Save 15 Minutes in the Morning

Do you often find yourself rushed for time in the morning? Do you spend precious minutes looking for your keys or for that report you want to bring to work?  Most of us contend with daily morning hassles that leave us frazzled even before we’ve walked out the door.

Creating a “launch pad” in your front hallway can make all the difference — and easily shed 15 minutes off your morning routine.

Think of a launch pad as a designated area containing the essential items you always want to take with you when you leave the house.  To create a launch pad, all you need is a small table, a ceramic bowl, and a couple of wall hooks.  The bowl sits atop the table, and in it you keep your wallet, keys, cell phone, (sun)glasses, and any other small essentials (e.g. a makeup bag or work ID tag).  The hooks on the wall are for hanging a coat, hat, umbrella, and bag.  Voilà!  No more hunting for your keys on the way out the door…

Well, sort of…The real trick is making sure to off-load items onto the launch pad when you come in the door the night prior. This takes some amount of practice, but once you get used to hanging your bag on the wall and dropping your keys & wallet in the bowl, it becomes habit. …And, this simple evening habit leads to happier mornings.

Want to take it a step further? Place your cell phone charger next to the bowl on the small table…and always leave with a freshly charged phone in the morning.  Consider placing a waste basket beneath the table and an IN/OUT box on top for sorting mail.  Soon you’ll never forget to mail another letter on your way to work.

Let me know how this works for you. And, please don’t hesitate to share your own tricks for saving time in the morning!

Cheers,

Jen helps dynamic individuals achieve professional success and personal fulfillment. Her personal & career coaching programs are custom-designed to help you meet your unique goals.  Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Financial Times, Smart Money, Forbes.com, Time Out New York, and on The Today Show. To learn more about Jen’s private coaching services or to schedule an introductory session, please contact Jen directly: Phone: 914-617-8283 Email: Jen@JZBcoaching.com Visit Jen on the Web at  www.JZBcoaching.com

Readers Share Tips for Making Time

Kimberly Ishoy writes:

“I block out time on my work calendar every morning and every evening as “email time”. That way I am not interrupted by email all day long. Another tip that works is to end each day at work by doing a “mind dump” into my task list of everything that is on my mind. That way I can go home with a clear head ready to spend quality time with my family, rather than trying to remember a bunch of little to-do’s.”

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Paige Carbone, Life Purpose and Career Coach (LifeCoachPaige@gmail.com), writes:

“I thought readers might do well if they set aside certain times of the week or month to take care of the things they need to, like paying the bills, organizing the home office, shredding junk mail, doing the laundry, etc. For example, readers can choose to do their laundry only on Wednesday evenings, or sort through and pay their bills on the first of the month and only the first of the month. If they stick to it, it becomes a routine and a creative way to manage time.”

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Harriet Shohet writes:

“I love both of these ideas [referring to the prior post and ZoomLetter, “2 Ways to Buy Time”] – and am going to buy myself two egg timers – one for home and one for work!!”

Capture Your Best Ideas!

For most of us, our best thinking happens when we’re least equipped to capture our thoughts — in the car, in the shower, or just as we’re dozing off to sleep.

Often, what stands between imagination and implementation is committing pen to paper.

In countless circumstances, one strategy has enabled me and my clients to capture our thoughts and bring to fruition our most creative ideas:

Post-it Notes. Purchase a 6-pack, and keep one in your car, another on a bathroom shelf, and another on your bedside table. Pair each with a pen. If it turns out that you do your best thinking while exercising or cooking, consider leaving a set in your gym locker and another on the kitchen counter. (No brand loyalty necessary…If sticky notes aren’t your thing, plain pads of paper will do just as well).

Most importantly, resist the temptation in the moment to think, “I’ll remember that,” and instead commit your thoughts to a notepad immediately. Then transfer the contents of those notes to your planner, PDA, to-do list, or cell phone…so you can take action on them.

And, enjoy bringing your best ideas to life!

Jen helps dynamic individuals achieve professional success and personal fulfillment. Her personal & career coaching programs are custom-designed to help you meet your unique goals. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Financial Times, Smart Money, Forbes.com, Time Out New York, and on The Today Show. To learn more about Jen’s private coaching services or to schedule an introductory session, please contact Jen directly: Phone: 914-617-8283 Email: Jen@JZBcoaching.com Visit Jen on the Web at www.JZBcoaching.com

2 Ways to Buy Time

How often do you tackle a task and then ask yourself, “Why is this taking me FOREVER!?”

There is an old adage called Parkinson’s Law, which says that “work expands to fill the time available.” It’s a short way of saying that we can SAVE time by setting aside LESS of it to begin.

The following are 2 practical applications — tools you can use to literally buy yourself time:

1) ADOPT AN EGG-TIMER: The egg-timer is one of the greatest time management tools! (If it’s more your style, a stopwatch works just as well). Set the egg-timer to 15 minutes, and race against the clock to finish all assortments of pesky tasks around the home or office. Try it for limiting the time you spend on cleaning, filing, writing emails, or getting ready to leave in the morning. This really works!! By setting a clear time limit, you force yourself to get more done quickly. Fifteen minutes is arbitrary. Set the time limit to suit your purposes…but keep it much shorter than you’re used to. For habitual tasks, experiment with decreasing the time allotment week by week, effectively training yourself to work smarter and faster.

2) SET AN EARLIER DEADLINE: This strategy works well when you find yourself dragging out the process of making a decision. There is freedom (and time to be gained) in realizing that other people’s deadlines need not be your own. It’s not often that we think about making deadlines tighter, but shorter timeframes have a way of reducing days of worry. Try it next time a client or vendor wants an answer “by next Monday.” Set a personal deadline to speak with him/her by 3pm on Friday, in time to enjoy the weekend with the decision behind you.

With cheer!

Jen helps dynamic individuals achieve professional success and personal fulfillment. Her coaching programs are custom-designed to help you meet your unique goals. To learn more about Jen’s private coaching services or to schedule an introductory session, please contact Jen directly: 914-617-8283 Jen@JZBcoaching.com Visit Jen on the Web at www.JZBcoaching.com

The Exercise Quick Fix

It turns out there is a quick fix when it comes to exercise. That’s right — a short jolt of exercise is great for regaining focus and sharpening attention.

So what kind of exercise are we talking about here? Kids’ stuff — a handful of jumping jacks!

According to Dr. Edward Hallowell, world-renowned psychiatrist, educator, and author of Crazy Busy, when your mind starts to wander or you get drained mid-day at work, doing 25 jumping jacks can provide a short boost to the brain to help you get back on track and refocused (not to mention, the silly-fun factor).

A few less conspicuous “quick focus boosters” include: doing a set of push-ups, walking up and down 3 flights of stairs, or taking a 5-minute walk outside. (As with all exercise, make sure your doctor gives the okay first).

While exercise is great for our hearts and our waistlines, it’s equally good for our brains. And, we’re not just talking the familiar mood-boosting endorphins that come with lengthier and more intense exercise. Chemical changes in the brain, which result from even fairly quick exercises, have a profound effect on our executive functions — our abilities to focus, prioritize, memorize, and maintain alertness.

…And, heck, if you’re caught doing jumping jacks by co-workers who look at you funny, tell ’em this crazy coach you know suggested it.

P.S. There are so many more great tricks for boosting focus, attention, and memory! One of my areas of specialty as a personal coach is working with adults who have symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD/ADHD) — helping them to make their lives easier and more fulfilling. If you’d like to learn more, please don’t hesitate to reach out. It would be a delight to talk with you…and it could make a real difference in your life or the life of someone you love.