Hasta La Ideas

Below is another excerpt from my book Unclutter Your Life in One Week — this time on how to have a social life in this busy world.

This is from the Friday chapter:

“One of my biggest complaints about adulthood is that it’s difficult to simply hang out with friends. In high school, you could call up your friend and say, ‘Hey! A bunch of us are hanging out at Kara’s place. Stop by if you want to hang out.’ No one scheduled ‘hanging out’ on their calendar. No one knew at the start of the night what might transpire by the end of the night. And no one ever left at eight thirty, tapping at her watch, saying she had an early day tomorrow.

When I graduated college, I was completely unprepared for having to schedule time to hang out with friends. The first time one of my friends told me that she had to check her calendar to see when we might be able to grab lunch together, I laughed so hard I made myself cry. Oh, to have so few responsibilities that we could hang out whenever we want!

Review your list from the Foundations chapter that identifies the things that matter to you most. Is spending quality time with friends and family on your list? What else is on your list? Schedule the time now to live the remarkable life you desire.

• Don’t turn your back on your routines. A little time every day spent on basic routines will provide you with more time in your schedule to pursue the things that truly matter.
• Plan at least one social event a week. Make a date with your friends or loved ones and keep that obligation. If the people in your life are really a priority, then you need to respect the time you spend with them. Say no to less important requests for your time and keep your date.
• Plan at least one stay-home event a week. If you’re already a social butterfly, make a commitment to staying home at least one evening a week and taking care of yourself.
• Keep a list of things you want to do, and do them. Have a list on your smart phone or carry a small notebook with you, and record things you want to do. I have lists of wines I want to try, new restaurants that are getting good buzz, day trip locations, bike trails I’ve discovered, and dozens of other things that have caught my attention. When you’re organized and focused on what really matters, you’ll never have the opportunity to say, ‘I’m bored.’
• Pay money to take a class. When you spend money on a class, you’re more likely to make a commitment to attending it. If you want to have more variation in your meal plan, take a cooking class at your local cooking school to give you ideas and confidence. If you have always dreamed of going to Rome, sign up for Italian language classes at the local community college to get you prepared. If you wish that you and your significant other would go out dancing, take a ballroom dance class together. If finances are tight, look for free classes listed in your newspaper and make the extra effort to attend.
• Stop making excuses. You can come up with reasons for why you can’t do something until you’re blue in the face. Instead of wasting the energy coming up with those reasons, use that same energy to find ways to make it happen. You’ll be surprised by your ingenuity.”

The following is an excerpt from my book Unclutter Your Life in One Week, which comes out next week on November 3. If you have pre-ordered the book, THANK YOU! and also don’t forget to sign up to receive the special PDF bonus worksheets. And, to let you know, the electronic Kindle version is now available for pre-order (still no word on the other e-book formats).

Now, on with the excerpt from the Thursday chapter, “Working While at Work” section of the book:

“… try these strategies for improving your productivity when you don’t really want to work:

• Similar to what you might do when exercising, play music with a fast rhythm.
• If you drink caffeine, consume it in small, frequent amounts instead of just one large cup at the beginning of the day.
• Set time-specific goals in two-, five-, or ten-minute increments. Identify what you want to accomplish in a very short amount of time, and then set a timer and go for it.
• Isolate yourself. Remove the desire to procrastinate by not having any other options but to work.
• Acknowledge that you’re procrastinating. Often, just realizing that you’re putting something off is enough to get you working.
• Challenge a colleague to see who can get the most work done in a set time period.
• Ask someone to help you stay accountable. There are professional motivators who will call you once a day to see how you’re doing, but a trusted and willing friend or coworker can do the same thing for free.
• If the task doesn’t require much though, listen to an audiobook while you work. Agree to only listen to the book when you’re working on the project you don’t want to do. This way, you’ll be interested in hearing more of the story each time you take on the undesirable task.”

Today is the third-annual Blog Action Day. This year’s theme is climate change, and all participating bloggers are asked to write on the topic from their perspective.

When I first learned about this year’s topic, it was the word change that caught my attention. To make any sort of behavioral change — to help the environment, become uncluttered, stop smoking — is difficult. We’re creatures of habit, and we find ways to rationalize our behavior even when it’s detrimental to ourselves and/or others. Even major life events don’t always motivate us to change our ways.

