Seeking Simplicity?

National Simplicity Day

National Simplicity Day is observed every year on July 12th, honoring the life, work and philosophies of Henry David Thoreau, who advocated for living a simple life via poetry, in his books and as a transcendentalist.

In our modern-day world, life is complicated by so much: the pings and dings of technology, the clutter amidst our calendars and to-do lists alike, the avalanche of communications received via email, calls, texts, social media, snail mail, technology and mainstream media... The list goes on and on. Yet, amidst our current pandemic, I see so many refocusing on their truest priorities, people taking time to reconnect with loved ones while actually slowing down a bit, new routines being turned into necessary habits as well as an emphasis on listening to what our minds, bodies and spirits truly need.

Whether you think of "simplicity" in terms of being plain, natural or easy to understand, I believe this National Simplicity Day is an ideal time to really align our actions with what matters most to us, including the personal mission, vision, core values and life desired to cultivate for each of us. How will you choose to let go of life's complications to make room in each day's 1,440 minutes for what's most important to you?

Some ideas for slowing down and living deliberately include the following:

• Think deeply about what matters most to you.
• Put things on your calendar that align with your priorities and the life you want.
• Adopt a new attitude by being deliberate in how your time is invested.
• Expend as much energy to reflect, live in the moment and appreciate life as you schedule for when to get things done.
• Shift your focus from "all the things" to what you can actually control.
• Utilize Do, Decide When, Delegate and Delete from Eisenhower's Matrix so your resources go toward what only you can do first.

Where will you choose to start in your efforts to celebrate National Simplicity Day?

Practice the Power of One

Although Three Dog Night might've wanted to convince folks that one is the loneliest number, I believe wholeheartedly that one is the most powerful number for productivity. There can be power in the masses, meaning a team collaborating in harmony makes greater progress than an individual; however, when it comes to certain organizing tools, it's more impactful to practice the power of one. When you have one place to look for information, one place to update content and one place from which data feeds, it is easier to quickly find what you need when you need it, keep content updated as it changes and verify information is processing correctly. Here are a few examples:

• Address Book - For contacts' names, phone numbers, emails and snail mail addresses as well as any notes gathered via interactions with that person, keeping everything centralized within one system better enables it will stay up-to-date and be quickly accessible whenever or wherever needed, rather than having the business card left elsewhere or the phone number locked in another tool. It is best to have your solution sync across devices, meaning you don't have to manually enter details' changes on computers as well as mobile devices.

• Calendar - Whether it's paper or electronic, a single place to track all time commitments (personal and professional) makes it less likely that appointments will be forgotten or you'll double-book yourself. If you choose an electronic option, you can still benefit from the power of one principle with various calendars for different elements of life, like one shared with your spouse, one shared with folks at work and one for volunteer commitments, as long as you have a viewing option to see everything at once, letting conflicts be visible easily.

• Cloud-Based, Automated Back-up - Computers crash. Fires can destroy all your devices. Emergencies happen. It is with an automated, remote storage of all data from your hard drive that you can truly be prepared for anything. There is a difference between an online file repository and a cloud-based, automated back-up, which means both are necessary, and it's important to be strategic in managing electronic files. Unlike a hard-drive that you attach to your computer for backing up data, a cloud solution isn't at risk of natural disasters in your physical proximity, doesn't require you remembering to hook it up for activating the back-up and has multiple points at which your data storage is duplicated as well as protected.

• "Data Dump" of Information - Human-beings are inundated daily with information, like meeting notes, ideas, reference articles, checklists, process steps, voice mails, blog posts, emails, texts and inspirations. Since our brains are meant for thinking, not remembering, it's important to document everything. Keeping it all in one place limits the places you must check when trying to find whatever's needed. 

• File-Naming Structure - Whether paper files, electronic documents or saved emails, having each folder and individual file follow the same naming conventions will allow you to know what goes where and more easily retrieve each item later. If you have to ask "where should I file this?" when assigning a home to newly received or created content, how will you ever be able to find it later? Make sure you have enough folders for all the content to be retained while not having so many folders that any one item could go into more than one; then, keep your file-naming structure simply while avoiding "miscellaneous" so it's easy to replicate across the various retention platforms.

• Password Manager - There's no doubt that our list of websites and software solutions requiring logins is continually growing, and we must protect ourselves with better password management. Listing all usernames and passwords in one place saves time as we're frantically trying to get logged in, and an electronic solution is more secure, allows easier access while on-the-go, creates more secure passwords, can alert you automatically when any site has been hacked and works cross-platform so you always have the right login information, no matter which device is being utilized to access your account.

