Fridays are tip days at SimpleProductivity blog.

If you live with fur-bearing critters, you will have to deal with pet hair. And even though one of my co-workers claims that the best way to get rid of pet hair is to get rid of the pets, most of us prefer to keep our companion animals. So we have to deal with the hair.

I share my life with three animals: a long-haired gray/cream Maine Coon cat, a short-haired bad tempered black cat, and a tri-color (black/white/brown) beagle. Dealing with pet hair has become a way of life. Here are my best tips for dealing with it:

Clothing

When I first got my oldest cat, my strategy was to wear clothing that the hair wouldn’t show on. Now, with the animals I have, there is nothing that will camoflauge all the different colors of hair. So if choosing mono-chromatic pets to match a mono-chromatic wardrobe isn’t your thing, here is what you can use to get hair off the clothing:

• Brushes. Most stores sell a variety of pet-hair removal brushes. They all work differently, depending on what type of hair they are designed for.
• Rollers. Rollers are great big rolls of tape on handles that are used to run over your clothing and remove the hair (and lint).
• Packing tape. Since I normally notice the hair on my clothes while I am at work, I use packing tape to remove it. I rip off a piece, make a tube around my hand, sticky side out, and run it over my clothes. Packing tape, because it is so sticky, gets a lot of hair off, and is my preferred method, above the other two.

Furniture

Keeping dogs and cats off the furniture when you are not home is not an easy task. Everytime I get home I find a warm beagle-sized dent on my bed, for instance. There are a few ways to remove pet hair from furniture

• Vacuum. A strong vacuum can remove a lot of pet hair from furniture, but it may not get all of it.
• Water and a rubber glove. A light misting of water, then running over the surface with a rubber glove on your hand will remove quite a bit of hair.
• Scotch Fur Fighters I was skeptical of this device, but tried it when my mother sent me one. It really does work, and I use it on my dining room chairs. The cost of the refills is prohibitive, though, and I stretch mine by cleaning them with an old toothbrush.

Floors

Of course, pets don’t stay on the furniture all the time. They have to traverse the floors as they move from sofa to bed. So that means fur on the floors. Whether you have fabric or not on the floors, you can keep pet hair under control.

• Misted dust mop. If you have a good dust mop, lightly mist it with water and run it over your non-carpeted floors. This will pick up a large amount of hair. You may have to refresh the misting, depending on the size of the floor you are working with.
• Swiffer Sweeper. I am not a fan of flimsy, non-reusable things in general, but these dry Swiffers work like nothing else on the hair in my house.
• Vacuum. Of course, vacuuming will remove the hair, or at least chase it into big piles, but if you don’t feel like running the vacuum yourself, try
• The iRobot Roomba. Roombas are much more sturdy than they were a few years ago, and they are now able to be fixed by the average person, with plug-and-play replacement parts available from the manufacturer. Even better, they vacuum with minimal interference from humans.

A Word About Prevention

One of the best ways to limit the amount of hair your pets shed is to get it before it sticks to other stuff. Each of my pets has a preference, and a method that works best:

• KONG ZoomGroom. The beagle loves the Zoom Groom. For a rubbery brush, it picks up a lot of hair, and the hair sticks to the brush.
• Li’l Pals Bristle Brush for Kittens. The bad-tempered cat has extremely sensitive skin, so it is necessary to use a kitten brush on her. It takes longer to get the fur off, but this is the only brush that doesn’t make her hiss.
• FURminator This is the best tool, ever, for getting the Maine Coon. Maine Coons have longish hair, and a soft fluffy undercoat. When I am done brushing the cat, I have enough hair to assemble another cat, and the cat loves the pull on his coat.

There are many ways to handle pet shedding, from prevention to cleanup. Do you have any favorite methods? Share below.

Photo by Yukari*

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The word “retreat” summons up pictures of taking at least a weekend, traipsing into a place that is isolated and spending the time in quiet reflection. You would return refreshed, renewed and focused.

I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t have time to take a whole weekend to do that sort of thing. But that doesn’t meant that the end result of refreshment, renewal and focus can’t be mine.

