to do - The Time Finder with Paula Eder

The Time Finder with Paula Eder

The way you use your time is the way you live your life.

Find Time to Chunk Your Tasks and Stop Procrastinating Today!

Posted on July 19, 2011 by Paula, under Time Management Skills.

Finding time to stop procrastinating is one of the best time management skills that you can ever develop for yourself. And it’s a challenge … for all of us.

It doesn’t do you much good to let your inner critic try to goad you into action when you find yourself procrastinating. In fact, this will often lead to increased stress and, perhaps, the introduction of your “inner rebel” to the conversation. It’s a great recipe for digging your heels in even deeper, and coming to a virtual standstill.

But think about it: you don’t even know that you’re procrastinating unless you have some goals. So, the good news is if you know you’re stuck, it’s because you know where you want to go or what you want to do.

But getting from where you are to where you want to be involves effort. Effort is work. It means an investment of your time and energy. And when you invest effort, you expect and want to reap some kind of reward.

So, in some very basic ways, I think that one major source of procrastination can be the size of the gap between the effort and the reward. The larger the gap, the more likely you are to be challenged by procrastination.

If you have a really big task to do, something that is going to take days, weeks or even months to finish, when will you begin to see the benefits of your work? It can require skill and discipline to get started on a task like that … when the reward is so far in the distance that you need a telescope to see it!

But the good news is that you can build in your own rewards! You can do this by the way you structure your task, the ways that you remind yourself about it, and what you say to yourself when you’ve completed each step.

Chunking tasks down into bite sized pieces is a fundamental component of any attempt to overcome procrastination and begin to make headway on your goals. Chunking is a time management skill that gives you stepping stones and stopping places (where you can give yourself pats on the back along the way).

Basically, what chunking does is narrow the gap between your effort and your reward.

So, the next time you find yourself procrastinating about something, grab a piece of paper and write down the task at the top. Then create at least 10 stepping stones to get yourself to your goal. Begin with a first, small step as soon as you have finished writing down your stepping stones. (If you can’t do it immediately, be sure to schedule a specific time, and then follow through on your commitment.)

Notice how your energy changes and the impossible begins to feel possible! Chunking and creating stepping stones are the key. Then whenever you invest effort be sure that you validate yourself with some sort of reward, be it a kind word, a break, or something else that appeals to you.

And are you inspired to find time and increase your effectiveness, efficiency and enjoyment? What will be the first step that you take to start chunking and stop procrastinating?

Speaking of “first steps” here’s an exciting first for me! I am pleased to share that I am The Official SelfGrowth.com Guide to “Time Management”. When you visit you’ll find time management articles by experts in the field, along with a vibrant and welcoming on-line community. Stop by my Expert Page and leave a comment or question … or just say hello. There are lots of ways to connect … let’s get started!

So, what if you could find another hour every day? You can! You can explore some practical and effective options for taking charge of your time by signing up for our free gift – “The New Finding Time Boundary Template: 9 Simple, Sequential Steps to Find More Time and Recharge Your Energy!” Claim it and see how you can recharge your energy, reduce overwhelm and frustration, and come to learn that 24 hours really ARE enough!

Let’s explore time together …

Find Time to Increase Your Productivity with this Cyber Monday Time Tool! (thetimefinder.com)
Finding Time to Outwit Another Time Gremlin: The Procrastinator (thetimefinder.com)
Procrastination – Why you do it, and how to stop (yourmindyourbody.org)

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Find Time to Vanquish Procrastination by Pulling the Plug on Pressure Tactics

Posted on March 15, 2011 by Paula, under Time and Energy, Time Management Skills.

Finding the time you need and then losing it to procrastination can be frustrating, can’t it?

Yet despite our best intentions, some tasks seem to just never get done. They bounce along from one To Do list to the next, frequently provoking guilt, anxiety, and frustration. They remain stubbornly undone, while insidiously sapping your energy and making you feel out of control.

When you run into this situation (and who hasn’t) how about trying a fresh approach to make whatever task you avoid much more manageable?

Rather than being hard on yourself, bringing out those paralyzing, critical voices … try lowering the stakes to jump-start your initiative!

Do you ever try to push past your resistance by threatening yourself with drastic repercussions if you don’t toe the line? Ironically, when you envision catastrophic outcomes for failure to complete a task successfully, you can stifle your energy and incentive even more!

Here’s an analogy: if someone asked you to walk along a narrow, 12-inch path in a garden, you’d start right away, and easily accomplish the feat. But what if that same person were angrily or urgently shouting at you to walk a 12-inch plank across a raging river? The width of your path is the same, but the heightened stakes in the latter case might well keep you frozen on the bank. (I know it would me!)

So, pay close attention to your self-talk. Do you try to goad yourself? You can refuse to punish and paralyze yourself with threats! The next time one arises, picture yourself catching it easily, as if it were a beach ball, and tossing it aside.

