Not all stress is bad.

I know, I know, tell that to the knots in your back

To a certain extent, stress works for us. And then we reach that point.

The point where you’re so fraught with nerves, you literally just snap at the slightest thing.

For some of us, it only happens as we approach the end of a long year without a holiday but for others, it’s like we’re permanently frazzled.

I’m somewhere in between. I’ve learned to check in with my body regularly especially when I start snapping at people and feeling like I’m going to crack over the smallest thing.

The key is to incorporate enough of these stress busters into your daily routine so you de-stress regularly.

Here are some ideas to de-stress, mostly frugal!

1. Exercise

You can do anything from walking or running, to working out at the gym. From personal experience, I can tell you that a boxing class is a great stress reliever!

2. Get enough sleep

Research shows that most people need between 7 and 8 hours’ sleep every night. Just like babies, when you don’t get enough sleep, you get crabby and everything irritates you

3. Learn to say “no”

Many people are stressed because of built-up resentment due to their inability or unwillingness to say NO.

(Keep your eyes peeled. I’m going to be hosting a teleseminar next month where I’ll teach you to say no without feeling guilty.)

4. Practise self-care

This can be anything from taking a bubble bath to getting a manicure or a massage. The main thing is to do something for YOU on at least a weekly basis, preferably daily. Every day without fail I take 30 minutes to just sit and relax with a cup of tea. What do you do?

5. Use your support system regularly

When you feel overwhelmed or frazzled, call a friend, family member or colleague, either just to talk or to help you!

Now, put one or all of these ideas into practice for better mental health and ultimately increased productivity!

Have a stress-free week!

What are your best stress relief tips?

Let’s talk super powers.

We all have them, some of us just haven’t recognized them…yet.

It’s the thing you do easily that other people battle with.

So… let’s talk about superpowers in the kitchen.

Some people can cook anything that tastes DELICIOUS.

Some people bake absolutely heavenly cakes, scones, biscuits (cookies), etc.

My superpower is that I can take the oddest assortment of food and make a meal out of it.

Once I figured that out, it’s actually become fun for me. I also feel that my creativity is stimulated when I’m “forced” to use a little bit of this and a little bit of that to “throw something together”.

And we’ve had some interesting combinations, some of which have become meals that are firm favourites.

What’s your superpower?

One of the biggest organising myths is that you need a HUGE chunk of time to organise anything.

That’s simply not true.

I actually don’t know many people who happen to have hours and hours free just for the purpose of organising.

The thing is, you have to make time.

One of the ways you make time is by using up all the little bits of time throughout your day.

Even if you think you have no time, I guarantee there are bits here and there.

If you start looking for those treasured moments, you’ll realise you can get a lot more done.

I remember when the babies were just newborns (you mothers will know how crazy that time is) I thought I’d never have time to myself again.

Then I realised that I had 5 minutes here, another 10 minutes there and so on.

I could read ONE article in a magazine in those 5 minutes and maybe even churn out a blog post in the 10-minute stretch.

All that time adds up if you’re ready to take advantage of it.

It’s the same with organising.

You may not have an hour to organise a chest of drawers but if you find 15 minutes a day for 4 days, you do have that hour.

A change of perspective = opportunities all over

You can always organise something in 15 minutes.

Here are a few quick ideas:

• Straighten your cutlery and/or utensils drawer
• Organise photos (one of my ongoing projects to use a “spare” 15 minutes)
• Declutter a pile of paper
• Tidy your handbag or wallet

See? There are 15-minute slivers of time all around us if only we’ll just look for them.

Make a list of 10 or more quick organising projects you can do in 15 minutes and get started today.

Are you an all or nothing person? Do you tend to look for the big chunk of time versus the little bits?

Share your comments!

Happiness is…

Receiving an email telling you your blog is number 3 on the 50 best blogs to organize everything in your life list.

I am very honoured to be on this list!

P.S. It also helped to cheer me up when I was having a terrible day

With the change of season I seem to want to nest more. I suppose it’s part of making your home feel more comfortable so you can hibernate.

So I’m nesting.

I’ve commissioned a painter to come and paint the outside walls, an old chest of drawers (some of you are snickering but seriously, that’s how non-DIY both of us are) and my study.

With all of this and active babies and work, work and more work, it’s no wonder that I’ve started feeling like I need to organise my life again.

What?

You thought I’m always ultra-organised?

I am mostly… but like with you, my life also gets off track now and again.

