easier

Productivity Coaching, Time Management Consulting and Leadership Coaching for business and nonprofits - get your most important work done. Collaborating with leaders and their teams to become more strategic, focused and productive. Leadership and Board Coaching, Strategic Planning Facilitation, Productivity Coaching and Time Management Consulting, Professional Speaker.

Productivity Coach, Productivity Consultant, Leadership Coach, Time Management Coach, Business Consulting, personal productivity, time management, nonprofit, board coach, collaboration, strategic planning, facilitation, change management, leading productive teams, project planning, board development, volunteer engagement, association management, workplace productivity, executive director.

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easier Tag

30 Jun Why Small Decisions Feel So Big—and What to Do About It

Posted at 11:24h in Planning Tools, Productivity, Stress Management, Time Management, Tips for Easier Living 0 Comments

Ever stand in front of the fridge wondering what to make for dinner, only to give up and snack on crackers? Or scroll Netflix for so long you run out of time to actually watch something? It’s frustrating—and oddly common.

Here’s why: it’s not that you’re indecisive or lazy. It’s decision fatigue, and it’s draining your brainpower, making even the smallest choices feel surprisingly difficult.

One of my high-performing clients—smart, successful, and productive—once told me that the thing he and his partner argued about most wasn’t money or chores. It was what to order in for dinner.

At the end of the day, they were both exhausted. They’d scroll through endless restaurant options, debate what sounded good, get frustrated, and end up ordering late—or worse, not eating at all. That small daily choice became a major source of friction.

I suggested they make a simple list: five favorite takeout places and their top two orders from each. The result? Instant relief. They ordered faster, ate earlier, weren’t hangry, and most importantly, enjoyed their evenings together instead of wasting time figuring out what to eat. One little system turned a daily pain point into something easy—and even enjoyable.

That’s the magic of simplifying small decisions.

Decision Fatigue Is Real

Some studies estimate we make over 35,000 decisions a day—most of them small and forgettable. What to wear. What to eat. What to tackle first. Each one chips away at your mental energy.

And when your brain is tired, even “easy” decisions feel hard. You overthink. You second-guess. You procrastinate. Or you avoid the choice altogether and just do nothing (hello, standing in front of the fridge again).

The problem? All of that mental clutter spills into your personal time. You end up feeling frazzled, behind, and drained—even when nothing major went wrong.

Make the Easy Decisions Easy

You don’t have to overhaul your life. Just start by creating defaults—shortlists of pre-approved, go-to options that remove friction from your day.

Here are four areas where this can make a big difference:

1. What to Make for Dinner

Instead of reinventing the wheel every night, build your own personal menu of favorite meals. Keep your two go-to recipes from key categories—like poultry, seafood, vegetarian, meat, entrée salads, and hearty soups—in a folder, binder, or electronic file. That way, when it’s time to plan dinner, you can flip through your curated favorites and quickly pick something you’ll actually enjoy cooking and eating.

You don’t need a hundred recipes—just a dozen or so that you know and love. This makes meal planning easier and helps you avoid that overwhelmed, “I don’t know what I feel like” feeling at the end of a long day.

2. Ordering In

Like my client, make a list of your favorite delivery spots and go-to orders. Save them in your food delivery app, jot them in your notes, or put them on the fridge. When you’re tired and hungry, this saves time, energy, and potential tension.

3. What to Watch

Keep a “watch next” list in your streaming app or phone. When you finally sit down to relax, you don’t want to waste half the evening browsing. Make the decision once, and keep a short list ready to go.

4. What to Read

Create a running to-read list so that when you finish one book, the next one is already lined up. You’ll read more, feel less decision fatigue, and avoid the rabbit hole of reviews and recommendations when you just want to enjoy a story.

This Isn’t About Being Rigid

You can still try new restaurants, cook new meals, and discover new shows. But when you’re tired or low on brainpower, your defaults have your back. Think of these lists as your brain’s personal assistant—quietly saving you from unnecessary stress. Let’s keep the easy decisions easy… and free up your energy for what matters most.

