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April 4, 2019 0 Comments

5 Springtime Tips You Need to Do Now

Springtime means fresh starts, new beginnings and a renewed purpose, so it’s the perfect time to clean out the clutter and prepare for new growth! To help you get on track, we have 5 springtime tips you need to do now!

 

Clean Your Workspace

Let’s face it, if your desk is messy, it will not motivate you to do your best work. It will also keep you from being productive. One of the most important things to have on your desk is your to-do list. Write down the important tasks you need to accomplish each day with deadlines for each task. The other main thing you should have on your desk is the current task or project you are working on. Everything else should be placed neatly in a file or an organizer to keep your desk free from clutter.

 

Refresh Your Materials

How long has it been since you freshened up your resume, business materials and/or website?  Take some time to review all of your materials to make sure they are up to date and come across as top notch.  Spring weather tends to give us a more positive outlook, so use that energy to restructure, update or overhaul your materials.

You will be amazed at the renewed passion you will feel when you and your business are putting your best foot forward!

 

Get Back on Track

Studies show we tend to put on a few pounds in the winter, but now it’s time to get back on track. Use the momentum of springtime to get more exercise in the fresh air and choose healthier foods.  Look for accountability groups online or download a new app to help you stay on track with getting exercise and making good food choices.

It’s an ideal time of year for fresh fruit, healthy smoothies, and grilling nutritious meats and veggies outdoors.  Look for seasonal produce for even more health and nutrition!

Fresh Air and Vitamin D

Fresh air, especially with the coolness of a spring day, is good for your mind and soul! And after months of winter, we need some sun and Vitamin D! Get outside as much as you can during this time of year.  Start looking for local outdoor events in your area. Go to outdoor concerts, take your pets to a dog park, go to outdoor sporting events or simply make time for daily walks.

Being outdoors gives us renewed energy and a much-needed boost, so it’s only fitting that it would be a perfect start to the new season ahead.

Take Charge

How was your winter schedule? Did you find yourself slacking because of the gloomy, cold weather? Take some time to review your schedule. Where do you need improvement? Have you set any new goals for this season for yourself, your family, your finances and your business? What is one thing you can do in each of those categories to make a small step in the right direction?

Need encouragement and accountability? Join our Facebook community for both!

And if you’re seeking a freelance or remote work from home job, take a look at the recent Job Postings on HireMyMom for some options that may be just perfect for what you are looking for!

 

 

 

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April 23, 2018 0 Comments

4 Easy Ways to Better Organization

Organization is one of those small things that make a big difference.  Cluttered, disorganized spaces make us less productive, and it can be stressful to constantly feel like you’re playing catch up.

A well-executed organization plan is a key to success in business and at home, and it’s worth the effort to get things to a manageable place.  Read along for some of our best, easiest ways to stay organized.

Clear your space

Start by clearing out! If you’re naturally a disorganized person, the idea of organization can be slightly overwhelming.  Simply start by clearing the clutter and items you don’t like. You can also work to remove unsightly items, such as cords and other things that can be moved out of the way.

According to NAPO and BecomingMinimalist.com, 91% of people said they would be more effective and efficient if their workspace was better organized.

So not only is this task made to make your life easier; it can improve your work!

Make it a habit

Don’t let it build up! Whether it’s papers, digital files, your desktop, your kitchen island, or anything else that’s prone to clutter, be proactive about keeping it in shape.  This isn’t to say that it has to be 100% clear all the time, but make it a habit. Take a few minutes each day to organize each space so that the next day doesn’t feel overwhelming.

Create a system

Once your general clutter is clear, you can start to systemize your organization habits.  This can even be fun! There are plenty of fun storage and organization products at stores like The Container Store, Home Goods, Target, and so on.  You can pick out the items that will look best and serve you best, while making it your own.

Not everyone organizes the same way either! This is another place where you can pick your own style.  Do you prefer digital? There are tons of apps and pieces of equipment that allow you to scan all receipts, documents, and so on, and from there, you can organize them by file. If you prefer paper organization, choose a filing schedule and method that keeps things clear in your mind.

It’s important to keep to your organization schedule as well! Maybe take 60 minutes every Friday morning, or 10 minutes per day, if that’s more your style.  Maybe Monday is 20 minutes of digital file organization, Tuesday is 20 minutes at home, and Wednesday is all of your digital clutter. Make it work for you!

Create files

As we discussed, whether you’re paper or digital is a personal choice.  Things are moving more to the digital realm, but sometimes it’s still nice to have a hard copy.

You might think you can just wing your documents in either format, but it’s never very reliable.  You don’t want things to back up, or worse yet, get lost. Create files that make sense to you, and work to keep everything in its proper place.

Even if your desktop is clean, your individual folders should also be organized.  In addition, if you keep paper files, you should have everything in its correct place, not just out of sight.

Organization doesn’t have to be a challenge! Take some time each day or week, and keep it in the forefront of your thinking.  It will make your life easier and your workload more productive!

