It's Here: Get It Together Girl Radio!

Tonight is the night.  After months of planning and preparation, I am launching my own BlogTalkRadio show with Get It Together Girl Radio! Like the workbooks, the show will focus on the little things you can do and changes you can make that will make a major difference in your life.

We'll talk about organization and time management (but I promise you it won't be boring!). We'll talk about relationships (not just romantic ones but family, friends and workplace relationships too). We'll talk about health and wealth. We'll talk about setting and achieving goals and living your dreams!

This is sort of like coming full circle for me. My degree is in broadcast journalism and I worked in radio for several years after college. However, eating shouldn't be optional and cars run better on gas than fumes so I made a career change. People who know me know that this project makes sense for me and the person that I am. A radio show is definitely within my wheelhouse. For me, it is living a dream.

I am truly excited about this. I'm lining up great guest, covering amazing topics and looking forward to calls from listeners and chatting with them.

The live show airs Thursday nights at 8:00 p.m. (EST). If you miss the live show, you can always visit the archive and replay the show when it is convenient by going to www.blogtalkradio.com/getittogethergirl

I hope you share even a little bit of the my enthusiasm. I would love to hear your voices on the show. Call in! Chat with me!

Also if you or anyone you know would be interested in being a guest, email me at karyn @getittogethermedia.com.

Get It Together Girl Radio

Tomorrow is the day. It is the debut of my weekly talk show, Get It Together Girl Radio, airing Thursdays at 8:00 p.m. (EST) on BlogTalkRadio.

Like my workbooks, Get It Together Girl Radio, is about starting where you are and using what you have to get what you want. If it's something you need to get together, we'll talk about it. So far the show is structured to cover several major areas over the course of a month

• 1st Week - Saving Time and Organizing Your Space: This is one of the quickest ways to reduce stress so we'll talk about organizing the various rooms and spaces in the home, saving time at work, with the kids... Sure  organization isn't the sexiest of subjects, but we'll make it fun!

• 2nd Week - Relationships: Sure we'll delve into romantic relationships but we'll also explore friendships, family relationships, interacting with co-workers. Heck, we'll even talk about your relationship with yourself.

• 3rd Week - Wealth and Health: You need enough wealth and good health if you want to truly enjoy your life. We'll talk about repairing your credit, ways to save, changing your outlook at money. We'll talk about ways to eat more veggies, workouts/exercise, and swap favorite recipes.

• 4th Week - Live Your Dreams: The last week in every month is devoted to goal-setting and living your dreams. We'll discuss ways to make achieving your goals more realistic, we'll also hear from people who have achieved their goals and those who are living their dreams.

• 5th Week - If there is a fifth week in the month it will be either devoted to callers or to a topic I've selected.

You can listen to the show at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/getittogethergirl. If you listen live, you can call-in to the show. However, if you can't catch the live show visit the link above to listen to an archived version of the show.
I hope you'll listen and I hope you'll call in!

Get It Together Girl Radio

I have finally done something I'd been thinking about doing for a while now. I am launching my own BlogTalkRadio show in September.

Just as often as I thought about doing it, I would think myself out of it. I probably didn't have the equipment. I couldn't afford the advertising. It would just be one more thing on a very full plate. The thing is I never went further than thinking. I just knew it was going to take more money, more time and more effort that I could afford.

I'd been yearning to do something though. So a few weeks ago, I actually went to the BlogTalkRadio site and started investigating. I quickly realized, I already had all the equipment I needed to get started, it wasn't going to cost me a fortune to start and there were ways I could actually make money through my show. They even gave me tips on promotion and free training with a veteran host.

So I did it. And it felt good. Heck, it still feels good. Had I taken a look at the site and found that it really was expensive or time-intensive, that would have been fine too. I would have just moved on. The scary thing was that I asked all of these questions and came up with my own answers. I talked myself out of taking action without even having any real information!

How many times do we make decisions like that? We think we know and assume that our thoughts must be the reality. The only way to know is to make the effort and take the time to find out the truth. In my case, it was just checking out a website and talking to a veteran host.

So instead of taking your own expert advice, take the initiative to get the information from the experts. Go on a fact-finding mission. Once you have your facts, then and only then can you really make a good decision.

Get It Together Girl Radio will be a weekly series dedicated to helping listeners get the information and take the initiative necessary to live their lives at full capacity! My motto .. Get Motivated. Get Real. Get There with Get It Together Girl Radio! When I finalize the time for the live show I will let you all know. I will also give you the link to my page, so you can listen to my show anytime!

