Tag Archives: sleep

Routines

Routine: “Habitual or mechanical performance of an established procedure.”

Routines can support us when indecision steps in.

Daily routines can help manage our schedules.

Positive self-care routines can assist in supporting mental health.

Sometimes we use routines without even thinking about it.

I know my day goes better if I work out in the morning. I also know that I won’t exercise in the morning if my workout clothes aren’t the first thing I see in the morning.  When I don’t see my workout gear first thing, I decide to have coffee and watch TV instead. So, every night I set my gear out so I don’t have any excuse not to exercise.  Day supported by morning, morning supported by night.  Routine.

On more than one occasion people have made mention of my strange golf pre-shot routine.  I didn’t think much about it until I played with someone I’d never played with before and she mentioned how interesting it was that I “kinda clicked my heels together like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.”  Well, that sounded weird, so I tried to stop doing it.  Immediately my golf game suffered.  I’d disrupted my routine.

I appreciate the power of meditation and try to incorporate it into my schedule on a daily basis.  Unfortunately, when I get out of my routine, this is one of the first things to go and I notice the change pretty darn quickly.  As a matter of fact, I found myself internally screaming at my meditation app this morning because it wasn’t downloading fast enough.  What does that say about neglecting a routine?

My schedule is pretty fluid. I do not have a Monday-Friday, 8:00-5:00 job. Some days I have on-site clients, some days I have virtual clients, some days I don’t have any clients at all.  Because of this lack of structure I need to rely on routines I have total control over: exercise, meditation, positive self-talk, regular sleep routines, nutrition, etc.

What routines do you rely on?

What routines do you need to create?

What could a solid routine help you to achieve?

Cindy Jobs, COC, ACC

Looking for more information?

Click here for 15-minute organizing tips.

 

 

 

 

www.organizetosimplify.com

 

 

 

National Association of Productivity & Organizing Professionals, Seattle Chapter Vice-President

 

 

 

International Coach Federation

 

 

 

 

Professional Resource Member

 

 

 

Coach Approach for Organizers

 

 

 

 

Institute for Challenging Disorganization

Level I Certificates earned in Chronic Disorganization; ADD; Client Administration; Time Management; Mental Health; and Hoarding.

Level II Specialist Certificates earned in Chronic Disorganization and ADHD

Bucket Management

“I need to change everything.”

This is the answer I get most often from my clients when asked what they’d like to focus on first in our coaching or organizing partnership.   But, change takes focus and we can’t focus on everything at the same time, right?

One of the most effective things I can do for my clients is to help them identify changes they can make that will provide the most benefit across all areas of their lives:  home, work, friends, etc.   For visualization purposes, I refer to these areas as “buckets.”

Bucket identification helps my clients recognize the broad categories within their lives and spaces, then drill down to concerns within each.

For example:

Bucket: Marriage

Concerns: communication, division of responsibility, utilization of strengths, scheduling, understanding of vulnerabilities

Bucket: Job

Concerns: time management, conflict resolution, communication, overcommitment, difficulty staying within areas of responsibility

Bucket: Self-care

Concern: sleep hygiene, routines, negative self-talk, stress management, nourishment, making time for exercise

Bucket: Home

Concerns: household chore list, incomplete projects, division of responsibility, household organization

Bucket: Family

Concerns: creating boundaries, communicating boundaries, making time for family, managing conflict

Bucket: Friends

Concerns: finding time for friends, communication is one-sided, lack of follow-through on commitments

Looking through this list, you will see some common threads: communication and time management.  Rather than work on one distinct bucket, it is more effective to work on improving communication and time management, which will positively impact multiple life buckets.

What are your life buckets and the concerns within them?  What one or two things could be improved that would provide relief across all buckets?

Cindy Jobs, COC, ACC

Looking for more information?

Click here for 15-minute organizing tips.

