellow Evernote Certified Expert. (He’s also another familiar face on Ray and Augusto’s podcasts!) Frank is the author of several books, including the most recent, Get Organized Digitally! The Educator’s Guide to Time Management.

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Frank’s podcast is full of warmth and patience, and you can see how his expertise as an educator  informs everything he discusses on his podcast, now starting its fifth year.

Whether you’re a novice in technology who bemoans the devil in your iPhone, or a more advanced user of technology and productivity methods, Frank will make you feel at ease. From email to notetaking, task management to creative procrastination, digital tools to financial oversight, Frank’s short podcasts are charming and wise. (I’m going to be a guest on one of his upcoming shows and we had such a great conversation planning it that I imagine his biggest podcasting challenge will be getting me to shut up!)

Listen to Dr. Frank Buck’s most recent podcast episode (below) and all shows at the episode page, on Spotify, or at any of your favorite podcast platforms.

 

 

  

 

 

A Plethora of Podcasts

The podcasts above are just some of my favorites for listening to and watching, and for sharing with my clients. Others I’ve shared in the past include:

Penny Zenker, Positive Productivity Podcast — Penny focuses on leadership and productivity, and has had an amazing array of guests over the past several years. You can see my two episodes with Penny here:

The Productivityist — Mike Vardy needs no introduction; he’s been featured on the pages of the Paper Doll blog many times. With 421 shows completed, Mike is a veteran podcast host (and a popular guest), and he never talks down to his audience. You could grab one of those episodes and find compelling interviews and insightful commentary. You might want to start off with episode 418, where Mike interviews minimalism expert Joshua Becker on “Things That Matter.”

The Productivity Show by Asian Efficiency — Thanh Pham and (longtime friend-of-the-blog) Brooks Duncan host this popular podcast. I often find the episode titles to be provocative and fun, like “Are You a Jerk If You Use Calendly?” (to schedule appointments) or “Are GTD Contexts Useless? Is Productivity Hurting Young People?”

And if my own favorites aren’t enough, you might want to check out Feedspot’s list of the 35 Best Organizing and Decluttering Podcasts to Listen to in 2022, and their 60 Best Productivity Podcasts to Listen to in 2022.

Are you a podcast person? Do you have a favorite among the shows listed above? What organizing and productivity podcasts do you never miss? Please share in the comments!

If you do listen to podcasts, please remember to like, subscribe, and share, just like you comment on and share blogs (like this one!) on your social media feeds. Showing the love helps podcasters and bloggers grow their audiences, help more people, and (in the case of those with sponsors or advertisers), afford to keep going.

Also, why don’t I have a podcast?

Paper Doll on the Magic of Making Lists

Posted on: April 11th, 2022 by Julie Bestry | 21 Comments

THE APPEAL OF A LIST

Paper Doll is a sucker for lists.

My childhood diaries (y’know the kind, pink with a lock that could easily be opened by a bobby pin) were just page after page of my mini-me wishes and hopes.

One of the first organizing-related books I ever purchased (when I was still in high school, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and the top song on the Billboard charts

Billboard Top 100 Hot Singles 1982

was Olivia Newton-John’s Physical), which still sits on my bookshelf, was Checklists: 88 Essential Lists to Help You Organize Your Life. It contains a wide variety of lists my 15-year-old self assumed would be, as the book title indicated, essential for becoming an adult.

Many of the lists were, and still are, useful. The “What To Do” checklists started with life transitions like how to find a roommate, plan a wedding, prepare for having a baby (or adopting one), buy a new or used car, or get ready for a move. These continued on through less happy events, like what to do if you’re going through a separation or a divorce, are a victim of a burglary, have to stay in the hospital, or need to plan funeral arrangements.

I will grant you that many of these step-by-step To Do lists, such as how to apply to college or for a mortgage are outdated these forty (gasp!) years later, and I can’t say I ever found the lists for buying a summer home or putting my boat in the water particularly useful. Oh, but the aspirational aspect of it all!