I'm so excited that last night I recorded a short preview episode that contains information on Get It Together Girl: the history, the concept, the workbooks and now the radio show. Check it out.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/getittogethergirl/2013/07/24/all-about-get-it-together-girl-1

I Can't Wait!

I have finally done something I'd been thinking about doing for a while now. I am launching my own BlogTalkRadio show in September.

Just as often as I thought about doing it, I would think myself out of it. I probably didn't have the equipment. I couldn't afford the advertising. It would just be one more thing on a very full plate. The thing is I never went further than thinking. I just knew it was going to take more money, more time and more effort that I could afford.

I'd been yearning to do something though. So a few weeks ago, I actually went to the BlogTalkRadio site and started investigating. I quickly realized, I already had all the equipment I needed to get started, it wasn't going to cost me a fortune to start and there were ways I could actually make money through my show. They even gave me tips on promotion and free training with a veteran host.

So I did it. And it felt good. Heck, it still feels good. Had I taken a look at the site and found that it really was expensive or time-intensive, that would have been fine too. I would have just moved on. The scary thing was that I asked all of these questions and came up with my own answers. I talked myself out of taking action without even having any real information!

How many times do we make decisions like that? We think we know and assume that our thoughts must be the reality. The only way to know is to make the effort and take the time to find out the truth. In my case, it was just checking out a website and talking to a veteran host.

So instead of taking your own expert advice, take the initiative to get the information from the experts. Go on a fact-finding mission. Once you have your facts, then and only then can you really make a good decision.

Get It Together Girl Radio will be a weekly series dedicated to helping listeners get the information and take the initiative necessary to live their lives at full capacity! My motto .. Get Motivated. Get Real. Get There with Get It Together Girl Radio! The show will debut on BlogTalkRadio on Thursday, September 5, at 8:00 p.m. (EDT).

I recorded a short promo that talks about Get It Together Girl: How it started, all about the workbook and what the radio show will be like. Check it out!

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/getittogethergirl/2013/07/24/all-about-get-it-together-girl-1

Taking a Technological Time Out

Cell phones, email, text messaging, status updates, tweeting, for many of us, from the moment we awake until we go to sleep, we are ‘connected’. On an episode of Dr. Phil, one woman was so addicted to texting that she stopped in the middle of intimate relations with her husband to read and respond to a text. Don’t even get me started on all of the near-miss accidents I have had because someone couldn’t be bothered to look away from the phone and actually watch the road! It’s getting to be a little much.

These technological wonders have become a part of our lives, mostly for the better, but still, our dependence is a little bit scary. So many churches and other organizations have started what they call technology fasts. The most practical ones for me are evening fasts. If you need emails and cell phones for work or to track the kids down, that’s one thing.

Yet the idea of an evening fast intrigued me. An evening fast starts when you get home from work, and ends the next morning. For those hours, there is no:

• Television
• Internet
• Phone usage (land line or cell)
• Texting
• Video Games
• GPS Systems

For an evening, you are technologically free. You can read. You can meditate. You can talk to your family members. You can take a walk. You can play with the kids. You can write in a journal. You can paint, sing, draw … but you can’t utilize technology.

Of course this does take some planning. You won’t want to do it when you have a project due or a test scheduled for the next day, but you do want to find some time to do it.

I did it for several days during a recent vacation. I found it to be liberating and calming. Perfect for a vacation! Yet, I decided to do it one evening a week when I returned home – that has proved a little more challenging.

Try it just for one evening and let me know how it goes.

Go with What You Know

As a trainer, I've noticed something I'll call computer infallibility. In other words, if the computer says it is right, it must be right - regardless of what you might know to the contrary. A student in one of my Microsoft Word classes once tried to tell me that my name was spelled wrong because the spellchecker said so! I assured him that George and Bettye Beach wanted my name spelled that way. Karyn - the 'y' is there for a reason!

The spellchecker can be a great tool but it's not perfect. And, as far as grammar? The grammar check is wrong as much as it is right (if not more). Yet and still, people have become convinced that if the computer says it, it must be true. Too many times, we rely on what a computer, or a professional using a computer says, instead of using our own common sense and logic.

Case in point, when I started looking for a house last year, I went to a mortgage broker to get pre-approved. She approved me for over $200k. WOW! The computer came up with that number, but when I crunched my own numbers, the amount I could afford was a lot less. So, which numbers did I go with?