 

 

 

 

www.organizetosimplify.com

 

 

 

National Association of Productivity & Organizing Professionals, Seattle Chapter Vice-President

 

 

 

International Coach Federation

 

 

 

 

Professional Resource Member

 

 

 

Coach Approach for Organizers

 

 

 

 

Institute for Challenging Disorganization

Level I Certificates earned in Chronic Disorganization; ADD; Client Administration; Time Management; Mental Health; and Hoarding.

Level II Specialist Certificates earned in Chronic Disorganization and ADHD

 

 

Energy Management vs Time Management

“I just don’t have time to . . . . . “  Go ahead, fill in the blank.

Ever said that?  I’ll be you have.  I know I have.

But is it time we don’t have or energy?  If we managed our energy better, would our time management improve?  If we managed our time better, would our energy improve?  What could we accomplish if we managed both just a little better?

Earlier this year I started with a new client.  She said by noon her energy was totally zapped and she just couldn’t get anything done throughout the day, creating a tremendous amount of guilt and anxiety.  Having ruled out health problems, we started to look at her routines, really focusing on where she was spending her time and energy.

Here are just a few examples of what we found:

  1. Nine months ago she became an empty-nester and no longer had the time or energy commitment of children at home. She hadn’t decided on what her next chapter was going to look like (volunteer? go back to work? go back to school?), so now she had all this time on her hands without a clear strategy on how to use it.  She woke up without a blueprint for the day, so the day just slipped away.  At the end of the day, she felt guilty and unfulfilled.  Not having a good time management plan drained her energy.
  2. She didn’t have a good, consistent sleep pattern. She went to bed late because she was easily distracted and didn’t make it through her day’s “to do” list until 1:00 – 2:00 AM. She got up early to see her husband off for the day, but since she’d only slept for about five hours, she was running on empty in the energy department by noon.  Her poor time management the day before affected her energy management the following day.
  3. She loved to shop, consequently spent a lot of time either in stores or online looking for the “perfect . . . .” Again, fill in the blank.  So instead of buying one thing that was “good enough,” she bought several hoping to find “perfect.” This created both a time and energy management problem since she would spend hours returning items she purchased that she wasn’t going to use.  Not creating a boundary around the energy expended looking for “perfect,” resulted in a time management situation when hours were spent coordinating returns.

As we reviewed her routines, we continued to find situations where poor time management affected her energy and situations where she was expending an enormous amount of energy on an activity that in the end had an impact on her time.

To better manage both her time and energy, we created some structure around how she wanted to manage both.

We started with:

Creating a structure that included time for sleep, exercise, meal preparation, social interaction, and mindfulness.

She made a commitment to get in bed by 11:00 PM at the latest.

She didn’t know if she was a Zumba or Yoga girl, a runner or a hiker, a golfer or a tennis enthusiast, so some self-exploration when it came to an exercise routine was necessary.

Because of poor time management and the diminished emotional need to feed “the family,” she and her husband subsided on a significant amount of take-out.  Recreating her vision of “family” as just the two of them, changed her perspective on the value of daily meal preparation.

Because of the previous time commitments for the family, she’d reduced her social interaction in her local community.  Looking for opportunities to become involved in the community, recreating some social connections that may have fallen by the wayside in the day-to-day rush of household management, provided an emotional high that had been missing since the kids moved out.

She included mindfulness in her regular routine.  Focusing on living in the moment, not rehashing the past and living in an undefined future, can provide a great amount of peace and clarity.  Mindfulness can be anything from meditation to a simple walk in the park.  Whatever brings your mind into the present is extremely valuable to mental and physical well-being.

Creating balance and structure has been extremely beneficial for my client to manage her time and energy.  Where might you be out of balance in the time and energy department?

Cindy Jobs, COC, ACC

Looking for more information?

Click here for 15-minute organizing tips.

