Read more about the challenge and sign up to get the full plan here.

I just enjoyed my first breakfast on the plan – whole wheat toast with ricotta, apricots, and walnuts. It was easy to make and delicious. Looking forward to trying out all the new recipes and getting some new meals to add to my repertoire for after the challenge, too.

Did you sign up for the Self challenge? We want to hear about it!

When you plan to complete some specific steps each day and succeed – every day feels like a success! You don’t have to wait until the you finally get to your final goal to pat yourself on the back and enjoy the feeling of pride in a job well done. Our goals shift and evolve as we go, and you’ll see that oftentimes the end point continues to change as you get closer. You start to dream even bigger and want to do more. But if that is the case – when do you get to celebrate?

Taking even one step a day will get you there eventually. Your dreams will have to manifest themselves!

Surely you can speed that up by taking major action and by acting with a sense of urgency–and that should be encouraged–but never should a single day go by that you are not doing SOMETHING. A large goal is much more attainable when broken up into a long string of tiny changes and actions.

So, after writing about this and talking about it many times, I came across an article about the Japanese business principle of Kaizen and realized it is exactly what I was already teaching! Here’s the definition:

Kaizen – the philosophy of continual improvement, that every process can and should be continually evaluated and improved in terms of time required, resources used, resultant quality, and other aspects relevant to the process. When applied to the workplace, Kaizen means continuing improvement involving everyone – managers and workers alike. Kaizen is not limited to manufacturing systems only. It also means continuing improvement in personal life, home life, social life, and working life.

Now, while it was originally developed as a business practice in Japan, the philosophy is clear and can be applied anywhere where you want to make things better. The reason this works so well is because you:

• Focus on small, incremental changes: By perfecting small parts of the process, you are able to focus more clearly on your intention to really perfect a step and make it a habit before moving on. This is much more effective than trying to spread your focus all over and burning out in the process.

• See steady improvement: With this methodology, you are making improvements all the time. The results can be seen in the form of a steady increase in productivity.

• Morale and motivation remains high: Sine you are not changing everything at once, the actions you take are much more manageable. You are able to constantly improve without it being too overwhelming. This gets you past the trap of being very motivated in the beginning and then giving up when you can’t take the pressure anymore. Goals are always changing, which keeps you interested. Plus, you build upon previous successes which makes each step easier to accomplish!

There is a lot more to this, and it warrants some exploration into how to apply this philosophy to the different life areas, but even just getting an understanding of the principle can be enough to shift your thinking.

Start with a small change TODAY! How will you make today better than yesterday and tomorrow better than today?

When I was little I always wanted to…_____________________________

Most of us can fill in that blank with something. The skill you always wanted to learn, but never got the chance to. Maybe you didn’t know where to start, perhaps your parents couldn’t afford to get you lessons, or maybe you were just shy about getting started. What was your passion that you always felt a drive to do, but never got around to doing?

Me, I have many, but the #1 one was learning to play the piano. I remember begging my parents to get lessons all the time for many, many years growing up. But, with three kids, one working parent, and a number of other factors getting in the way, I never got the chance to learn. I did feel some frustration–for when my sister wanted to join the band and play the flute she got one immediately. When my brother came home one day in 4th grade requesting to play the trombone in the band, he was signed up that day. I guess their thinking was that since it would be the cost of private lessons vs. a school program it wasn’t possible. Or maybe it was the driving to and from a class instead of just being able to learn at or after school. I’m not totally sure, but I know it did bother me quite a bit when I was younger.

They didn’t totally ignore my wish- in fact they even got me an electronic keyboard to play on. But never any instruction, so I never got past the very basics.

Time went on and I still always wished I could play. A couple years after my daughter was born, I splurged and got a large electronic keyboard to practice on and try to learn. I tried to use online resources and books to learn, but I kept getting to a certain point and then not being able to figure out the next step.

When my daughter was 6 and ready to learn an instrument – I finally decided that it was time not just for her to learn, but for me, too! So, I signed us up for lessons and we’ve been going once a week for the last 9 months.