Mine. When the realtor asked me how much I got approved for, I didn't even bother to tell him. I told him how much I could afford, based on my numbers. The computer might look at my rent and credit history, but it's not looking at the full picture. Had I gone with their numbers, I would have been in foreclosure by January - and I bought the house in September!

Basically, listening to experts and computers can be helpful, but you are your own best expert! Don't turn off your brain and your reasoning ability just because a computer or someone sitting in a suit behind a desk says so. Trust your own logic. Trust your own intuition.

It's easy to be intimidated by technology and experts; but you still have to think - especially if your health, your money or your time is on the line. Do not be afraid to ask questions or ask for clarification. The saying in training is that "there are no stupid questions." If you need to ask, ask.

In fact, you have to think and be assertive. Don't be afraid to say no or say that you need to wait and make a decision later. If you can't afford it, say so. If you don't have the time, make that clear. You are the expert about your situation. You know what is on your schedule. You know how much money is in your account. You know what obligations you have to fulfill. You are the one who will have to face the consequences.

No one will protect you or have your back quite as well as you do.

Get It Together Girl: 28-Days to Home Organization

The first, and most successful, in the series is the original. Get It Together Girl: A 28-Day Guide to Practical NOT Perfect Home Organization is built around the power of the Focused 15. I am constantly amazed at how much can be accomplished in a dedicated quarter of an hour.

I gave a series of 15 minute assignments to be completed Monday through Friday. We move from the kitchen to the bathroom to the bedroom (and the closets!) and finally the living room and work areas. If just the Monday through Friday assignments are done, you've spent over 5 hours organizing!

For example, Day One is the Refrigerator Run-Through. You aren't cleaning the fridge out so much as you are getting rid of everything that is "moldy, hairy, furry, gooey or otherwise inedible."

At the end of the week, I provide a series of steps that help you stay organized. Most can be accomplished in less than one minute. For example, get undressed while standing in front of the hamper. This way your dirty clothes go directly into the hamper without making a pit stop on the floor. Also, if you keep your hangers on the hamper or in another accessible place, it is easy to hang up things that can be worn again.

Weekends are free ... unless you want to do more. For the overachievers in the group, I give some longer weekend assignments that make great projects (or possibly punishments for the kid! LOL!).

Challenge: Try the power of the Focused 15 for yourself. You don't have to limit yourself to organization, it works in almost any area. Devote 15 minutes to a specific task: walking, cleaning, organizing, reading, filing, talking to someone on the phone, budgeting.

At the end of 15 minutes, one of two things have happened. Either you have made a dent in whatever you are working on or you've gotten your momentum going and are ready to keep going.

The key to an effective 15 is to seriously devote 15 minutes to the task at hand. This is not 15 minutes spent multi-tasking or with a split focus. It's called the Focused 15 for a reason!

Get It Together Girl: It's About Time

It's always a great time to talk about time management. The second in the series, Get It Together Girl!: It's About Time - Finding It, Saving It and Making the Most of It is a collection of time-saving tips doled out one per weekday.

A common excuses that many people have is that they don't have enough time. One thing is certain, you aren't going to get anymore! The trick is to do better with the time you have. Most people get defensive when I say it, but I can squeeze an hour out of the average woman's day.

The trick is to not look for large blocks of time; but to use small pockets of time more effectively. I had a client who claimed she couldn't study for the bar because she couldn't find enough 3 hour blocks of time. I agreed. Three hour blocks of time are hard to come by. I gave her a question and a challenge. My question was how long are the blocks of time she did have. She told me an hour. Next, I challenged her to take those 3 hour subjects and break them down into hour-long subtopics. Working with the time that she had, she was able to finally study.

This book starts with a question? What would you do if you could find an extra two-hours in your week? Next, we spend two weeks looking at different ways to get that time: bundling errands, using the Focused Fifteen outside of organization ....

What makes this book different, is that I've included a lot of extra information in the Appendix. There is a chart for age-appropriate chores for kids, tips on how to delegate as well as web-based and mobile applications that will help readers save even more time.

Challenge: Ask yourself the question: what would you do with two extra hours a week? I start with this question because saving time is a task that is hard to track. If you have a good answer to this question you'll have something to work towards as well as a great way to tell if you have succeeded!