Next, use your imagination to envision a Plan B, in case you run into problems with your project. Assuring yourself that you will land on your feet, regardless, helps you re-approach the task with confidence. Accomplishing even a small portion of the job will help you move forward and build from success to success!

I’d love to hear how it goes for you as you lower the stakes, let go of pressure, and move through procrastination, so drop me a line!

Oh, and before I forget, I was so pleased last week to be interviewed by a reporter from our local newspaper, the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript! The article, by Jonathan Gourlay, is titled “In a Busy World, She’s Making Every Minute Count.” Enjoy!

Are you struggling with procrastination? Feeling stuck? Inspired to find time and increase your effectiveness? I invite you to explore Secrets of Heart-Based Time Management – my chapter in the book I co-authored – Stepping Stones to Success!

In it you’ll discover my proven system for harnessing the power of your mind, your body and your spirit to help you explore your patterns, clarify your values, identify and prioritize your goals … and create your path for achieving them. The in depth interviews contained in this book provide practical and heart-based ideas to get you moving as you embrace yourself and your own uniqueness!

You can give yourself the gift of this wonderful resource today, and get started on your journey toward success, Stepping Stone by Stepping Stone … just click this link to get the details!

What if you could find another hour every day? You can! You are invited to sign up for your FREE Finding Time Success Kit. It puts 3 key tools for your time success right into your hands! Grab it and see how you can recharge your energy, reduce overwhelm and frustration, and come to learn that 24 hours really ARE enough!

Let’s explore time together …

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Find Time to Reflect and Recharge – How Has 2011 Been Going for You So Far?

Posted on January 28, 2011 by Paula, under Time and Energy, Transitions and Time.

Finding time to make the most of transition times is a great skill to develop and hone. The beginning of a new year offers us a wonderful “moment” to do this, as we are generally very much aware that we are in transition.

The reality is, however, that we are in transition all the time. The more that we can accept (and even embrace) the fact that change is constant – the more we can harness the power of transitions for ourselves.

Power of transitions? Absolutely!

Any transition time, such as the end of a month, offers the opportunity to reflect and recharge. If we choose to, we can give ourselves this important gift by taking the time to make a conscious transition. How?

Well, first look back over the past month. Relax and look, without filter or judgment, at whatever bubbles up about that time: Scanning the vista, you’ll see:

Events,
New tasks taken on,
Tasks completed,
Anything that stands out.

Then, take a look at your calendar and To Do List to refresh your memory. If you keep a journal, it would be helpful to page through that as well. The goal is to give yourself a good sense of the terrain of the past month.

Now that you can see the terrain, it’s time to survey the landscape more closely. Here’s where you ask yourself 3 Questions to Help You Reflect and Recharge:

What did I accomplish this month? (Make a list and CELEBRATE it!)
What did I learn this month … and how will I use it next month?
What is one thing from this month that I am going to let go of next month? (At the end of the coming month, you’ll want to review this and see how you did.)

You may want to add to this list of questions, but it makes for a great start. What I love about the process is that it sends you into your new month feeling positive, validated, and actually LIGHTER, because you are looking at what you can let go of.

Do this BEFORE you ask yourself about things you want to accomplish or focus on in the coming month. You work hard and have no lack of tasks and projects. So how about lightening your load, at least by a factor of one, as you step into February?

Give yourself the gift of some time, over the next 3 days to reflect and recharge … and please drop me a line to let me know how it’s going for you – I’d love to hear!

Let’s explore time together …

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Find Time to Stay on Top of It All AND Free Your Mind with Evernote

Posted on January 24, 2011 by Paula, under Time and Technology.

Finding time to get everything done, and keep up with all of the information that is at our fingertips these days can be a daunting task.

How many times have you noticed something on the web that you wanted to write about or look into, only to get interrupted or move on to something else – leaving behind that item of interest. Or maybe you bookmark it, but with thousands of bookmarks, it can be difficult to find that particular thing that you’re looking for. In addition, you can’t add your own notes to a bookmark. I bet right now you have hundreds of bookmarks, going back years. Do you remember why you saved them?

Likewise, if you’ve got a hefty To Do List it can sometimes be difficult to manage and organize it, not to mention keeping a handle on all the additional information that you may need to accomplish your tasks.

And, to top it off, trying to remember the volume of data that comes our way every day, no matter how we choose to organize it, can clutter our minds with details, leaving little room for thoughtfulness or creativity. Overwhelming? You bet!

In the past I’ve written about tools like Remember the Milk (for tracking tasks) or Google Notebook (for capturing ideas, saving links, jotting notes, and keeping them all handy). These tools are excellent, but I have to say that when my VA told me about Evernote and what she was learning about its capabilities, it sounded like it combined the best features of many of these other applications.

What Evernote gives you is a web-based organizing tool that you can access from just about anywhere … and that you can add just about anything to. What could be easier? You can leave notes for yourself, clip news items from the web, paste entire documents into notes, and even share notes with others.