It feels great! I’m not learning at a super fast speed or anything- my daughter and I are learning at the same pace. But, I can read some music now, have gotten past my previous stumbling blocks, and now sit and play nearly each and every day!

After using the keyboard to start, I began watching for a real piano that we could get for a good price. One day, at our lesson, I saw a piece of paper on the bulletin boards that said “FREE UPRIGHT PIANO – ask at the desk.”  I jumped on it! Turns out they were converting some of the piano studios at the rooms they rented at the YMCA into guitar studios and ended up with one extra piano that they didn’t need. I asked them to hold it, went searching for piano movers, and a week later we got our piano!

It’s an old instrument, but works just great (with the exception of one key in the higher octaves that sticks just a little). It takes up a ton of space in our family room, but I don’t care. It is a perfect practice piano, and it feels so much better to practice and play on the real thing.

I still have a long way to go, but the kiddo and I learn and practice together every week. I can already play some basic classical pieces. I’m excited to work to the point of playing Fur Elise – as that has always been a favorite of mine. I plan on continuing to take lessons with her for years and years. I can’t even tell you how good it feels to finally be learning something that I’ve been yearning to do for so long. You’re never to old to learn something new!

Spending my free time on a simple pleasure and learning a classic skill has been wonderful addition to my life. It is much more rewarding then wasting time on the computer or watching the TV. It’s another of my “Kickback Pastimes” that I am focusing on–those things that in the past had been a source of fun and entertainment, but in modern times have become something we either dream about doing or treat as a chore. I embrace them head-on and they make life so much more fulfilling.

For starters, if you haven’t already created a vision board – it is an excellent tool. Get started!

For those of you that already have, show it off! Put it wherever you can to keep that visual reminder of where you are going and what you are working for. It really is a motivating thing.

Some ideas:

1. Keep a collage-style collection of vision images on your refrigerator. I keep mine on the side of the fridge and it takes up the top 1/3 of the space. I love seeing it while working around the house.

2. Make your vision your computer background! Create a large image by cutting and pasting various pics, words, and phrases and then set it as the background image on your computer. I have mine on by 2 side-by-side monitors in my office, and it makes me smile every time I turn on the computer.

3. Go big! If you have the space, convert a large bulletin boards as a combined vision board, gratitude wall, and collection of inspirations. On mine, I have my usual pictures that keep me focused and motivated, but also pin on little notes on this I am grateful for, as well as snippets of inspiring quotes, things people have said about me that make me feel good, and more. Anything that is positive and keeps you on the path should be there. Don’t hold back!

Have a picture of your board? We’d love to see it here. And, where else do you display yours?

Here's the background image on my computer -- much better than a Windows preset picture that means nothing!

Last week you got yourself a system in place for organizing all your tasks, contacts, and events. Now it’s time to learn how to use it on a daily basis.

Your mission for today–and for the whole week–is to get used to the practice of dealing with things that come during the day as soon as they arise. Here’s how it is going to work:

• When you get an email with a task, create an action step and add to your task list under the appropriate category and save any of the important info. Then delete the email to keep your inbox clear.
• As you check the mail, go through each piece: toss junk mail, pay bills or file for your bill-pay day, and file away important information. If you receive a specific action item in the mail, like a vehicle registration notice, create a task. Always give your tasks an appropriate deadline!
• Take notes from a phone call or voicemail and process the incoming information immediately. Add the phone number to your contacts list and schedule any events or to-dos that are involved.
• Make use of your portable organizer or notebook! That’s why you are carrying it with you everywhere. When any new info comes in, write it down and then transfer it over to your main organizer when you get home, or once a day.
• As you are cooking or going about your daily activities, add items to your shopping list as soon as you notice you are running low. No more forgetting shampoo, dish soap, toilet paper, eggs, etc.

You will get used to this if you stick with the habit. It’s all about getting in the groove and working on it everyday. Over time, things will become automatic, but for now don’t be surprised if there is some effort involved.