The other sections of the book were equally magical, with checklists for packing (for everything from a day at the beach to — I kid you not — sending your child to boarding school) to hosting social events (from children’s birthday parties to showers to Christmas dinners and Passover seders). And even after 20 years as a professional organizer, I still take a gander at the “What to Have” checklists for organizing every space from tool boxes and medicine chests to linen closets and garden sheds. 

Even last week, when I was perusing the new books shelves at my public library, I couldn’t bring myself to bypass 52 Ways to Walk: The Surprising Science of Walking for Wellness and Joy, One Week at a Time.

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It’s not that I don’t know how to walk; I get my 10,000 steps every day. But I was captivated by a portion of the introduction, where author Annabel Streets (yes, a book on walking by someone named Streets!) writes:

Nor is walking merely step-counting or “exercise.” Yes, good physical and mental health are happy by-products. But the joys of walking are infinitely greater than clocking up steps. Think of it as a means of unraveling towns and cities, of connecting with nature, of bonding with our dogs, of fostering friendships of finding faith and freedom, of giving the finger to air-polluting traffic of nurturing our sense of smell, of satisfying our cravings for starlight and darkness, of helping us appreciate the exquisitely complicated and beautiful world we inhabit.

However, had the title on the spine not seemed like a ready-made list, I’d surely have moved on without it.

The world has been conspiring to put lists on my mind even more than usual lately, and if you don’t mind the presumption, I’d like to share some of the thoughts I’ve had regarding list-making.

USE LISTS TO SET (AND MAINTAIN) BOUNDARIES

Last Thursday, I was reading James Clear‘s weekly newsletter. If you’re not familiar with Clear, I encourage you to read his excellent Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones.

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 While I’m careful to keep my inbox lean, I confess that I subscribe to many (perhaps too many) newsletters for inspiration for this blog and to find resources for my clients. Some are on organizing and productivity; others are financial. I enjoy many of the AARP newsletters, particularly Sisters from AARP, which celebrates and offers wisdom for Black women. And though they profess to be about mindfulness, mental health, and positive psychology, I realize that many of the newsletters are written for millennials and Gen Z. I’m voracious.

Clear’s 3-2-1 Newsletter avoids any and all of the excesses many of my other newsletters display; his is pared down to the essentials: three wise (tweetable) quotes from Clear himself, two quotes from others, and one question for the week. (Last week’s remarkable question, “What is a small but courageous choice you can make today?” has floated through my head for days.)

A short “list” itself, the newsletter is what I, in all my years of blogging, can never aspire to: brevity. But I do not begrudge Clear’s success because you, my dear readers, are often the benefactors of the concepts he shares. Last week, he linked to a tweet by Jenée Desmond-Harris, a writer, editorialist, editor, and the current Dear Prudence for Slate.

I loved this tweet. First, I always try to teach my clients that when they’re overwhelmed and overburdened by a To Do list that is more a Could Do list, they need to check to make sure what they’re doing brings them closer to their goals.

When you're overwhelmed and overburdened by a To Do list that is more a *Could* Do list, check to make sure what you're doing brings you closer to your goals. Share on X

And I’m sure you’ve heard me say that, more important than SMART goals (which are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-specific) are SMARTY goals, where they Y represents values and ideals that are YOURS.

If you are constantly laboring toward goals that are not your own, but are your spouse’s, your parents’, or society’s, you will eventually come to resent the labor and the sense of obligation, and likely passive-aggressively (or just aggressively) rebel, possibly without even realizing it, but to your detriment.

Second, I appreciated this tweet because it dovetails nicely with a quote from one my colleagues. Four of my veteran professional organizing colleagues — Maria White, Yve Irish, Karen Sprinkle, and Nancy Haworth — and I are in a mastermind group. To help us achieve our goals, we start each week sharing our intentions; at the end of the week, we report back on how well we’ve done, and discuss our obstacles (and whether they’ve been internal or external).

Yve, famous for her enthusiastic Memojis when sending cheerleading texts, replied to one of my weekly emails with, “Woohoo Julie! Two great organizing sessions and they both booked follow-ups! I think you got all of the important things done. Much of the not-dones are items from someone else’s To Do list.”

Until then, I’d been feeling a little down about not having achieved everything in my (admittedly overambitious) list. But Yve was right. The things I hadn’t completed had not been, in the words of Jenée Desmond-Harris, things I had to do or things I wanted to do.

