Photo by Lars Kristian Flem

Ah, email – a portal to the outside world for any stay-at-home parent. It’s such a helpful tool for communicating with friends and family near and far, for taking care of some household tasks with less transportation, and even providing endless opportunities for working from home.

But there’s a fine line between when you’re your own inbox master, and when you become its slave.

If you’re like me, you get a lot of email. And it can easily get overwhelming. So overwhelming, in fact, that you’ve found that if you put off replying long enough, the email’s topic then becomes old news, and you’re off the hook from communicating back. But you feel like a jerk.

I’ve written about email before, but it’s been awhile, and I’ve since further honed my inbox system. Here are a few tips for taming that inbox monster, and training it to serve you, not the other way around.

Transform Your Inbox Into a Thing of Beauty

Photo by Lee

• Set aside a set chunk of time to read, respond to, and archive your email inbox. Make it part of your daily routine to handle email at the most appropriate time of day. For parents, the “best” time of day can fall all over the clock, and sometimes, you don’t have more than five minutes at a time. But as much as you’re able, dedicate a set time of day when you do nothing but email. Right now, I set aside 30 minutes every morning, afternoon, and evening dedicated to my inbox (remember, I get a lot of email).

• Then close out your email client. This is something I definitely need to be better with, because I know first-hand how tempting it is to leave your inbox open, “just in case.” Closing out that tab can feel like cutting off a medium of communication with the world, but you know what? – that’s exactly what it is. By leaving it open, you’re making yourself available to anyone who beckons your call, even if you don’t actually open any emails. Very rarely is there an email emergency. When there’s nothing you’re waiting for, close your email client when you’re done. You’ll be more present in the world around you, and able to concentrate on your task at hand.

• Use Gmail. Yes, I’ve already waxed poetic about its benefits, and I know there are other email clients who do a good job. But I’ve found Gmail to be the most useful of them all, and I doubt I’ll change anytime soon. You don’t need to change your preferred email address and send out a notice to friends – you can simply filter your current email address into your Gmail account (you can import quite a few addresses), and use the Gmail interface for all your addresses.

• During your inbox focus time, take action immediately on every. single. email you open. Don’t just read it and leave it – do something with it.

How I Handle My Own Inbox

Photo by Patrick Rhone

• Most emails just require me to read them without a response – I quickly read and archive them. I also take full advantage of Gmail’s labeling system, and label most of my emails with things like potential advertisers, etsy orders, or post ideas (for those of you readers who write me questions).

• If it’s an email that requires a quick, three-sentence-or-less response, I reply to it immediately. Then I archive it. I know some people who put a link in their signature to sentenc.es, explaining their philosophy on having short replies, and possibly spreading the idea to others.

• If the email looks like it requires a longer reply, or if it requires me to look up a bit of info, I “star” it and then archive it. When I’ve gone through my inbox, I then click on the starred items (in the left-hand sidebar in Gmail) and work my way through replying, starting with the oldest email.

• I close out Gmail after my 30 minutes are up, regardless how many starred emails I have left. If they’re filtered with a star, then they’re not urgent, though they still need a response soon. This is why I have my contact form prefaced with an explanation that I probably won’t get to responding right away.

During my next email session, I repeat the whole process, starting with my inbox and then proceeding to the older starred items.

At the end of the day, there are always emails to which I haven’t yet replied. But I’m okay with that, because I’ve taken action on all of them. And because I close out Gmail, I don’t feel pulled and swayed by my emails that come all day – I just concentrate on them fully at one set time. This definitely aligns with my single-tasking philosophy.

I also use filters so that certain emails bypass my inbox altogether. For example, when I’m doing giveaways, I filter all my emails that have the right secret code in the subject line with the label giveaway, and archive them before they even hit my inbox.

What You Can Do Today

Inspired to organize your email system? Here’s a few simple things I encourage you to do today:

1. Read Inbox Heaven by Nick Cernis for inspiration, laughs, and helpful tips to get you started.
2. Create a Gmail account, and set up all your email addresses to go to there.
3. Dedicate time to first completely empty your inbox, whether it takes 30 minutes or several evenings.
4. Stop doing nothing with your already read emails – it’s stressful just to look at a full inbox. Archive them.
5. Just start doing something. Don’t wait to launch this perfectly – approaching your inbox with at least a plan is much better than haphazardly opening it and immediately feeling overwhelmed.

