It’s easy while sitting at your computer to allow the lure of social networks, email, and even Words with Friends on your phone to distract you from working. This means that often each individual project takes longer and is done … I’ll just say, less well.

Last week my mom sent me a poem called “Slow Dance.” Two sections caught my attention:

Do you run through each day on the fly?
When you ask, How are you?
Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done
Do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores
Running through your head?
You’d better slow down
Don’t dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won’t last.

Ever told your child,
We’ll do it tomorrow?
And in your haste,
Not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die
Cause you never had time
To call and say, “Hi”
You’d better slow down.
Don’t dance so fast.
Time is short.
Do you run through each day
On the fly?

I decided it was time to step back and remember how to focus.

How to Slow Down and Take One Thing at a Time

Here are my three tips for slowing down and tackling one thing at a time.

1. I check email as a reward for completing a task.

I turn off my desktop alerts so that I can concentrate on what I’m doing rather than feel compelled to hop into my email every time a new message comes in. Yes, email is instant and can be addictive, but the truth is it can usually wait an hour. If something needs to be done this very second, someone can call me or instant message me through Skype.

2. I only allow myself two checks of social networks a day.

Yes, really. I check in first thing in the morning and last thing at night. This has been SUCH a boon to my productivity.

3. I turn off my phone and move out of my office.

Every day I try to allocate twenty minutes to myself for exercise or time on my own for a break. I move out of my office and leave my phone behind. Taking a break from my phone and office also applies to family time, homework time, and my children’s bath time. I think it’s particularly important to turn off my “work brain” during these times so I can give my complete attention to my family.

These small steps have helped me work a bit more productively, and focus on the things that really matter in life.

How do you compartmentalize your time and help your family stay organized?

Joanne Lang is a mom of 4 boys, a wife, and the founder and CEO of AboutOne, an online family organizer that turns your phone into a remote control for your life, working with your existing calendar and contact tools so you can automatically organize, store, and share family memories and household paperwork. Through web and mobile apps, AboutOne guides you along the path to organization, rewarding you along the way for meeting your organizational goals.

Photo courtesy of Google Images

Creating routines and schedules is often a hard concept for many to grasp. I like to think of them as scaffolding for my week rather than concrete plans that I have to stick to. My routines and schedules simply help remind me of the things I’d like to accomplish each week. If I don’t get them done, I don’t let myself feel guilty.

Guidelines for Routines and Schedules

Here are some guidelines that I use when creating my routines and schedules for the week.

• Determine what is important to you and your family, and how you’d like to run your household. Once you have determined your priorities, then you can create your routines and schedules from there. If your top priority is spending time with your family, but you constantly feel the need to keep your home super clean, then you need to figure out a way to balance the two by determining how much time is really necessary for certain tasks. Perhaps you can even delegate different cleaning tasks to family members so that things get done more quickly, leaving you more time to spend with each other.

• Create a master schedule or plan for important daily or weekly tasks. I use a document that I created called “daily plan”. On this plan I have sections to break down my day with everything that I mustn’t forget to do. These tasks include our dinner menu, 3 most important tasks to complete for the day, other to-dos for the day (if I can get to them), daily to-dos (which are typed right into the template, so they’re completed daily – i.e., do the dishes, file paperwork, etc.), and weekly to-dos that are broken down by day (i.e., on Monday I pay bills, on Thursday I menu plan and make the grocery list, etc.). By having this template that I print daily and use to organize my day, I never forget to do those daily and weekly tasks that I have determined are important to me to effectively run of my household.

• Use scheduling for things that aren’t routine or done on a regular basis. Scheduling should be something you’re willing to look at over and over again. It allows you to ensure that you don’t double book your life. Use a day planner or family wall calendar — whatever works best for you and your family. The whole point of using a calendar system is to allow each family member to add their own events and see what is coming up in the week ahead. I will even use my calendar to schedule in things that I consider a priority – such as spending time with my family.

How do you prioritize your time and schedule your day or week? Is it working for you or is it time to reevaluate where you’re standing?

Photo courtesy of Flickr.

Tiffany Ford is a wife, 2nd grade teacher, and DIY organizer. She lives in Salt Lake City, UT with her husband, Chris, and adorable dog, Jazz. Tiffany is the writer behind The Nest Effect, a mash up blog about teaching, organization, life, home, and everything in between. She also runs an Etsy store, where she sells printable documents to help others organize their home.