Enter the mini-retreat.

What Is A Mini-Retreat?

I was first introduced to this concept by Leonie Dawson, who talked about a mini-retreat in one of her blog posts.

A mini-retreat is simply a short amount of time where you go somewhere to relax and do renewing activities. It can be as short as an hour, or as long as a whole day.

The difference between a mini-retreat and a break, though, is that a mini-retreat is planned, and has specific things to be done.

Planning A Mini-Retreat

All it takes to plan a mini-retreat is to capture those items of a longer retreat: length of time, location, and activities.

Length of Time: Look at how long you can take a break in the next week. Can you only spare a lunch hour? Great! Can you do a whole afternoon or morning? Block it out. How about an evening? Put it on your schedule.

Location: You don’t have to go far away to get a mini-retreat. It should just be somewhere out of your normal realm. Leonie Dawson went to a park. It could be a natural place close to where you live (park, seashore, river) or somewhere else that invokes relaxation and peace (like a museum or library).

Activities: Decide what you want to do. Maybe it could involve reading and reflection; planning; dreaming; or meditation. Any activitity should be peaceful, and not stressful, or you defeat the purpose of the retreat.

Examples of Mini-Retreats

An afternoon at the ocean. Since I live close to the ocean, I love going in the off-season and sitting on the sand. I can stare at the waves and synchronize my breath with the water.

Lunch break “in the forest”. We have a wide stand of trees in a gully behind my workplace. On nice days, I take a folding chair out of my car, position my back to the parking lot and look into the trees. I spend the time drawing or doodling or listening to calming music.

Walking meditation. Some times I may only have fifteen minutes to give myself a chance to unwind. I will put on some meditative music and head out on a walk around my neighborhood.

Coffee shop observation. If I feel a need to be around others, I will take a notebook and go to the locally-owned coffeeshop and watch people. This is particularly nice during the rain.

You don’t have to go far, or for long, to get the benefit of a retreat. Please share if you have ever done something like this, telling us how and when!

Photo by AlicePopkorn

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Wednesdays are simplicity days at SimpleProductivity blog.

We’ve all heard about simplification on a grand scale, from those who have pared down their possessions to a hundred, or those who have jettisoned everything and moved into a teeny living space. But simplification is more widely applicable to our lives, and here at SimpleProductivityBlog.com I like to simplify simplification.

Today I want to talk about simplifying my life by removing annoyances. These annoyances complicate my life because I either have to do unplanned work to deal with them, or because it increases my time on a task.

There are two recent examples of simplifications I have made.

The Trash Can

We have small trash cans in most rooms of the house, so that you never have to walk far to throw something out. The trash can in our office was becoming a problem, though.

Our adorable (and none-too-bright) beagle had taken to going through the trash can every time our back was turned. We’re not sure what she was after, and the first few times we just said, “Well, there must have been something in there she wanted to eat.” But it kept happening over and over, and every time we would have to pause on entering the office, stuff all the trash back in the can, and then go on with what we intended.

Not a big deal, you might think. But it was happening nearly every day.

So my solution? We moved the trash can between the wall and my husband’s desk at the corner of the room. The trash can is hemmed in by a wall on two sides, the desk on one and a bookshelf on the other. We can get to the trash can, but the dog can’t.

It simplified my life because I am no longer doing extra housework every day. All by removing an annoyance.

What Are Your Biggest Annoyances?

Do you have annoyances that cause you lost time? Can you do something to simply remove the annoyance? Here are some examples:

• Can’t find a pen by the phone. Tie a pen to a string and mount it next to the phone.
• You need to run out to the car but the keys are upstairs. Keep another set of keys (or the remote opener) near your door.
• Your cell phone is out of charge. Have multiple chargers in your house – one near your door, one at your desk and one next to your bed.

What annoyances can you fix with a simple solution? Share below.

Photo by filmismylove

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Tuesdays are open loop days at SimpleProductivity blog.

