Michelle Cederberg - Live Out Loud

You’re on a path to better balance but from where you’re standing, the trail looks cluttered and steep, and you wonder if you will ever regain control of the chaos that is your work environment.  As you survey the clutter on your desk and sort through dozens of unanswered phone calls and emails, the next thought that probably runs through your head is, “Where do I start?”  The reality of that question is usually enough to cause even the most hopeful person to put the blinders on and ignore the whole mess.  “It will never get done, so why bother?!”   Do you wish to continue your suffering or make an effort to change?  Yes I know.  You’d clean up, organize, and prioritize if you had more time!  Since the mess won’t go away unless you make an effort, why not start small?  Today choose one area of your work space to de-clutter.  Sort through emails and delete all obsolete messages, scan through your phone log and highlight the calls you will return this morning – then call them, or sift through that pile of paper on your desk and put everything in its place.  Tell yourself you won’t add any more to the pile this week.  Once you make an effort at cleaning up one ‘problem area’ you may be motivated to work on other areas too.  If you’re way too busy to even move a paperclip out of the way, hire a professional organizer to make a clean sweep of your work space.  

1  Make a list, check it twice, check them off.

Lists are helpful to organize and manage the overwhelm of tasks running through your head.  At the start of your day write a list of your ‘to do’s’.  You’ll immediately know whether you can realistically manage all you have on your plate for the day.  Sort items into ‘immediate’ and ‘by date’ categories, eliminate any unnecessary tasks.  As you tackle each item cross it off the list! 

In my last post I talked about reconsidering the term time management and focusing instead on energy management and reminded readers that the first way to address this is through taking care of personal health through exercise, eating healthy foods, and getting enough rest.  This first step is on-going, and the reminder we need to give ourselves is that small daily changes in our health will add up to big improvements in energy over time.  If you want a better outcome, put in a better effort, but keep that ‘small steps’ mantra in the back of your mind for days when energy and motivation are low.

Contact me for ideas and tips on how to stay motivated. 

The second way to manage energy is through day-to-day task management – making an effort to simplify home and work practices so jobs only get done once, or get accomplished with least possible extra effort.  Let me give you 2 examples:

1)  Email management.

Problem:  Do you spend far too much time managing emails?  Maybe this sounds familiar.  Emails arrive in your inbox with a notification that immediately prompts you to look at who has contacted you.  You don’t have time right now to return emails, but you wast 30-90 seconds checking, and clog your brain with information and ‘to do’s’ that could have waited until you were ready to respond.  You may check in with your email in this manner 10 times before you actually get to responding to them.  That adds up to 5 to 15 minutes of time wasted and dozens of emails that have clogged your mind and sucked away portions of your energy that could have been used for other more productive tasks.

Solution:  Turn off your email notifications so you’re not tempted to check in every time a new message shows up.  Choose to check emails first thing to ensure there are no fires to put out, and then commit to checking emails during a scheduled slot when you have time to actually respond.  Time and energy restored!    

2)    A place for everything.

“For every minute spent in organizing, an hour is earned.”

~ Unknown

Problem:  Do you complain about being too busy to get organized?  If you regularly rifle through piles of papers and files every time you need to find something, you may want to take time to tidy up!  You may tell yourself you’re too busy, but how much time do you waste in search of that missing file, set of keys, unpaid bill, or colleagues phone number?  In addition, your mind, once again, gets clogged up with processing as you wrack your brain to try and figure out “where the %#&* did that file end up?”  Energy wanes under these circumstances, so you can’t afford not to get organized.

Solution:  The time to organize is the minute you receive something in your hand.  Find a place for everything, and when you get something new in your hands, put it in its place now.  That may mean that unpaid bills get placed in the allotted file for later, but when the time comes to deal with them you’ll know where to look won’t you?   This may mean you schedule an afternoon to ‘clean house’, or hire a professional organizer to create systems, but the investment will pay dividends in time and energy for you.  