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August 29, 2016 0 Comments

4 Fun Planners to Get & Stay Organized

Let’s face it, planning your day is a lot more fun with a beautiful calendar!  Not only do the planners below help to keep you organized and on track, some even offer motivational tools and self-improvement options to help you grow.

Read along for some of the best and most fun planners to make organization more exciting!

The Happiness Planner

The Happiness Planner is “designed to help you live a happier and more fulfilling life by mastering the art of positive thinking, mindfulness, gratitude, and self-development,” according to their website.

Some of the tools in the planner include encouragement to: integrate more of what makes you happy in your daily life, end each day with gratitude, set goals that you want to achieve and write down action plans, set goals for improvement, and much more.  The Happiness Planner has a 100-day planner, a 52-week journal, standard year planners, as well as interesting features such as planners that resemble clutch purses.

This planner is a great option for you if you’re looking to incorporate positive thinking, affirmations, self-development, and specific goals into your daily calendar.

Click here to learn more about The Happiness Planner.

Erin Condren Planners

Erin Condren’s Lifeplanner is a “stylized organizer” that comes in a variety of designs, sizes and shapes.  The planners are fully customizable and feature options like coil colors, leather-like covers, floral designs and much more.

These planners also allow you to customize the layout and color theme, as well as adding personal photos and your name.  There’s also a focus on goal setting and journaling, with pages adding prompts for you to fill in. An inspirational section with notes and quotes is also featured, as well as blank space for creativity, notes and doodles that we all love so much!

Click here to learn more about Erin Condren Lifeplanners.

Passion Planner

The Passion Planner is another planner that does more than just keep track of your day-to-day life.  It has benefits such as: customization, positivity, creating keepsakes, managing time, following passions, decluttering, challenging yourself and more.  It sets you up on a Passion Roadmap, which includes 3 year goals, lifetime goals, one year goals, 3 months goals, and so on.  This is a great feature, as it’s commonly known that written down and progressive goals are more likely to happen!

There are also focuses for each day, week and month, as well as space for to-do lists, good things that happened, and drawing space.  As a bonus, for every planner purchased, one is given to a stranger in need, which has resulted in thousands of planners given to various non-profits all over the country.

Click here to learn more about the Passion Planner.

The Happy Planner

The Happy Planner is “an expandable, disc-bound planner system that combines your love for creatively with your need to organize,” according to their website.  It is full of bright colors and a lot of inspiration! It comes in 1-12 month, undated options, along with sheets of stickers, pocket folders, and sticky note pads with 20 sheets each.  This allows you to organize your life, keep items with you, and dress up your planner to make it more your own.

They have various beautiful cover images to choose from, as well as month box kits that allow you to customize and use a specific theme. If getting a little crafty and being inspired by inspirational sayings helps you to pursue your goals, this planner would be a great fit for you.

Click here to learn more about The Happy Planner.

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August 24, 2015 0 Comments

4 Steps to Stop Disorganization

Disorganization is a top killer of productivity and time, but it can also bring you more stress than necessary.

We all get off track from time to time, but setting up a system of organization is a large part of working from home.  Since working from home requires a lot of self discipline and independent work, it’s important that organization be at the front of your home based toolkit.  Here are some tips and tricks to keep organization at the forefront of your business.

 

Make a decision

If disorganization is an issue that’s hindering your work progress, start by making a decision to be more organized.  It does take some effort in the beginning, and it will absolutely go against what you’ve been doing.

Know why you want to be organized – are you falling behind in work?  Missing deadlines? Spending too many hours finding items that should be right in front of you? Knowing the reasons makes it easier to clear them in the future.

 

Do it daily

Choose an item of organization to complete daily, especially in the beginning of your journey. To create a habit, 21 days of repeated effort must be given. Even if you make a habit to clear off your desktop, color code your files, or decide on an online organization system, make it a mission to do one substantial organization task daily.

 

Declutter your mind

Organization is not just important for the practical reasons of efficiency and productivity; it can also affect your mind and stress levels.

Consider what goes on in your head when all of your tasks, files and work items are lost, disorganized, or not easily accessible. You spend a lot of time, energy and mental power focusing on these things.

Yes, decluttering your mind comes from establishing better habits and systems, but it’s also important to diffuse your stress and workday with other tasks – throw in a load of laundry if you get a minute, take a few minutes to walk outside, or simply relax with some tea.  During the physical decluttering process, be sure to declutter and nurture your mind as well.

Create a system

A system of organization is your best defense against unexpected delays and missed days of work. Whether you use a task organization program such as Trello or Basecamp, or simply input your information into Google Docs or a Word document, it’s important to get it down on paper.

 

A system can be as simple as laying out each day according to task, employer, time frame, etc. It’s best to go with something that makes sense to you so you will continue.  Color coding can be helpful, as can sharing tasks and completed items with team members.


Once your preferred system has been established, it’s up to you to keep repeating it.  Make tweaks as necessary, but get into the habit of doing things on a daily, weekly, and task-based basis. Whatever works best for you will stick in the long run!

 

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