Ready to Simplify More? If you’re feeling stuck in the weeds of daily decision-making, I can help. Through one-on-one coaching, I work with professionals and leaders like you to cut through the clutter, align your productivity with how you’re wired, and create systems that actually stick. Want more strategies like this? My book, Productivity for How You’re Wired, is packed with real-life tools and ideas—and it’s available now on Amazon.

05 Jun The MAGIC of Reorganizing your TO DO LIST!

Posted at 19:22h in Organize to Thrive, Planning Tools, Productivity, Stress Management, Time Management 0 Comments

We all know we should occasionally organize our closets, and kitchens, and paper piles, but have you ever considered giving your To-Do or Task List a thorough reorganization? The results can be just as transformational.

Before becoming a Productivity Coach, I spent years as a Professional Organizer, helping clients clear physical clutter. I discovered that truly lasting results come from a deliberate, step-by-step process:

Remove EVERYTHING from the space (or section).
Make intentional decisions about what to do with each item. Organizing expert Judith Kolberg introduced the concept of sorting items into three categories: friends, strangers, and acquaintances.
- Friends go BACK into the space
- Strangers are donated, recycled, or discarded
- Acquaintances go into a holding zone (storage — just in case) or are returned if there’s room

Making intentional choices about every single item—and being VERY purposeful about what occupies your valuable space—is genuinely MAGICAL. I can tell you if I go to organize my junk drawer (or any space) and open the drawer and ask myself – is there anything here that should go, I get an average result that lasts a few weeks or months. However, if I remove everything – and deliberately return the things-that-really-matter, my organization lasts a good year or more. Try it – it’s amazing how effective it is!

But do we do this with our To DO Lists? It’s tempting to stick with our usual weekly reviews, but just as our physical spaces benefit from an annual deep re-org, your digital or paper task list deserves the same attention. I recently did a full Task List overhaul myself, and here’s how I did it:

I keep my Task List on a Google Sheet (as discussed here.)
I made a backup copy, just in case.
I added a new column and transferred EVERYTHING from my Critical/Hot/Sooner/Later/Waiting lists into that column.
Then, I sorted and redistributed each item back into the appropriate category.
I also cleaned up my sub-lists—professional development, major purchases, blog ideas, tech tools, tasks in progress with my VA—and deleted many obsolete or unnecessary items.

The result? A clean, focused, manageable list that clearly highlights what’s most important. Removing clutter is not just liberating—it drastically reduces stress and increases clarity.

A few key insights:

Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. Does that task advance your goals or support someone important? If not, is it worth your precious time?
When everything feels urgent or important, nothing truly is. Time is finite—every “yes” to the unimportant takes away from what truly matters.
As Brené Brown reminds us, feeling resentment often signals that a task should come off your list.
Remember: what was a priority last week or last month may no longer be relevant today. Priorities shift, and highly productive people are ruthless about removing unnecessary tasks.

So, what will you REMOVE today?

If you enjoy my blog, you’ll love the insights in my book, Productivity for How You’re Wired, available on Audible, in print, and as an ebook all on Amazon.

19 Jun Getting Work Done When Out of the Office…aka at the Beach, Shore or Coast

Posted at 17:04h in Envision Success, Planning Tools, Productivity, Productivity for How You're Wired, Time Management, Tips for Easier Living 0 Comments

Regardless of if you work full-time remote or hybrid there is naturally less structure when you’re not in the office. When working independently it’s important to anticipate diversions and plan for them. Here are some ideas to help you improve your productivity when working remotely or hybrid…and while on vacation or at the beach/shore/coast.

Weekly Planning

When doing your weekly planning, identify the best times and places to do your work. Block out specific tasks for the place where they are most effectively performed.

Project work, quantitative work, and focused work is best performed where you won’t be interrupted.
Meetings, group work, problem solving and planning is great to do in person when possible.