• Strategy for Attacking Priorities - Proactively create the direction in which you will proceed each week rather than living in reactionary mode by completing a weekly strategy session to develop a game plan for tasks, communications, time commitments and development opportunities in advance. Use your weekly strategy to ward off time stealers and others priorities since knowing where you're headed helps in getting there. Then, implement a daily wrap-up to stay on track throughout the week, avoiding deviations from curveballs that life will throw your way while addressing what matters most.

• To-Do List - When jotting tasks down in different notebooks, on meeting agendas, using sticky notes atop your desk or on the napkin you grab in the drive-through line, it's more difficult to know what needs to be done when. Alternatively, keeping all the action items needing your attention in one place makes it more likely they'll get completed, aides in prioritizing and allows for divvying out must-do items across each day of the week. If you opt for an electronic task manager app, it adds reminders, easier carryover, recurrences and useful integrations.

Where do you see the power of one boosting your productivity currently? How can you streamline your toolbox to have one tool for each listed function? 

Do You Practice Single-Tasking or Prefer Multi-Tasking?

 Today’s business professionals are expected to wear more hats than years before, pushing themselves to get more done in less time, and that can make it appealing to multi-task. Unfortunately, in reality, multi-tasking has the opposite effect on one’s productivity, minimizing outputs and increasing stress. It’s a lose-lose situation!

Instead, let us take time to celebrate today’s Single Tasking Day. 

While projects are a conglomeration of different tasks, if you break projects down into individual tasks and create a list of what tasks need to be done, you can work your way down the list, one by one by one. Start each task with a verb that drives action, assign a “when” for each “what” to be accomplished and set a timer for how long you can block out distractions to focus your efforts on each of those tasks.

Now, don’t get me wrong… I’m not discounting the value of simul-tasking, but that is very different from multi-tasking. Whereas multi-tasking involves bouncing between two tasks that require thought and focus, simul-tasking involves pairing any activity that requires thought (like reading your daily feed of blog posts) with an activity that can be done mostly automatically (like walking on a treadmill). Simul-tasking can help mark two things off your to-do list at once; however, it does require just the right pairing of activities, and it’s not always possible to find tasks that can be done without thinking.

As you are working on single tasking, consider the interruptions you face in a typical workday, whether that’s emails, calls, texts, folks stopping by your office, pings or dings of notifications and more. If you are accustomed to responding immediately to each of those emails, calls, texts, visitors and notifications, consider this: Those folks reaching out to you don’t know if you are sitting at your desk or in a meeting; if you block off a bit of time to really focus on the task at hand and respond to those needing your attention once you are done, those folks will assume you’ve been in a meeting, you get more accomplished in less time and you no longer have that task hanging over your head as an item you must do.

Take action and attempt single tasking this week. Then, let me know how it works for you. I’d love to hear your successes or what you found most challenging about it!

Celebrate National Simplify Your Life Week

 As we're in national "Simplify Your Life Week", what do you think it means to SIMPLIFY? Think you'll need to give up all your worldly possessions to become a hermit and live in a cave somewhere?!? Not quite... Per Dictionary.com, simplify means “to make less complex or complicated; make plainer or easier"... Cutting back on physical clutter can be part of the picture, but the emphasis is on slowing down and focusing on your true priorities. For some, this may mean working fewer hours and taking a cut in pay to have more time with friends and family. For others, this may mean buying a smaller home that is closer to work so as to lessen the daily commute while cleaning out unused items throughout the home. Meanwhile, others may take this as the opportunity to simply say "no" to more of each day's endless requests from others, saying "yes" to only those requests that fulfill personal & professional goals.

Here are some actions you can take today, over the weekend or sometime soon to simplify your life:

1. Remember that less is more when it comes to email… Less email sent means fewer replies received. Less retention folders make it easier to find what you need when you need it. Less email lists to which you subscribe lead to you getting only what information you really want.

2. Outsource, delegate, ask for help… However you word it, utilize others to double your output. Great resources can be found at Fiverr and Task Rabbit so take some time to check out which options might be best for your needs.

3. Automate bill pay… While many folks pay each bill manually when the reminder arrives via snail mail or email, how much easier would it be to have payments sent automatically from your banking account each month? Such settings can be programmed online fairly quickly.

4. Automate many of the domino effects in your daily processes… There are plenty of cause and effect relationships you can set and forget, running without ongoing efforts on your part. Investigate options via IFTTT, Zapier and PodBox for the solution to best support your processes.