What are you going to do today to improve your email reading? Share your inbox tips and tricks below.

CURRENT SPONSORS:

• Plan to Eat - meal planning made simple.
• The Justice Conference - Justice hangs by a thread.
• Lil' Soak - Sewing hope with handmade goods.
• Treed - A simple, flexible, effective project planning tool.

© 2008-2012 Simple Living Media, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Simple Mom subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please contact hello@simplemom.net to let us know. Thanks.

• Email: Transform This Tool from Stressful to Useful
• Transform Email from Stressful to Useful
• In box: Empty! Now – My 5-Steps to Email Efficiency

Photo by Andrea

Reader Alyssa asks, “I’m wondering – are you still going to do, or have you done the GTD for Home Managers? I’m sooo interested in that!”

Thanks for asking, Alyssa.  My short answer – No, I haven’t “done” the GTD for Home Managers yet.  Between getting my e-book out, keeping up with this blog, editing Digital Bliss, and getting our family ready to head to the States, I’ve been swamped.  It’s still very much on my radar, and I’m still mulling over ideas and thoughts.  I love the idea, and I feel like it needs to be done, if not by me, then by someone.

Some of you might be wondering – what is GTD? If you Google it, you’ll see that there’s quite a pseudo-cult following on the idea, even though GTD simply stands for “Getting Things Done.”  Coined by David Allen, his system of productivity spawned a whole generation of people embracing the idea of sticking with a simple system to – well, Get Things Done.

While I like a lot of his original ideas, as well as the many mutations of GTD that have since been created online, none of them are perfect and THE go-to for making your life productive – especially for home managers.  Hence, the evident need for something to be created, in my humble opinion.  Especially one that emphasizes the idea that productivity is not the most important thing in life!

The main idea I want to share today is the foundation for GTD, and it’s something I do happen to agree with.  And the idea is just as important for home managers as it is for Fortune 500 CEOs.

Write it down.

Write everything down.  Get it out of your brain and on to someplace else.  Whatever “it” is that’s on your mind – your to-do list, the chocolate chip recipe you just concocted, your need to call your husband and ask him to pick up milk on the way home – everything.  Leave nothing in your brain. Don’t make your brain the holding place for all those bits and pieces hovering around your day.

How often have you said to yourself, “I don’t need to jot down a reminder; I’ll remember this.”  And then how often have you forgotten that very thing?

Yeah, me too.

Forgetfulness is one of the main reasons you need to write stuff down.  Other reasons are:

• You’re more stressed when your brain is thinking about a thousand little things.
• You’re not able to fully concentrate on the task at hand.
• You overcommit, because you can’t clearly see what’s on your plate.
• You don’t have true, relaxing downtime because you hold on to that nagging feeling that you should always be doing something else – but you’re not sure what.

So for me, the cornerstone to even hoping for a productive day is to write everything down, and to leave nothing in my brain.  (Ha.)

What Does This Look Like?

To simply start a basic GTD pattern at home, you need to grab yourself a blank something – a piece of paper, a white board, a new text document on your computer, something.  I prefer paper because I like to doodle my thoughts in a more haphazard manner a la Todoodlist.
.

Photo by Brendan

Then, jot down every. little. thing. on your mind.  Everything.  Don’t worry about making sense of it or putting things in order just yet – simply transfer it from your brain to paper.  Don’t hold on to any of it - your body will physically react to it (stress, fatigue, not concentrating), and your soul will react emotionally (stress, frustration at innocent people, bitterness from having too much on your plate).

When you start seeing everything that’s been on your mind, it won’t take long for you to start seeing patterns, to begin making order of your agenda, or to simply file away ideas that you’ve held on to needlessly.

How It Works for Me

When I first started this idea in my life, there was a lot to write down.  I was floored with how much I let stay in my brain.  But since I’ve made it more of a regular routine in my life, doing this is not nearly as overwhelming.

Each morning, I expel everything from my brain to paper. I do this on the bottom half of my Daily Docket using the Todoodlist method.

From there, I start visually connecting the dots, and make my day’s to-do list on the Docket.