Get It Together Girl: Getting to Goal

I love setting goals! It's one of the things I'm passionate about. Not only do I set goals annually, but I revisit them and set mini-goals every once. Most of the time, I meet them but even when I don't, I know what I need to do to tweak my plan. I'm so passionate about goal-setting that a few years back, I convinced my manager to let me conduct an optional goal-setting workshop for employees. It was from that workshop that Get It Together Girl!: Getting to Goal - Your Dreams, Your Desires, Your Way was born.

In this 90-minute workshop, we looked at the immediate past (no more than two years) to see what worked, what didn't and, most importantly, why. Then we shoot a year forward to see what we'd like our lives to look like. What is different? What has changed?

It's from that forward look that we start to look at what goals we'd need to create that picture. We also look   at the goals to determine which ones we truly want for ourselves versus the ones others want for us and the ones we thing we should have. Once we get rid of the should goals, we focus on no more than three goals and we develop the plan for achieving them.

As with It's About Time, I created an appendix with practical information - including a series of Goal Assistants for the most popular goals (weight loss, new job, continuing education, saving money, stopping smoking and starting a relationship). With Goal Assistance, I list several tips that will help you succeed as well as several resources to help you along your journey.

Getting to Goal: Get Golden

Every year, the practice of making New Year's resolutions falls a little more out of favor. Less than half of Americans actually make resolutions now! My theory is that failure is embedded within the concept of resolutions. We resolve to do something differently - to lose weight, get out of debt, start/end a relationship, find a new job. Yet, what is resolve? The dictionary says it is to decide to do something. Okay ... see the problem yet?

To make a major change (which is what most resolutions are) it takes a lot more than resolve. Deciding to do something is just the first step. Actually, the real first step isn't deciding to do something. The real first step is figuring out what you really want to do in the first place.

"What is she talking about?" you say to yourself as you read this. "Of course I want to lose weight /save money / buy a house / go back to school/ fill-in-the-blank." But do you?

You know you should stop smoking. However, your health isn't suffering. You like taking your smoke breaks at work. Basically, you are pretty content with the status quo. Yet, you really should stop smoking. So you resolve to do it because society and your mother says you should. Now, what are the chances that you will stop smoking? I'll tell you - slim to none.

Now, if you got winded playing with the kids or got a bad report from the doctor, you might decide for yourself that you are ready to stop. It's still going to be hard but you have those kids or your health to think about and you are ready to do this. Now, the chances of you kicking the habit are a lot greater.

So look at your goals and then decide which ones you are really excited about achieving for yourself. What are the goals you are motivated to achieve? It's okay to cross them off your list if you aren't willing to put in the time and the effort. It you aren't ready to do that, you won't achieve it anyway.

Notice, I call them goals and not resolutions. Once you think of a few goals you want to achieve, pick no more than three you want to go for. Choose more and you'll accomplish less. You want to set major goals that have major impact - goals that create a positive domino effect. I call them Golden Goals.

Getting a new job would be a Golden Goal. If you get a new job - making more money - you'll be able to pay off more bills, which means less financial stress and less bickering with the spouse about money. If you are lucky, you might have a more positive work environment which reduces work related stress and improves your outlook overall. So getting that job creates a host of other positive outcomes.

Assignment: For this week, your assignment is to select two to three Golden Goals. These will be goals you want for yourself, are motivated to achieve and would cause a positive domino effect in your life.

Got Pockets?

It would be wonderful if we had large blocks of time. We could really get a lot done if we had an hour or two or even more to devote to getting organized, study, clean, spend time with loved ones, write, read or indulge in a hobby. It’s rare, though, to have that kind of time on your hands. The sad thing is that we sacrifice a lot based on something that really doesn’t have to be a problem.

You have time. Trust me, you do. You just don’t see it because you don’t have great big boulders of time, you’ve got small rocks, pebbles even. However, if you use these small blocks effectively, you’ll be able to find a couple of larger rockers and even the occasional boulder.

• Want an extra 30 minutes? Wake up 30 minutes earlier or go to bed 30 minutes later. Use half of your lunch time to get things done.
• Got 15 minutes? Use it. A quarter of an hour can be enough time to get some cleaning, straightening, or organizing done. Fifteen minutes of filing or cleaning out your email box can get a lot done. I even write sometimes in 15 minute increments. It isn’t a lot of time but done consistently, it can make a big difference.
• Have just 5 minutes? Five minutes is enough time to return a few phone calls, especially if you are just have information to communicate and don’t have to have a conversation. Leave messages. Call work colleagues before the work day begins, at lunch or right before you leave work. Call family and friends during the work day.
• Drive much? Use your time in the car to return phone calls (Use your hands free headset. Safety first!). This is also a great time to catch up on the news or listen to an audio book. It could be a good idea to turn off the radio or music and use the silence to recharge and get a moment to yourself.
• Dog Gone It! I return a lot of phone calls while walking the dog.
• Use Your Smartphone Wisely. On my Android, I have apps for most of my bills, and my bank. I also have apps that let me check the weather, get movie times, create and update a task list and a calendar for appointments. While I never advocate this while driving, this can be an excellent use of your time when you are standing in a long line, on breaks at work or waiting at the doctor’s office or at the mechanics. Recently, I paid several bills on the train ride to my salsa lesson.