We, as parents, are so busy keeping our kids busy that we may not really know our children. We talk about our day in passing from one activity to the next but often do not take the time to discuss our children’s lives. Some kids are great at hiding emotions, grades, or problems. So, let’s slow down, spend quality time together, and get to know our kids!

I am as guilty as the next when it comes to being an on-the-go mom. I feel like keeping my kids involved in activities will help them understand the importance of team work, giving 110 percent, and responsibility.

I have come to realize that making time for the family is important. The kids are involved in one activity each, which still keeps us very busy. We find ways to spend quality time together that interest everyone. We watch football and baseball, play volleyball in the front yard, play card games or dominoes, go bowling, or just sit around a bond fire together and talk. I love to take the kids to school every morning — it is our special time to talk. It is amazing what you can learn about your child on the way to school!

Spending family time together is very important for your children. While the extra sports and activities are great for the kids, they need to have a relationship with mom and dad. It is important for parents to know their kids — know them well enough to see when they are happy and even when they are sad or have a problem. Take advantage of free time with your kids and get them talking!

How do you keep your family? What is your favorite part of the day with your kids?

Photo courtesy of Flickr.

Robin Greene is a mother of two teenagers, a wife and a Kindergarten teacher. Robin enjoys spending as much time with her family as possible. She also enjoys teaching, participating in church activities and freelance writing for mybabyclothes.com.  Your little one will be the talk of the town in their unique baby clothes, cute baby hat or beautiful tutu.

January is a great time to get organized. It’s a new year and you can start off fresh by getting rid of items in your home you no longer use or need. But getting organized isn’t just about purging junk in your home, it’s about making your home a place where you can relax. Having organization systems in place for things such as finances, paper clutter, and closets can make life a lot less stressful and create a home that everyone can enjoy.

4 Ways to Stay Organized

Many people don’t know where to start when organizing, so they refuse to even try. Organization can definitely be a daunting task – especially when you don’t consider yourself to be an organized person. Here are a few simple tips to help get you started.

Start small.

Look around the room you’re in right now. What is driving you absolutely crazy? Or what is something you’d like to change? Maybe it’s a pile of papers on your desk or a bookshelf that has been carelessly used as a dumping ground for knickknacks and books. Whatever that one section is in your room, go conquer it right now. When you start small, you can complete one task at a time and won’t end up overwhelmed by looking at the big picture all at once — especially if the room is a complete disaster.

Take your time completing the task.

Don’t feel like you have to overhaul that bookshelf in 10 minutes. Thorough organization is best. Once you take the time to actually fully organize something, and you’re proud of the system you’ve created (or the mess you’ve cleaned up), you’ll feel like you want to keep up with what you’ve done and your organization will last a lot longer.

Make an organization list.

Many people feel a sense of accomplishment when they make lists and cross of tasks they’ve completed. Make an organization to-do list of places in your home you’d like to organize. Be specific. Don’t just write down “kitchen” – it’s too big of an area. Break it down into tasks such as “food storage containers, pantry, spices, silverware drawer, etc.”, and then you’ll know exactly what you’re going to tackle when you choose a task from your list.

Make time for organization.

Schedule organizing into your weekly routine. Even if you only have 15 minutes once a week to organize, it’s better than no time at all.

Benjamin Franklin once said, “For every minute spent in organizing, an hour is earned”. Try it out for yourself and get organized in 2012.

How much time can you save yourself, and family, by simply organizing and creating organization systems in your home?

I’ll be back next week with tips on how to manage your time more effectively with routines and schedules.

Tiffany Ford is a wife, 2nd grade teacher, and DIY organizer. She lives in Salt Lake City, UT with her husband, Chris, and adorable dog, Jazz. Tiffany is the writer behind The Nest Effect, a mash up blog about teaching, organization, life, home, and everything in between. She also runs an Etsy store, where she sells printable documents to help others organize their home.

If things are done right, a busy person can also be a fit person. We’ve offered some tips on how to do that here and here. Here are some more tips, provided by Tweeters at a MomItForward Girls’ Night Out Twitter party (#gno) sponsored by McDonald’s back in June.

