Tag Archive for: reduce stress

So What’s the Big Deal Over Dot Journaling?

/in , , , , , , , , /by

___

BONUS FREEBIE: Want even more ways to stay organized, productive and less stressed? Click here to get access to my List-Making Starter Kit. It will boost your efficiency and get you back to doing more of the things you love.

___

Thanks to listproducer.com I’ve met a lot of people in the productivity community and the more people I meet the more I find we have in common. We tend to be stationary nerds, who love Marie Kondo and are always looking out for the best way to get organized. So it’s no surprise that the latest to-do trend, that combines a to-do list with a planner and a diary, has become a big success in the productivity community. I’m talking, of course, about dot journaling.

If you don’t know what that is, dot journaling is, simply put, making a lot of bullet point lists. (You’ll quickly find with dot journaling that there’s a lot of overly complex names for simple things.) While I normally think it’s better to keep your lists separate, dot journaling allows you to put all your long and short term goals, as well as daily tasks, into one notebook. And you use a code-type system to keep everything from getting muddled together. Read more

The Summer of Me

/in , , , , , , /by

By now I’m sure your social media streams are flooded with kids going to camp photos and all the fabulous vacation snapshots from Italy and other fabulous locations. Mine sure has.

As much as I love planning and scheduling, even I find the big push to make the most of your summer a little tiring. I read an article recently that really summed up my feelings on the issue. Kristin Hewitt, a sports reporter and blogger, announced that her family would being ‘doing nothing’ for the summer. She explains that rather than scheduling every free moment of her children’s lives, the summer would be better spent getting in some R&R and letting the kids decide what they wanted to do. Read more

Grab Some Graduates Now & Outsource Your Side Hustle

/in , , , , /by

As you may know I am a big fan of outsourcing, but when I’m asked about it, typically people want to know about one thing – interns. The idea of hiring interns is appealing, but the practically of finding good ones and deciding how best to use them can be tricky.

I’ve had a history of success with hiring interns to help me at ListProducer.com, while some of that comes down to luck, there are ways to increase your chances of creating a successful internship for both the employer and the intern.

Where to find them

June is graduation season, which means there plenty of excited fresh graduates out there who are looking to get started on their careers. So where’s the best place to find them? Big websites like Indeed or SimplyHired seem like a good place to start, but there’s so many postings it’s easy for yours to get lost among the many. So where should you put ads? Read more

You Should Really Change All Your Passwords

/in , , /by

Part of my routine when I walk to work is to listen to podcasts. It’s my favorite thing to do. They often inspire me with new ideas or I’ll pick up some interesting tips. However when I listened to this podcast it stopped me dead in my tracks.

“Reply All” (one of my absolute favorites) starts out telling the story Alex Blumberg, CEO of Gimlet Media (which produces the podcast) getting his Uber account hacked. This wasn’t such a problem for me, as I don’t even have an Uber account but I continued to listen. I protested them a long time ago when they first started out because they stole my credit card information. But I digress.

Back to the podcast – the story itself is a little frightening because not only does Alex have his account hacked but the hacker also covers up all his tracks. Once the hacker has treated himself to a few free Uber rides in Russia he manages to delete the account without any trace. Even though Alex’s credit card was charged, when he calls up Uber they have no record of him.

So how did the hackers get into his account? Read more

I Finally Figured Out How to Meditate

/in , , , /by

I’ve tried to meditate lots of times.

I’ve gotten into the groove once or twice, but it just never stuck.  I’ve done countless stories at work as a senior health producer about all the benefits and it sounds great.

One of those benefits is better focus and increased productivity.  And you KNOW I want that. But I just couldn’t figure it out.

I always struggle to switch my brain off and so I’ve never had the “enlightening moment” everyone always talks about.

Well it turns out I was doing it wrong.

My intentions were all screwed up.

But thanks to Oprah (of course) and an all day meditation retreat with world renowned meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg I figured it out.

If you know me personally or have read my book Listful Thinking, you know  I have a generally positive and sunny outlook on the world. It’s the thing that many people tell me is one of my best qualities. Read more