Using the time you have is empowering and effective. It’s a great feeling to know that you are getting things done and saving time to boot.

Making the Most of Each Day - What Matters Most

I’m a big fan of Steven Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. My favorite habit (yes, I have a favorite!) is Habit 3: Putting First Things First. The Habits are designed to be mastered sequentially and this one comes after learning to be proactive and to begin with the ending in mind. By Habit Three, the reader is ready to start living their priorities. This is the time to bring the most important things to the forefront.

In order to put first things first, you have to have the time. What things am I talking about? Exercise, eating healthy, quality time with family, friends and the significant other, prayer and meditation, professional development, hobbies, writing the Great American Novel, these are the things that we say we value but we often put aside. Why? Most often, we simply don’t have the time … or so we say. Take a moment and look up at the banner of this blog. What does it say? LOSE THE EXCUSES! More often than not, not having time is just that, an excuse.

Covey has a simple but dramatic four quadrant square that illustrates where we are currently spending our time and how we can reallocate it to make time for the things that matter most. The quadrant tracks two concepts – urgency and importance.

Quadrant One is the Quadrant of the Procrastinator. Things in this quadrant are both urgent and important. This quadrant is where we are when we are rushing to get that report in by the deadline or stay up all night cramming for the test. It is the quadrant of car trouble, and even heart attacks.

Quadrant Two I’ll talk about last.

Quadrant Three is the Quadrant of the Yes Man. Things in this quadrant are urgent but not important. We are in this quadrant when we let interruptions (chatty co-workers,  non-urgent phone calls, immediately answering non-essential emails) take us away from what is more important. Some meetings fall into this category and things that are important and urgent to others but aren’t important to us appear here too.

Quadrant Four is the Quadrant of the Slacker. Things in this quadrant are neither urgent or important. Some time spent surfing the net, watching TV or napping is a good thing. We all need down time and relaxation. However, if you are spending too much time here, it is a problem.

Quadrant Two is the Quadrant of the Prioritizer. Things in this quadrant are not urgent but they are important. This is where we should spend more of our time. This is the quadrant of planning, relationship building, exercise, planning, and prevention. The lack of urgency sometimes makes these important tasks take a back seat to Quadrant 1.

However, spending more time in Quadrant Two reduces the amount of time we spend in the first quadrant. A little planning and time management and the adrenaline-filled rush to complete the report or the caffeine-fueled cramming session could have been avoided. A little preventive car maintenance could have eliminated the car trouble. It’s possible that making time to exercise, prepare healthy meals and visit the doctor, the heart attack might not have happened.

We can also work on spending less time in Quadrants Three and Four. Begin managing your interruptions. Hold people who drop by to a time limit. Let them know you have five minutes or so to talk and then you have to get back to work. Five minutes later, give them a better time to continue the discussion, if necessary. Use technology to your advantage. Check your Caller ID and voicemail. You don’t have to answer every phone call. Return calls when you have the time. Likewise, set a time to return emails. Use the flag feature to keep them from falling through the cracks.

It is easy to end up spending too much time in Quadrant Four. After all, time flies when you are having fun! Give yourself a set amount of time for your activity and then use a timer to reinforce that.

Make the time for the things that matter most. This is where life is lived and memories are made.

Making the Most of Each Day – Get It Together

In 2005, The Independent conducted a study on how people spend their time. Ten minutes were spent each day hunting for keys, five minutes looking for the TV remotes. Seven minutes rummaging around for socks and shoes. About four minutes was spent for glasses and other accessories. Of course, there is also time spent every day looking for electronic and paper files, lost email messages, not to mention kid’s toys and other items. Roughly 30 minutes a day is spent looking for things. Could you use 30 minutes a day? I’m sure you could!