They were things someone else wanted from me, tasks for which I had not obligated myself. Without recognizing I’d done it, I’d practiced that mantra found photocopied and posted on assistants’ desks nationwide: “Lack of preparation on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.”

I was focusing on the important and urgent tasks on my own To Do lists. I was guarding my own boundaries.

When we make our To Do lists, perhaps we should consider dividing them into these categories, what we must do and what we want to do, and put the oxygen masks over our own noses and mouths first before attending to others (tiny humans notwithstanding). 

USE LISTS TO DECIDE WHAT YOU WANT FROM LIFE

Desmond-Harris, as well as my colleague Yve, got me thinking about the kinds of lists we create. We all have task lists, those To Do items, whether analog or digital, that get us through our days or weeks. At the micro level, these lists help us achieve our smaller, more discrete goals.

But what about our big ticket goals? Do you keep lists of those?

I went back to the post I wrote at the start of this year, Review & Renew for 2022: Resolutions, Goals, and Words of the Year to think about goals and visions. I found plenty of lists there, including Gretchen Rubin’s list of 21 things she’d wanted to do in 2021. Of course, she’s got a 22 in 2022.

When I got to the end of the post, I saw I’d linked to Jack Canfield‘s post on creating vision boards. About 16 or 17 years ago, Jack Canfield (of the Chicken Soup for the Soul books) was a guest speaker at a NAPO Conference. He’d just authored The Success Principles: How to Get From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be, and everyone heading to conference was buzzing about it.

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It’s been enough years (I was still in my thirties!) that you’d think the book would not have had such a hold on me, but the “assignment” on page 28 has held a fascination for me ever since.

In the chapter “Decide What You Want,” Canfield suggests readers make an “I Want” list and delineate 30 things you want to do, thirty things you want to have, and thirty things you want to be — before you die.

Readers, I went to an Ivy League college. I have a Master’s degree. I started my own business. But I have to tell you, writing out these three lists was the most difficult intellectual experience of my life. I’ve carried this folded-up list in my daily planner all of these years, taking it out with some frequency, and occasionally adding something new or checking off an accomplishment. My inability to complete the lists sometimes makes me wonder if I need a therapist or a life coach!

I only managed to come up with 11 things I wanted to do, of which I’ve done three (including finally reading Anna Karenina last year); and though I got to check off visiting the UK, the most exciting things I’ve done since creating the list, visiting Italy and publishing my book, didn’t even make the list! My imagination was too confined!

Similarly, my list of (tangible and intangible) things I wanted to have only made it to item 15. I’ve only acquired three, but those three (including my little, red Kia Soul) give me joy each day. And my shortest list, of things I wanted to be, only reached eight items, of which I’ve only achieved one.

And yet, I’m happy with my life and with my lists. The things we want at any given time help shape the choices we make; but the choices we make can shape what we want next.

The things we want at any given time help shape the choices we make; but the choices we make can shape what we want next. Share on X

Sometimes, our lists (like the ones in my elementary school diary) may seem silly in retrospect; others show us how far we’ve come.

What would you put on Jack Canfield’s lists? What are:

  • 30 things you want to do?
  • 30 things you want to have?
  • 30 things you want to be?

DO YOU NEED A NEEDLE LIST?

About a month ago, the Huffington Post published a piece by Kelsey Borresen called Want to Declutter Your Brain? Cross Something Off Your Needle List. I read it within a day or two of publication, agreed with the general gist, and went on about my life, not having given it much thought. Since then, there hasn’t been a day when it hasn’t shown up in one of those many newsletters to which I subscribe or appeared in my Twitter feed.

The article is needling me!

It’s easy to see why. I encourage you to read it in full, but the basic concept is that we all have these things on our To Do lists that we fail, repeatedly, to do. Usually, they aren’t huge projects, but fairly simple tasks that we avoid, over and over. And yet we cross them off today’s task list and dutifully put them on tomorrow’s, where they will fail to be attended to for several days (or weeks) hence. And they’ll continue to needle us.

