Category Archives: Busy

More Thoughts on Procrastination

Posted on by
Reply

KBB_reading_nookA little while back I wrote about some of the ways in which procrastination is a healthy device that allows us a little more insight as to how we work, why we work the way we do and some of the ways we an embrace procrastination as a natural part of the workflow process. Intrigued? Don’t wait until later to read it. (You can find it here.)

As much as I believe in the potential for procrastination as a useful tool to work smarter instead of harder, there is a fine line between embracing the practice and being overwhelmed by it. When a procrastination habit becomes harmful, it’s probably time to reconsider the reasons behind it and develop new strategies to make sure we meet our deadlines on time, while still on our terms.

There’s no scientific method to my strategy to combat procrastination, but the solutions I’ve found seem to fall into three categories.

Determining the Problem

A doctor can provide relief for certain symptoms; however, he or she cannot treat you until the root cause of the illness has been determined. In a similar fashion, until you determine why it is that you’re procrastinating on a certain task you cannot begin to find a true solution to your bad habit. You’re simply putting a band-aid over the problem. Do some real soul-searching to try and figure out why you’re doing this to yourself.

Are you suffering from a lack of motivation? Set goals, determine rewards and build patterns into your daily life that help you work towards the completion of your project.

Having trouble keeping focus? Shorten the blocks of time you plan to focus on a certain task. More often than not even committing to just ten minutes of performing a certain task can encourage us to focus on it longer. Still not working? Take notes on your energy levels and amount of focus throughout your day and adjust your schedule accordingly. Try saving the more difficult or complicated tasks that require the most of your attention during the times when your alertness is at its peak.

Deleting the Unnecessary

Often our schedules are overflowing with multiple commitments, social engagements and various other personal and professional activities. It’s easy to procrastinate when feeling overwhelmed or stressed so when yourself letting important things slide because of an overcrowded schedule, it may be time to decide what activities and commitments to delete. Can you get by on less shift at your part-time job? Can you get away with dropping an elective? Any commitments, whether they be personal, professional or academic should be dropped if they become toxic, harmful, unreasonably demanding, unnecessarily involved, not enjoyable, or unhelpful towards your goals. If certain tasks are getting out of hand, see how much work you are able to delegate to colleagues, co-workers and friends, even if the arrangement is only temporary. We all need breathing space.

Discipline thyself.

It’s easy to lose focus when there’s no focus to your schedule or work. Blocking off chunks of time and forcing yourself to commit that time to working on certain tasks may be the actual motivation to get things done. If work is ill-defined or poorly organized, it can be off-putting to try and follow a task through to completion, and sometimes even possible to start. Evaluating energy levels, eliminating distractions, and creating environments conducive to our own unique productivity needs are all great ways to enjoy work more, and dare I say make it easier?

If procrastination is a sickness then it’s one we all suffer from, but hopefully by gaining an understanding as to why we do it, we can gain more insight as how to prevent it but for now, hopefully we’ve found our prescription.

KBwB-Flower-50

Have you been procrastinating on commenting on this blog? Putting it off can be bad for you and your health. Share your strategies on how you got your life back on schedule by commenting below. Still too shy? I’ll keep your thoughts a secret if you send them to be at keepingbusyb@gmail.com.

Bedtime Isn’t Just for Babies

Posted on by
Reply

KBB_the_beach_at_nightI used to hate going to bed when I was little and it drove my parents nuts. It’s not that I was a bad kid, but I remember not being able to shake the feeling that I’d somehow be missing something by going to bed.

I can’t imagine how my five-year old self would feel now. In a digital age where it seems like the world is always awake, you truly are missing something by going to bed. Bloggers are posting, tweeters are tweeting and you’re missing it all by lying horizontally in a darkened room with your eyes closed, which the critics say is supposedly good for you. In the meantime, you could be cleaning, or emailing, or Snapchatting, or whatever it is the kids do these days and you’re losing all these hours of productivity to simply doing nothing. It’s enough to make a girl go crazy, right?

