Are Your “Incompletes” Draining Your Energy?

I think the activity of evaluating the “incompletes” in your life and dealing with them is so important that I will share one other perspective with you today.

In assessing your list of “incompletes” did you identify anything that required support from another person or group? Did you determine if you had their support or not? Remember you can only change yourself. And anytime you put energy into a person or activity without the other person being committed to the process, you are wasting your energy and, therefore, your time. It is better to eliminate that energy drain from your list and move forward with items you can impact.

Here’s a link to a post from Coach John Agno that discusses this further. I found it intriguing.

http://coachingtip.blogs.com/coaching_tip/2008/06/stuck-on-human.html

Why is Change so Tough?

“Things do not change; we change.”  ~ Henry David Thoreau

Are you trying to make a change in your life but still feel stuck? Do you set out with the intention each day to start fresh? This will be the day…(fill in the blank).

I recently found a website as a result of an email forwarded to me that I found inspirational. I just read this post today and thought it summed up the message that I wanted to convey to you. I hope you find this post helpful: http://www.dailyom.com/articles/2008/14015.html

Life coaching can help you change your internal message in order to move forward and find balance in your life. If you would like a free 30-minute session to see if life coaching would inspire you to become unstuck, contact me.

Getting Unstuck - Redefining Your Vision and Values

In the book Getting Unstuck: Breaking Through Your Barriers to Change (Warner Books 1998) Dr. Sidney B. Simon states “Unless you think about, choose , say and do what you really want, you risk getting stuck with a life or circumstances you do not desire. Not knowing what you really want is the third barrier to change.”

In completing your “incompletes” inventory did you find things on your list and wonder how they got there? Did you determine that some of them were really governed by others or old beliefs?

What do you really want? What do you value? Becoming clear about your values-creating a vision for the life you want to lead- can help you make daily choices or priorities. Refer to my previous post: http://clutterbustingcoach.com/2008/01/26/your-vision-for-the-future/ and create the vision for your life.

Have You Experienced a Non-event?

My last post started my searching for a favorite book of mine that deals with the topic of getting unstuck and I found it sitting proudly on my well-organized book shelf.

In the book Going to Plan B: How You Can Cope, Regroup and Start Your Life on a New Path (Fireside 1996) the authors define a non-event as “…simply the event that doesn’t happen. It is also the event that you reasonably expect will happen, and its absence can change your life.”

Nancy K. Schlossberg and Susan Porter Robinson wrote this excellent book and I must admit that I have read the whole book several times. They suggest like Gail Blanke, sited in my last post, that you need to go through a process in order to cope with life’s non-events. They call it “The Dream Reshaping Process”. This process also begins with acknowledging the non-event and adds easing (ways of managing the stress created), refocusing (letting go) and reshaping (new dreams).

They state “It is in that process that hope can emerge and in the striving that new dreams are found.”

Have you finished that inventory of your  “incompletes” from the past yet? You might be surprised what you learn from the exercise.

“If you don’t like something change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.”  ~Mary Engelbreit

Are You Stuck in the Past?

I read a great article the other day in Real Simple magazine (April 2008). The Author Gail Blanke provided a three-step program for finishing old business and moving on in the article “Complete Your Past”.

Do you often wonder why you feel stuck? In her article the author suggests that you take an inventory of things you feel are incomplete in your life. These could be things you haven’t started yet, things you haven’t said, things you haven’t finished or things that haven’t changed.

She also suggests that you assign completion dates and start checking things off your list as they are completed.

While this seems simple, I think it is genius. Sometimes just writing things down and getting them out of your head can get you unstuck. It can also help you feel that you have accomplished something. I know that I was able to cross a couple of things off my list right away because I immediately decided that I no longer needed to complete them.

If you would like to print out a worksheet to complete your own personal inventory or read other articles by Gaile Blanke go to www.realsimple.com/myinventory.

Can Moving Your Stuff Change Your Life?

In a previous post I told a story about a friend who cleared out some clutter and things started happening with her business (http://clutterbustingcoach.com/?s=clearing+clutter&x=33&y=10).  Some of you may have thought it possible while others may have thought it a coincidence.

In the book Move Your Stuff, Change Your Life: How to Use Feng Shui to Get Love, Money, Respect and Happiness (Fireside 2000) Karen Rauch Carter writes “If you want to create a life worth living, you also need some tools: a living environment, an idea of  what you want out of life, good intentions, and an understanding of the ancient Chinese secrets of feng shui (better say it right: fung shway).”

She continues “Proper feng shui is purposefully arranging the stuff around you to gain positive results.”  Maybe the stuff in your life has something to do with you being out of balance.

Life coaching can also help you find the balance you crave. For a free 30-minute sample session to personally experience life coaching and experience its benefits contact me.

Conquering Chaos: The Home Office

Here are a few tips to create a calm and welcoming home office:

• Clear your desk of personal mementos. Hang them on the wall or place them on a shelf so that you are left with room to work.
• Keep a few extra office supplies (paper clips, staples, etc.) in your top drawer - no more than a month’s supply.
• Only keep those items that you use daily on top of your desk (stapler, small pencil cup, tape dispenser).
• Store larger amounts of office supplies in one area so you will be able to do a quick visual inventory of what you have on hand.
• Collect all sticky notes and scraps of paper. Add them to your master list and/or calendar.
• When you complete a phone call make a note of the next action required and immediately schedule it in your calendar or place it on your master list.
• Take 10 minutes at the end of the workday to straighten up your desk and make tomorrow’s to-do list.

I have found a great resource on how to organize your desk, workday, briefcase, home office or just about anything. Peter Walsh’s book How to Organize (just about) Everything: more than 500 step-by-step instructions for everything from organizing your closets to planning a wedding to creating a flawless filing system (Free Press 2004) has tons of great ideas.

So take a small step and see where and when you can create a calm home office.

Conquering Chaos: Your To-Do List

Here are some tips to conquer those everyday tasks:

• Prioritize the tasks on your to-do list. Use “A” for items that have to be done today, “B” for items that should be done today, and “C” for items that could be done today. Work on getting the “A” and “B” items done first.
• Make a list of errands and group them together so that you leave your house only once and then return home once. Also, consider the location of your stops for easy organizing.
• Make doctor’s, dentist’s, or hair stylist’s appointments for first thing in the morning. Then schedule errands that are in close proximity to their location.
• Take all sticky notes, bits of paper or anything that has a note on it that is lying on your desk, is in your purse or wallet or on the counter top and using a spiral notebook, a binder with paper or a planner, either tape them down on the pages or re-write them. Now you have a master list of things to do. Keep your master list with you so you can update it regularly.
• Transfer one or two items each week from your master list to your calendar.
• Take 10 minutes at the end of your workday to plan and make tomorrow’s to-do list.

With small steps you can organize and accomplish your to-do list. What a great feeling!

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