Plan Today’s Work

Organizing your tasks by priority provides additional structure. Knowing what must be done this week and what must be done by the end of the workday keeps the focus on the right tasks.

When working hybrid, some find it beneficial to adjust their task list by changing CRITICAL and HOT to HOME and OFFICE, or add in subsections.

Be deliberate and identify what’s possible to do for the day depending on other commitments and amount of time the identified tasks will take.
Add structure by identifying task start times and estimating duration on your “Today’s Work” list. This helps fight the “work expanding to the time available” challenge.

Delineate Work from Non-Work Screen Time

Be ruthless with your online reading time and social media time. Be selective about what you are choosing to spend your time reading and watching.

Set specific hours for online reading — that means articles, blog posts, texts, videos, and messages from well-meaning friends. If you stop for a quick read of everything that is sent to you, it will be hard to get enough work done. Experiment with blocking out time at the very beginning of your day, at lunch, or at the end of your day for personal reading.
Ask yourself, “what is reading this now keeping me from doing?” This extra nudge is helpful to keep you focused on the work you want to do.
Reframe and read without guilt! Build in a system to stop “reading on the ping.” Move what you want to read to a category or flag/label it for later. Then when you get back to it, you can enjoy reading without guilt.

Make and Use a Personal Dashboard

Creating a tool to manage your own accountability is often helpful. You are doing this for yourself. There is no one to show this to, no one to judge you, and no one to applaud you. At the end of the day, it’s your life and your productivity.

A personal dashboard is a simple tool that will help you monitor patterns for success. Additionally, it cues you to do your important work, builds habits, and helps you achieve your flow conditions.
This is especially helpful during times of change (Illness, babies, moves, new responsibilities). Once you’ve integrated the processes into your routine, the dashboard will have served its purpose and you may not need it any more.

Create a Workspace Conducive for Good Work

Most of what is written about working from home is about getting dressed first. I know plenty of effective people who work in their pajamas or exercise clothing all day. For most, what they wear doesn’t affect productivity. The bigger obstacle is not being physically set up for success. Having a workspace that supports good work is key.

Find a Quiet Space — Are you able to have a work conversation without interruption? While it’s great to have your kids close by, sometimes you need to be able to close the door and focus. If you are working in a “public” space, find a backup location designated for times you need quiet.

Create a Video Chat Friendly Zone — Of course, you want a quiet space where you can meet without interruption. And yes, good lighting and background are nice. However, you also want a space conducive to productive meetings. Do you have a supportive chair, enough space on your screen to open the chat and still see colleagues’ faces, room for your coffee or water, and space to take notes?

Have Supplies in Reach — Have pens, pencils, markers, sticky notes, letter pads, files, and your priority task list in reach. While your “office” may be your kitchen island, your dining room table, your back porch, or a comfy chair in your family room, designate a space (a drawer or cabinet close by) for the supplies that help you get your work done.

Set Up Your Technology — Many people say “I’ll do that later” and never get to it. Taking the time (or hiring someone) to get your tech set up makes a huge difference. Working from home shouldn’t be looked upon as temporary. Even if you only work from home one day a week, that’s 20% of your work week. You need it to be effective.

- Purchase the best internet connection possible. There is no time like the present to make this investment in your productivity.
- Get a printer. Is it connected to your devices? Sometimes nothing beats having a piece of paper to lay out in front of you or to read away from your desk.
- Create a real workstation with a mouse, keyboard, and second monitor. Buy a connector so you can easily hook your laptop in and out. A second monitor increases productivity exponentially.
- Designate a handy place to charge your mouse, headphones, tablet, etc.

Intentionally structuring your time and space supports good work.

This is an excerpt from Chapter 13 of my new book Productivity for How You’re Wired available on Amazon. Many templates are included via the time tools link discussed in the book.

21 May Working From Wherever You Are

Posted at 08:56h in Planning Tools, Productivity, Productivity for How You're Wired, Tips for Easier Living 0 Comments

With summer upon us many of us will be changing where we’re working from. The following are things to consider regardless of where you’re working from.