Wrong. Sleep is everything, and it’s funny that in a world ruled by batteries we seem to forget the importance of recharging ourselves. Sleep deprivation is often said to be one of the cruelest forms of torture, and anyone who has suffered through a night of tossing and turning would be inclined to agree. With the extreme effects that lack of sleep has on both the body and the mind it seems crazy that we as a society would continue to choose work over rest when one so clearly affects the other.

I’m not trying to lecture; I was like you once. Lack of sleep was not a new concept to me. As a fairly anxious person it’s often hard for me to sleep through the night (let alone fall asleep at all) and as I got older I learned to embrace my bad sleeping patterns because they allowed me to stay up and work and drink way too much coffee. I was happy because I was being productive but I was also exhausted, and exhaustion can be dangerous.

Emotionally, mentally, physically our brains need recharging time in order to function. It’s your body’s diagnostic test- a way of making sure that everything is in good working condition without you having to know a thing. If your brain doesn’t get that tune-up every night your insomnia can be managed in the short term, but it can develop into a more serious issue if the problem isn’t resolved. Exhaustion can affect your coping mechanisms, your logic, your critical thinking skills, your memory, your hormones and your immune system – and that’s just the start of the list.

The biggest problem for people who like to keep busy instead of getting sleep is that they’re operating under the false impression that they’re getting more done by stretching the hours of their day. Instead, they are less productive because they’re not operating at their full physical and mental capacities and that can lead to sloppy work, mistakes, and an all-around lower quality output.

I’m sure you were a small child once. (Weren’t we all?) Our parents enforced bedtimes, established routines and emphasized the importance of getting a good night’s sleep so that we were refreshed and prepared for the day ahead of us. Why don’t we hold ourselves up to the same expectations? When did becoming an adult mean not taking care of oneself?

Even the most immature adult should know- bedtime isn’t just for babies.

KBwB-Flower-50

What are your best practices for a great bedtime routine? Share your comments below or drop me a line at keepingbusyb@gmail.com. Are you a book-before-bed person like me? I’ve got lots of suggestions on to read here.

Take Control of Your Life with a Command Central Binder

Posted on by
2

KBB_colorful_calendar_even_closelierHonest-to-goodness, one of the best organizing strategies that I have used in my life has been the implementation of what’s commonly known among the organizing bloggers as the “Command Central Binder”. It has become one of the most important tools in my workflow system and if I didn’t swear by it, I wouldn’t be sharing mine with y’all today.

I have to give credit where credit is due: this is not an original idea. The idea of a Command Central binder was first introduced to me when I started receiving the Simplify 101 newsletter. (I don’t know anyone who works there I swear! I just troll the Internet for organizing resources because I have a serious addiction to that kind of thing.)

The reason why the Command Central binder is so useful that it is a collection tool designed to allow you more control over the various aspects of your life by keeping all information relevant to you stored in one convenient place. At first I struggled with the idea of creating one because it seemed to be geared towards the busy mother looking to manage multiple schedules, papers, records, tasks and other important information in a place that was at her fingertips. And it is that. But it’s also so much more.

I took the concept one step further and realized I could take the basic principles behind the Command Central binder and adopt them to my own workflow needs. I have a section for all of my to-do lists involving some of the personal and professional projects that I’m working on right now and another section that contains my monthly budget and all of my financial worksheets. The sections don’t have to be strictly utilitarian, either. There’s a section in mine that’s simply for all of books I want to read (the ones that aren’t already logged on my Goodreads profile) and yet another section that tracks future projects and wish lists that I’ve appropriately labeled “Wishin’ and Hopin’”

The key to a making a Command Central binder that works for you is to personalize it as much as you possibly can. It took me of years of tweaking my formula to arrive at the sections that worked for me but because I don’t have children I instead used my Command Central binder as a place to keep track of anything that has to do with my personal and professional well-being and growth. Some of the sections included are the ones I’ve described above; there are a few others as well. I’ll spare you the gory details.

