Photo by jason ilagan

Hit The Ground Running With A Productivity Ritual

Posted on June 17, 2013 by LJ Earnest

I’ve heard many people complain that routines are straightjackets. Yet anyone who has been around a small child for extended periods knows the power of a bedtime routine.

We can harness this power by creating a ritual that will take you quickly into a productive space for any task. Here’s how:

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Open Loops 6/14/2013: Articles I Think Worth Passing Along

Posted on June 14, 2013 by LJ Earnest

On Fridays I pull the best of my blog readings — my open loops — to share with readers. Topics can come from anywhere, and cover anything. This week I talk about smiling, folding shirts, mindfulness, sleeping, Zonebox, my response to someone who doesn’t want to work, less daily stress, cleaning tips, and keeping track of special laundry items.

Photo by popo.uw23

Not Everything Needs Lights And Marqees

Posted on June 12, 2013 by LJ Earnest

We’ve all seen films of the old Broadway shows, with the lights, glamor, huge casts, glittering costumes and grand staging. These spectacles are meant to be over the top, to overwhelm the senses. And this is good.

I started thinking about this because I recently met someone for whom everything was a Big Deal. Every last little action in her life took on the size and glitter of a Broadway production. Being around her was exhausting.

And though I was quick to see it in her, I also saw it in myself. Not to the same extent, but there are times when I make a Really Big Deal out of little stuff.

Photo by Seattle Municipal Archives

Power Through Blocks With A “Finish It” Week

Posted on June 10, 2013 by LJ Earnest

I am what keeps me from doing the creative things I want to enjoy.

I started asking myself what I felt was standing in my way.

Here is what I did about it: I declared a Finish It Week.

Photo by kevin dooley

Open Loops 6/7/2013: Articles I Think Worth Passing Along

Posted on June 7, 2013 by LJ Earnest

On Fridays I pull the best of my blog readings — my open loops — to share with readers. Topics can come from anywhere, and cover anything. This week I highlight articles on sleep, brushing teeth, correcting Siri, mindful eating, getting rid of ants, fixing blurry photos, the frugal casserole made healthy, souveniers, controlling kids’ internet, 3 “needs” of time management, and decluttering.

Photo by James Jordan

Why Simplifying Will Make You More Productive

Posted on June 5, 2013 by LJ Earnest

I believe it is part of human nature to complicate things over time. We want to enhance what we are doing, so we tweak the process. In the best results, the tweaks lead to improvements. Most of the time, the tweaks don’t really buy us anything, but we leave them, and after a period of time, the tweaks morph into a burden of extraneous actions.

This is not an un-doable process, though. Just as we complicate, we can simplify as well. And simplifying will make you more productive.

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Redefining Email Processing

Posted on June 3, 2013 by LJ Earnest

I believe that it is human nature to complicate things unconsciously. We tweak, we add, and suddenly we are left with a behemoth that might not be serving us all that well. Such is the case I found with my email a few weeks ago.

In this article, I will show you where I have been, what didn’t work, what inspired the change, and the result.

Photo by NASA Goddard Photo and Video

Open Loops 5/31/2013: Articles I Think Worth Passing Along

Posted on May 31, 2013 by LJ Earnest

On Fridays I pull the best of my blog readings — my open loops — to share with readers. Topics can come from anywhere, and cover anything. Today I cover articles on procrastination, boosting energy, seed starting, arthmetic by pasting in Excel, and cleaning out the someday/maybe list.