Working Remotely

Working from home is not new. Many entrepreneurs have been doing it for years. Remote work has been knocking at the door of corporate America for some time. However, COVID brought it mainstream. The global pandemic and the high proportion of workers working out of the office have forced us to rethink how and where we work.

Moving into the future, one thing we can be sure about is working away from the office, at least part of the time, will be routine. Knowing how to work effectively, regardless of location, is central to the success of today’s workers.

The biggest challenge about working remotely is lack of structure. When we no longer have to wake up at a specific time, commute, attend in–person meetings, network in person, and “go to work,” our time foundation shifts. Personal time and work time blend together. Many people are in work-mode all the time.

When we leave home and “go to work,” natural guardrails form. By simple proximity, we are not doing home related duties or having personal conversations when we are at “work.” Yes, we may take a call from a family member or spend a few minutes on a personal task, but we aren’t walking the dog, doing laundry, or letting the repair person in.

When working from home we spend more time on “home” tasks than anticipated and that means it takes longer to get our work done. To avoid that work/life confusion, consider how to structure your time so there is separation between work and personal tasks.

Working Hybrid – Remote, From Home, and At Work

Productivity in the hybrid work environment focuses on mobility and flexibility. The goal is to work effectively regardless of location. Your office is often in your work bag.

You already face the challenges of structuring your work time when you’re in the office. Hybrid work brings more complexities because now you also have to consider where you work and when. Building systems to support your productivity is helpful.

Going to work is helpful too. Humans are social animals and we are much healthier with human interaction. While not everyone looks to their work to fill their need for belonging, many do, at least to some degree.

If we can structure our work and our time effectively, the hybrid model, working remotely or from home for Focus Work time AND going to the office to collaborate and connect, is the best of both worlds. But how do we manage our productivity on the move?

Remote and At Home

You now have much more control over your time. While your meetings are scheduled, everything else is fluid. No one sees your true start times or end times. There is no peer pressure about lunch breaks or coffee breaks. And no one is watching when you are actually producing.

You’ve gained time by not commuting. Does this allow you to exercise before you start working or sleep later if that’s what your body needs?
You have flexibility when you do your Focus Work. Quiet without interruption is ideal. Is it best to wake early and get a couple of hours in before family activities or regular work interruptions start or better to work in the evening when meetings and emails subside?
Can you walk the dog (or just take a walk) at midday for some fresh air and to reenergize?
Do you need to tag team with your partner, one working early and the other working late, to be sure there is coverage for the kids?
Do you need to plan start times and end times so you have enough structure to get results and know when to stop?

Hybrid

A hybrid situation, where you spend part of your time in the office and part of your time at home, has advantages as well. All the above holds true for your time working out of the office. When we add in a day, or two, or three in the office each week, good things can happen.

Time in the office can be energizing. Take advantage of the lift you get when you’re with others, understanding that effectiveness improves with a change of environment and social interaction (even for most introverts).
Child care and family obligations shift. Going to work can provide a much-needed break. The flexibility enables you to be better in each situation.
Self-care continues to be important. Taking time for a walking meeting helps with your steps goal. Leaders are on the lookout for ideas to support the new normal. Tell them what you need.
Planning start and stop times in the office is helpful to creating routine. These time anchors provide benchmarks to keep you on task and effective.

With proper planning and consideration your summer work can be successfully executed regardless of where you’re working from.

This is an excerpt from Chapter 13 of my new book Productivity for How You’re Wired available on Amazon. Many templates are included via the time tools link discussed in the book.

29 Apr Top Tips for Email

Posted at 09:45h in Productivity, Productivity for How You're Wired, Stress Management, Tech & Digital Clutter, Time Management, Tips for Easier Living 0 Comments

Does email suck the life from you? Do you worry about missing important emails? Do you wish email supported you better? Here are some new ideas that can help!

Consider Your Email Style?