If there’s anything I need to remember while I’m on the computer (blog management, checking bank accounts, or browsing for a book I need, for example), I add it to my Remember the Milk list in my Gmail account.

If something involves a date, I add it to our family calendar, which I keep in my momAgenda.

Throughout the day, as I think of more things, I add it to my blank space on my Daily Docket as quickly as possible.

Designate One Place

The most important part of writing everything down is to do it all in one place.  If you have a separate sheet for your work to-do list, a different one relating to each family member, and another one for family finances, that’s too much.  You’re still adding stuff to your brain – keeping track of all of these papers and remembering where they go.  When you take the first step of emptying your brain, it needs to be all in one place. You can then organize from there, if you want.

Some people have a basic notepad or journal dedicated solely to their brain-emptying, and not using it for anything else.  That’s a pretty good idea, especially if you feel overwhelmed at first with how much you’ve been holding on to.

So, Alyssa, to get back to your question – even though I haven’t yet developed a GTD for Home Managers just yet, if I were to, this is where I’d start.  Having you write down every last thing that’s on your mind, so that you don’t have to cart it with you wherever you take your brain. Allow your brain cells to know something else.

Do you make a habit of writing everything down?  Has it helped? If you’ve never done this before, I recommend taking five minutes right now and starting, just to see how it feels.  Then comment below on how it felt to you.  I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

CURRENT SPONSORS:

• Plan to Eat - meal planning made simple.
• The Justice Conference - Justice hangs by a thread.
• Lil' Soak - Sewing hope with handmade goods.
• Treed - A simple, flexible, effective project planning tool.

© 2008-2012 Simple Living Media, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Simple Mom subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please contact hello@simplemom.net to let us know. Thanks.

• Get Things Done at Home By Getting Stuff Out of Your Brain
• Empty Your Brain: The Key to Productivity
• Paper or Plastic?

I‘ve had a number of people write me from this blog lately, asking me how I get things done. I’m guessing the subtle message to their questions is that it seems like I get a lot done.

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

I’m happy to say that being very intentional about how I manage time has increased my productivity ten-fold. However, life is life, and I still don’t get everything done on my list. I’ve got two very small children, and as you all know, no two days are the same with preschoolers! I also live in a very event-oriented culture (as opposed to time-oriented, like the U.S.), so in some ways, that makes getting things done an uphill battle.

However, just to ease some curiosity, I’ll explain a typical day for me. Keep in mind, though, that I very rarely have typical days, and this seems to change month-by-month, since there’s a baby in the house.

• 6:00-6:30 - Wake up (if I get to bed on time the night before)

• 6:30-8:00ish - Alone time. This is when I have my coffee, read my Bible, pray, check e-mail, moderate blog comments, and possibly write posts for my blogs. I’m also trying to incorporate working out here, as this really is my best time of day for it.

• 8:00-9:00 - Kids and hubby wake up, I make breakfast, we get ready for the day.

• 9:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. - I’m on the full-time Mommy and homemaker clock. I clean, cook, take kids to the park, make lunch, read stories, put the baby down for a nap, go to the grocery store, put out fires. Much like most of you, I assume. A few days a week, a university student comes to the house and helps me learn language. (At this time, my husband takes the kids, and I get house stuff done in the afternoon or evening.)

• 2:00ish - Both kids are down for naps or quiet times (please Lord!). I get on the computer and e-mail, blog, manage accounts, work on graphic design projects, study language using Rosetta Stone – whatever I need to do on the computer. I also might start working out here, if it just isn’t happening in the morning.

• 5:00 - I start dinner.

• 6:00 - Dinner time, family time, down time. We try to make this relaxing and leisurely – these days we’ve been eating outside on our balcony to enjoy the spring weather.

• 7:00-8:30ish - Get the kids bathed and in bed.

• 8:30-10:30 - Clean, sew, e-mail, watch a movie with my hubby, whatever needs to get done.

• 10:30 - bed!

Keep in mind that this is ideal for me, and this doesn’t explain those days where we have appointments, meetings, or get-togethers with friends. And more often than not, the baby doesn’t exactly take a nap at 2, or the 3-year-old isn’t cooperating for her bed time. A neighbor knocks on the door at 4 p.m. Life happens, in other words.