One of the most important capacities Evernote offers, in my opinion, is its searchability. It will look for keywords within items you have posted, and you can easily add tags to your notes, to more quickly find things. Not only that, but Evernote handles (and makes available) information in all sorts of different formats … text, audio, video, and graphic.

Here’s a helpful, basic tutorial for working with Evernote …

And if video is a modality that you like to use when learning a new skill, there are lots of video tutorials on the Evernote site, some quite entertaining!

There’s an Evernote Blog – for the latest developments and uses of this tool. And the Evernote Trunk offers a growing collection of enhancements. There you can browse for hardware, applications, notebooks … there’s even a notebook titled Ron’s Evernote Tips!

Ready to give Evernote a try? If you do, let me know how it’s going for you – I’d love to hear!

Let’s explore time together …

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have no material connection with the brands, topics, or products that are mentioned here, and have not received any compensation for writing this content.

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Find Time to Explore Your Heart and Mind with Mindmapping

Posted on January 11, 2011 by Paula, under Time and Technology, Time and Values, Time Management Skills.

Finding time to explore what you think and feel … to know yourself better … is the best way I can think of to form a solid base for anything that you want to do. And the Mind Map, a tool with a long history that was most recently honed and popularized by Tony Buzan, can be extremely useful in this process.

Whether it be in time management, planning and following through on a project, or in academic pursuits, your efficiency and effectiveness are greatly enhanced when you can see the terrain as clearly and comprehensively as possible. And, as many have discovered, a picture is worth a thousand words!

So, what is a mind map? In general terms, it’s a method for creating a graphical representation of ideas or concepts. Here’s how Wikipedia describes the process:

A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items linked to and arranged around a central key word or idea. Mind maps are used to generate, visualize, structure, and classify ideas, and as an aid to studying and organizing information, solving problems, making decisions, and writing.

The elements of a given mind map are arranged intuitively according to the importance of the concepts, and are classified into groupings, branches, or areas, with the goal of representing semantic or other connections between portions of information. Mind maps may also aid recall of existing memories.

This 5-minute video offers an overview of the concept and practice of mindmapping.

One of the things that I find particularly helpful about this tool is that, by encouraging a brainstorming approach, it short-circuits any tendencies to insert a critical or censuring voice into this process. Mindmapping works best when it is exploratory, organic, and inclusive. The things that we might be inclined to censure might be key elements in a new insight or discovery … an opening to even deeper learning!

On his website Mindmaps Unleashed, and in his articles at EzineArticles.com, Arjen ter Hoeve offers insights, inspiration, and practical tips about mindmapping with a particular focus on time management, goal-setting, productivity, and … as a solid base for all of this … self-knowledge.

Personally, I find mindmapping to be a great tool for values clarification, jump-starting my creativity, thorough and practical planning, and for managing my time more effectively. I prefer the free-flowing, pen-and-paper approach when mind-mapping; however, there are lots and lots of on-line tools available for this activity, as well … including Google Docs!

Have you used mindmapping yourself? Is it something you would like to explore? I’d love to hear your experiences with it. What do YOU think?

Let’s explore time together …

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have no material connection with the brands, topics, or products that are mentioned here, and have not received any compensation for writing this content.

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Find Time to Breathe In (and Breathe Out) Your Gratitude

Posted on November 23, 2010 by Paula, under Time and Energy.

Finding time to breathe deeply and savor our moments is a huge challenge and can be especially so during the busy holiday season.

I know the feeling and I am sure that you do, too. When your To Do List is brimming, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that your cup, too, is brimming … brimming with things to feel grateful about! Pausing to remember this, in the midst of all the holiday hustle and bustle, is one of the most meaningful and rejuvenating gifts that you can possibly give yourself at this time of year.

Actually, I’d advise you to think of this as a responsibility … not a gift. You’re more likely to do it when you really take in the fact that giving this to yourself not only enhances your experience but also actually enables you to:

Be more present to your whole holiday experience;
Have more energy and a more positive attitude; and
Get more done!

And you’ll notice that the title of this post refers to both breathing in and breathing out your gratitude. That’s a reminder that, not only is it important to experience our own feelings of gratitude … but it’s a gift, also, to express gratitude. As has been noted by writers and thinkers throughout the year, gratitude, like a Thanksgiving meal, is best when shared.

Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: it must be produced and discharged and used up in order to exist at all.

William Faulkner

Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.

William Arthur Ward

So, to fully experience your holiday moments, give yourself … and your friends and family … the gift of gratitude. I am quite sure that you will see a difference in your energy and your attitude as you leaven it with gratitude!

Want to learn more about finding time to let yourself really savor the holidays this year? We had an exciting and informative teleclass with “The Smart Woman’s Expert” Dr. Melissa McCreery last week – and you can still sign up and access all of the excellent information that we covered. We discussed “Holiday Thriving: How to Take Charge of Stress, Overwhelm, and Overeating During the Holiday Season.” Ready for some practical tips for staying on track with your healthy lifestyle while decreasing your stress? Then sign up, and we’ll send you the FREE MP3!

Let’s explore time together …

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