Different people seem to be fine with different amounts of emails in their inboxes. While there is a correlation between structure preference and email style, it probably has little bearing on what you’re doing now. Do you see yourself in any of these cases?

Inbox 10,000+ – If I need something, I will search for it. If I miss something it’s ok. If it’s really important it will come up again.
Inbox 500 to 1500 – It’s unmanageable. I don’t kid myself. I know I miss important things and it does cause stress.
Inbox 25/100/250 – I can get it under control. Identifying a number I don’t want to get above cues me to spend an hour cleaning up my inbox. Still, there has to be an easier way.
Inbox one page – As long as I can see everything in my inbox, I’m good. Once it goes to a second page, it’s time to pause and clean it up.
Inbox Zero – All emails are moved into folders for future action. Nothing stays in the inbox. (Use with caution. For most, since there is no automatic cue once an email is moved from the inbox, it is never thought of again.)

Manage Your Inbox Contents

What belongs in your inbox? Some clients prefer to keep everything in their inbox. However, there is a high risk of losing important emails. Some clients are fine with the philosophy “if it’s important, I’ll get it again,” though most prefer a more proactive solution.

Keeping everything in your inbox is like keeping all your trash on your desk. Unlike paper, however, the problem isn’t finding it when you go to look for it — the robust search function helps with that. The problem is that you won’t know to look for something you don’t know you have.

To have confidence in your email system, the only items that should be kept in your inbox are the to-do actionable items. Those emails you MUST do something with.

If you have read your inbox shouldn’t be a to-do list, I disagree. It’s inefficient to use it any other way. However, this only works if you move everything except actionable emails out of your inbox.

To have control over your inbox, you need to judiciously decide the fate of each email. There are three options: File, Delete, and Action:

FILE emails to keep for possible future reference
DELETE emails you don’t need
ACTION emails remain in your inbox

Clear Out Your Inbox

Create a folder/label called Reference Emails or Past Emails or something that resonates with you that will indicate to you where your older emails will reside.
1. You will move all emails over two months old into this file.
2. You’ll want to move over a few hundred at a time. If you move too many at once, you may overload your computer’s resources and lock them up.
3. In order to keep this information current, I’m not going to give you specific keystrokes to identify and move a range of emails. Instead, do an internet search on “batch move emails” and include your computer (PC/Mac) and email platform (Outlook/Gmail).
4. Some clients are more comfortable moving the old emails into files labeled by year. This gives them more of a direction as to where to look when trying to locate something. On the other hand, it gives more places to search.
You now have two months of email remaining in your inbox. The next step is to process these and remove additional non-actionable email.
1. Do a sort by subject — This will allow you to batch delete or batch file large groups of emails that are not actionable. Look for:
  1. Projects that have been completed.
  2. Events that have passed.
2. Do a search by sender — This will allow you to continue the batch deleting or batch moving process. Look for:
  1. Newsletters you’ll never read.
  2. Ads that are no longer relevant.
  3. Multiple emails of a string and you only need to keep the last one or the ones with attachments.
3. Set up rules/filters — As you are going through these remaining emails, look for opportunities for similar grouping of emails to bypass your inbox.
  1. You can tell your email program to route specific emails to specific files without stopping in your inbox. This is helpful for items you don’t need to look at regularly.
  2. Some use rules or filters for newsletters, forum posts, or the like. Others use them for confirmation emails that don’t need to be looked at yet need to be kept for possible future reference.
  3. To keep things simple, create a file called RULES and direct all emails that you have created a rule for there. It makes searching, scanning, and purging simple. There is no need to overcomplicate this — remember, if it’s not easy, it’s too hard.
  4. To learn how to use the rules function with your email system, search “how to use rules in Outlook/Gmail.”
You will be left with far fewer emails than you started with. These emails can then be processed into FILE, DELETE, or left in the inbox as an ACTION item.

It is important you do this process in a short period of time. This is a great task to do in one or two chunks this week. To get your inbox under control, you need to reduce the number of emails so when future emails come in, you can process those and maintain the integrity of YOUR system.