6 Tips for Managing Time and Fitness

1. Use Google Calendar. This was the most tweeted tip. Both @MomInManagement and @MrsWndr say they use a mix of that and paper calendars to bring organization to their busy lives.
2. Check out FitDay.com, a free online diet journal and calorie tracker. This tip came from @KellyOlexa, who says, “@CraigRichard1 and I use FitDay.com to track my stuff. If I don’t track, I get way off.“
3. Check out Cozi.com if you have a smart phone. Recommended by our own @jylmomIF, it is a free online organizer and mobile that has family calendar, to-do list, shopping list, family journal, and meal planning features. She says, “It’s an awesome way to schedule appointments. Syncs with your phone. Great for grocery shopping too.”
4. Put nutritious snacks in single-serving baggies right after buying them, then put the filled baggies back in the box the snacks came in, so they’re ready to eat on-the-go, says @Katm21. Also, try putting smaller portions of less-nutritious snacks like chips into baggies and then back in their original container, so as to make portion control easier.
5. Give healthy options. While taking the unhealthy food options (i.e., ones with high sugar, fat, or sodium) out of the pantry altogether, give yourself and your kids lots of healthy options to choose from, so that no one feels deprived and it’s easy to pick some healthy as you’re heading out the door.
6. Check out this link from @CybraryMan1 for instructions on how to make a snow fort, Star Wars paper snowflakes, and other awesome winter activities with your kids.

How do you stay fit with a busy schedule? What helps you and your family to stay fit and stay on time for appointments, practice, school, work, etc.?

Photo courtesy of Flickr.

One of the very favorite concepts I learned in a psychology class was the Gestalt theory, and that is “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” Something about that concept always intrigued me, so I have always been drawn to the idea of wholeness or balance. Again, you are thinking about the “time” issue. You don’t have time set aside to nourish the wholeness that is crying out for attention. Let’s break it down to manageable parts.

Positive Self-Care Habits

There are several dimensions of wellness, and wellness is more than diet, weight, and exercise. Whole person wellness includes 12 areas: self responsibility and love, breathing, sensing, eating, moving, feeling, thinking, playing and working, communicating, intimacy, finding meaning and spirituality. These dimensions of wellness are based from the work of Dr. John Travis. Rare is it when someone is balanced in all areas.

The series over the next 5 weeks will address how you can incorporate change, balance and wellness,  and allow yourself permission to take the time for yourself. Kaizen steps are a concept that breaks down a goal into very small parts. You cannot possibly take on all areas of wellness and try to change everything all at once. As you decide what area of your life is most pressing for change, then work on one or two areas and focus on only one or two small goals within the areas you have chosen.

Using Kaizen principles, time management of self-care is not only possible, but can be almost effortless. I will share with you tips to utilize the nooks and crannies of your life to develop positive self-care habits like conscious breathing, movement, healthy eating on the run, more play, and quality quiet time. You will learn to say “yes” to you, because you will discover: there is no time, like NOW time.

How do you find time for yourself throughout the day or week? In what ways have you established positive self-care habits?

 Joyce Harrell is a Mom, Wife, Nana, Nurse, Health & Wellness Coach, Low Glycemic Mind-Body Transformation Coach, Author, Certified Vision Board Coach, and Aromatherapist.  Her unique talent is to empower self-acceptance and purposeful living utilizing wellness principles, low glycemic education, vision boards, and essential oils. Joyce emphasizes simple principles for individuals who desire to feel better about whom they are as they are empowered to bring positive changes to their emotional and physical selves.  In addition to being a Registered Nurse, Joyce has also received training as a wellness coach through Wellcoaches, and The Wellness Inventory coaching programs. She has co-authored the soon to be released book Heart of Success.

In addition to her Health/Wellness coaching business, she has founded the organization Nurses On The Edge, for nurses who are stressed, eat on the run, or are on the edge of burnout in their nursing careers. Her wellness programs can be utilized by individuals, groups, or the workplace. You may contact Joyce at joyce@lowglycemicnurse.com, or get on her mailing list at http://www.lowglycemicnurse.com.  Receive your free copy of CPR for the Kitchen Pantry when you opt in for her newsletter.

If you aren’t sure, ask yourself: “If I achieved success on this project, task, or endeavor, what would that success look like?” Or, “If I arrived at the end of this path and was really happy, what would that happiness look like? What would my journey have included?”

