time management

Happy New Year!

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new year magicI wish each reader a happy, healthy and prosperous new year where all your dreams come true! I love the start of a new year (new month and new weeks work for me too). I feel like it’s a chance to start over with a fresh, clean slate and wide open, empty calendar spaces.

Part of my “getting ready” process is to go through the past year’s planner and transfer any important dates like birthdays, anniversaries, deaths, milestones, etc. into the new planner. While I am going through each month I also see what was actually planned and what was accomplished. Most years my plans are overly ambitious as Super Woman couldn’t complete my lists even if she never slept.

This year though, I want to stay more positive and so I’m not berating myself about what didn’t get done – I am celebrating what did. Jack Canfield’s recent blog mentioned a Wins List. He listed a number of questions to get the reader thinking about specific kinds of “wins” they had throughout the year. I started doing that and noticed that not all “wins” were simple. Some were the results of derailments or serendipitous experiences that weren’t planned for. Had I stuck to my (often) rigid plan I would have missed these surprises and the delight they brought to my life.

For example, the 5pm phone call that led to dinner out with friends at 5:30pm and a lead to an administrative assistant who is now working with me. Or the rescheduled haircut appointment that coincided with a long lost college friend’s appointment, giving us time to catch up.

Life is unpredictable and the tighter we try to control it, the more it seems to throw at us. Loosen up and enjoy the ride….that’s what I’m aiming for this year. What will you do differently this year? Let me know by adding a comment in the box below. Thanks for reading.

Homework Help for Parents

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Is your child spending hours doing homework and then struggling to get up the next morning? With the first quarter coming to an end you will be able to see what grades all that studying has produced. Is the time spent reflected in the grades? If not, here are ten tips to help

1. Have your student start their homework within 30 minutes of arriving home from school.  Waiting until after dinner only makes the brain work harder since the body is working to digest dinner.

2. Have them take time to have a snack of protein and complex carbohydrates (the brain needs energy too) before getting started or to nibble on while they work.  

3. Doing something active for about 15 minutes even if it is just walking around the neighborhood or shooting a few hoops will help send blood and oxygen to the brain.

4. Set a timer for 45 minutes and have them get to work on the toughest subject first. If you feel your child does not have an accurate sense of time you might want to use a kitchen timer or time timer that shows the passage of time.

5. Make sure all the supplies they need are within arm’s reach of their study space.

6. Limit the distractions. Keep the TV off and the noise level low so that they will not be distracted by what others are doing. If your child is an auditory learner, having music playing in the background can be helpful. There are classical compilations designed to enhance concentration.

7. Help your child estimate how much time they think it will take to complete all homework accurately and completely and then add 30 minutes. The general rule is 10 minutes for each grade level. For example, a sixth grader should have about an hour of homework. Suggest they plan what they will do for fun or relaxation when their homework is done.

8. After working for 45 minutes or so, students should take a 10-15 minute break. It should be long enough for them to get recharged but not long enough for them to start something else.

9. Don’t over book your child! Kids need “downtime” too. Take a look at their schedule and make sure they have time for homework,  friends and family.

10. Use a central calendar that is updated each weekend for the upcoming week and have students write down their commitments in their agenda books. Family meetings help insure that everyone knows what is coming up for the week.

 

Next: Learning styles and how they can help save time.

 

 

 

The two minute gnat attack

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Gnats, those tiny, black, pesky bugs that seem to have innate radar for flying into eyes and mouths are out in full force this week. They are annoying and persistent not unlike some of the tasks on my to do list. I know that if I run I’ll have a moment of peace or I can wave my arms wildly swinging and clapping at the air and maybe decrease the population by …two or three. The same technique doesn’t work with my to do list. Running doesn’t make it go away and smacking the page only wrinkles it. What’s a girl to do?

 

As a David Allen (author of Getting Things Done) fan, I like to use the two minute rule. David says, “If the Next Action can be done in 2 minutes or less, do it when you first pick the item up.” Even if that item is not a “high priority”, because it takes longer to store and track any item than to deal with it the first time it’s in your head. (p. 131, “Getting Things Done”)

Every now and then I let those two minute tasks pile up usually because something else more important needs my attention. That’s when those little tasks begin to feel like a swarm of gnats. You can’t really see them, but you know they are there and they really “bug” me. So today, I set out to see how many two minute tasks I could complete in 30 minutes. I worked for two minutes on my email inbox, responding with a few quick replies, and then two minutes on deleting emails. Then it was on to sending a card, paying a bill and making a phone call. Two minutes of filing was followed by refilling the printer paper and clearing my desk. Then I had to fit in another two minutes deleting emails since it was so much fun. You get the idea, the more I did the more I wanted to do and having that timer go off every two minutes and switching to another activity made it much more like a game than work.  The result – I crossed off a number of tasks on the list, freed up some “psychic ram” (brain space) and probably lowered my blood pressure. Cost = 30 minutes, resulting feelings = priceless. Give it a try and let me know how you do by clicking on the comment link below. Ready, set ….go!