In my book, Get It Together Girl: A 28-Day Guide to Practical NOT Perfect Home Organization, I spend one day talking about finding homes for the homeless. It’s always a good idea to volunteer or donate to a charity and homelessness is a great cause but that isn’t what I’m talking about. Everything that people spend time looking for should have a designated place.

This isn’t rocket science. All of these items should have a place that is easy to use and that makes sense.

Keys: The way my house is designed the front door and garage door are side by side. I found a small table with one drawer that fits between the two. My keys and the dog’s leash go into that drawer. That’s all. It works because it’s by the door and it’s convenient to put my keys in it when I walk in or get the leash out when we’re ready to take a walk.

TV Remotes: These go at the end of my coffee table on the side where I usually sit. When I sit down, I can reach them easily. No matter what happens during the evening, the remotes are there when I turn off the TV.

Clothes and Glasses: Every night, I take a few minutes to lay out my clothes for the next day. My glasses go on the end of my dresser.

At work, I have a folder for items that need to be filed and I use a variety of folders for electronic documents and emails.

Most mornings for me are pretty stress free. Time spent looking for items is time wasted and time spent stressed out. Granted, since it’s just me it’s easy to do this. But, I’ve tested this with friends who have children from toddlers to teens and it works. In fact, getting your kids to find places for their homeless items is a great habit for everyone in the family to develop!

Making the Most of Each Day - Got Pockets?

In this four-week series, we will look at how to make the most of each day by making the most effective use of the one commodity we all share – time.

It would be wonderful if we had large blocks of time. We could really get a lot done if we had an hour or two or even more to devote to getting organized, study, clean, spend time with loved ones, write, read or indulge in a hobby. It’s rare, though, to have that kind of time on your hands. The sad thing is that we sacrifice a lot based on something that really doesn’t have to be a problem.

You have time. Trust me, you do. You just don’t see it because you don’t have great big boulders of time, you’ve got small rocks, pebbles even. However, if you use these small blocks effectively, you’ll be able to find a couple of larger rockers and even the occasional boulder.

• Want an extra 30 minutes? Wake up 30 minutes earlier or go to bed 30 minutes later. Use half of your lunch time to get things done.
• Got 15 minutes? Use it. A quarter of an hour can be enough time to get some cleaning, straightening, or organizing done. Fifteen minutes of filing or cleaning out your email box can get a lot done. I even write sometimes in 15 minute increments. It isn’t a lot of time but done consistently, it can make a big difference.
• Have just 5 minutes? Five minutes is enough time to return a few phone calls, especially if you are just have information to communicate and don’t have to have a conversation. Leave messages. Call work colleagues before the work day begins, at lunch or right before you leave work. Call family and friends during the work day.
• Drive much? Use your time in the car to return phone calls (Use your hands free headset. Safety first!). This is also a great time to catch up on the news or listen to an audio book. It could be a good idea to turn off the radio or music and use the silence to recharge and get a moment to yourself.
• Dog Gone It! I return a lot of phone calls while walking the dog.
• Use Your Smartphone Wisely. On my Android, I have apps for most of my bills, and my bank. I also have apps that let me check the weather, get movie times, create and update a task list and a calendar for appointments. While I never advocate this while driving, this can be an excellent use of your time when you are standing in a long line, on breaks at work or waiting at the doctor’s office or at the mechanics. Recently, I paid several bills on the train ride to my salsa lesson.

Using the time you have is empowering and effective. It’s a great feeling to know that you are getting things done and saving time to boot.

Making the Most of Each Day - What Matters Most

In this four-week series, we will look at how to make the most of each day by making the most effective use of the one commodity we all share – time.

I’m a big fan of Steven Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. My favorite habit (yes, I have a favorite!) is Habit 3: Putting First Things First. The Habits are designed to be mastered sequentially and this one comes after learning to be proactive and to begin with the ending in mind. By Habit Three, the reader is ready to start living their priorities. This is the time to bring the most important things to the forefront.

In order to put first things first, you have to have the time. What things am I talking about? Exercise, eating healthy, quality time with family, friends and the significant other, prayer and meditation, professional development, hobbies, writing the Great American Novel, these are the things that we say we value but we often put aside. Why? Most often, we simply don’t have the time … or so we say. Take a moment and look up at the banner of this blog. What does it say? LOSE THE EXCUSES! More often than not, not having time is just that, an excuse.

Covey has a simple but dramatic four quadrant square that illustrates where we are currently spending our time and how we can reallocate it to make time for the things that matter most. The quadrant tracks two concepts – urgency and importance.