Quoting an Instagram post of chef/author Serena Wolf, who coined the term, Needle Lists are filled with the small tasks that create that hum of low-level anxiety as we continue to fail to accomplish them. 

It’s the donation bags in our trunk (or worse, blocking the front hall) that haven’t been taken to charity. It’s the sink that’s full of dishes because the dishwasher of clean dishes hasn’t been unloaded. It’s the thank you notes that have gone unmailed (or unwritten). And for the past two weeks, for me, it was the oil change that I planned to get each day, but by the time everything else got accomplished, my mechanic had closed for the evening.

Wolf’s plan, simple but a bit of genius, was to set aside 30-60 minutes each Friday to tackle items on her Needle List. She notes, “Not only do I feel more relaxed on weekends, but it also makes me more productive during the week because I find it easier to focus with less mental clutter. The batching mentality also helps relieve any stress/anxiety when a new Needle List item pops up because I can drop it into Friday’s brain basket.”

Happily, this goes along with advice I’ve shared about time-blocking, here:

Playing With Blocks: Success Strategies for Time Blocking Productivity

Struggling To Get Things Done? Paper Doll’s Advice & The Task Management & Time Blocking Virtual Summit 2022

Paper Doll Shares Secrets from the Task Management & Time Blocking Summit 2022

Time blocking basics are key to the Needle List. Wolf has a place to collect these otherwise needling, cringe-provoking tasks. 

She sidesteps the problem of there being no “Someday” on the calendar by scheduling these tasks for a fixed block, on Fridays. (For you, it might be a Saturday morning or a Monday afternoon or a Wednesday lunch hour.)  

And she goes through her week confident that a task won’t fall through the cracks, so she can stop constantly reminding herself that there’s something undone.

If you’d like to try making a Needle List and time blocking a part of your week to address these things in a batch, I’d encourage you to use a tickler file to its best advantage.

Let’s say, like Wolf, you’re going to block Friday afternoons to stop things from needling you. Why not write yourself notes (so you’ll think about what you have to do, in a nuanced way, rather than just constantly thinking of what you will do) and collect them with receipts, items to mail, etc., in that Friday slot of the ticker file. Anything left incomplete this Friday gets moved to the next Friday opportunity; it’s no longer hanging over you; it’s been rescheduled!

THE POWER OF LISTS

  • Lists can be organizational — they create structure and boundaries.

A shopping list ensures that you purchase what you need, and assuming you don’t go into Target (because it’s impossible to leave Target with just what’s on your shopping list) you won’t buy what you don’t need. Gift wish lists (including wedding registries) make it more likely that people won’t waste their money on things you don’t want or need, that won’t mesh with your values or fit your physique.

A To Do list helps you do a brain-dump of everything you know you must accomplish, and then create lists of tasks, whether in the order you intend to accomplish them or batched in groups so that you can take them from list-mode on paper (or in an app) to time-blocking mode on your calendar. And if your lists are divided, as Desmond-Harris suggests, into what you must do and what you want to do, leaving those things others want you to do for last (or never), safeguarding your boundaries, how many more of your big-ticket goals might you achieve?

A packing list, and other travel-related lists, can ensure that you consider your needs and wants without last-minute pressure. (Take Paper Doll’s 5 Essential Lists For Planning an International Vacation, for example.)

Lists of books we want to read, movies and television programs we want to watch, and places we’d like to visit create structure and boundaries without greatly limiting our options. When we’re faced with an Amazon or Netflix full of titles, lists of recommendations can keep us from wasting time surfing or making mediocre choices.

  • Lists can relieve anxiety.

Trying to remember everything you need and want to do is exhausting. It’s also untenable. That’s where lists come in.

A well-done, properly-approached list can prune the stress out of your life. A massive list written on both sides of piece of paper, with items you need at the market combined with 5-year-plan types of projects without distinct tasks is not a well-done list.

Neither is anything scribbled on the back of an envelope, or on 63 sticky notes on every vertical and horizontal surface around you. Lists that live in all the different in-boxes of your life, in email and Asana and Evernote, in the notebook in your bag and the whiteboard in your office, are too likely to discombobulate you.