Anything that you need to refer to on a constant basis goes here. Any tools to help your routines, schedules and workflow management belong here as well. Use some of my examples or create your own. Consider including: calendars, school lunch menus, extra-curricular and volunteer schedules, account information and passwords, contacts, chore charts, pantry inventories, budgets, wish lists, to-do lists, membership information, someday/maybe tasks…the list is virtually endless. Once you’ve figured out which pieces of information are most relevant to you, make sure they’re organized in a way that’s easy to use. Refer back to your Command Central binder and revise often to meet your changing needs. I hope you find yours as useful as I’ve found mine.

KBwB-Flower-50

Have you adopted a Command Central binder into your organizing system? Comment below and share what worked for you. Or drop me a line at keepingbusyb@gmail.com and I’ll try to include it an upcoming post. Still looking for other ways to get organized? Click here to read more about some of the methods I’ve found useful.

 

 

10 Things to Do on a Rainy Afternoon

Posted on by
Reply

KBB_stormy_sky

  1. Winter is coming. Well, at the very least it comes once a year. Get your wardrobe ready by giving your sock drawer a mini-makeover. Make sure each sock has a mate and toss those that are on their last legs. Do the same for sockettes, footless tights, stockings, pantyhose, etc. Take inventory of the pieces you’ll need to get your through the colder months and save for your next shopping trip, or add to a future budget. (Feeling more ambitious and wanting to clean out your whole closet? I’ve got some tips on how to do that here.)
  2. Christmas is coming, too. Why not be super organized and spend a fun afternoon browsing the Internet and magazines to brainstorm some fun gifts for all of the people on your list? If you find birthday, anniversary or shower gifts to add to your list than you get a gold star.
  3. Craft your perfect playlist. An afternoon stuck inside is the perfect opportunity to start browsing through your digital library. Organize music based on mood, region, genre, beat, era or be even more prepared by crafting playlists for upcoming events or occasions. For example, I’ve got a playlist called “Broken Heart Mending”. Bet you can’t guess what that one’s for!
  4. Clean your oven. Because, come on- how often do you clean your oven? Probably more than I do. A friend of mine has a funny story he likes to tell about me at parties about the afternoon he walked into my apartment and found me on my hands and knees shouting obscenities at my baking rack. True story- it’s honestly my most hated task. But you have to do it sometime, right?
  5. Go through your pantry. Discard expired and damaged products, consolidate multiples and take inventories for your next shopping trip. See how much money you can save by stretching your staples and shopping your pantry to flush out meals before you need to go to the grocery store. Remember to donate anything your family won’t use or love to your local food bank!
  6. Organize your digital photos. Now is the perfect time, especially when a lot of your summer memories are current, to edit and refine your collections and store them in a way that makes them easy to revisit and share with others. Order prints of your favorites online to include with letters or holiday cards, or share by cultivating a collection on your favorite social media platform.
  7. Purge your files. Pick a filing cabinet, a box, a folder, or a magazine file and make a vow to yourself that nothing goes back inside that you don’t absolutely need to keep. Make sure to shred sensitive documents or set them aside and accumulate in order to hire a shredding service.
  8. Testing, testing, one, two, three. Once a year I like to do a quick inventory of all of my office supplies and test my pencils, pens, highlighters and markers on a scrap piece of paper so I may discard ones that have dried up, or have become difficult or uncomfortable to use. Hello, my name is B and I am anal-retentive. (In my defense, there’s nothing worse than grabbing a dead pen when you’re trying to jot something down quickly, right?)
  9. Back up your computer. If you don’t then all of that playlist organizing and digital photo sorting will be for naught. Don’t have a way of backing up your computer? Now’s the perfect time to research a method that will work for you.
  10. Pick a shelf, any shelf. That’s it. Clear it, clean it, organize it and make a vow to yourself that you will never, ever let it get disorganized again (or at the very least for another year, until you have another rainy afternoon on which to organize it again).