Quadrant One is the Quadrant of the Procrastinator. Things in this quadrant are both urgent and important. This quadrant is where we are when we are rushing to get that report in by the deadline or stay up all night cramming for the test. It is the quadrant of car trouble, and even heart attacks.

Quadrant Two I’ll talk about last.

Quadrant Three is the Quadrant of the Yes Man. Things in this quadrant are urgent but not important. We are in this quadrant when we let interruptions (chatty co-workers,  non-urgent phone calls, immediately answering non-essential emails) take us away from what is more important. Some meetings fall into this category and things that are important and urgent to others but aren’t important to us appear here too.

Quadrant Four is the Quadrant of the Slacker. Things in this quadrant are neither urgent or important. Some time spent surfing the net, watching TV or napping is a good thing. We all need down time and relaxation. However, if you are spending too much time here, it is a problem.

Quadrant Two is the Quadrant of the Prioritizer. Things in this quadrant are not urgent but they are important. This is where we should spend more of our time. This is the quadrant of planning, relationship building, exercise, planning, and prevention. The lack of urgency sometimes makes these important tasks take a back seat to Quadrant 1.

However, spending more time in Quadrant Two reduces the amount of time we spend in the first quadrant. A little planning and time management and the adrenaline-filled rush to complete the report or the caffeine-fueled cramming session could have been avoided. A little preventive car maintenance could have eliminated the car trouble. It’s possible that making time to exercise, prepare healthy meals and visit the doctor, the heart attack might not have happened.

We can also work on spending less time in Quadrants Three and Four. Begin managing your interruptions. Hold people who drop by to a time limit. Let them know you have five minutes or so to talk and then you have to get back to work. Five minutes later, give them a better time to continue the discussion, if necessary. Use technology to your advantage. Check your Caller ID and voicemail. You don’t have to answer every phone call. Return calls when you have the time. Likewise, set a time to return emails. Use the flag feature to keep them from falling through the cracks.

It is easy to end up spending too much time in Quadrant Four. After all, time flies when you are having fun! Give yourself a set amount of time for your activity and then use a timer to reinforce that.

Make the time for the things that matter most. This is where life is lived and memories are made.

Get It Together Girl!: Goal-Setting edition

This brief four-week series will introduce the workbooks in the Get It Together Girl series.

I love setting goals! It's one of the things I'm passionate about. Not only do I set goals annually, but I revisit them and set mini-goals every once. Most of the time, I meet them but even when I don't, I know what I need to do to tweak my plan. I'm so passionate about goal-setting that a few years back, I convinced my manager to let me conduct an optional goal-setting workshop for employees. It was from that workshop that Get It Together Girl!: Getting to Goal - Your Dreams, Your Desires, Your Way was born.

In this 90-minute workshop, we looked at the immediate past (no more than two years) to see what worked, what didn't and, most importantly, why. Then we shoot a year forward to see what we'd like our lives to look like. What is different? What has changed?

It's from that forward look that we start to look at what goals we'd need to create that picture. We also look   at the goals to determine which ones we truly want for ourselves versus the ones others want for us and the ones we thing we should have. Once we get rid of the should goals, we focus on no more than three goals and we develop the plan for achieving them.

As with It's About Time, I created an appendix with practical information - including a series of Goal Assistants for the most popular goals (weight loss, new job, continuing education, saving money, stopping smoking and starting a relationship). With Goal Assistance, I list several tips that will help you succeed as well as several resources to help you along your journey.

Challenge: We're already in December so New Year's is around the way. Instead of focusing on resolutions, think ahead to this time next year. By December 2013, what do you see for yourself and what will it take for you to get there? This is the beginning of your goal-setting journey!

Get It Together Girl!: Time Management edition

This brief four-week series will introduce the workbooks in the Get It Together Girl series.

As the holidays approach, it's a great time to talk about time management. The second in the series, Get It Together Girl!: It's About Time - Finding It, Saving It and Making the Most of It is a collection of time-saving tips doled out one per weekday.

A common excuses that many people have is that they don't have enough time. One thing is certain, you aren't going to get anymore! The trick is to do better with the time you have. Most people get defensive when I say it, but I can squeeze an hour out of the average woman's day.

The trick is to not look for large blocks of time; but to use small pockets of time more effectively. I had a client who claimed she couldn't study for the bar because she couldn't find enough 3 hour blocks of time. I agreed. Three hour blocks of time are hard to come by. I gave her a question and a challenge. My question was how long are the blocks of time she did have. She told me an hour. Next, I challenged her to take those 3 hour subjects and break them down into hour-long subtopics. Working with the time that she had, she was able to finally study.

