A Handy Tool To Help Plan Meals & Shop for Groceries

By Jessica Hoelzel

Speaking of keeping an organized pantry (read my last post) I’d like to share a website that can help you plan your meals out for the month: MonthlyMealPlanner.com. This website, run by a friend of mine, offers custom meal planning, grocery lists, and lots of creative family- and kid-friendly recipes.

When you can plan things out, and shop only for what’s on your list, you’ll end up with less clutter in your pantry, and less waste for your pocketbook and the environment.

Check it out!

Simplify Your Life: Regain Control Over Your Inbox

By Jessica Hoelzel
 
Here’s the final tip from my 5 Tips for Proactively Managing Email:

5. Schedule time to set up folders for messages you want to keep on file. Take 15 minutes per day for one week to designate files and place messages in them. This should totally clean out your inbox, except for the newest messages you haven’t gotten to. Think seriously about whether you need to keep a message, though, before you just throw everything in there. Can you get the information elsewhere, say on a website? Can you request it again if you need it? (Make a note of the person’s contact information.) Do you want to print out a hard copy to put in a paper file? Does the content belong elsewhere in your computer, say in another file?

Read my earlier post for the lead-in to these tips. Utilize all 5, and you’ll be on your way to creating your life and work according to what really matters to you.

If YOU have tips to share, please click below to Post a Comment.

Simplify Your Life: Regain Control Over Your Inbox

By Jessica Hoelzel
 

Here’s the 4th of my 5 Tips for Proactively Managing Email:

4. UNSUBSCRIBE. Take your name off lists for information you don’t read or need. Be realistic about what you have the time and energy to take in. If you have subscribed to something that looks interesting, but turns to be different, ditch it. If you thought you’d have time, but have a backlog of messages, cancel it until you have more time. Usually the information you have an interest in can be found on the website, or you can request it again later.

Read my earlier post for the lead-in to these tips. And…stay tuned for the next tips. You’re on your way to creating your life and work according to what really matters to you.

If YOU have tips to share, please click below to Post a Comment.

Simplify Your Life: Regain Control Over Your Inbox

By Jessica Hoelzel

Happy Monday!

Here’s the 3rd of my 5 Tips for Proactively Managing Email:

3. Start with DELETE. Before you even get into the nitty-gritty of what to read and respond to, delete unwanted messages. Do a fast scan first thing and select the messages you know can be discarded. This is the first phase in streamlining that inbox. Delete, delete, delete!

Read my last post for the lead-in to these tips. And…stay tuned for the next tips. You’re on your way to creating your life and work according to what really matters to you.

If YOU have tips to share, please click below to Post a Comment.

Simplify Your Life: Regain Control Over Your Inbox

By Jessica Hoelzel
 
Here’s the 2nd of my 5 Tips for Proactively Managing Email:

2. Designate specific times to check your email, and specific times to respond to messages. Check your inbox at the beginning of the day, to see what is most pertinent to respond to. Incorporate things that require action into your plan for the day or to-do list, according to what is most timely or urgent. Check your email no more than 2-4 times per day at your scheduled time. Reply to emails when you have the least distractions.

Read my last post for the lead-in to these tips. And…stay tuned for the next tips. You’re on your way to creating your life and work according to what really matters to you.

If YOU have tips to share, please click below to Post a Comment.

Simplify Your Life: Regain Control Over Your Inbox

By Jessica Hoelzel

In my last post, I wrote about simplifying your life according to what really matters to you. With so many distractions, and information coming at us from all angles, we absolutely must consistently check in with ourselves to see whether what we are doing, how we are living and working, is based upon our authentic desires. Are we making choices that serve us on a physical, mental, spiritual level? Are those choices in line with our definitions of work/life balance, supporting us in achieving business and personal success?

At a networking lunch & learn today, the speaker, Tony Signorelli asked the group what they thought the biggest time-waster was. The overwhelming response was right on – email. Let me ask you, do you find hours and hours of your time each day or each week spent on emails? Checking email, getting distracted by new emails, trying to organize email or find something in your email? If email is way old-school for you, does the same ring true for managing text or instant messages? Be really honest with yourself about how much time is actually taken up. If you haven’t a clue, take tomorrow to log it.

Tony’s “New Rules for Self Employment”, found on his website, include time management strategies, and his advice (specifically for small business owners, but applicable to many) is similar to mine (found below). One thing I haven’t added to my list, though, is his idea to hire a Virtual Assistant to delegate email filtering to. If you want to know more about that, he’s got plenty of info on his website.

It's one thing to feel overwhelmed by the stacks of actual paper on your desk, but with flooded inboxes as well, how does one stay focused, like I heard Tony say today, on the things that really matter, the things that make you productive?

Here's some of my advice. (Adapted from an article printed in the Blaine Spring Lake Park Life)



The 1st of my 5 Tips for Proactively Managing Email:


1. Set limits around checking email. Also disable the pop-up feature to eliminate distractions and temptation. (Do this for Instant Messaging too!) Interruptions decrease efficiency because the mind has to change focus several times, which is also draining.

And…stay tuned for the next tips. You’re on your way to creating your life and work according to what really matters to you.

If YOU have tips to share, please click below to Post a Comment.

Energy Scattered? Make One List

By Jessica Hoelzel

Do you ever feel like you are bouncing all over the place, from one thing to the next, unable to focus?

Not sure what should be your top priority?

Sometimes our energy can get scattered when we have too many things “scattered about”. Whether it’s random sticky notes around your desk, or piles on the kitchen counter, what you need to do is make one list of “to dos”.

Pull all the paper “reminders” that are out in the open into a file folder or tray. Then place a list of what’s to be dealt with on top. For example:

 To Do:

1. Make hair appointment 
2. Renew tabs 
3. Call Mom
4. Buy groceries: eggs, tortillas, salsa, strawberries
5. Bring dress to tailor
6. Schedule dentist appointment

To be even more efficient, you can either 1) create your list with priorities at the top or 2) highlight or star the most urgent tasks. That way they’ll pop out at you. Make sure your file folder or tray and list are in a prominent place.

If you are tech savvy, put your list on your phone. And you can even set up reminders or appointments with yourself to complete different tasks.

This should work better for you, because your priorities will be organized and easy to access, as opposed to scattered or set around. Sometimes when things are out, they don’t actually work as good reminders, because they become “fixtures” in the space, and soon get ignored instead of dealt with.

Happy achieving!