Some people swear by David Allen’s Getting Things Done, which, when followed closely, is a love letter to lists. I appreciate GTD and teach it to clients whose style it fits, but find elements of it to be overly complex.

Others swear by list-based bullet journaling, created by Ryder Carroll, 

but which has long since taken on a life of its own, and which I (and many of my clients find intimidating in its modern form).

Personally, I’m a fan of the 1-2-3 list. I believe in the philosophy that if it won’t fit on a Post-it®, it won’t fit in your day, so I counsel overburdened clients to look through their master lists, brain dump lists, and inboxes, and for any given day, find one big task, two medium-sized tasks, and three small tasks which are their absolute must-do items for the day, the ones that if that’s all they complete, they’ll declare victory.

This is why, when I first teach clients how to use a tickler file (you have read my Tickle Yourself Organized, right?), I’m often discouraging them from piling too many things in any one day’s slot. I may write without brevity, but I coach others to embrace it!

  • Lists can be aspirational.

As with Jack Canfield’s entries, not every list is designed to accomplish the things listed in that book I bought back in 1982. Yes, we need lists to tell us what to do, pack, and purchase. But for envisioning the possibilities in our life — and for reviewing with less embarrassment than reading our teenage journals — lists can help us imagine different lives.

Might you make a list of other careers you could have? Other cities (or countries) in which you might live? Other personal attributes you’d like to have, or habits you’d like to extinguish?

There are days (or years) where we feel boxed in, where it can be difficult to imagine a different “we” that we could be. Vision boards are highly touted for helping people imagine how (and as whom) else they might live. However, I’ve found that whenever I clip photos to create a vision board, they always end up being full of tall, lithe women with long ponytails, doing yoga with lush, green mountains in the background. Eventually, I learned that I don’t want to do yoga; I just want to be a tall, lithe woman with a long ponytail.

For me, vision boards don’t work for expanding my self-view, but lists do. Perhaps they will for you, too?

What lists are essential in your life? Please share in the comments!

Paper Doll Shares Secrets from the Task Management & Time Blocking Summit 2022

Posted on: March 7th, 2022 by Julie Bestry | 15 Comments

What did you get done last week? Was it everything you wanted to accomplish? Did you use a paper calendar or a digital one? A task app or sticky notes? Do you have SMART goals? Am I freaking you out?

Longtime readers know that I seek out all types of continuing education, including each annual NAPO conference. After 2020’s conference was canceled, I was delighted to get to participate in a virtual version, as I told you about in Paper Doll Recaps the NAPO2021 Virtual Conference.

I’d also attended a productivity summit and the last two years of the Task Management and Time Blocking summits, and have spent the last several months preparing to attend the third, as I referenced in Struggling To Get Things Done? Paper Doll’s Advice & The Task Management & Time Blocking Virtual Summit 2022.

Readers, let me just tell you, last week from Thursday through Sunday, I was entirely geeked-out over all things related to task management, time blocking, scheduling, goal achievement. 

And while we explored all manner of strategies, techniques, and tools for getting more done, there was definitely an undercurrent of something more valuable in this year’s conference. Over and over, there were presentations and videos that delved into examining the “why” of getting things done. 

It would destroy your time management and mine if I shared every amazing detail, but even just the  personal highlights are staggering. The summit was a combination of live presentations and panels as well as a series of about a dozen videos each day, and live (video) networking.

Out of the box, after the welcome, we began with a presentation from trainer and coach Jeff Whitmore about intentionality. Jeff talked about the reckoning we collectively saw, both with the onset of the pandemic and now, with the Great Resignation. We’re turning our backs on busy work, on “meetings that could have been emails,” and the experience of being buried in tasks for tasks’ sake, and turning to pondering what we really want — out of our careers, and more deeply, out of our lives.

In a theme that came up over and over during the conference, he talked about identifying the bigger picture of what you want in life and why, and focusing on tasks that drive those goals rather than letting all the competing sensory inputs of notifications and calls and emails determine what you do.

NOVELTY VS. THE FLATNESS OF TIME

The first morning continued with summit founder Francis Wade interviewing noted author, Laura Vanderkam, and her theme posited practical ways make life richer and more nuanced.

