Tag: Organisation

Revisiting The 5am Club

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In my 2018 post entitled Just Start – Waking up for Success! I spoke about how I was attempting to change my daily routine by waking up earlier and ensuring I spent the time on those things most important to me (i.e. novel writing, dearest dreams of the heart, etc.) prior to the demands of the day sweeping what precious little time I had away via the petitions of others people’s whims, i.e. the daily job.

It’s currently 5:08 am as I type this draft and I cannot help but reflect that a lot has changed since I wrote that post. Not only have we moved, but I’ve since packed in working the 9-5 with writing on the side and have taken my freelancing business full time; offering services such as article writing, beta reading, copy editing, and of course my pièce de résistance, being an authors assistant. My health and well being have vastly improved and with every new day, I am a few steps closer to achieving my goal of becoming a published author (I’m not counting ghost-writing and pen names).Read More »

Just Start – Waking up for Success!

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Have you ever really achieved your full potential? Are there things in your life that, if you only had more time, then you would blow them out of the water? Things like exercising, writing your blog, reading more self-help books, meditating….the list goes on.

I have always been one of those people that fall into the trap of ‘Not enough time’ and I think a lot of people suffer from this concept too nowadays. We all seem to be so ‘busy’ doing things, working daily grind, catching up on social media, cleaning the house; whilst having these dreams and ambitions that continuously go unfulfilled.

After all, it takes so much energy just to survive the average work day. There are just so many demands on our time that when we even think about adding in the morning work out or trying to schedule in a daily novel writing session, we feel a cold sweat and self-doubt edging in. There is so much to do! I don’t want to overwork myself. It can wait until tomorrow! I’ll feel like it tomorrow… Read More »

A Few Quick Tips to help with the Christmas Clean Up!

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Every year the chaos of Christmas can leave us feeling a little deflated. Traditionally we will rush to and fro, visiting family, producing gifts and eating way too much. With all the build-up leading to the festive period and the preparations that go with it, there is small wonder that it can result in quite a big clean up.

Whether you are at home for the festive session or traveling to family, the efforts of swapping gifts, packing clothes or prepping food consume a lot of our downtime from our working lives. So here are some of my tips on how to deal with the aftermath as painlessly as possible, so that you can be on the fast track back to normality.Read More »

Stop Stressing Over Your To-Do List!

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Life can get a bit overwhelming at times. I know I’ve felt it. Try as you like overwhelming times happen to all of us, those times when everything just seems to build up into one giant never-ending list of things-to-do and you feel like you are never going to catch up and get everything done. Those times when, short of hiring a JCB to bulldoze the piles of paper and commitments, your just at a lose-end as to where to start or how to go on.

It hard when these times are upon us. All we really want is to curl up in a ball with a shot of something alcoholic and watch re-runs of ‘Friends’. But we know we can not. Because we’re adults, and things still need to get done no matter how overwhelmed they make us feel.

But what can we do to avoid this feeling? Or to combat it when it does arise?

First things first….Read More »

Why is it So Hard To Get Rid of Books?

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I love my books. No I mean I really love my books.

As someone who could not read or write until I was thirteen years old due to dyslexia, you could say I have played catch up and over compensated ever since. Seriously, I am book mad. I have collected volumes with a vengeance, devouring them until my eyes dimmed. In my mind, there is nothing better than a good book.

Having said that, I currently have my smallest book collection since discovering Amazon in college and have, in that time, needed to do several book purges. My library has ranged around two-four hundred volumes the entire time, and though this may not sound like loads to the dedicated bibliophile, trying to cram that many books onto two book-shelving units is not easy. In fact, it ends up becoming a rather frustrating game of Tetris come Jenga.Read More »

Being Productive… Even When Your Sick

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Every once in a while, we all get sick. It’s inevitable really. Let’s face it, we are always rushing about, stumbling over our to-do list and it doesn’t matter how organized we are in life, with mental health, exercising and eating, eventually some virus is going to come along and bite us in the arse.

Now the more career driven among us will immediately refuse to take a day off, will soldier on with the tasks at hand and most likely make themselves worse off in the long run. The more practically minded will run for the sofa and a snuggly blanket, wishful wanting to waste the day with a TV binge.

Whether you are the ‘let’s get on with it’ type or eagerly waiting for any old excuse to phone in sick, here are a few tips for being productive, even when you’re sick.Read More »

The Art Of Breaking Things Down

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One of the best pieces of advice I have ever come across for being productive was to ‘finish’. Simply put, it means no multi-tasking. Complete a task before moving on to the next thing. Don’t leave projects unfinished. Don’t stress. If you start it – finish it!

And this really is brilliant advice. Multi-tasking by its very nature is counterproductive. Things just do not get finished. Instead of one or two finished jobs at the end of the day to cross off of the To-Do list, you are left with several half-finished jobs and more anxiety for tomorrow.

So by taking the time to ‘finish’ a task, we eliminate it completely. The chore is done and we can move on to the next thing. We don’t have to be busy. Just focused.Read More »

How To Organise Your Bag To Suit Your Lifestyle

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To herald the Christmas Period this past year, both my handbag and purse decided to fall to bits, developing large holes due to wear and tear. As well as looking trustworthy, these holes became particularly problematic when my purse fell onto the pavement through said hole and almost became a distant memory.

As sods law dictates the usual role of these items as Christmas presents was not forthcoming. But Lady Luck was not so bitterly disposed as Amazon vouchers were plentiful and so I recently splurged on both a brand new handbag and purse.

But I don’t want the same thing to happen again. I like things nice and a new handbag is a rare luxury for me. Therefore, I will not be permitting myself the liberty of committing these lovely new items to be ‘well loved’ and abused like a rubbish horde.Read More »