This book starts with a question? What would you do if you could find an extra two-hours in your week? Next, we spend two weeks looking at different ways to get that time: bundling errands, using the Focused Fifteen outside of organization ....

What makes this book different, is that I've included a lot of extra information in the Appendix. There is a chart for age-appropriate chores for kids, tips on how to delegate as well as web-based and mobile applications that will help readers save even more time.

Challenge: Ask yourself the question: what would you do with two extra hours a week? I start with this question because saving time is a task that is hard to track. If you have a good answer to this question you'll have something to work towards as well as a great way to tell if you have succeeded!

Got a Kindle? Well, I’ve Got a Deal for You!

From now through Sunday, I am offering my eBook, Get It Together Girl!: It's about Time - Finding It, Saving It, and Making the Most of It for free!

For two weeks, get a different time saving tip every day. Plus, there are lots of time saving tips as well as phone and web applications that will help you tame the time tiger!

Sorry Nook users. For now, the book is being offered exclusively through Amazon.

Take advantage of this offer because it ends Sunday night at midnight (EST).

The Five-Minute Challenge

I bet you didn't know this but January is National Organization Month. It kind of makes sense because at the beginning of the year a lot of people want to start off strong and that requires some organization.

I think the main reason most people aren't organized is because of the time commitment they assume is involved. Since they don't have a weekend, day or even a solid hour to organize then they forgo organization all together.

However, this is an area where a little bit of time can make a big difference, let me prove it to you. Here is the challenge. For the next two weeks, I want you to spend five minutes on twoareas where a lot of people need help.

At Work
Spend five minutes a day sorting through your emails. Here's a tip - do not delete them in date order! That is the way you want to receive emails (so new messages are always on top, but to delete messages quickly sort them by Sender. This way you can delete all of your Daily Horoscope messages at once! You can also arrange them in size order so the largest emails rise to the top. Considering saving large attachments and then deleting the message.

If you want to, on the weekend, take a stab at clearing out your personal inbox.

If everything is organized and you run out of time ... try your Sent Items. Almost no one deletes old sent messages!

At Home
Spend five minutes a day in your closet. Have a box on hand for clothes you want to donate. If you finish the clothes in the closet, move on to shoes and then if you are on a roll, the drawers in your dresser.

Five minutes is the commitment. If you're on a roll and have time to do more but if you accept this challenge you can do no less than five minutes.

A little time each day over several days can make a big difference. Trust me. Try it. You'll be pleasantly surprised!

The Focused Fifteen

It is my philosophy that anybody can do just about anything for 15 minutes. You will almost always be surprised at what you can accomplish is a quarter of an hour.


It really isn't a lot of time. You can watch half a sitcom in 15 minutes. You're commute to work is probably longer. Yet, if you give a focused 15 minutes, you will see results. Notice the word in italics, focused. I'm not talking about 15 multi-tasking minutes when you are checking email, cooking dinner, and  listening to voicemail. I'm talking about devoting that little bit of time exclusively to the task at hand whatever that task may be.


For me, the Focused Fifteen is the antidote to procrastination. If there is something I don't want to do, like, straighten up the house, return a phone call, or on some occasions, write, I reach for the timer. I set my kitchen stove timer for 15 minutes. For that time, I clean or make the call or I start writing. At the end of the 15 minutes, I have a choice. I can stop because I have done what I said I was going to do. Or if I have the momentum and the time, I can keep going.


Fifteen minutes is long enough to overcome your inertia and get a good start. It's also enough time to make a dent in a project and sometimes that dent is all you need. I actually swear by this. It works. I'm so committed to it that my first Get It Together Girl book is devoted to removing clutter and getting organized in 15 minutes a day.


Try it. Use the Focused Fifteen for:

• straighting up the house
• cleaning out the refrigerator
• clearing out your email inbox at home or at work
• sorting through your closet
• journaling

All you have to do is 15 minutes. Once that timer goes off, you'll feel an immediate sense of accomplishment. If you have the time, keep going. If you don't, pat yourself on the back because you did something (and probably more than you thought you would). And, doing something is always better than doing nothing.


If you want to see some real results, get the family involved. Put on some good music and see who gets the most done. Or set your quarter hour for the  15 minutes before your favorite TV show and you have a built-in reward!