Marcia Francois's Blog, page 76

{31 days of enough time} Saying no

My love of the humble notebook and pen is well documented on this blog as my favourite organising tool ever. It captures all the bits and pieces so that our minds are clear(er), helps us organise our tasks and plan so that we have enough time for the things that matter.

But after that, my most favourite time management tool is simply saying no.

Not to be dramatic at all but learning to say no will give you enough time, actually MORE than enough time, for all the things you want to do, and do we...

{31 days of enough time} B…b..b.. Boundaries!

When I first started teaching about boundaries, it wasn’t as common a subject as it is now. But then it seemed, as with any good thing, boundaries got overused.

We’ve all seen the emails with a blog post’s worth of text in an out of office reminder. That’s either very strong boundary-setting or going over the top, depending on the reader.

The best way I know how to describe a boundary is that it denotes an imaginary line drawn where that person’s emotional stuff is on his side of the fence and...

{31 days of enough time} The four-hour work week

When this book came out, I bought it, read it and loved it.

And then I heard all the brouhaha on the internet about people who don’t love the book.

I guess this might be my most controversial book on the list?

Still, I looked into all the people who hate the book (or the concepts) and I must say, I still don’t get it.

Here’s how I think:

If I buy a book and I learn ONE thing in there that saves me even 5 minutes a day, that is well worth the time I spent reading, and the money spent purchasing it...

{31 days of enough time} You get to choose

Recently I read a blog post where the blogger took quite a bit of flak for daring to suggest that people have a choice.

I’ll be the first to admit that some choices in life are so obvious that they’re really not much of a choice, but in the end, I agree with that blogger that we DO have a choice.

Granted, some choices are really quite basic – do we want to buy food this month or not? And of course, some choices are really “first world” – should you donate organic food over processed food? (Aler...

{31 days of enough time} Time = life

{31 days of enough time} Evening to-do lists

Last week I shared a tip that helps me create time throughout the week at home, and today I’m sharing one that creates time every day at the office.

I know this is not rocket science… in fact, most of life isn’t. But the difference between effective and ineffective people is that the first group implements and don’t just give mental assent to good ideas

The majority of successful people use a to-do list to tackle their priorities on a monthly, weekly and daily basis.

However, this tip just take...

{31 days of enough time} Is procrastination really a bad thing?

Last week’s post on multi-tasking sparked quite a few comments (at least for this blog). I’ve edited the post a bit and added responses to all the comments so it’s worth a re-read. Thanks for engaging!

Today I want to talk just a little bit about procrastination.

We mostly hear about procrastination spoken about as if it’s all bad but what if it’s not?

When people tell me they have a problem procrastinating, we first explore the whats.

What are the things you keep procrastinating?
Is there a patte...

{31 days of enough time} Any.DO app

While I’m really not someone who sees redemption in the next great tool (app, diary, organising tool, book, etc.), I do have a few things that certainly help me to plan and prioritise so I get enough time in my day.

People have asked me many times over the years which my favourite organising and productivity apps are…. and I say, “I’m a paper gal, not an electronic one”.

Granted, I’m very much in love with my iphone but I’m still not a big app user.

However, I did see the need for a place to “ho...

{31 days of enough time} Do you have enough white space?

If you sighed as you read the title, maybe you don’t have white space.

It’s essential to have at least some white space in our lives. I define white space as room to breathe. Breathing room is something that seems to be lacking in many of our lives and is the reason why many of us feel rushed, stressed and overwhelmed.

If you’re feeling frazzled and like there’s never enough time, it could be a signal that you don’t have enough white space.

I’m going to discuss just three areas with you. These e...

{31 days of enough time} Eat that frog

I thought it would be remiss of me to write a whole series on having enough time without sharing with you some of my favourite Time Management books.

Please note – I can share many, many more great books but when I made my list, these were the first 4 that popped into my mind. I do think I need to make this a regular feature, especially since there are a ton of new ones I’m working through too.

Right.

Brian Tracy’s Eat That Frog! from SmarterComics is a short book but it’s so powerful. The sub-t...