• Interesting. I would have thought it better to be awake when you need to be creative. From Lifehacker’s “Design Your Schedule So Your Creative Duties Fall When You’re Tired”
• From Live Bold and Bloom called “15 Darned Good Reasons Why Self-Help Actually Helps”. I thought interesting.
• A good instruction on how to use a monthly tickler from Simple Mom. “Clearing the “Counter Pile” with a Tickler File”
• I have to admit it – the picture on this article is what made me read it. Who can resist chocolate cake? (Not I!) But the article is actually a good plan, not just for a “lifestyle business”, but for any major project. From Wake Up Cloud’s “How to Build a Lifestyle Business in 2 Hours a Day or Less”
• No one wants to be prepared for this, but dealing with a friend or co-worker who has lost a loved one can be awkward. Wisebread has a great article on “How to Express Condolences Without Saying Something Stupid”
• I am not an early riser. I find it almost impossible to get up before the sun, especially when SAD kicks in full-tilt. It is such a relief to see an article like this one from Lifehack! “Early Riser or Night Owl: Why It Doesn’t Really Matter”
• I am a big Mark Twain fan. The Positivity Blog has a great gem in “Mark Twain’s Guide to Living an Awesome Life: 7 Essential Tips”
• I’m not at this point yet – my daughter doesn’t have any email or accounts that are not linked to my email addresses, but this seems like a good strategy for handling passwords. From Lifehacker’s “Use a Piggy Bank as a Password Escrow Account for Sharing Your Children’s Passwords”
• This is a great strategy for those who feel they have no time to do anything. From Lifehack’s “Forward15: Your Future in 15 Minutes a Day”
• Are you waiting for the “magic” to happen? Read First Today Then Tomorrow’s “The Influence of Unicorns”
• The thing that struck me about “How to Stay Productive in Troubled Times” was “limit the pick-me-ups”. As soon as my stress level rises, I find myself craving sugar. And there have been days when I have caved, and felt much worse afterwards. From Pick The Brain.
• Daniel Markovitz over at Harvard Business Review says that “To-Do Lists Don’t Work”. I think he just overscheduled himself. What do you think?
• “No one ever gets talker’s block.” Oh, I wish! But Seth Godin has a great article on writer’s block. Not that I think it better than “The 7 Secrets of the Prolific”, which deals with the causes. But still… From “Talker’s block”
• As a Girl Scout leader, I will tell you this is all true. But I will also tell you that this is the largest girl-run business anywhere! I love watching the girls learn the business. From Lifehack’s “Evil Genius: 6 Business Tips You Can Learn from a Girl Scout”. Oh yes, it’s cookie time. Support your local Girl Scouts.

Photo by eschipul

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Mondays are productivity days at SimpleProductivity blog.

One of the challenges to staying focused is interruptions from others. Being pulled off task can result in anything from loss of train of thought to major interruptions that pull you off task for hours. Since we can’t lock ourselves into a room to avoid distractions, we have to learn how to deal with them. Here are three strategies I use to deal with interruptions.

1. Turn Off

Phone, email and instant messenger are interruptions on our end, but the people calling and sending might not realize they are interrupting. My solution: turn them off.

Before you start working on a task that requires time and concentration, exit your email and instant message programs, and send your phone to voice mail (or turn it off). The email and instant messages will be there when you return; and the phone calls will go to voice mail.

If you feel you need to let people know you are concentrating on a task, and not say, out fishing, you can use some tricks to do this:

• Email auto-responders: every modern email program I have seen has some form of out-of-office feature. You can turn this on and let people know you will be checking your email at a certain time, and will get back to them after that.
• Instant Message Tag Line: Most instant message statuses include some way to put a tag line in. Before you exit the program, change yours to indicate your are busy but will be back online at a certain time.
• Phone Greetings: Setting up voice mail greetings is not difficult. Change yours to indicate that you are busy and you will return all calls after a certain time.

2. Postpone the People

One interruption that is hard to ignore is people popping up at your elbow when you are working. If you have an office with a door, close it. Or as one of my co-workers does, schedule a conference room and hide out there for a few hours.