For me, Vanderkam’s interview was immediately reminiscent of what I talked about in Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? 5 Strategies to Cope With Pandemic Time Dilation in terms of the way our lives seem to sometimes be an endless slog from day to day. It’s Monday again. It’s time to cook dinner again. As I noted in the chat discussion, sometimes it seems like I look up, over and over, and I’m blowing my hair dry again. 

Vanderkam’s research suggests that to get out of these ruts, we need more novelty, texture, and richness in our time and our tasks. To this, Francis quipped, “less skim milk, more milkshakes.” After a brief foray for praising Ben & Jerry’s Chunky Monkey, Vanderkam suggested one main tip for preventing the automating and routines that make for good task management from diluting the texture of our lives.

Vanderkam encouraged everyone to plan life in weeks, and to identify one “big adventure” (lasting perhaps half a weekend day) and one “little adventure” (lasting an hour) each week to introduce novelty. The purpose? As Vanderkam noted, “We don’t ask where did the time go when we remember where the time went.” Aha. Mindfulness!

As @LauraVanderkam noted, *We don't ask 'where did the time go?' when we remember where the time went.* Share on X

Vanderkam has been studying a wider array of methods for making a Chunky Monkey milkshake out of life. She conducted a nine-week research study with 150 people, having them track their time and studying their time satisfaction and time weariness before and after trying each of nine approaches, from the big and little adventures for making life more memorable to setting a fixed bedtime for yourself so you can “see how many hours the day really has in it.”

The results of Vanderkam’s research will be published in her forthcoming book, Tranquility by Tuesday: 9 Ways to Calm the Chaos and Make Time for What Matters. 

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GEEKING OUT WITH GTD

Another highlight of the summit was an Oxford-style debate on the proposition of whether the notion of organizing by contexts in David Allen’s seminal Getting Things Done is still valid. GTD methodology lets you conceptualize, and then act on, tasks depending on various features. And if this seems a little too “inside baseball” or geeky to you, I can only say that it was…and it was great. By ten minutes into the debate, I found myself shouting back at the screen (muted, of course) and adding lively comments to the chat.

Back in the early days of GTD, contexts were pretty much considered as where the next action could be done, or what equipment you’d need to perform it.

So, a context might have been “at the store,” or “on the phone” or “at my computer.” Thus, the question is, when all of your next actions  — like buying pens on Amazon or having a phone conversation with a client or emailing or searching the web to get clarity on an issue — can be done with just one small piece of metal, glass, and plastic that fits in your pocket, do contexts still matter?

(with apologies to the guys for not catching a single one of them smiling!)

One team was Drs. Frank Buck and Joe Leondike; the other, Augusto Pinaud and Art Gelwicks. Always-unbiased Ray Sidney-Smith (host along with Augusto of my beloved Anything But Idle video podcast) served as the debate moderator. Sparks (politely) flew, but in the end, it came down to semantics and the notion of the evolution of David Allen’s philosophy. (And yes, we know the GTD debate panel was all guys, but I assure you, this was a matter of scheduling complexity. Women were invited to participate!)

My take? Yes, David Allen meant contexts to be more specific, but that was two decades ago. Now, tags (like you’d use in Evernote or Gmail) serve as your context. It’s not “computer” but “Amazon” or “LinkedIn,” the places you go (even if you’re only “going” with your fingertips) to perform a task that really matters.

Then again, I’m a proponent of the idea that whether you’re talking about Getting Things Done or KonMari, the Pomodoro Technique or even my own tickler files, hewing to the letter of any productivity or organizing law instead of empowering yourself to embrace the spirit of it is silly.

What matters is what works!

A NEW (TO ME) TIME BLOCKING METHODOLOGY

We tend to see the same systems and strategies repeated over and over: GTD, time blocking, the Eisenhower Matrix (urgent/important), the Pomodoro Technique, etc. But David Tedaldi of Morgen (one of the summit’s sponsors) introduced us to an approach that was brand new.

Tedaldi’s actual presentation was Tools for Time Management: Help or Hurdle? (which dovetailed nicely with my own presentation, on going “retro” to avoid the drawbacks of technology…of which, more later). As the founder of a company that developed a calendaring system for “professionals who manage multiple accounts, who want to schedule meetings faster, or need to keep track of tasks and appointments in a single, safe place,” he obviously believes in tech tools.