KBwB-Flower-50

I’ve shared with you some of the ways that I spend my rainy afternoons- now I’m interested in hearing how you spend yours! Drop me a line at keepingbusyb@gmail.com or contribute by commenting below. Are you looking for other productive boredom busters? I’ve got plenty of thoughts on organizing here. Looking for something a little more creative? When I’m not busying myself with some project or another I’m reading or whipping up something in the kitchen. Read all about it here and here.

10 Myths About Organizing

Posted on by
Reply

KBB_notebook_and_journalOrganizing is not about purging. I think a lot of people fear getting organized because they equate with parting ways with the things that they love. The opposite is totally true: organizing is about deciding what truly matters to you and cultivating a space filled with things you love and appreciate that contribute to your lifestyle.

Organizing is not about changing your system. It’s about improving your system so that it works better for you. ‘Nuff said.

Organizing is not about buying more gadgets. Just because your newly organized kitchen suddenly has space to house a new fancy juicer doesn’t mean it’s a reason to purchase a new fancy juicer. Sometimes a little blank space helps us to visually appreciate the things you already have. This, of course, does not apply if you were organizing your kitchen to make room for a fancy juicer (if fancy juice is indeed your thing).

Organizing is not about making over a space. Cosmetic changes to the aesthetic are one thing; a well-organized space is not only cosmetically pleasing because it’s clutter-free and carefully planned, it’s cosmically pleasing because it attributes to an easier workflow and a more enjoyable lifestyle.

Organizing is not about creating storage. I once had a client that I was helping move to a bigger space. She had talked about the transition for months; finally her boys were going to have enough space in their rooms for all of their toys. I agreed with her until I saw that each of her small children had bedrooms that rivaled the size of my apartment with giant, gorgeous built-ins along each wall. They were originally meant for toys; however, their new house came with a giant playroom in the basement where the kids spent most of their time. Empty cupboards meant that more clutter quickly accumulated and my client found herself in the middle of her original dilemma. It just goes to show that thoughtful editing and creative organizing are sometimes better solutions than creating more storage to house more things you don’t need or want.

Organizing is not about hiding things away. If you have cherished things that you love, display them! Do you relish looking at all of the piles of work you have to do? You’re a weirdo, but who cares? Leave them on your desk! Just as everyone has different tastes in décor, different people have a variety of organizing styles that lend themselves to a certain style or another. There’s no sense in changing your system just because you aspire to a certain look. (See Number 2.)

Organizing is not about upgrading. Just because you saw that super pretty double door fridge on Pinterest doesn’t mean you can’t organize the fridge you own currently. It’s great to have upgrading goals, but don’t use them as excuses to prevent yourself from improving your lifestyle before you improve your appliances or furniture.

Organizing is not about changing your habits. It’s about recognizing those habits and organizing your space to accommodate them. I’m normally a pretty neat person but as soon as I walk in the door I throw down my keys and they usually fall where they may. I’ve since left a pretty bowl on the shelf next to the door to collect all the shrapnel (like loose change and sunglasses) from my comings and goings throughout the day.

Organizing is not about making things pretty. Yes, organizing a room usually makes it pretty but you shouldn’t hold off on purging just because you don’t have a pretty box to put it in. Conversely, don’t fool yourself into thinking that buying even more pretty baskets and storage accessories will automatically make your space more organized- it can sometimes have the opposite effect.

Organizing is not about abundance. Giant craft rooms and majestic libraries are mouthwatering to look at, but aspiring to have these kinds of spaces can sometimes be unrealistic. I’d love to have drawers upon drawers of pretty pens or fancy baking supplies too, but having an organized space has allowed me to make peace with my reality and appreciate the things that I do have and love.

KBwB-Flower-50

I’ve got a flexible, highly personalized approach to my organizing that’s governed by these truths- now I want to know yours! Send them at me at keepingbusyb@gmail.com or comment below. Want to read more of my organizing thoughts? I’ve got a lot more that I’ve shared here.