 

 

 

 

www.organizetosimplify.com

 

 

 

National Association of Productivity & Organizing Professionals, Seattle Chapter Vice-President

 

 

 

International Coach Federation

 

 

 

 

Professional Resource Member

 

 

 

Coach Approach for Organizers

 

 

 

 

Institute for Challenging Disorganization

Level I Certificates earned in Chronic Disorganization; ADD; Client Administration; Time Management; Mental Health; and Hoarding.

Level II Specialist Certificates earned in Chronic Disorganization and ADHD

Are you ready to “Fall Back?”

The leaves are falling.  The days are getting shorter.  The nights are getting colder.  Those are all sure signs that winter is approaching.  And with that, comes the “fall back” change of time.  I don’t know about you, but I appreciate “falling back” much more than “springing forward.”  That extra hour of sleep is magical!

The Fall time change happens on Sunday, November 5th, at 2:00 AM.  Although “falling back” isn’t as hard on our bodies (since we don’t “lose” an hour of sleep), it still takes some adjusting.

  1. Maintain your regular sleep pattern.  Don’t use the promise of an extra hour of sleep to binge-watch your favorite series and stay up until 2:00 AM so you can set the clocks at the exact time.  Go to bed at your regular time, reset the clocks right before you go to bed and maybe, just maybe, get an extra hour of blissful sleep!  If you’re interested, the National Sleep Foundation has some guidelines on how much sleep we all need.
  2. Maintain your regular eating schedule.  Eating earlier or later than your body is accustomed to will cause additional confusion.  Maintain healthy nutrition (like we shouldn’t do that every day!) so your body isn’t trying to combat a sleep change and nutrition change at the same time.
  3. Get additional exercise a few days leading up to Saturday.  Several studies site the benefits of exercise (but not right before bed) in helping our bodies and brains wind down faster, resulting in better sleep.
  4. Go outside.   Sunlight on your SPF-protected skin will help your body’s circadian rhythm get back in sync.  Try for an hour outside on Sunday
  5. Resist taking a long nap on Sunday.  If you do stay up too late on Saturday night/Sunday morning binge-watching TV, you may be tempted to take a nice, long nap on Sunday afternoon.  Resist the urge.  If you do feel like a nap is in order, keep it to around 30 minutes or less.  Anything longer will also mess with your circadian rhythm.

Other tips from Dr. Yoseph Krespi, Director of the Center for Sleep Disorders at New York Head and Neck Institute:

  • Drink plenty of liquids, yet avoid caffeine and alcohol later in the day.
  • Make your bedroom into a sleep sanctuary: dark, quiet, and cool (somewhere in the mid to upper 60’s is perfect).
  • Don’t tackle any complex tasks right before bed.  Your brain will find it more difficult to shut down.
  • Start unwinding an hour before bed.   Have a cup of chamomile tea, take a bath, relax. If you are relaxed vs. stressed when you actually make it to bed, your body will have less to do before going to sleep.

Although I do love the Fall season, it will be nice to have it light past 6:00 PM, don’t you think?  I’m ready for this time change.  How about you?

Cindy Jobs

www.organizetosimplify.com

National Association of Productivity & Organizing Professionals, Seattle Chapter
National Association of Professional Organizers, Seattle Chapter Vice President
ICD_LogoTag_Horz_72 website
Institute for Challenging Disorganization
Level I Certificates earned in Chronic Disorganization; ADD; Client Administration; Time Management; Mental Health; and Hoarding.
Level II Specialist Certificates earned in Chronic Disorganization and ADHD.

 

Coach Approach for Organizers
Graduate of the Comprehensive Training Program: Coaching Essentials; Strengths-Based Coaching; Brain-Based Coaching; Life and ADHD Coaching; and Organizer Coach Integration
Graduate-level training: Body-Based Coaching; ADHD Coaching Competencies

What does “self improvement” mean to you?

September is “National Self Improvement” month.   Although most of us are constantly striving to improve ourselves, sometimes we just need a gentle nudge or reminder to help move us forward to living the life we want to live.