But he also acknowledged that using new tools fractures our time as we have to expend effort (and use our work time) to learn how to use these tools. But wasn’t what made the session memorable for me. Instead, that was Tedaldi talking about a new time management method that is simple, but with commitment, could be life-changing.

It’s called the 90-90-1 Method. (I initially misunderstood Tedaldi’s beautiful accent and thought it was the 1991 Method, and was imagining it had something to do with the Hubble telescope, C&C Music Factory’s “Gonna Make You Sweat” or Silence of the Lambs. Sadly, nope.)

Put forth by Robin Sharma in an 2014 post called You 2.0, the recommendation was to the point:

“For the next 90 days, devote the first 90 minutes of your work day to the one best opportunity in your life. Nothing else. Zero distractions. Just get that project done. Period.”

The 90-90-1 Method, per @RobinSharma: *For the next 90 days, devote the first 90 minutes of your work day to the one best opportunity in your life. Nothing else. Zero distractions. Just get that project done. Period.* Share on X

What is your big, bold, audacious life goal? Want to write a book? Run a marathon? Show your child or spouse or friends that they are priorities in your life? Instead of making these things the sand that flows around the “big rocks” in your life, show up! For the next 90 days (which surely falls in line with the precepts of the popular book, The Twelve Week Year: Get More Done in 12 Weeks than Others Do in 12 Months), spend the first 90 minutes of your day focused on the ONE thing that you (claim) you care the most about.

Wow! (I know, right?)

PAPER DOLL TOOK A SPIN (OR THREE) ON THE DANCE FLOOR

Previously a panelist and moderator, I got to add presenter to my resume at this year’s event! 

My video introduced attendees to the benefits and logistics of using a tickler file, based on my now-classic ebook, Tickle Yourself Organized.

But my real passion was asking people to consider the notion that as useful as digital calendars, automated scheduling software, and task management apps can be, technology isn’t always the best way to get a mental handle on what we need to do and prompt us to do it.

Think about time. Kids, people with ADHD and other neuro-diversities, and many other people have trouble conceptualizing the passage of time — how long is 15 minutes? What does an hour look like or feel like? 

We used to be able to look at analog clocks and perceive, with the sweep of the minute and second hands, how we were getting closer to the top of the hour. With digital clocks, 10:01 or 11:47 just doesn’t feel tangible or real.

This is why Time Timer has proven so successful with students, non-traditional learners, and clients trying to be more productive. With them, you can see time. You can see the PASSAGE of time.

Research shows that something similar happens with handwriting notes vs. taking notes on a computer. When you’re trying to take notes in a class, if you’re typing, your instinct is to take a transcription of what the speaker is saying, word for word. The words come out of the speaker’s mouth, into your ears, and kind of bypass your brain & head to your fingers. 

BUT, when you handwrite, your brain engages and picks out key phrases, identifies essential elements, and helps you translate the presentation into something you understand so that you could explain it to someone else. Going retro by hand-writing your notes gives you an advantage.

One of the 21st-century problems with task management and time blocking is that all of the technology makes our tasks feel too vague and intangible. For many of us, to get things done, we need our resources to be “grippy” or “sticky” or they cease to have a sense of urgency or importance; when we only see due dates or blocks of time TO do something, we lack essential nuance and context.

There’s no novelty or uniqueness in a one-line task in an app to trigger related memories or brainstorm tangential thoughts. When you enter a task in an app, it’s kind of like transcribing those lecture notes; it sort of bypasses your brain. (I think it’s one of the reasons that the more colorful, artistic Bullet Journal approaches became so popular.) Writing things down on paper, and manipulating the words and the paper, gets the brain engaged at a level you don’t see with digital apps.

By blending time management and time blocking skills with paper resources, we can have a hybrid system (analog and digital) that lifts the weight of worry off our shoulders. We can eliminate the fear that tasks will fall through the cracks, assure that we focus on starting work rather than just noting when it’s due, and replace a sense of overwhelm with one of empowerment. Enter the tickler file!

