Category Archives: Time management

Organize It: Data, Time and Space Posted on June 12, 2016 by

3 Good Reasons to Stop Using Your Brain as a Calendar

Are you using your brain to manage your day?  My Toastmaster friend handed me some papers and asked me to submit his work to Toastmasters International for a leadership award. I’ll call him Christopher.

Christopher had met the requirements for his Advanced Leader Bronze award. I am an officer in our club and told him that I would be glad to submit his application.

He was missing some required information

At my desk later I looked over the paperwork and realized that I was missing some information. The application asked for two dates that I did not have.

• The date he had attended a club-officer training program
• The date that he had helped prepare a Club Success Plan.

I have served alongside Christopher as an officer in our Toastmasters club for several years. I knew that he had met his requirements. I was unsure of his dates.

I called and asked for them. He could not remember.  “Can you check your calendar?” I asked. “I don’t use a calendar” he replied.

I was speechless. Continue reading →

How to Train Your Runaway Right Brain

Organize It: Data, Time and Space Posted on January 12, 2015 by

Have you experienced runaway right brain? It’s a term that I coined years ago. It describes an annoying occurrence that I experience quite often. It goes like this. You are doing something that is routine but important like housework or exercise. All of a sudden you discover that you’ve stopped that task and moved on to something else.

2015-01-07 Runaway Right Brain

It takes off in an instant

I was doing my strength training routine on the Monday before Christmas. I do squats, lunges and some arm exercises with dumbbells. I don’t enjoy strength training but I believe it will help me stay strong as I get older. I was doing leg exercises when my eyes landed on the Christmas cards that were on an end table. Some of the cards were standing up, others had fallen over and still others were the photo type that had to be propped up. Staring at that disordered card display caused my right brain to take flight.

I remembered seeing a post by my Facebook friend Sue Painter. She had displayed her Christmas cards on a fabric and ribbon bulletin board. I loved that idea. I was in the middle of squats Continue reading →

Confessions of an Organized Gardener

Organize It: Data, Time and Space Posted on July 15, 2011 by

It’s been awhile since I posted to this blog. I must confess the gardening bug bit me early in the spring. I have spent every minute of available time working in my gardens. I pulled weeds, moved plants and re-shaped beds. I thought a lot about the similarities between maintaining a garden and maintaining an organized home.

Two-tone mauve IrisAnother Confession

One question that I asked myself was “Why didn’t you do a fall clean-up?” There was another disturbing internal conversation. “You know Karen, weeding is a repetitive task and you teach others how to identify and schedule repetitive tasks. Why didn’t you apply the same advice to the gardening?”

So here goes another confession. I ignored my gardens last fall, except for one small Bearded Iris bed that I created. This neglect resulted in an overgrowth of weeds that was maddening. Not just weeds… I seem to have a love for invasive plants.

Bumble Bee feasting on the Blue Satin Rose of SharonThey Could Take Over the World

I have a gorgeous blue Rose of Sharon that I have trained as a small tree. It stands about eight feet tall in one of the planting beds and every seed pod that drops sprouts. The wind carries them as well and the little offspring clutter up the entire garden. Continue reading →

The Power of Ten

Organize It: Data, Time and Space Posted on January 1, 2010 by

How are things with work, your financial situation, and your home? Would you like to change anything?  How about your relationships with family and friends, your health and fitness and your spiritual life? Are you completely satisfied with the way things are?  Most all of us would like to change a few things. Are you aware that you can significantly change your life for the better in ten minutes or less? Continue reading →