Have fun enjoying your organized new self, and be sure to share your challenges or tips for staying mindful on incoming items with the community on the blog, FB, or in the membership section.

Here’s to another amazing week!

Now that you have a universal planner, it’s time to start keeping tabs on all the contact info you encounter and get it down in one place.

Today, you will be filling in the contact section of your planner. Start by going through all your existing contact lists or “hot spots” for saving this type of information. Enter them all in, including as much information as you have. Even if you think you will never need to email someone, if you have the address, write it down. This means any business cards that you have, too. There’s no need to shuffle through a pile of little cards when you can just pull up the info from your master organizer.

This doesn’t just mean friends and family- you’ll be putting in the information for:

• Family members
• Friends
• Points of contact at your kids’ schools
• Repair services
• Business contacts
• Prospective service providers that you have an interest in (If you have no interest at all and were just handed a card, you can toss it. But do save any names that you’ve held onto because they might be of use one day)
• Neighbors
• Emergency and medical contacts: fire, police, poison control doctors, dentists, chiropractors, physical therapist, therapist (these can still be kept in a prominent location for emergency purposes, but still keep a record in your organizer)
• Anything else that you have saved as a reference to reach a person or business!

So, let’s get to it!

Who knows maybe you’ll stumble across the name and number of an old friend that you’ve been meaning to touch base with! (But don’t let that distract you, simply write a task to call them and get back to entering in those contacts)

Yesterday you created your calendar. Today it’s task time!

Now, depending on the format of your organizer- be it a bound planner, binder, Outlook, PDA, or whatever tool you chose as the right one for your lifestyle- things will look a little different, but the same principles apply.

Your task list should not only keep track of your to-do’s, but also improve your efficiency of completion. If every time you look at your list you just see a jumble of items and have to take several minutes to read through and come up with an action plan, you will be wasting much valuable time.

To streamline the process, categorize tasks in a way that lets you pick out the ones that can do done in a group of like items. The categories that you created for your calendar are a good place to start. Plus, keeping the colors uniform let’s them become meaningful faster.

Obviously some are not useful in this step- like birthdays or holidays, but some will carry over.

Here’s some good categories to try out:

• Around the house tasks
• Errands to do in town
• Phone calls to make
• Things to do at the home computer
• Outdoor maintenance tasks
• Pen & paper tasks, i.e.checks to write, mail to send, permission slips to sign, cards to write

You can tweak this list as much as you need. The main point when finished is to be able to look at your list and sort them by like tasks. This way, you can just enter in each new item as soon as they come across your desk and find it quickly when its the right time to complete it. If you tackle all your phone calls in one sitting, you’ll accomplish so much more than if you do a call an hour. If you have a list of the all the stops you need to make on your errand run, you won’t get home and kick yourself for not dropping off those library books that were due today.

Go through and transfer any existing tasks list and any other items that you can think of right off the top of your head. Don’t worry about gathering from all over yet. As with your calendar, you want to just get the systems in place for now.

Have fun!

If that questions made you feel a little lost, you must not have done Friday’s challenge of picking the time and task management planning tool that is right for you. It’s not too late to get started! Click here to review your options so you can get streamlined this week!

For those of you who woke up rearing to go, let’s jump right in…

This week, each day you will be working on a different aspect of prepping to use your planner/organizer to it’s max potential.

Your first challenge is to prepare you calendar. The whole goal here is taking charge of your time management and tracking techniques, and an accurate, updated calendar will be at the core of this process. Whether you are starting with a new calendar or have just done a little “spring cleaning” on an old electronic calendar, open it up and start filling it with the following items:

• One-time meetings or appointments that you currently have scheduled. This means doctor or dental appointments, meetings, school conferences, or the like.
• Upcoming Events like weddings, graduation parties, birthday parties, date nights, sporting events, concerts, and vacations.
• Recurring Appointments – organization meetings, your morning trip to the gym, classes, etc.
• Birthdays, Anniversaries, and Holidays

If you are using this calendar for work and personal (which I recommend to do if can- the more consolidated you are, the easier to keep track of everything and see the big picture) don’t put “Work” in as an appointment, since you will be breaking up your work day into various time blocks as well.