And because this is such a people and event-oriented culture, it’s customary to throw your to-do list out the window for the sake of relationships. That means you stay up until midnight with your neighbors, or you plan to stay three hours for tea at your friend’s house. Believe you me, that’s taken a lot of dying to self and practice for us Americans.

It’s also a late-night culture, so it’s a struggle for me as an Early Bird to flow with this. I do, though. It’s typical to go to someone’s house for tea at 9 p.m. When we visit with our neighbors over dinner, we can sometimes be there for five hours.

However, I still plan my day around getting most of my energy-spending tasks done in the morning, because that’s when I have most of my energy. I purposely spend time on the computer in the afternoons, when my energy is lowest. I’d rather sit than move around the house. Then my energy picks up a bit around dinner time, and stays higher until bedtime (hence my struggle with going to bed on time!). My best time of day, however, is the morning.

I’m blessed that my husband works from home. This means that while he’s working on the computer, I can have him hold the baby when the three-year-old is flooding the bath. I do my best to leave him to his work, but he’s flexible and willing when I need another set of hands for a few minutes. What a blessing is that, huh?

So there you have it. Right now I’m truly enjoying finding new, practical ways to maximize time and figuring out how the whole Getting Things Done concept could apply to a home manager. I’ll try an idea out, and if it’s working for the better in my life, I’ll share it here.

Does this look at all like your day? I’m curious.

CURRENT SPONSORS:

• Plan to Eat - meal planning made simple.
• The Justice Conference - Justice hangs by a thread.
• Lil' Soak - Sewing hope with handmade goods.
• Treed - A simple, flexible, effective project planning tool.

© 2008-2012 Simple Living Media, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Simple Mom subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please contact hello@simplemom.net to let us know. Thanks.

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So – those of you focusing on a change of habit this month… how’s it going so far? I personally have been surprised how difficult going to bed at 10:30 is for me.

Photo by gblock

When the kids are finally asleep, it’s so much easier to get stuff done. But the clincher is, my youngest is still not sleeping through the night, and when I’m sleep-deprived, not much gets done at all during the day. I operate on survival mode, and if I do that day after day, I burn out. And that’s not pretty.

Here are a few tips when it comes to changing to a new and better habit while juggling kiddos at home:

1. Don’t halfway it. Pick the most pressing thing in your daily life that needs to change, and be all about it. Commit to it. Assume you will be able to change, and tackle this habit with success as the goal. It might be hard to focus on a new discipline when the house feels like chaos, but focus on God’s applause and work heartily to the best of your ability. And live fully in His grace.

2. Only focus on one habit. Trying to stick to a new bedtime, work out five days a week, learn how to tap dance, volunteer at the local orphanage, and finally go to the Lincoln Memorial at the same time is just too much. Especially when you’ve got regular life to juggle, like carpools and laundry. That’s why we’re doing this thing once a month, one habit at a time. We want it to stick.

3. Get accountability somewhere. Find a fellow mom to call you in the morning if you want to stop sleeping in. Set a timer to go off if you want to go to bed at a certain time (talking to myself here). Even just telling a friend about your new habit gives someone an opportunity to ask you about it later on. Why not blog about it (shock, gasp!)? Then you can have all your kith and kin know about it.

4. Give yourself a little treat. When you discover that – wouldn’t you know it? – you’re staying on top of all your ironing, reward yourself. Spend one of the kids’ nap times sipping coffee and reading a book.

5. Take note of your triggers. Does checking your Google Reader first thing in the morning suck away 30 minutes of time you’d otherwise spend working out? Maybe wait to read your blogs after breakfast. Do you have more energy after dinner than just before bed? Maybe that’s the best time to do the dishes if you’re wanting to have a clean kitchen first thing in the morning.

6. Remember your reasons why. Write down your reasons for wanting to change habits. For me, my reasons are that more sleep would improve my health, would give me more energy throughout the day, would help me be in a better mood for my husband and kids, and would honor God by resting in His promises that He’ll always provide. I’ve got those written down in my notebook to remind me.

Have you discovered anything that’s helping you?

CURRENT SPONSORS:

• Plan to Eat - meal planning made simple.
• The Justice Conference - Justice hangs by a thread.
• Lil' Soak - Sewing hope with handmade goods.
• Treed - A simple, flexible, effective project planning tool.