Here are some areas my clients frequently mention when they are focusing on self-improvement and self-care:

Get some sleep: We all feel better after a good nights’ sleep, right?  Well, what else does it do for us other than make us feel good?

  • Saves calories: Well-rested people eat an average of close to 300 calories per day.
  • Makes your brain more efficient at recall: When we sleep, our brain sorts through all the information it took in for the day, making it easier to recall the important stuff.
  • Heals you from the inside out: While sleeping, our brain triggers the release of hormones that encourage tissue growth.

Forgive someone, possibly yourself:  I find forgiveness to be a learned skill that I’m constantly working on.  I know that harboring resentment does more damage to my personal well-being than the actual indiscretion.  According to Dr. Judith Orloff  “Forgiveness does more for you than anyone else because it liberates you from negativity and lets you move forward.”  Whom do you need to forgive to move forward?

Create silence for 10 minutes a day:  Think about it: how many waking minutes do you spend in silence each day?  We get up and turn on the TV or radio while we get ready. We get in the car and turn on the radio.  During the day we are on the phone, listening to piped-in music, having meetings, etc.  Then, we get back in our cars and listen to the radio, and come home and turn on the TV.  Very little of our day is in silence.  In 2011 the World Health Organization published a report concluding that “there is overwhelming evidence that exposure to environmental noise has adverse effects on the health of the population.”  Silence helps our brains relax.

Get physical:  Make an effort to move a little every day.  Even just a little bit pays off.  I’ve written a previous blog about this and I know it’s more difficult for some to schedule than others (I’m in awe of all you working moms and dads!), but the benefits of even a few minutes every day pays off both physically and emotionally.

Get social: Social connections and overall happiness go hand-in-hand.  Ed Diener and Martin Seligman, two pioneers of positive psychology, conducted a study in 2002 at the University of Illinois.  The results showed that the most common characteristic of students who were very happy and showed the fewest signs of depression were “their strong ties to friends and family and commitment to spending time with them.”

What would you like to work on during “National Self Improvement Month?”

Cindy Jobs

www.organizetosimplify.com

National Association of Professional Organizers, Seattle Chapter Vice President
ICD_LogoTag_Horz_72 website
Institute for Challenging Disorganization:
Level I Certificates earned in Chronic Disorganization; ADD; Client Administration; Time Management; Mental Health; and Hoarding.
Level II Specialist Certificates earned in Chronic Disorganization and ADHD.
Coach Approach for Organizers
Graduate of the Comprehensive Training Program: Coaching Essentials; Strengths-Based Coaching; Brain-Based Coaching; Life and ADHD Coaching; and Organizer Coach Integration
Graduate-level training: Body-Based Coaching; ADHD Coaching Competencies

Start your day right!

This video resurfaced on my Facebook feed this week.  The topic of the video is 10 life lessons from basic SEAL training, delivered by Admiral William H. McRaven.  What I loved about this video is life lesson #1 . . . . start your day off by making your bed.

Will making your bed really set your entire day off on the right foot? Why will making your bed set your day off on the right foot?  It’s a success.  It’s a completion.  It’s motivating.  It feels good to start the day with things in order.

When I’m working with my organizing and coaching clients, I encourage them to start the day with something that will make them feel good, accomplished, and motivated to take on the world . . .  or possibly just cleaning the house.

What else do I encourage to help my clients start their day off with energy?

