schedule Archives - The Zen Maker

Improve your drive to work and de-stress

Posted on October 4, 2010 by The Zen Maker

What do you listen to during your daily commute? Is it your local radio station with your favorite music or the local news? Would you like to read more and just cannot find the time? I have a solution to maximizing the time you spend in your car going back and forth to work.

My solution is listening to books on CD. Now, if you are a person that is easily distracted or has trouble listening and concentrating on driving, I don’t recommend this. However, if listening to a book while you are driving is easy for you, you might consider it. I find that it helps me de-stress and moves me into relaxation mode.

While books and CD can be expensive if you buy them, your local library has hundreds of books on CD of all varieties. No matter what type of books you enjoy reading, the library probably has several that will meet your needs. Also, with most libraries, you can reserve what books you want online and then pick them up at your convenience when they are ready.

My current favorite books are Blink by Malcolm Gladwell, Infinite Possibilities by Mike Dooley and Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson. Have you started listening to books in your car? Have you found that it helps you de-stress? If so, let me know!

TIVO – Your new best friend for saving time

Posted on September 30, 2010 by The Zen Maker

If you watch television at all you probably know that all those commercials add up to a lot of wasted time. The average half-hour television show is actually only twenty-two minutes long and the average hour show is forty-four minutes long. That means that for every hour of television you watch, sixteen minutes of it is time watching commercials. We all have our favorite shows that we watch and if you would like to maximize your television watching experience, I recommend TIVO or a digital video recorder.

Here are the benefits of using a TIVO:

*When you record your show, you can fast forward through the commercials saving a lot of time.

*You can still watch your shows when they originally air. You can start recording your favorite show with your TIVO and wait ten to fifteen minutes. You can then start watching it from the beginning and then skip all the commercials.

*You can records two shows at the same time.

*You can record one show while watching another show.

*You can watch your favorite shows when you it is convenient for you.

*You can pause anything you are watching at any time. This is espcially nice if you have children.

*You can rewind anything you are watching if you miss something. This is espcially nice if you have children.

*You don’t miss your favorite shows when you have something else to do because your TIVO records it for you.

*The TIVO is easy to set-up to record and you can get a season’s pass that will record every episode of your favorite show.

*If you are surfing and find a show that is in progress that you want to see in its entirety, TIVO can search to see if there are other showings of that exact show so you could record it from the beginning.

What TIVO tips do you have that help you to maximize your TV time?

The Battle against being over-scheduled

Posted on February 1, 2010 by The Zen Maker

Being a personal assistant, I love helping busy people organize their lives and make things easier by taking tasks off of their plate. That being said, I believe that it is always good to re-evaluate what you have in your daily, weekly and monthly schedule. We can become slaves to our schedule and it is good to ask yourself occasionally, “Is this really how I wanted to be spending my time?” If you are involved in a community organization and find that it has started taking up much more time than you originally committed to, it could be time to re-assess and set some new boundaries. It is important to keep your activities in check so that you are not exhausted which could lead to you neglecting your mental and/or physical health. If you are giving more of yourself than you are comfortable with, it could also result in feelings of being taken advantage of and being under appreciated. It is good to re-set your boundaries with whatever activity it is that has started to take over your day. If you do that, you will find you enjoy the activity more and you will have more time for yourself which gives you a more balanced and healthy you!!

OHIO and I don't mean the state

Posted on January 12, 2010 by The Zen Maker

This little acronym is helpful when sorting through anything but can be most impactful to change our lives when we apply it to paperwork. We have all done it, looked through a stack of mail or papers on our desk and dealt with the easy things and set the rest aside to be looked at later. Sometimes it may seem that the pile of paperwork did not get any smaller even after it was sorted. An acronym that I find helpful to solve this problem is OHIO. OHIO stands for Only Handle It Once. When you decide to sit down with a pile of paperwork it is best to do it next to the shredder and the filing cabinet so they are easily accessible. The key to only handle it once is to deal with each item individually and immediately. Once you are done with it, it should be put it in its proper place. If you need to make a phone call or fill something out, if at all possible, do it before moving onto the next piece of paper. This may seem easier said than done and I admit that it will take some practice. However, if you keep repeating the phrase in your mind while sorting through your stack of papers, you might find that it does get easier and quickly becomes a habit. Hopefully, a habit that will leave your world free of unnecessary paperwork and will cut down on the time you spend searching for that receipt you need because it is in your file where it belongs. Go OHIO!

Limiting your to-do list to get it done

Posted on January 11, 2010 by The Zen Maker

I recently took a look at my to-do list and found that it was always too long. My solution was to break my list down into smaller portions and do a little bit each day. I limit my to-do list for each day to five things. This was a workable solution to the never ending list and found that I had a sense of accomplishment each day when the list was done. The beauty of a personal assistant is being able to finish your to-do list by having your personal assistant do the things that you would otherwise spend a lot of your free time getting done. There are some things that you will have to ultimately do yourself like renew your driver’s license. However, wouldn’t it be nice to have your personal assistant tell you what day of the week and when the Department of Motor Vehicles lines are the shortest so you can get it done fast. In addition, a personal assistant can help you prioritize and manage your to-do list so you don’t have to.

The Art of Delegation

Posted on January 9, 2010 by The Zen Maker

As a personal assistant, I see times where people have a hard time letting go. Whether that be letting go of things that are creating clutter in their life or that household task that could really be done by someone else. We are all too busy. Too busy at work, too busy at home and too busy in our minds. Learning how and when to delegate is a skill and being able to really let the task be done by the person you are delegating to can be an emotional journey. The main hurdle in delegating something to someone else is figuring out what tasks can be delegated. With good instructions and a person who is willing to listen and pay attention to the details, you can gain hours in your day to do the important things in your day that no one else can do but you. This could include things like going to the gym, reading a story to your children and sitting down after dinner to spend time quality time with your spouse.