Run Your Errands More Effectively Today!

Posted on by
Reply

KBB_fancy_starbucksOne of my friends recently took on a new part-time job; it’s not a permanent thing, but it helps her get her foot in the door in the particular field in which she wants to eventually work. A couple of extra shifts a week though meant drastically reorganizing her well-crafted schedule so much so that all of her routines were thrown off balance. When I asked her how her weekend was the other day, she was responded with the usual complaint that she never felt she had enough time to herself. “I spend most of my time off doing chores and running errands,” she complained. “I’m always popping out to do one thing or another and it’s starting to get to the point where I feel like I’m a jack-in-the-box.”

Have you experienced this too? Girl (guy), I know the feeling. As a freelancer my schedule is all over the place and I’ve had jobs where I’ve found myself working at all sorts of strange hours while still trying to have a life. It’s sad that so much of what should be vital personal time is eaten up by mundane daily tasks, but I do have some tricks for taking back that me-time. One of them is trying to running my errands more effectively.

Running “errands”- going to the post office, marketing, picking up and dropping off gift items, donations, prescriptions, dry cleaning- all of these things are necessary evils in order for our lives to run smoothly. But if I left the house every time I needed something, or every time another task popped up, I’d be leaving the house constantly. There’s nothing fun or productive about it.

That’s why I keep track of all of my errands in an ongoing list I have stashed at the back of my agenda and try to group similar tasks to suit my needs and my schedule. I work a lot from home, so I try to save my errands for times when I’m already out of the house so I don’t have to make special trips for specific items. Where possible I try to delegate my tasks or incorporate them into a dog walk. (That is, of course, providing the errand in question is dog-friendly. My dog has been known to shoplift. I wish I that was joke.) As a last resort I will put aside a chunk of time to complete my errands and plan the most straightforward route ahead of time.

A little bit of preparation can help you fit these pesky tasks into your schedule in a painless way, but a little behind-the-scenes work can help as well. I always like to make sure my bag is packed ahead of time and I always try to make sure I pack whatever I need to complete any errands I might do on my outing.

And if there’s one rule that I live by, it’s: never, ever leave the house without a list. (Anyone who has wandered around the grocery store after work starving knows what I’m talking about.) The key to running your errands more effectively is to make sure you’re prepared and there’s nothing more productive than a list that’s able to keep track of what you’re doing, where you’re going, and what you need in order to do it.

Who knows? You might even make you enjoy getting out of the house for once.

KBwB-Flower-50

Is there one errand that you absolutely hate doing? Mine is going to the post office. I’d love to hear yours when you drop me a line at keepingbusyb@gmail.com. For more suggestions on how to organize yourself, get yourself over to my Busy page.

When Those Lists Keep Adding Up

Posted on by
Reply

KBB_stack_of_filingAlmost everyone I know has a to-do list. Think about yours. It could be on a piece of paper, scrunched in a corner of your daily agenda, or neatly outlined on your Smartphone. Maybe it’s just in your head as you scramble to get out the door to do your errands.

No matter what form, we all have our ways of prioritizing all of the things we need to do in order to keep our businesses, homes or lives in order.

Now I want you to think about your list. If you’re like most people, your list is probably a mile long. You’re bound to forget one of those things, or worse: you might put it off.

Thought about that list? Great. Now ask yourself, what’s the one thing that’s been on here forever? What do I just keep forgetting? What to-do just seems to keep on slipping through the slats? You might have to dig a little deeper to think of that one thing but once you have it, grab onto it mentally and don’t let go.

Is this an exercise in procrastination? (No. I was going to write a post about that but I think I’ll just do it later.) It’s actually proof of something that I’ve only learned very recently.

To-do lists don’t work.

Now don’t immediately start composing that nasty email to me, because to-do lists have helped out a ton of people, myself included. But all too often we fall into the trap of using a to-do list as a brain dump. We write down every single little thing we’ve ever thought of doing ever, instead of just keeping it short, sweet and limited to a certain category of things.