  1. Start the night before.   Planning the next day the night before can be very helpful in getting the morning started right.  Look at your calendar and see what’s ahead of you.  Put out the clothes you plan to wear.   Make a list of the three most important items on your “to do” list.  If possible, pack lunches.  Whatever you can do the night before will help keep your busy morning on track.
  2. Take some time to meditate.  Before I started meditating, I had this vision of sitting on the floor, cross-legged, in total silence, with incense burning in the background.  Well, that just sounded like too much work for me.  So I started small, and have stayed there.  I meditate four to five times a week for 10 minutes.  I’m not a neuroscientist so I can’t explain how it works, but meditating physically changes the brain.
  3. Get dressed and put on your shoes.  Yup, just the simple act of getting dressed and putting on your shoes tells your brain it’s ready to take on the day.  Personally, there’s a big difference in my ability to motivate myself if I’m in “go out in public” clothes vs “hangin’ out and having another cup of coffee” clothes.  How about you?
  4. Get a little exercise.  I know we all don’t have time to hit the gym for an hour first thing in the morning, but most of us have time for a brisk 15-20 minute walk.  (Well, those of you that have little ones at home probably don’t, but you get lots of exercise chasing after them, right?) If you can’t fit in 15-20 minutes, take 30 seconds to do some stretching.  Even that small amount of time is enough to wake your body up.
  5. Eat something.  Again, most of us choose not to get up early enough to have a sit-down breakfast.  But that doesn’t mean we can’t eat something healthy, even if we are on-the-go.  My morning staple is oatmeal cupcakes.  The recipe I use makes 24 cupcakes and only takes about 40 minutes (the recipe says 25, but I’m clearly not that fast).  I freeze them and 1:00 in the microwave later, I’m out the door!

What do you do to ensure your mornings start off on the right foot?

Cindy Jobs

www.organizetosimplify.com

Member Color - Web
National Association of Professional Organizers, Seattle Chapter Vice President
ICD_LogoTag_Horz_72 website
Institute for Challenging Disorganization:
Level I Certificates earned in Chronic Disorganization; ADD; Client Administration; Time Management; Mental Health; and Hoarding.
Level II Specialist Certificates earned in Chronic Disorganization and ADHD.
Coach Approach for Organizers
Graduate of the Comprehensive Training Program: Coaching Essentials; Strengths-Based Coaching; Brain-Based Coaching; Life and ADHD Coaching; and Organizer Coach Integration
Graduate-level training: Body-Based Coaching; ADHD Coaching Competencies

 

 

5 Tips to Survive the Time Change

spring-forward-clockWith snow on the ground today in Western Washington (although my crocus and tulips are poking through it) and over 18″ of snow over the last few days on the other side of the Cascades, “Spring” seems pretty far away.  Nonetheless, this Sunday morning we “spring forward.”

I don’t know about you, but I’m not looking forward to login an hour of sleep this weekend!  I really, really enjoy a good 7-8 hours of sleep each night and cutting it back, even an hour, really messes with me.  I hesitate to say, it may even make me a bit cranky.

If losing an hour of sleep causes the same consequence for you, here are a few simple steps that may make the transition just a bit easier for you too.

  1.  Start going to bed 15 minutes earlier in the days leading up to Saturday night.  Make every effort possible to be get plenty of sleep the week before the time change.  How much sleep is that?  The National Sleep Foundation has some guidelines on that.
  2. Maintain your regular eating and sleeping schedule.  Eating earlier or later than your body is used to will cause it additional confusion.  Maintain healthy nutrition (like we shouldn’t do that every day!) so you body isn’t trying to combat a lack of sleep and nutrition at the same time.  If you normally go to bed at 11:00 and get up at 7:00, follow that schedule on Saturday/Sunday also.  Your body’s going through enough without changing that schedule too.  Plus, if you don’t maintain your Sunday schedule, Monday will be even more difficult!
  3. Get some additional exercise a few days leading up to Saturday.  Several studies site the benefits of exercise (but not right before bed) in helping our bodies and brains wind down faster, resulting in better sleep.
  4. Go outside.   Sunlight on your SPF-protected skin will help your body’s circadian rhythm get back in sync.  Try for an hour outside on Sunday
  5. Resist taking a long nap on Sunday.  Although we may be tempted to get that lost hour of sleep back by taking a nice, long nap on Sunday afternoon, resist the urge.  If you do feel like a nap is in order, keep it to around 30 minutes or less.  Anything longer will also mess with your circadian rhythm.