As you enter in the items, take advantage of any classification tools available to you in our planner or tool. Outlook lets you assign a specific color to like tasks, or if doing by hand you could just use a set of highlights to show the type of event. Don’t go too crazy with the number of colors you use- but do select a few things that will break up your calendar items into an order that makes sense. For example:

• Birthday, Holiday, or Anniversary
• Appointment/Event – anything you leave home for that has a certain date/time
• Work Event
• Stay Home Appointment – i.e. your weekly Yoga session you do at home each Sunday night

Do what works for you, but keep is simple.

If you use the ones outlined above, it will make following along this week a little simpler, since we will be using those in the exercises later on.

A few additional tips to keep in mind as you finish this challenge today:

• Consider the entire time block needed for the event. If you have your neice’s birthday party on Saturday afternoon from 3-5, ask yourself if that’s really how much time you need on the calendar. If she lives 30 minutes away, you’ll actually need 3 hours. If you always stay late and help cleanup after these parties, you might need 4-5 hours. On items like these, try filling in the correct time blocks for the event, but in the title write the specific event time. Something like this:

• Ask your spouse and kids for their calendars, too. Be sure to get down any events that they have tracked somewhere that you have a part in. You don’t need to add it unless it is something that you are responsible for attending, picking up, or dropping off.
• Speaking of pickup/dropoff events–block these off with thought. If you drop your child off for a 45 minute karate class you’ll most likely need to block off the whole 45 minutes plus travel time. You can still spend the time in between doing what you usually do, either hang around to watch, walk over to some close stores to do shopping, read in your car…whatever. Just account for the whole time frame you will be occupied and unavailable for another calendar event.

For now, do transfer over anything you have in an existing calendar or that comes to mind, but you don’t need to go scavenging through paper items and purses to make sure you have everything on there today. We’ll be sorting through everything this week. The point of this exercise is just to get the bones of the calendar together. We’ll be adding more and more time blocks as the week goes on!

Here’s a few fun ideas to get you thinking on how you can create your own positive, fun, or motivating workspace:

Create Your Own Phone Book Desktop Organizer

I just love this piece! It’s homemade, but it looks so unique- I’d love to put this on my desk. Looks like a fun project, too:

Find the project instructions at Ohdeedoh. com

http://www.ohdeedoh.com/ohdeedoh/how-to/how-to-desk-top-organizer-079039

Here’s another fun do-it-yourself desk organizer. This one’s fun because you could use any colors or design to create, or you could do it with the kids and then be reminded of their amazing art skills each time  you reach for a pen or paperclip.

Get detailed directions at WomansDay.com

http://www.womansday.com/Articles/Crafts/Desk-Organizer.html

I love anything fun and unique- but if it’s got functionality to boot it’s a winner for me. I spent many years doing IT in a cube at one point in my career- in an office in the center of the building and no window. I would have put this playful piece on my desk just as a statement and a reminder of the green outside!

Under $10 from Umbra.com

http://www.umbra.com/ustore/product/021011/c280/grassy_organizer.html

I know this one isn’t very PC….More like W.C.!

Hahaha!

While I know this isn’t for everyone, I actually chose this one because something funny that relates to the workplace can be a good conversation place. In my last IT office job before transitioning to my home office, I did technical support for a mid-size plumbing distribution company. Plumbing-friendly jokes were always welcome there, and this would have gotten lots of smiles without offending anyone in that environment.

Had I seen this I would have snatched it up in a second, placed it on my desk, and watched the giggles ensue.

The point is, find something that will get some light-hearted attention that is fitting to your workplace.