People familiar with the practice of GTD (Getting Things Done) will remember how creator David Allen suggests organizing several to-do lists in order of context.

I have to admit that had been something that has helped me tremendously. My lists are shorter and I am much more selective about each of the items that go on each list.

This doesn’t mean you have to become a hardcore GTD convert in order to gain something from this practice. The next time you write down a to-do list for all of the errands you need to run on Saturday morning, limit the things you need to do to just that Saturday morning. If it’s not an errand, don’t add it to the list. If you do, you run the risk of losing your memory’s grip on that item and the task will never be completed. Not much of a to-do list, right?

It may seem like common sense, but you’d never include items to pick up at the grocery store on a list of things to do to clean your garage. So why would you do any of that to your to-do lists?

Try at least grouping your to-dos into like categories. You may even want to try separating those to-do lists by context, rooms in your house, or by home improvement projects. Whatever floats your boat!

Who knows? You might actually end up getting some of those nasty tasks crossed off.

KBwB-BFlower-50How many items do you have on your to-do list? I’d love to hear about yours as well. Drop me a line at keepingbusyb@gmail.com or comment below. Together let’s get them done! Looking for other projects to keep you busy? I’ve been sharing all of mine here.

Why Fall is the New Spring

Posted on by
Reply

KBB_nothing_can_stop_me_nowAlthough we still have a couple more weeks of summer left (first day of fall is the 22nd, people!) a lot of people consider the arrival of Labor Day weekend to signify the end of summer. For many, this is true: the so-called “back-to-school” season means a lot of changes in lifestyle, at the workplace, in the retail world and sometimes even in the financial sector.

I haven’t been in school for a good few years now, but something about the arrival of September makes me feel as if I’m being given an opportunity to refresh. Recharge. Renew. Although the year is already halfway through, I find September is often my busiest time as I help people take on new projects, and start on a few new ones myself.

Don’t get me wrong: I love the summer. Summer means my birthday, long walks with the dog, and seemingly endless days of sunshine. But I always enjoy the opportunity to get excited about something new, too.

For those of you disappointed about the summer ending, why not take the opportunity to try something new? Press the reset button. For me, I’ll be trying to blog a lot more (something I love, but which I don’t always make the time to do), introduce some new routines in my lifestyle (I’ll be blogging about those a little bit later) and finally, I’ll be spending some time fixing things up around my apartment so I can better enjoy my time inside when the weather gets colder.

It doesn’t have to be a big project to get you going. Today, I felt refreshed and renewed by giving my hardwood floors a good deep clean to get rid of all the dirt and grime my dog and I have tracked in from the park and the beach. All the scrubbing started to get the wheels turning as I thought of a few cleaning tasks that will give my home that extra sparkle after being neglected in favor of my patio all summer.

So I’m officially declaring that fall is the new spring! Don’t wait until 2015 to clean your apartment, start that new project, organize your life, etc. Start now! Enjoy the feeling of productivity and organization so the winter months ahead can bring time to relax, to rejoice in family and friends, and maybe even a good cup of hot chocolate. (Too soon?)

KBwB-Flower-50

What do you have planned for the month of September? Comment below or drop me a line at keepingbusyb@gmail.com. I’d love to hear from you!

Break it Down Now

Posted on by
Reply

KBB_birdseye_todos

The winter months seem to be a favorite time for everyone to recharge and re-evaluate their spaces, their careers, the way they organize things. And who would blame them? With all the cold weather it’s natural to want to hibernate inside and tackle those millions of little projects that start driving you crazy after so much time spent indoors.

I say millions of projects because most of us have them. Even if you think the items on your to-do list can be easily counted on one hand, you would be surprised at how many projects each of these incomplete items comprises.

Take for example an especially sticky task such as “organizing my office”. Action words like “organize”, “clean”, or even “figure out” make me wary. What do each of these actions mean physically?