If you work in an open cube arrangement, post a sign that you are busy and will be free at a certain time. Since some people may not see that, follow that up by putting in headphones. (Pink noise work well for blocking out sounds).

For those truly clueless people who will ignore all of the above, quickly determine the nature of their business. If it is work-related, tell them you will look into it and get back to them; if it is social, ask if you can meet them for lunch (this is a great tip from one of the readers!)

3. Make a List

The hardest distraction of all to turn off is the chatter in your head. Persistent thoughts of things you need to accomplish can derail a task as surely as if you had tap dancers on your desk.

The best way to deal with this type of distraction is to make a list. As soon as the first distracting thought occurs, write it down, and get back to your task. Repeat as often as necessary. Deal with the list as you would the other distractions, when your focused time is over.

Being interrupted doesn’t have to turn into a major detour. By turning things off, postponing people and making lists, you can get either prevent interruptions or prevent them from destroying your focus.

Photo by h.koppdelaney

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Fridays are tip days at SimpleProductivity blog.

Most people I know, myself included, have things we want to get done. These are not the ordinary things like “do the laundry”, but bigger things like “write a book”. Yet most of us don’t make much progress on these projects.

The Advice Out There…

I’ve read a whole bunch of advice on how to do this over the years. “Balance your roles”, “only work on the important stuff”, “delegate everything that doesn’t move you forward”,”do your work first thing in the day”. These are all pieces of advice which individually never set well with me.

After all, I can’t delegate everything, because I don’t have a June Cleaver waiting around the corner to take over my household duties. I can’t balance my roles without adding more to an already overburdened schedule. I can’t only work on my projects, because that would leave things like earning a living out in the cold. And I can’t do my work first thing in the day because that is generally when my employer would like me to be working on their projects – the ones they pay me to work on.

The Pickle Jar

A few years ago I heard about an analogy that made a lot of sense. If you have an empty pickle jar, a few large rocks, some pebbles and some sand. If you put the items in the jar in order of increasing size, you will not have enough room to get the big rocks in. The way to make it work is to put the big rocks into the jar first, then fill in the gaps with the pebbles and then the sand.

So goes our projects. If we work on the small stuff which is most plentiful, we won’t have enough time for our big rocks, or the projects that matter the most to us.

So the question becomes, how to get to the Big Rocks?

Getting To The Big Rocks

While I can’t use any method that I talked about above to fit my life, I can apply the principles together.

Identify The Rocks

First, I have to decide what the big rocks are. Unless I can recognize them, I won’t find room for them. My big rocks are taken from my lists that I made with the 2012 Creating Your Goddess Year. These are the things that would rock my world (no pun intended). Writing and publishing a book is one of my big rocks right now.

I also look at these big rocks during my weekly review. I have pages in my planner listing what I want to do and by when (if there is a firm deadline). I make sure that I include these projects on my target list, and I mark them with a star, so when the item is complete, I know to put the next thing to do on my list. In the case of writing the book, I simply have to write every day.

Plan 3 Must-Dos Every Day

My problem with most project and task systems is that there is too much going on. On the flip side, I have seen systems that say once you’ve done three things, you’re done for the day. So instead of going to one extreme of the other, I list out tasks in three categories: Must Dos, Would Like To Do, and If I Have Time.

Every night, I pick out the three Must Dos for the next day. These are usually big rock items, but sometimes a big rock falls into the Like To list. Big Rocks never get onto the If I Have Time list, because they won’t get done.

My rules is that I may not get to the Must Dos first thing in the day, but they absolutely have to be done as soon as my time permits. They take precedence over the items in the other lists, and definitely before any minutiae that repeats itself (such as laundry, cleaning, reading, television).

Evaluate Daily

As part of my nightly planning session, I also look at where I am on the projects. Am I getting done what I want to? Do I need to move in another direction? Do I have the supplies I need?

By asking myself these questions, I am less likely to procrastinate doing something for whatever reason may pop up.

I find that by following these steps I am able to make large amounts of progress on whatever I am attempting to do.

Do you have any tips about how you get your important projects done? Share below.