Other tips from Dr. Yoseph Krespi, Director of the Center for Sleep Disorders at New York Head and Neck Institute:

  • Drink plenty of liquids, yet avoid caffeine and alcohol later in the day.
  • Make your bedroom into a sleep sanctuary: dark, quiet, and cool (somewhere in the mid to upper 60’s is perfect).
  • Don’t tackle any complex tasks right before bed.  Your brain will find it more difficult to shut down.
  • Start unwinding an hour before bed.   Have a cup of chamomile tea, take a bath, relax. If you are relaxed vs. stressed when you actually make it to bed, your body will have less to do before going to sleep.

Although I’m not looking forward to losing an hour of sleep this weekend, I am looking forward to what it means . . . . Spring is right around the corner!  Bringing with it the promise of more sun and more time enjoying the great outdoors!

Cindy Jobs

www.organizetosimplify.com

Member Color - WebNational Association of Professional Organizers, Seattle Chapter President
ICD_LogoTag_Horz_72 websiteCertified Premium Subscriber, Institute for Challenging Disorganization

Taxes are Taxing: Take Care Of Yourself!

taxes-646511_960_720It’s hard for me to believe, but the the first quarter of the year is already in the books and taxes are due next week.  Hopefully you are one of the lucky, non-procrastinators that filed their taxes long ago and have done something fun with the huge refund the I.R.S. sent you.

Then there’s the rest of us for whom I offer the following.

You are not alone.

According to TheConversation.com approximately 30% of the 2014 taxes were anticipated to be filed in the final two weeks before the deadline.  Why do we procrastinate?

  • Laziness:  We just don’t want to do it.  Who can’t see themselves in this one?
  • Thrill-Seeking:  We think we work better under pressure.  Generally we don’t.
  • Lack of Urgency:  There’s no penalty for dropping them off at the post office at 11:59 PM on April 18th.  Why hurry?
  • Availability of Extensions:  Extensions don’t mean you have more time to PAY, just more time to file.  If you are expecting money back, why extend?
  • We Don’t Expect a Refund: If you aren’t getting money back, why give Uncle Sam our money a minute earlier than we have to?

Well, whether we expect a refund or not, there is still stress and anxiety involved in filing our taxes at the last minute.  Knowing that, some additional self-care may be in order.

silhouette-1082172_960_720What the heck am I talking about?  Well, when I work with clients and they’ve completed a task that is hard, stressful, anxiety-ridden, emotionally taxing, or one they’ve procrastinated on, I suggest they spend some additional time focusing on their personal self care.

Self-care takes many forms and what works for one doesn’t always work for another, but here are some of my favorites:

  • Sleep:  Treat yourself to an extra few minutes of sleep, or even better, indulge in a nap.   According to the Mayo Clinic napping reduces fatigue, increases alertness, and improves our mood.
  • Exercise: Take a nice, long walk with a friend, join in on a fun exercise class at the gym, or even just dance around the house to your favorite song.  According to the CDC (cdc.gov) “People who are physically active for about 7 hours a week have a 40 percent lower risk of dying early than those who are active for less than 30 minutes a week.”
  • Eat something that makes you feel good:  There are physical and mental benefits of sitting down to a healthy fruit and cheese plate, a nutritional smoothie, or a nice bar of dark chocolate (it’s good for us, right?).  Indulge!
  • Meditate:   Sometimes we just need to block out our crazy world!  According to  Charles L. Raison, MD, clinical director of the Mind-Body Program at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, meditation improves both physical and emotional responses to stress.

So, whatever your tax filing situation is, know that once it’s behind you, the stress may not be.  Relax, rejuvinate, have some fun . . .  you deserve it!

Cindy Jobs

cindy@organizetosimplify.com

Organize to Simplify RGBwww.organizetosimplify.com

Member Color - Web   National Association of Professional Organizers, Seattle Chapter President
 ICD_LogoTag_Horz_72 website   Certified Premium Subscriber, Institute for Challenging Disorganization