The details aren’t important, but I had a sudden, unplanned and unexpected shift in the host for my blog last week. While massively inconvenient, I decided to make some positive changes. Firstly, I got rid of a bunch of stuff that was slowing the site down. So new theme, new look, and zippy. I also took the opportunity to clean out years of old and irrelevant content. And to flag a bunch of content for updating. So for the next few months, you will see lots of updated articles sprinkled in my feed. Let me know what you think! The post A Move…A New Look…And Updates appeared first on Laura ..read more

Over the past 10 weeks, I have been writing about the book Tranquility By Tuesday* by Laura Vanderkam. It came back into my life at a time when I was able to apply it to my quest for a more deliberate life. Today’s article will focus on a look at how, or if, I am applying the rules during my reflections on Tranquility By Tuesday. All The Rules Have Value There is not a single rule in the Tranquility By Tuesday* book that I thought about dismissing out of hand. Each one of the rules I could see would have value when applied to my life. They were selected for having a lot of impact on a life, a ..read more

Doing meaningful things doesn’t require more time. It requires better use of time. We all know that mindless scrolling and social media are not a good use of limited free time. (But they’re so enjoyable!) By applying Tranquility By Tuesday’s* Rule #9, Effortful Before Effortless, you can have your meaningful and your social media. I Do This, Don’t I? When I first read this chapter, I felt kind of smug. Because after giving up social media a few years ago, I don’t waste my time on it. But after really looking at how I spend time, I find that I have other effortless activities that are crowding ..read more

One of the biggest time savers you can implement is to group like tasks. This grouping can be by location, piece of equipment, type of work or other common thread. Tranquility By Tuesday* Rule #8: Batch The Little Things explains how batching will work to not only save you time but also add to your peace.. Little Stuff Can Suck Up ALL The Time Have you ever had a day when you had some big important stuff to do, but decided to clear the decks first? Did you ever get to do the big important things? It happens to me all the time. I want to sit down to write, but first I need to clean the kitchen ..read more

Getting stuck in the grind of the week, particularly if you are parents, can make life seem like a never-ending to-do list. Tranquility By Tuesday* Rule #7, Take One Night For Yourself, encourages us to do something outside of the normal to rejuvenate yourself. This is one rule that I was already doing, and have done for many years. Every Wednesday night, from August to June, I have participated in a choir. Why Take A Night Taking a night for yourself is a way to give yourself a break from all the tasks and responsibilities that can fill up every minute of our life. It gives us a place to be ..read more

If everything you do is routine, time will slip by in a blur and you will find yourself wondering where it went. Tranquility By Tuesday* Rule #6: One Big Adventure, One Little Adventure aims to get you doing things to avert time blurring together. My Realization Through Conversation Since my mother’s death I have spoken with my stepfather every Sunday evening. These conversations are much more interesting than those with my mother, mainly from the fact that it is a conversation and not letting one person (my mother) do all the talking. My stepfather will always ask what I have been doing duri ..read more

One of the things I struggle with during my planning is that plans never go according to plan. Something changes and all of a sudden I am running away from the huge rock ala Indiana Jones. Rule #5 from Tranquility By Tuesday* tells me I need to create a backup slot. GTD: Put Tasks on the Calendar One of the concepts of Getting Things Done* was put put things on the calendar. I balked when I realized that this meant putting tasks on the calendar. I have far too much to do in any given day to list things out because my life is spent doing little tasks, not grand projects. So I put that concept ..read more

When I first started Tranquility By Tuesday*, I was sure there was going to be nine things I had to do in addition to what I was already doing. The first three rules bore that out. But rule #4, “3 times is a habit”, actually took things off my plate. The Trap Of Personal Development I’ve done a lot of reading and trying of new systems over the years. And the one thing all of them had in common was to tell me I needed to additional things – or at least do things differently – in order to reach whatever they were promising. Some systems advocate doing everything every day. The thought is if you ..read more

I never would have guessed that physical activity would be one of the nine rules in Tranquility By Tuesday by Laura Vanderkam. But not only is included, it made the first three: the “Calm The Chaos” rules. It’s Important To Move I totally understand how important it is to be active. Plagued with hip problems that led to back spasms earlier this year, I learned through PT that I need to stretch. I faithfully stretch every morning. OK, most mornings. Well, actually, when I remember. So maybe once or twice a week. Unless my back or hips twinge. I have a Fitbit, that buzzes my wrist at 50 minutes ..read more

During the reading Tranquility By Tuesday* book, I almost blew through the second rule, which is Plan On Fridays. I told myself that I already planned my Monday-start week on Sundays. Why on earth would I want to make it two days earlier? The Case For Planning a Week In the first part of the chapter, Laura Vanderkam goes over why you would want to plan at all. I’m going to assume that if you are reading this blog, that you understand why you do that little productivity cornerstone. But she also makes the case for planning a week at a time. The real benefit to doing this is to give yourself a ..read more