HAVE A LITTLE COMPASSION

I was also on a Q&A Panel moderated by Casey Moore, along with Olga C. Morrett of Mujer Cronopio. As counterpoint to reviewing my more tactical approach to organizing and time management, delightful Olga, a Venezuelan currently freezing her tushy off in Montreal, spoke expanded on her presentation, Compassion as the Key to Your Productivity.

Our lively panel closed out the summit on Saturday, and I think half of the time was spent with us riffing on points the other had made, not counting the unexpected tangent about Titanic, including the idea that plunging into your tasks without planning not only can put you at risk of drowning, but can endanger the mental health of those you love. And, of course, we all agreed that there was definitely room on that floating door for Rose and Jack.

But I really want to share two key concepts from Olga. First, she talked about how self-compassion is an antidote for perfectionism and noted that “The human experience is imperfect. We are entitled to fail. It’s part of the process.”

And, to show yourself compassion, start with looking at your calendar. What you put in your schedule shows how you distribute your resources: your investment of time, money, energy, and attention shows what you you really value. If you’re not investing in yourself but everyone else’s priorities, then you aren’t showing self-compassion.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

I also took my turn as a moderator on a panel entitled, Is Sleep On Your To-Do List? A Look at Time Management and Wellness. Sleep is necessary for us to be creative, strategic, productive, and neurologically healthy. Poor sleep wrecks productivity, but time management failures can destroy our ability to sleep.

I got to interview Dr. Emily Hokett, an academic sleep researcher and expert on achieving better sleep, and Casey Moore (see above, who was pinch-hitting for our colleague Lisa Mark, whose daughter had a baby the week before the summit–mazel tov!). We talked about how poor sleep effects everything from our stamina to our relationships, and covered a pillowcase full of tips about good sleep hygiene, blackout curtains, and the winning tip for me — getting enough sunlight so that your body can tell the difference between day and night.

THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT!

Last year, we met four California high schoolers who came together to solve what they saw as serious problems in the time and task management app space. And they weren’t doing it for school credit or for money, but to help make people’s lives better!

Condution is an impressive open source app, and these young founders invite users and other coders to contribute. I tested the beta version last year, and it was as impressive as the guys themselves, and shockingly professional.

Only two of the four, Jack and Micah, made it to the summit. The other two were at SAT prep! Francis teasingly asked if they do normal teen things (oh, they do! Especially sports and music) and if they were on TikTok. (Nope). If you ever worry about the intentions and philosophy behind strides in the tech world, look no further than these young men. Here’s the video that started it all:

SO MUCH MORE

I’ve barely touched on the summit’s wise takeaways, which ensures there will be a lot to pepper in future posts. Eventually, we have to talk about task stacks from Trevor Lohrbeer, the founder of Day Optimizer. It simultaneously adds elements of gamification and diligence to the act of conquering your task list.

You can see a sneak preview of Danielle Hamlett‘s Willpower, Productivity, and Marshmallows, where she shared life-altering advice on how to amp up willpower. 

And I don’t know where to begin with the insights shared by Amie Devero, but I’ll be pondering the Arrival Fallacy for a while, which is the false belief that once we “make it”  — finish our tasks or attain our goal or reach our destination, we will reach some kind of everlasting happiness and be “done.” There is no inbox zero for all our life’s tasks.

At one point in the conference, Francis was hit with a bit of an epiphany about how all these sessions ostensibly about task and time management were about purpose and intention. When he extemporaneously said the following, I wrote is on a sticky note:

Task management is purpose conveyance.

ALL ACCESS PASS

If you’re bummed that you missed the summit, you can still get in on everything except the live networking. (I mean, I’m good, but I can’t help you time travel! Yet.)

Pick up a Premium, All-Access Pass (a $4700 value for $249) and you get a year of 24-7 access to all summit content, plus a digital copy of Francis’ book, Perfect Time-Based Productivity.

I leave you with four questions:

What big and little adventures will you add to your week to create novelty and make your life more milkshake and less skim milk?

What do you think of the 90-90-1 method?

Look at your calendar: are you showing yourself compassion?

Is your take management conveying your purpose?

 

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