As you navigate through your day, pay attention to other time and energy traps that regularly sucked you in.  Emailing when a call would be quicker?  Letting a call go to voice mail rather than clearing your slate of it by answring it NOW? Scheduling meetings during hours when your staff is most productive…

I bet you know if a few time and energy traps!  How did you work past them?  I’d love to hear your ideas!  Send me an email and tell me how you save time and energy at work and home!

A special request for your HELP! 

I have applied to be a ‘W Expert’ for the W Network which is a Canadian women’s television network that produces a lot of reality based TV shows on health, personal development, etc.,

I have posted two video applications and I am asking for your votes on both.  The top 20 entries will move to round two of casting, and I want to be among them.  The end result could be a TV hosting opportunity!

Add your comments, and click on the stars under my video to rate me! 

Click this link to vote on my Health and Wellness video submission.

Click here to vote on my Personal Development video submission.

My video should start playing after a moment or two, but if you have difficulty, follow the links at www.wnetwork.com and scroll through the pages until you find my video.

You have until October 26^th but I’d be very happy if you go there right now and cast your vote in my favor.  THANK YOU so much for your help!

I do a lot or presentations on ‘Exposing the Myth of Life Balance’, and it’s true, I don’t believe that life balance is possible.  I’m a motivational speaker, so some would think me a bit pessimistic carrying that belief to my audiences.  People want answers, quick fixes for life’s day-to-day challenges - they want to believe in life balance and the pursuit of more free time.  Well, I do too, but I think we’re fighting the wrong battles, or at the very least, neglecting to include another important goal in our efforts at better balance.

I’m often asked if I can share tips and ideas that would help individuals make better use of what little time they have.  I do agree that many of us toss away precious time on endless emails, text messages, and inefficient business and time management practices … to many ‘to do’s’.  If only we could manage that endless list then that balanced lifestyle would finally be ours.  Fair enough.  I don’t however believe that better use of time is the only answer to better balance.  I believe we must also work on better use of energy as we navigate through ‘to do’.

Energy management is as important as time management but our task oriented habits drive us toward the idea that everything will be fine once the work get done, once the inbox is empty, once ‘to do’ is DONE. 

Have you ever considered what drives your work ethic day in and day out?  When energy is high things get done, and they get done well.  When energy is low, productivity drops in both quality and quantity of effort.

There are two ways to consider energy management.  The first revolves around how well you’re taking care of your physical machinery to ensure you have enough energy to get through the day.  Are you exercising regularly, eating healthfully, and getting enough rest?  Most of us aren’t.  As a nation we’re inactive, unhealthy, and plagued with diseases of lifestyle such as diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, heart disease, and high cholesterol that attack our energy and vitality, and shorten our life span.

We forgo exercise and healthy eating in the name of getting more work done, and in the process our health suffers.  Is the trade-off really worth the couple of extra hours of output you’re gaining?  If you’ve yet to gain control over this first energy management practice - if exercise alludes you, healthy eating scares you, or you don’t yet know how to wind-down and step away from work in favour of rest - take a step to take care of your health first.  Contact me for ideas and tips on how to get started. 

You can also download this free article “Embrace a NEW ATTITUDE about your health, starting now” and begin to shirt your mind set toward finally fitting in fitness.

Stay tuned for my second Energy Management focus in my next posting!

Michelle Cederberg and Live Out Loud Speaking and Consulting

Life Balance is possible, even with your busy schedule!  Or IS it?  If only one in four Canadians believes work-life balance is possible, what are the rest of us going to do?  Michelle is EXPOSING the Myth of Life Balance and in her lively sessions she reveals the real secret to better life balance.  She makes you think, laugh, and implement REAL change.  With a Masters in Kinesiology, a BA in Psychology, and a specialization in Health and Exercise Psychology, Michelle combines mind, body, and practicality to inspire change!  She has built her career since 1990, as a college educator, personal trainer, fitness coordinator, and author.  As a professional speaker, she shares her experiences in a humorous and realistic way with delighted audiences across North America.  Michelle knows her energy has fueled her business success!  Today, through her seminars and products, she helps people overcome big challenges through a start small solution that really works!

Michelle Cederberg, MKin, BA, CEP

To book Michelle for your next keynote or seminar, click here and send us your request!