This is an excerpt from Chapter 12 of my new book Productivity for How You’re Wired available on Amazon. Many templates are included via the time tools link discussed in the book.

11 Apr Five Fabulous Time Hacks Beyond the To-Do List

Posted at 15:28h in Productivity, Productivity for How You're Wired, Tech & Digital Clutter, Time Management, Tips for Easier Living 2 Comments

Sometimes a good task list just isn’t enough. Which of these hacks can you use to move from to–do to done.

Plan Today’s Work

The simplest technique is to take a sticky note and write down the top three tasks you want to accomplish for the day. Place it where you’ll see it, such as on the lower edge of your monitor or on your cleared-off desk.

When it’s time to work, look at the note and move into action. You’ll stop wasting time on inconsequential tasks and get to your important work without hesitation.

Why a post-it and not an app? Every time you pick up your phone it’s an opportunity to get distracted and lose productive work time. The sticky note on your monitor takes NO TIME to glance at.

Batch Tasks

Task batching is the act of grouping related tasks together to create an economy of scale. Large operations do it all the time – think production lines or accounting systems.

You probably do it often without thinking. Do you put one dish in the dishwasher at a time? Do you run one errand at a time? Do you do laundry every day? For most people, it’s more efficient to do tasks like these all at once. Batching work-related tasks is equally efficient.

When we spend our time thinking about what we have to do, remembering where we were in the project, and then building up momentum to get results, we are ramping up. Nothing is more frustrating than going through the ramp up process to get to the meat of a project and then having to stop.

By batching tasks, you only have to ramp up once. You gather information, assess the situation, make a plan, and move into action once.

Multitasking vs. Task Switching

Multitasking isn’t a thing. It doesn’t exist. The brain can only process one thought at a time. What have you been doing? You’ve been task–switching, moving from one mentally demanding activity to another mentally demanding activity.

You may be a fast “task–switcher,” which means you can quickly move from task to task. But you are simply shifting your focus from one activity to the next and back. In the long run, this takes longer to complete each task. Because, as we’ve just discussed, it takes time to ramp up, remember where we were, and move into productive action.

Sticking with a task through completion is the only way to get it done.

Note: There is a difference between multi-tasking and low cognitive load white-noise activity. Some people need to doodle, color, play phone games, etc. to stay engaged and focused. That is not multi-tasking or task-switching. The white-noise activities don’t challenge your brain, so you are able to focus on the task at hand. This is why you can listen to a book on tape while you are taking a walk. Walking is rote — you do it without thinking. But cross a busy intersection safely and you will have to go back and listen to the part of the book you missed while your brain was keeping you from getting hit by a car.

Do It Now

Sometimes, during planning, it takes less time to do a task than to plan to do a task. Additionally, if you have an open time slot that wouldn’t be useful for Focus Work, use that time and get those 5-, 10-, or 15-minute tasks done.

If something has been on your task list for weeks and you still haven’t done it, think about how much mental and emotional energy you’ve put into worrying or thinking about the task. Think about how much time you’ve wasted NOT doing the task. Sometimes it’s best just to do it and get it off your list and off your mind.

And sometimes it feels fabulous to spend a few hours clearing out all the little annoying few-minute tasks, getting them off your plate. Clearing out makes room for more important things.

Create Follow-Up Cues

The brain is not wired to arbitrarily remember new things. Neuroscientists say our working memory can hold between five to nine pieces of new information at a time. To remember everything that needs to be done, we need to create cues to help ourselves move into action.

Have you ever put something in front of the door to take with you? As in – you can’t open the door unless you pick up the bag in front of it? If you have something you absolutely MUST NOT forget to bring with you the next day, have you ever put it in the car the night before? These are examples of creating a cue to remember.

The more we create cues the less we have to remember. We are setting ourselves up for success and freeing up our valuable working memory for more important things.

This is an excerpt from Chapter 11 of my new book Productivity for How You’re Wired available on Amazon. Many templates are included via the time tools link discussed in the book.