Photo by mikebaird

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One of my goals for this year is to switch off on Sundays. No computer, no email, no internet, no social media, no texting, no IM.

I have wanted to give myself this break for a couple of years, but I’ve never managed to do it, because I would always decide last minute, and then find that I had very necessary things to do, and hop back on.

This year I decided to give it another try. But rather than deciding, I’m actually planning ahead. So that means that all blog articles have to be written, posted and edited before Sunday. All important emails have to be written and sent before Sunday. All administrative tasks have to be done before Sunday.

I told myself that by planning ahead this would be a piece of cake. Right?

Wrong.

EEK! No Internet!

What I have found is that being on the computer is a habit for me. If I don’t have anything else to do, I’ll go to my desk and pretend like I’m being productive…rambling around in the name of “research”, posting updates in the name of being “social”, organizing in the name of being “productive”.

Yeah, right.

Truth is, all that stuff doesn’t matter, and it simply sucks up time.

Another difficult truth is that I wasn’t comfortable with the end results of empty time, and I longed for the ability to fill it up.

The first three weeks were very difficult.

The Sun Has Come Out

After the first three weeks, I adjusted. I was able to feel good about what I had done to get to a switched off Sunday. Many Sundays have been spent frantically doing stuff because I didn’t have my act together enough to get it done ahead of time, or I procrastinated. So I was actually more relaxed.

I’ve also found that I’m more creative. I’m more likely to start…and finish…a small project around the house. Or cook an amazing dinner because I don’t feel rushed. Or spend time constructing Lego structures with my daughter.

I’m finding time to read and craft and be social. All the things that I wanted to do, but felt I didn’t have time before. All because I switched off for one day.

What would happen if you did this?

A few years ago, during a National Switch Off Day I challenged my team to do it. One programmer looked at me and said he wouldn’t survive a whole day without the internet.

So maybe you need to start slower than a whole day? Maybe an afternoon or evening?

What would happen if you switched off? What direction would you go in? Share below.

Photo by andrewasmith

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Wednesdays are simplicity days at SimpleProductivity blog.

Most people try to cut down on energy usage because of economic reasons, green reasons or both. Electricity, heat and hot water aren’t free, and simplifying how you cut back on them can reap lots of rewards. Most people already know the basics, such as replacing bulbs with CFLs, turning off appliances and lights when you’re not using them, turning down the thermostat. But it’s easy to forget to do the things that require our active attention. Here are three ways that I simplify my energy savings:

Programmable Thermostats

I keep my house cool in the winter, and warmish in the summer. And when we’re not home, I like to minimize the time the a/c or heat is running. But I’m also terrible at remembering change the thermostat before leaving home, or remembering to turn it back.

Enter the programmable thermostat.

This inexpensive and easy-to-install device does the remembering for me. In winter, it turns the heat down to 63 from 11pm until 6 am, then turns the heat up to 68 until we are out of the house by 8am, then turns it back up before we get home. (The reverse is true of the air conditioning, with different temperatures). As a result, my heat goes up and down without me thinking about it, and I’m not heating unused space. As a side note, I don’t worry about the animals at home when the temp goes down to 63. They’re usually in a sun patch or under a blanket anyway, regardless of temperatures.

Smart power strips

Our entertainment center was always having something left on. If it wasn’t the Wii, it was the DVD player or the tuner. Even worse, these were behind a cabinet door, so we wouldn’t always know if they were left on.

I tried a smart power strip on this area, and it has worked beautifully. I plug the television (actually BOB) into the always on part of the strip, and everything else to the controlled plugs. When the power goes off on the television, everything else turns off.

Auto-off Appliances

Many appliances these days come with an auto-off feature where the appliance will turn itself off after a certain period of time. While I believe this was for safety originally (most of these appliances are also heat sources), it also works for energy savings.

Look for appliances that have this feature when it is time to buy. My iron and curling brush will turn themselves off if they are left on, and this minimizes fire risk, and saves me electricity.