5. Plan to have the tools you need nearby when needed… Do you utilize a smartphone, tablet, laptop and / or desktop computer? If you depend on tech tools, you are well aware of all the accessories needed for each, including charging cords, flash drives, headphones or earbuds and the like. Rather than depending on whether you remember to bring all the necessary accessories whenever you are working on the go, keep multiple sets of those accessories (one for office, one for bag, one for vehicle), pulling each set of accessories together with a GRID-IT.

6. Be strategic about how you organize items… Make sure what you need is conveniently located close to where you will need to use it and by grouping like with like to have those items used together stored together. Further, so you can quickly retrieve what’s needed, make sure to assign everything a specific home and return each item to its home each time you finish using that item.

7. Don’t retain the printed manual that came with any item you’ve purchased… Printed manuals are difficult to efficiently store and take up valuable space. Instead, download the corresponding PDF from the ManualsOnline.com website and store electronically.

8. Save time with forms, templates, checklists and the like… If you regularly send the same email response, create a template for that reply, tweak it a bit for each time you send it, and avoid starting from scratch each time you need to send that response. Create a packing checklist so you don’t forget anything that’s needed on each trip, customizing it for personal versus business travel, whether traveling by plane, train or automobile and for how long you’ll be gone. Design a template for grocery lists with all items you normally use, listed in order of the aisles at your regular store.

9. Convert what files you can to a searchable, digital system… Since it’s easier to find documents in an electronic form than paper, transition what you can via a fast, portable scanner, like one of the options from Doxie, Neat or Fujitsu. Then, make those documents easy to access from anywhere as well as simple to share with others by storing them in an online file repository; options for your online file repository include Box, Dropbox, iCloud, OneDrive, SpiderOak, Google Drive and SugarSync. Finally, if you choose to utilize the free options on more than one of these online file repositories, avoid fragmentation by keeping all your “clouds” together via Citrix ShareFile Quick Edit for iOS devices or CloudCube for Android devices.

10. Cut back on distractions by having fewer pings and dings… When you are distracted, on average, it takes about 16 minutes to refocus upon returning to the task at hand. Therefore, turn off your notifications for emails, social media updates and new text or voice mail messages whenever possible, choosing to schedule set times for checking each instead.

11. Consolidate social media platforms into one management tool... While many enjoy the benefits of the various different social media options, it can be overwhelming to stay on top of everything for LinkedIn, Google+, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and more. Instead of logging into each platform individually, group as many as possible together with one login to Hootsuite, Postling, SocialOomph, Buffer or Sprout Social.

12. Practice “the power of one”… While many claim that one is a lonely number, I find it to be extremely powerful in boosting productivity. So that you can quickly find what you need, easily remember all that needs to be done, avoid duplication or things falling through the cracks and keep it all together better, it’s important to have one calendar, one running data dump of all tasks to be done, one daily  to-do list, one source for others’ contact info, one system by which all your files are structured (whether paper or electronic and with as few categories as possible) and one place for all the information you must reference and remember, such as my all-time favorite tool of Evernote, a secure suite of apps that allow users to capture typed text, video and audio files, checklists, web clippings as well as photos, including photos of handwritten notes, in a database of content created by the user or culled in from other sources which is easy to sort, edit, search and share.

Did you celebrate this "Simplify Your Life Week" by making a change to simplify your life? If not, where do you see excess and complexity? What will you change soon based off the aforementioned suggestions or your own analysis?

How'd You Simplify Your Life This Week?

As we come to the end of national "Simplify Your Life Week", what do you think it means to SIMPLIFY? Think you'll need to give up all your worldly possessions to become a hermit and live in a cave somewhere?!? Luckily, simplifying is really all about having enough without having too much... Cutting back on physical clutter is part of the picture, but the emphasis is on slowing down and focusing on your true priorities. For some, this may mean working fewer hours and taking a cut in pay to have more time with friends and family. For others, this may mean buying a smaller home that is closer to work so as to lessen the daily commute while cleaning out unused items throughout the home. Meanwhile, others may take this as the opportunity to simply say "no" to more of each day's endless requests from others, saying "yes" to only requests that fulfill personal & professional goals.

Did you celebrate this "Simplify Your Life Week" by making a change to simplify your life? If not, where do you see excess in your life? Whether physical objects, paper in your files, commitments made or emails arriving in your Inbox, is there something you can purge and begin to simplify? To eliminate overwhelm and ensure success sticks, start with ONE change in ONE area of your life... What can you change today?