But, we all know a kid who was a troublemaker in high school who became a law-enforcement officer in adulthood or an alcoholic who is more than 10 years sober. I was a someone who had so much clutter in her home that I had to walk along a pathway of waist-high boxes from my bathroom to my kitchen, and now I’m clutter free and work 40-plus hours a week to help others achieve the same. People can change, but the path to transformation isn’t always easy.

A recent weight-loss study by researchers at the University College London found that it took participants 12 weeks to develop new habits:

… participants gave a figure for how long it had taken to develop habits and the mean was 3.0 months (s.d. 1.8).

The study tracked the participants and discovered that the previously reported statistic that it takes just three weeks to develop a new habit is incorrect. The majority of the participants didn’t even have healthy eating behaviors established by eight weeks, and some of the participants took between 20 and 24 weeks to master the new routines.

In addition to teaching the participants better ways to eat, the study also recommended that people should:

… form ‘implementation intentions’ plans that specify when, where and how the behaviour will be performed because these have been hypothesized to accelerate the habit-formation process.

If changing your behaviors to help save the environment or improve your eating habits or live an uncluttered life is at the top of your priority list, then give yourself time to become accustom to your new routines. Write down your “implementation intentions,” make the changes, and then prepare for it to take 12 weeks before all of your changes start to feel like second nature. For some of you, it may even take twice that amount of time — but it will happen. Change is possible.

I’ve mentioned before that I’m a huge fan of using 3×5 cards to capture and organize tasks and ideas, but they can be somewhat inconvenient to use. Various cases and Hipster PDAs attempt to make note cards easily accessible, but they rely on carrying around yet another item in your pocket.

Last year, I picked up a Pocket Briefcase, which has now become one of my favorite organizational tools. Instead of carrying around a wallet and a stack of note cards, I’m able to carry just a wallet, because the cards fit inside. This particular briefcase has a pocket for cash, slots for a few debit and ID cards, and two pockets to organize used cards. I recently went on a trip out of the US and discovered that my Pocket Briefcase will even fit my passport.

This works for me because even when I don’t want to carry a notebook, I’m always carrying my wallet, so I’m never without a pen and paper. If you use note cards with your personal information on them, then you’re carrying business cards too!

Levenger’s pocket briefcase isn’t cheap, so if you want to see if this kind of tool will work for you without spending a lot of money, you can find similar items in many stores that carry office supplies.

I was recently given a copy of the book Simple Stunning Parties at Home by its author Karen Bussen. In the book, Karen suggests organizing a “party pantry” so that “when it’s time to throw a dinner party or a wine and cheese night on the spur of the moment, I look [to it] for design inspiration, and I pull together all the elements I need.” She lives in a small New York City apartment, so her party pantry isn’t large or cluttered. She recommends a “small closet, a cupboard in the kitchen, or an antique hutch — whatever works for you.”

One of the reasons I have committed myself to living an uncluttered, simple life is because I want to be able to enjoy time with those I love. Being able to invite friends and family over to the house on a moment’s notice is important to me, and an uncluttered home makes this stress-free and simple. Having an organized party pantry makes these surprise events even easier — and so I’m working to create one in my kitchen.

In addition to the obvious tableware, Karen suggests having snacks and condiments with long shelf lives in your party pantry. I’ve always struggled with knowing which types of snacks work well as appetizers or finger foods, so I found this list extremely helpful (from page 23):

• Packaged plain breadsticks
• Jars of olives, pickled jalapenos, stuffed grape leaves, and roasted sweet peppers
• Pistachios and mixed nuts or trail mixes
• Dill pickles
• Bottles of my favorite pasta sauce and a few types of past
• Boxes of crispbreads and crackers
• A variety of unusual chips (root vegetable, pita, tortilla, and others)
• Dried fruits (apricots, cranberries, cherries, and golden raisins)
• Plain microwave popcorn
• Dried Italian sausages and salami
• Biscotti and other cookies

Obviously, you wouldn’t need to keep all of these items in your party pantry. Rather, this is a list of possibilities for things that are good to store and serve. It is also fun to finish the rest of the jar or box of snacks after your guests leave. My mouth is watering just thinking about this list.

What snacks and supplies do you have on hand for unexpected guests? How do you organize your party pantry? Tell us about your setup in the comments.