Timers

More generalized than the programmable thermostats are my appliance timers. I use these not only to start appliances up, but to turn them off. My coffee pot is a good example. I like having coffee ready when I wake up, and I always forget to turn the pot off. A simple appliance timer takes care of both of these things.

There are other forms of timers or sensors that can help with safety lighting. Many of my neighbors have light-sensing fixtures on their outdoor lights that turn them on at dusk. We use an outdoor timer to control the safety lighting in our backyard.

Do you have any ways to help save energy or automate saving energy? Share below.

Photo by Caveman Chuck Coker

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Tuesdays are open loop days at SimpleProductivity blog.

• Here’s one way to put your desktop to use as your productivity center! from The Goddess Guidebook’s “My Desktop Productivity Centre”
• I’ve heard so many times that the economic hard times are over. Yet everywhere I look I see people un- or under-employed, families struggling, and fear. Life Optimizer has a great article on “How to Survive a Recession”
• These habits may not have a concrete impact on your productivity, but they will shift your mind toward a more conducive state. From Lifehack’s “Transform These 5 Habits to Boost Your Productivity”
• Yes! Love the part about turning almost everything off. I find myself less distracted without the constant pinging. From Lifehack’s “On Managing your Life’s Notifications”
• I don’t know whether to laugh at this or be amazed. “Calculate the Best Time to Nap with This Interactive Nap Wheel” from Lifehacker.
• If you use Remember The Milk, this is a good way of getting a handle on all the pesky tasks that seem to pop up and stay on the list. From “Tips & Tricks Tuesday: Cleaning out old tasks with a Smart List”
• I’m with him on this. Nothing ticks me off more than clicking unsubscribe and having to confirm it through email, unless it is clicking on unsubscribe and having the programming blow up on my “+” email address. Oh, and the BCC. I agree wholeheartedly. I resigned from a volunteer commitment simply because the person in charge sent out a notice to 50 of us, then asked that we all reply to all so that everyone knew what everyone else was doing. I pointed out to her that I signed up to bake, not to be deluged by email, and it was her job to figure out what everyone was doing. Oops. This is a long one for an Open Loop. (Inspired by Who Writes For You’s “Let’s Unsubscribe From It All”)
• I like this analogy of being the architect of your life. From Pick the Brain’s “3 Ways To Be The Architect Of Your Own Life”
• The Happiness Project clears away “9 Common Myths about Clearing Clutter.”
• I never would have thought it, but personal experience is showing me this is true at least for me. From Lifehacker’s “Turn Off Your Phone to Quickly Eliminate Stress”
• Lifehacker has an awesome tip for keeping the kitchen a bit tidier. It’s “Organize Lids in Drawers with Tension Rods”
• Another great tip, if you use Remember The Milk, although this one could be adapted to other task managers. Never lose food to freezer burn again with “Tips & Tricks Tuesday: Keeping track of frozen food” from Remember The Milk Blog

Photo by jenny downing

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Mondays are productivity days at SimpleProductivity blog.

Last week we talked about 5 Habits That Will Boost Your Productivity. Today I’m going to look at the flip side.

Lack of Clarity

Being productive is a combination of doing the right things in the right way. If you don’t know what the right things are, you will not be as productive.

For instance, let’s say your task is to clean a bathroom. If you spend an hour washing and ironing the curtains in your bedroom, that doesn’t bring the overall goal of a clean bathroom much further.

It is better to know what you are trying to accomplish, and making sure that your actions are in line with that goal.

Multitasking

I often feel like a broken record, chanting about how most multitasking is bad. However, if you are in the habit of doing things requiring the same facilities at the same time, you are wasting time as you jump back and forth.

Give yourself the gift of focusing on one thing, completing it and then moving back to another. You will lessen brain thrash? and get more one.

Procrastination

What is one of the major causes of underproductivity? Procrastination. We put off doing things for a multitude of reasons, and in the end things don’t get done.

Learn to break yourself of procrastination. There are many books out there that can help you get to the root causes of procrastination (none of which are because you are lazy or stupid), including “The 7 Habits of the Prolific”.

What are other habits that can destroy your productivity? Share below.

Photo by alancleaver_2000

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