From Stupid.com

http://www.stupid.com/fun/BUTT.html

These lovely little creatures don my desk as we speak. It doesn’t come up when talking “work” often, but I am a HUGE horror click fan. In fact, my home office has horror film memorabilia  and other creepy decor throughout.  I particularly like the more fun items like this one. My office is the only part of the home that is solely mine, so it seemed like the most fitting place to  put my collection out for me to enjoy.

What do you love or collect? If you’re in an office-setting, you can’t display your whole collection, but you can add a single piece to make the space feel more like yours and to show your personality a bit.

From Mcphee.com

http://www.cubefigures.com/11648.html

Write a comment and share!

For next week’s challenges, you will need one primary, central place to put all your tasks, appointments, reminders, common info, etc. In addition, it’s best to have something portable as well- like a small notebook or portfolio. In some cases, you might be able to use the same thing for both- like with a PDA or Smartphone.

Let’s take a look at some of the options and the pros/cons of each:

• Electronic Calendar (like Outlook) – This program has the most functionality out of all the options, and is a great choice because it combines your incoming emails (which will end up as tasks), calendar, task list, and contacts. If you currently use Outlook at a home office or computer, this is probably going to be a good fit. It is also very compatible with other programs that you come across- there are a multitude of plugins and tools that integrate with the Microsoft Office Outlook program. However, you do have to be somewhat tech savvy and willing to learn the program to make the best use of it. Also, since in most cases it is not portable- so it isn’t an option that you can carry around with you everywhere.
• PDA/Smartphone – If you are the type of person that is rarely seen w/o a cell phone in hand, this might be a good option for you. Most of the higher end Smartphones (Blackberry, iPhone, etc) come equipped and ready to go with a calendar/planner/tasks/notes tool. This makes it easy to add new info on the fly while you are out and about, but it’s not the most useful for adding large amounts of info while at home. This is perfect paired w/ your Outlook (or other email/calendar) program-  especially since they sync up with your home computer, saving you time and leaving less chances for mistakes when transferring data. On the downside, they are pricey and require a monthly fee for phone and data services. You also have to a bit “techy” for this one, too.
• Physical Planner – By this I mean the day/month/year planners you can buy right off the shelf. Depending on the style you choose, it could be one that has just a calendar for the month, or it could have a separate page for each week or day. Some have additional sections for notes, contact information, to-do lists, and more. There are a lot of options out there, so you are bound to find one that suits your needs. The good thing about this is if you can get one that is portable enough, it can easily serve as a catch all for all your information. However, you are limited by space, there is no backup system in case you lose it or it is damaged, and edits can be difficult. This is a good choice for someone who prefers to avoid relying on spending time on the computer, likes to have their calendar and info with them all the time, and doesn’t want to deal with learning a new tech program.
• Notebook – The notebook by itself isn’t a great organizer, but if you like to keep most of your info on the home computer, a small notebook and pen in your purse or pocket makes a great addition. You can use it to jot down appointments, phone numbers, shopping list items, etc while out and about and then transfer them to your main planner when you are back at the desk.
• Binder/Portfolio – This isn’t quite as portable and condensed as a Physical Planner, but it is a good choice if you already have systems in place that use a binder. For example, if you’ve been following along with the challenges and have all your Daily Trackers, Vision Boards, Idea Journals, and other info hole-punched and in a binder, you can add an addition section for time management/task planning and organization. To go even further, if you follow another system, like Flylady, which uses a Control Journal for household tasks and routines this can be a part of it, too. Getting everything streamlined and in one central place will make it easier to stay organized while still following the plans that you believe in and benefit from. A portfolio-type binder, meaning one that zips closed and have additional pockets for papers and supplies can go a step above the standard binder and allow further functionality while protecting your papers more.

By Monday, think about the right options for you, and be prepared to take action at the start of the week. If you need to do some shopping, you’ll have the weekend to get it done. If you have old, abandoned info in Outlook from organization attempts in the past, clear them out! If you need to set up a binder or planner, do that, too.

Have fun and get ready to get organized!