The difference is that I recognise the symptoms quickly and I know how to get things running smoothly again.

These are the four things I put into place when life feels hectic:

1. Make my weekly menu plan

When your meals are organised, life goes better. Or is that just in my house?

Seriously, we love food and we like to know what we’re eating. It’s really not that hard when you keep a list of recipes everyone enjoys and check your pantry to see if you have the ingredients.

2. Make a master to-do list

This is still the best way to quiet the overwhelm and the noise in your head. It’s also usually much less frightening than the noise.

Often I’ll feel like there’s “SO MUCH” to do and when I actually make a list, it’s only about half of what I thought.

Case in point – I felt like I had such a lot on my to-do list for May but when I made a list, there were only 18 items.

3. Choose no more than 6 items to add to my daily to-do list

This is where most people lose the plot.

They try to do those 18 items all in one DAY and wonder why they feel demotivated and like a failure.

I spread out things so that one day I may have only one really big item while another day I could do three smaller ones.

4. Eat frogs first

Eating the frog means doing the thing you most dread, first.

You should eat the frog daily. I even eat my business frogs weekly. That means I do the hardest, most difficult items on my business to-do list on Monday and Tuesday so that it’s plain sailing after that.

Your organising challenge

1. Commit to do ONE of the things above to get your life running smoothly
2. Make a note to add another thing each week until they’re all part of your monthly rhythm.

Be gentle… I have a big confession.

I’ve probably paid more in library fines this year than my annual membership is worth.

And it’s only the beginning of June!

Yes, I’m organised but somehow not so much with my library books.

Why, oh, why???

I actually said to the librarian this last time, “I don’t know WHY I can’t seem to remember when my books are due” and as I was walking to my car, I figured it out.

It’s because I never write the due date down.

I’m depending on a very-defective memory (since my pregnancy last year, my brain is mush) instead of a system.

So this time, I made a note in my cell phone AND in my (new) week-at-a-glance diary.

Hopefully this will be the last of it because this really was getting ridiculous!

Tell me I’m not alone – do you have any organising confessions to share?

Otherwise, in which area of your life are you least organised?

Many people who come to me for time management coaching say they want to be more productive.

One of the first questions I ask is this:

“What does the word productive mean to you?”

And here’s where the fun starts.

Because I get so many different answers.

• my emails cleared daily
• my house cleaned more regularly
• to do my work fast
• to get my chores out of the way quickly so I can play with my kids
• and on and on

All very different answers.

For me it means “getting through my daily, weekly and monthly goals effectively so that I reach my big, life purpose”

So I want to hear from you – what does productive mean to you?

I’ve shared before that my theme last year was simplicity.

Well, I soon realised that living a simpler life was not going to just happen.

This is what worked for me then:

Re-examine your goals regularly

Regularly can mean monthly for some people; for me, it means weekly as I get sidetracked very easily if I don’t keep reminding myself of what’s important.

Every week I’d look at my life map (I need to do a blog about that) and see that big, bold word on the top of the page – SIMPLIFY.

And when I saw a hectic schedule, I’d ask myself, “is this representative of the simpler life I want?”

Make the tough decisions

My good friend, Beth, and I held a call last year called 5 steps to a saner, simpler life. I was the co-host and yet I probably wrote 3 pages of notes myself.

I loved that call for many reasons but the best reason is this:

She shared that we often think we have no choices when the choices are tough but we always do.

E.g. You have too many time commitments and think you can’t get out of any. Yes, it’s a tough choice and even harder to tell your kids no, we won’t be signing you up for 3 after-school activities but it can be done!

Fix your environment

On a more practical level, let’s talk about simplicity with material goods (stuff).

If you want to get out from under the clutter, you’ve got to start making different choices.

When I work with clients, yes, we organise but more than that, I help them to think about the behaviour patterns that led them to the state of discontent in the first place.

If you keep buying things you don’t need, then stay away from the shops. If you don’t go to the mall, you can’t shop.

I had a really bad habit of buying info products a few years ago.

The bad habit was not in the buying of the products; it was bad because I wouldn’t  use them and they’d all sit on my hard drive doing nothing.

I actually joined Beth in a Spending Fast one month. Once I was half way through an internet transaction before I realised, “hey! I’m on a spending fast” so I stopped and then put a post-it note on my credit card so I’d stick to my resolve.

What is your definition of a simpler life?

Is this something you aspire to?

What are your best tips for living simply?