Often times, we’ll plan all of the steps to get us from A to Z on a particular project without first stopping and asking ourselves what we hope to achieve. Regardless of whether we are going on a trip to reconnect with a loved one, are helping out in our kids’ classroom to be more involved in their education, or are volunteering at a homeless shelter to better our community, knowing the end before planning the beginning and middle is what will help us achieve the success we’re after.

Simply put: You must know your end goal before setting out on the path to accomplish it.

4 Tips to Successful Goal Setting

Here’s some simple ways to identify your end goals:

1. Identify your values. Ask yourself: “What do I value most?” Examples could include reliability, honesty, and respect.
2. Create your mission and vision. Creating a vision board and a mission statement are two great starting point. A family manifesto is also a great idea. I particularly like this one by Isabel from Alphamom. Start by identifying what, if you accomplished it, would have the greatest impact on you, what you want to be, do, and have. If you are creating a mission or vision for a project or for your family, expand that to identify what you’d want your family, for example, to accomplish. And, what you’d want your family to be, do, and have.
3. Set your goal. Figure out what you will accomplish and by when. For example: “I will lose 10 pounds and increase my strength by December 31, 2011.”
4. Identify the Steps to reach your goal. Once you have identified your end goal and are clear on your direction, you are ready to create the steps to reach that goal. Based on the above example, some possible steps could include: “Work out 3 times per week. Meet weekly with a personal trainer to assess my progress.”

What goal-setting process do you follow? What helps you achieve success when working toward a goal? How does identifying your values, mission, and vision up front make a difference?

I was listening to a bi-annual conference for my church today and one of the speakers shared that love is spelled t-i-m-e. He then asked us to ponder: “Where are you dedicating your time?” In other words, what (or who) do you love?

For me, it is relationships with family, including my husband @TroyPattee…

Relationships with my kids…

Relationships with my closest friends…

The challenge many of us face is figuring out how to spend our time on what matters most instead of those things that matter least, as necessary as some of them may be or seem.

When I think about time management and achieving that balance, the immediate thought that comes to my mind is: “I wish I had more hours in a day.” But, I was reminded today as I listened to this conference that it’s not about having more hours in a day or crossing off every item on your to-do list, but rather focusing on those things that matter most. Things like my family…

I decided to analyze my day and where I had dedicated my time. Here’s what I found (based on 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. for today only):

• 3 hours listening to my church conference with my kids while archiving photos online and cleaning up my desktop
• 2 hours taking my kids swimming on a play date with one of my friends and her two kids
• 30 minutes picking up my house and “encouraging” my kids to help me (I’ll be honest that I probably spent 20 minutes on the “encouragement” part!)
• 1 hour eating (breakfast and lunch combined)

I’m feeling pretty good about my day and where I’ve focused my time. There’s me and mom time in there, including both wants and needs. I even felt like I crossed some items off my to-do list. But…

…Today is not like most other days in my life. And typically, in my average day, I need a constant reminder to stop working at the end of my work day; to spend more time with my kids, my friends, my family; to make time for myself; and to be more dedicated to church and community.

5 Tips to Focusing on What Matters Most to You

If you are anything like me and need reminders to help you to stay focused on what truly matters most in your life, here’s a few tips on how to get started (taken from Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People):

1. Identify those things that matter the very most to you. As part of this process, evaluate your mission, vision, and values.
2. Identify what’s urgent, important, and those things that are sucking your time, but not helping you to focus on what’s most important in your life.
3. Schedule your week first around what’s most important to you (those things that matter the very most) and then add in tasks for the lesser important things, but those that need to get done.
4. Say “no,” delegate, re-prioritize, get help, or push back any item that does not help you put first things first. (Tips for helping you learn to say “no.”)
5. Replace any feelings of guilt you may have over not getting to your entire task list with feelings of accomplishment for focusing on what truly matters most in your life.

What are your most important priorities? What distractions get in the way of you accomplishing them? How can you review/revise your schedule to first them in your life?

Choosing stress-relieving actvities—those that help calm you down, give you time to think, help you gain perspective, get your endorphins up, and get your creative juices flowing—can actually increase your productivity.

