Your,Spring,Tune-Up,Checklist, DIY Your Spring Tune-Up Checklist

When starting a new work at home business it is very easy to become consumed by it. We spend so much time trying to get the business up and running that we may end up becoming burned out and lose our motivation. There is so much to learn and Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-parent:"";mso-padding-alt:0in

Your outer world is a reflection of your innerworld. Take a moment right now to look around your home environment.What does it look like to you and how does it feel? Do you feel a senseof calm and order, or is there a sense of chaos and frenzy in yourspace? It's important that we consider the design of our physical spaceas a key ingredient in how we set ourselves up to succeed in our life'sambitions. Life is busy enough these days and most of us are eager tosqueeze just that next level of productivity out so we can keep on topof all of the challenges and decisions we make. To see how you're doingon the organizational home front, take a few minutes to complete thisself-assessment quiz!5 Tips to Make Your System Work for YouThereare a zillion books on time management and organizational. I'd like toshare the top 5 strategies I've adopted that have radically changed myproductivity. Putting these strategies into place have reduced mystress and greatly increased my peace of mind. Everyone has their ownunique needs and style, so here are some ideas that can help you put inplace a stronger system that works for you!1. The Two Minute RuleOrganizationalexpert David Allen (in Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-FreeProductivity) advises that, "If the next action can be done in twominutes or less, do it when you first pick the item up." I initiallydidn't see the value in this idea until I actually tried it. I used tobe a big piler of things -- I thought it was more efficient to pilethose nagging little things up or put them on a list until there wereenough of them to deal with all at once. I'd make a pile for thingsthat needed to go upstairs. I'd have a different pile for things thatbelonged downstairs. Inevitably I would get interrupted or distractedand never get to the growing piles of stuff.Implementing the twominute rule has changed all that and I feel liberated! Touch it, dealwith it and get it out of your space. It's not just your physical spacethat gets cleared -- it's your psychic space that's freed up as well.Read a school report card -- run it up and put it immediately into theproper file. Phase 2 of my plan is to train my three children to usethis rule!2. Only One In-boxI thought I used one in-box,but then I realized that I actually had many different places where Iwould gather my incoming information. An official in-box in my homeoffice, and a stash of papers next to the phone in the kitchen. Thenthere was the pile of mail by the front door and a collection ofreceipts in my wallet. Oh yes, the business cards and notes-to-self inmy purse and pockets. A few things strewn about on night-tables or inmy van. No wonder I would lose track of things!I've consolidatedall of those sources of inflow into one holding place until I canprocess it. Everything goes into my in box in my office now, even if itmakes my in-box look scary. An important corollary of this system is tobook time in your calendar each week to tackle your in-box. The volumethat's in there now can look intimidating at times, but I am alwaysamazed at how quickly I can work through it knowing that all of theloose ends I may need to make a decision are already in that one singlein-box.3. Ode to the Label-makerA dear cousin of minewith a real talent for organization suggested I get a label-maker. Ithought it was a sweet suggestion, but didn't see the need. I'm apretty neat printer and my labels were fairly legible on my filefolders.Then I caved and borrowed a friend's label-maker andhave become a true convert. Seeing those crisp labels in 20 pt fontbeaming at me makes me want to feed those folders on a regular basis.Having beautiful labels has created a sense of professionalism in myhome systems and a stronger commitment on my part to keeping my spaceorganized. I look now for opportunities to organize and label mystorage space, like those containers in my basement and inside mycupboards. Official-looking labels are helping me teach others in myhome where I like to store things. The bonus of my label-maker is thatmy children have caught the fever and anything that inspires school-agechildren to label their binders and storage places is definitely worthhaving!4. Game on, Game OverAthletes have got the rightidea -- they train hard, they play hard and then they review the gameand develop a strategy to win the next one. Dave Buck, President ofCoachville, urges people wanting to improve their productivity todecide when it's "Game on, Game Over..." Life moves at such a quickpace nowadays it's easy to be caught in perpetual "game on" mode. To beproductive we need rest, recuperation and reflective time. Herecommends you set up a game with a definite start and end time. Whenthe game is on, you are on -- no interruptions and you keep your noseto the grindstone. When the game is over, you're done (for now) andcelebrate your success in the game.It's been fun to set up"games" to help me accomplish tasks that I used to consider to be achore and a bore. I use the timer I now have on my desk for thatpurpose. I've noted a much higher level of productivity when I givemyself that down time and when I know my focus and attention is goingto be required at 100% for short bursts. It's alleviated some of theguilt I used to feel that I wasn't "getting enough done." Some of myfavorite games are "Clutter busting in the basement for 20 minutes" and"Deleting 50 old emails a day keeps the computer technician away..."What games could you set up this week?5. Seriously, Put it in your CalendarThisseems like an incredibly obvious tip but it's vital. If an activity isnot in your calendar or daytimer, it's likely not going to happen.Inevitably when a client tells me they didn't take an action step inthe past week, it's because they didn't put it in their calendar. We'reusually fairly good about keeping appointments with others. We're farmore irresponsible when it comes to treating those personal commitmentswith the same level of importance and respect. There's never a shortageof household maintenance like bills, correspondence, filing, emails andother paperwork. If you don't specifically block that time out on yourcalendar, guess what happens -- you'll never get the time to do it! Foran investment in your peace of mind, build in and protect that time.