Let’s go back to organizing that office. What would it take to get your office organized? I’m betting you there’s at least more than one step involved. In fact, there could be steps involved to the steps you have to take in order for your office to become more organized.

I’d like to get mine organized too. In order for it to look organized, however (or at least to the point where it “feels” organized), I have to complete more than one task.

  1. Get my overflowing inbox to “zero”.
  2. Organize my magazine clippings.
  3. Back-up my computer’s hard drive (not exactly a step that makes my office look physically organized, but one that makes me feel as if I am!)

The task at hand (organizing my office) has suddenly become three smaller, much more manageable tasks. Automatically my to-do list has grown larger, but the things I have to do in order to complete the list have suddenly become much more well-defined. The job of organizing my office has suddenly become much more manageable.

Having vague, sweeping notions of what it is that you need to do can become intimidating, which allows us to procrastinate or even worse, grow numb to actually doing the task. If it’s broken up in smaller, more manageable chunks you no longer need to put these tasks off because you don’t have time to put an afternoon aside, or you don’t know where to start.

Try it! Take a particularly tricky item on your to-do list and write out the steps you need to take in order to follow it through to completion. It may be that your list will grow uncomfortable long but at least you’ll find that those bite-sized chunks are a little bit easier to swallow.

KBwB-Flower-50

Juggling a part-time job with a full-time business is pretty harrowing to say the least. This is how I break down my projects, but I’d love to hear more of your tips in the comments below. Read about other ways I manage to keep busy here, and more about how I run my business here. Whenever I feel like taking a break, you’ll probably catch me reading or forcing my baking on other people. The list of projects never ends!

Where Do I Start?

Posted on by
Reply

KBB_blank_pages

I am the first to admit, we’ve all been there. Even the most organized of us have had our moments where we’ve abandoned all sense of routine and have left our spaces to be taken care of by the cleaning elves.

Unfortunately, there are no such things as cleaning elves so we’re left to deal with the giant messes we’ve left in our collective wake. It doesn’t mean we’re lazy- it just means we’ve been busy, too tired or too frustrated to get things done. Ok, sometimes it’s laziness too.

But when faced with a back log of filing, a large organizational project or even just a big mess from last night’s party it can be hard to know where to begin. How do we motivate ourselves to tackle all that work.

I have bad news: there is no right solution. Everyone procrastinates, falls behind or gets overwhelmed from time to time. We’re busy people getting busier, so it stands to reason that backlog will happen to even good people. The best solution is prevention- figuring out why we get so over our heads in the first place.

But that’s not helpful advice to anyone trying to find their laptop under giant stacks of paperwork and mail that have been collecting dust for at least a week. (Disclaimer: That has never happened to me before. Ever.)

Here’s my advice then. Consider it a gentle kick in the behind.

Make like Nike and just.do.it.

I’m serious. It’s as simple as that. You may send me hate mail telling me, “Oh, B, but you don’t understand X”, or, “I just have to do Y”, etc.

But honestly? You don’t. Just pick one thing and start. It may mean that you figure out it’s a bigger project than you anticipated. You may realize that you’ve picked the wrong thing to start with. But at least you’ve learned more about the task at hand. It may even lead you to create a plan to get the rest of your project done.

But worst case scenario: you actually got something done! Celebrate! Do a crazy dance at your desk! (Make sure no one is watching first.) Take that happy, accomplished feeling and run with it. Who knows? It may be the source of motivation you need to start another project, and another. Before you know it, you could find yourself chugging along like the efficient little organizer you are deep down inside.

So go ahead and do it! Get off of your computer, or iPad, or phone, or whatever and do something. (Unless it involves one of the aforementioned devices.) Then let me know how good it feels. Just so you know, that light airy feeling you’re experiencing? That’s the feeling of the weight being lifted off of your chest.

KBwB-Flower-50

Need more help with jumpstarting your project? Find out more about what I do here. Feel like doing it yourself? Check out my other articles on running a business or keeping busy for inspiration on how to get your next project going.