10 Stress-Relieving Hobbies That Can Increase Your Productivity

Check out these 10 ideas for relieving stress and focusing on what matters most:

1. Clean. Having an organized house and office in and of itself can be calming. But, doing the actual cleaning can be a healthy distraction as well as boost your endorphins.

2. Cook. Personally, I like the creativity and the stress-relieving process of cooking. I love to make up recipes, combining different ingredients for awesome results. And my favorite? I love to chop vegetables. I find something very stress relieving about it. Veggie trays are my favorite to make!

3. Exercise. Working out has several benefits. I love the natural high I get as well as spending an hour listening to upbeat music.

4. Play calming music. Whether you put on a CD or play a musical instrument, making time to play some softer songs has a calming effect on any environment.

5. Spend time by yourself or with loved ones. I don’t know anything more welcoming than being around people who love you precisely because of who you are.

6. Travel. Exploring foreign places, even within your own city or state, can be exciting, fun, and at the same time, stress relieving.

7. Write. Writing comes in so many forms: blogging, journaling, scrapbooking, creative writing, writing a book, emailing, texting, writing thank you cards by hand, and more. For me, journaling helps me get perspective and make more well thought out decisions.

8. Spend time in nature. My happy spot is a local flower garden called Thanksgiving Point. I can be having the toughest day in the world and have it all wash away after a couple of hours in that place.

9. Get some sun. If I’m too busy, don’t have a lot of time, but need to lose the stress and a boost in productivity, I will often go lay on the trampoline and soak up the sun. Even 15 minutes can make all the difference in my day!

10. Ponder. Focusing on areas other than those that bring stress into your life is a quick way to reduce stress. Activities that allow you to ponder can include prayer, mediation, yoga, and others. Make time for this every day and watch your productivity increase.

Aside from adding stress reducing hobbies, one of the most important things you can do to relieve stress in your life and to be more productive is to remove stress-increasing relationships and activities when possible.

What are your favorite hobbies and activities that help you reduce stress? How does making time for yourself help you to be more productive?

Photo courtesy of  Flickr.

Fall season rushes in and the obligations seem to multiply. Taking the kids to sports, school, fundraisers, and other activities, while making sure homework is done, the house is clean, and your own needs are met isn’t easy. But one small strategy can change your life.

This season, vow to let go. Let go of the people, places, and things that clog up the pathways and arteries of your life. This might mean saying no, when you want to say yes. You might need to take some time away from facebook or the phone. But most of all, let go of your worries and limitations. When you let go, you’ll be amazed at how much freer you feel.

This season, be sure to simplify. One of the simplest and happiest people I know has taught me to do just that. Kanae is a gorgeous brunette and the simplest girl I know. She shops at thrift stores and looks like a runway model. She does her own nails and cuts her own hair, eliminating the time that would take out of her month.She recently got engaged to another friend of mine, Nick Vujucic. I introduced them one night and the rest is history. Nick is a talented speaker and the author of Life Without Limits, an amazing book, and he’s just released a music video. But despite all the success, they are committed to protecting their time together.

Think of the way most busy suburban families rush around. It’s hard to find any time at all and it’s easy to drift apart. But even in their giving back to the world, they’ve learned to simplify. Kanae is always centered on living and giving love. And her belief that anything is possible, makes her the perfect mate for Nick.

Both have simple needs and a desire to create a legacy. Nick is invited to speak all across the globe, in stadiums filled with thousands of people from Mexico, to Singapore, and other nations. They were recently invited to meet with Billy Graham, at his home. And it turned out to be a very simple moment. Aren’t your best times that way?

To create a legacy of love, giving, and a peace centered household, you might just have to subtract something. But you know what? It’ll be worth it. Start today by making a list of 3 things you’ll eliminate. Focus on the time suckers that drain your energy. What is it you want to let go of today in order to grow the one-on-one connections that matter most?

What are the top three time suckers in your life? What three things will you eliminate to free up more of your time?

Photo courtesy of Flickr.

Tammy Kling is a life coach, advocate for the homeless, and international author of 29 books including The Compass. Tammy is also the founderr of Write it Out, an organization that helps gang members, the homeless, and those living on the street write out their hopes & dreams via writers workshops, free journals and various other resources.

In addition to writing and coaching, Tammy is a mom of two boys, an avid trail and mountain runner, blogger, and adventure travel writer.