© 2008-2012 Simple Living Media, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Simple Mom subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please contact hello@simplemom.net to let us know. Thanks.

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Mamas are busy. And by default, we’re multi-taskers. There’s no other way we can do a load of laundry and pay bills and buy groceries and make dinner and spend quality time with our kids.

But I’d say the number one enemy of productivity in a mom’s life – especially when she has very small children at home – is trying to do too much.

Photo by Lizhenry

Don’t get me wrong – we have more than tons to do, and I for one have never accomplished everything I’d ever need to do in one day. But that’s the very reason why trying to do too much will set us up for failure. To put it bluntly, if we think we’ll successfully check off a 20-item to-do list within 24 hours, we’re kidding ourselves.

Life happens. We want to organize our kids’ clothes, but then our husbands will need such-and-such done for his work project. We hope to get the weeding done, but our neighbor’s mom just died, and it’s really more important to bring her a meal (remember – relationships are more important than to-do lists).

For my sanity, for my clarity, for my goal-oriented self, I’ve employed the concept of Most Important Tasks.

It’s not a new concept, and it’s almost too simple to need explanation. But it’s been revolutionary in my life.

I make my daily to-do list, and I keep my scratch pad visible and easy to reach so that I can jot things down as they come to me (both these things are part of my Home Management Notebook). But at the top of my day’s page in my Notebook, above my to-do list and menu agenda and even Scripture memory – are my Most Important Tasks.

My MITs are my top three things I want to accomplish that day. If nothing else gets done, I’d say my day was a success if those three things happen. They usually pertain to my home management job, but often they focus on a personal habit I’m working on. For example, my MITs today are:

1. read my Bible for 15 minutes.
2. wash, dry, fold, and put up one load of laundry.
3. spend quality time with my husband and kiddos.

The first task is personal and aimed towards a habit – I’m trying to reinvigorate my daily habit of reading the Bible (set aside on the shelf of sporadic-ness since my son was born four months ago). The second item is purely home management – we’ve gotta have clothes to wear. And the third one is important for the relationships that matter most to me – my in-laws just left this morning after almost a month of visiting, and I know my family’s a bit sad. We need some good together time.

I’ll focus on these three things, knowing I’ve got much more to do than just these. But now that I’m focusing my energy on these three things, so I’ll feel really accomplished when they happen. When I finish these things and get some things checked off on my day’s to-do list, then that’s an added bonus. What a great day!

I should clarify that my MITs are already part of my to-do list. They’re not a separate entity – otherwise, it just becomes an additional to-do list. For example, here’s today’s to-do list:

1. read Bible for 15 minutes
2. finish organizing craft cabinet
3. talk to Mom?
4. finish one load of laundry
5. declutter desk
6. spend time as a family – picnic?
7. collate receipts to update April’s budget
8. work on e-book
9. write two blog posts
10. make grocery list

In short, my MITs are the three top things on my 10-item to-do list.

I’m speaking of all this regarding productivity, but that’s not the only definition of a good day. I’m a list maker, but it is essential not to worship my day’s list. As I said, life happens. When those three MITs don’t happen, it’s not the end of the world. I just wake up and start a new day.

Application Time

So, my first essential item in my Home Management Notebook is my MIT list. I write them down every day on my Daily Docket. If you already have some sort of home management journal, would adding MITs help you? Or would they add more stress?

If you don’t yet have a notebook, I’d encourage you to start with this. You don’t even need a notebook or journal yet – just grab a piece of paper, write down three (or two, or four, or whatever is best for you) MITs and put them somewhere visible. Even if you make a to-do list, add a separate list of MITs. Try it out for a week, and see how it works for your productivity, your attitude, and your energy level.

• Next up in Home Management Notebooks: What’s on your day’s docket?

CURRENT SPONSORS:

• Plan to Eat - meal planning made simple.
• The Justice Conference - Justice hangs by a thread.
• Lil' Soak - Sewing hope with handmade goods.
• Treed - A simple, flexible, effective project planning tool.

© 2008-2012 Simple Living Media, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Simple Mom subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please contact hello@simplemom.net to let us know. Thanks.

• Today’s Most Important Tasks
• Home Management Notebooks are a great idea.
• My Brain – aka, my Home Management Notebook