Blog Post:

It is a little late, but February 11 - 17 was “Random Acts of Kindness” week in the US. Still, kindness never goes out of fashion no matter what week it is. For some good ideas on how to spread kindness in the world, check out The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation.

Do something nice for someone today

Blog Post:

Think of someone you know who is not working at full potential.  Why isn't their productivity what it should be?  Reasons might include illness, family health issues, depression, an unreasonable workload, burnout, etc. 

Or, there might be another reason: vice.

Vice is often defined as an "evil habit" or even as a "fault" in one's daily practice.  Aristotle spoke of virtues as the opposite of vices.  A virtue is often considered to be "the right amount" so for an average sized man, virtuous eating would be the middle ground between starving himself and overeating.  For the sumo wrestler, this amount will of course change.  Vice, in this example, would be one of the two extremes of the spectrum. 

Three vices in particular are a real problem (translation, pain in the butt) when it comes to productivity: lust, envy and sloth.

Practically speaking, lust is an urge towards something that you don't have personally.  The Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama) described it this way, “Of all of the worldly passions, lust is the most intense.  All other worldly passions seem to follow in its train."  How does lust derail productivity? 

• It distracts, diverting the mind.
• It impels, confusing the body.
• It intoxicates, limiting the ability to focus.

Without a clear mind, a healthy body and a keen ability to focus on one thing at a time, it's pretty darn tough to be productive. 

Vice #2 which gets in productivity's way is envy.  When I envy someone else's stuff, I wish it were mine.  The only real problem is that it doesn't stop there.  Envy seeks another's goods but more dangerously, sees the material possession as more important than its owner.  This is a classic case of "thing over person".  How does envy derail productivity?

• It slows teamwork, causing division between members.
• It distracts, dulling the mind.
• It takes up time, bringing us away from work.

And finally, we get to sloth.  Slasher flicks occasionally touch on sloth as one of the nearly forgotten "deadly sins".  One definition is "extreme laziness".  When I teach virtue and vice to my high school seniors, many students think that they are filled with sloth.  Not necessarily so. 

Sloth is a prolonged period of doing nothing when I should be doing something.  Sloth leaves room for the occasional "lazy Saturday" around the house.  What sloth is really after is a habitual sense of laziness- a state which lasts and eventually takes over.  Sloth gets in productivity's path in the following ways:

• It sees time as pointless rather than as opportunity.
• It leads its owner out of ambition and into perpetual relaxing.
• It seeks fleeting pleasure instead of enduring happiness.

Whether you struggle with lust or envy or sloth (or all three?), there is hope!  I suggest taking 15 minutes within the next week and writing down some specific times when you feel a struggle with any one of these vices.  Once you've inventoried your own tendencies, you can focus on their opposites: virtues.

1. When lust comes at you, have a picture of your family or loved ones handy.  It's nearly impossible to lust after someone or something if you have a visual reminder of what's really important in life.
2. When envy approaches, walk the other way.  Material things are nice for the moment but will be outdated in 6 months anyway.  Remind yourself of this often.
3. When sloth creeps in, do something productive.  Go for a walk, lift some weights, do some work.  If you schedule your times of relaxation, the other 'working hours' will be more fruitful and life will retain a healthy sense of balance.

The key with virtue-building is to practice doing good things.  No person masters self without two steps forward and one step back.  Practice makes perfect, at work and within yourself.

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Blog Post:

This past week, I threw in the towel on a technology problem I've been frustrated by and called in a consultant.  The headache in question was related to my Catholic Moments Podcast, a weekly thirty minute talkfest related to my CatholicMom.com web site.  A major feature of the podcast has been the telephone interviews I conduct with authors, musicians and other folks doing noteworthy things to spread our faith and raise great families.

Since the debut of the podcast, I had been using Skype to conduct the interviews and recording them on my macbook as they were conducted.  During several conversations, I experienced dropped Skype calls because of our internet connection.  The results were very frustrating, and also an embarrassment - it's awful to be in the middle of a conversation with an invited guest and have the phone line go dead.  I began to dread using Skype because I never knew when it would konk out on me.  After one particularly bad experience, I finally decided to consult with a professional podcasting consultant who had been recommended to me by a trusted friend.

Enter Cliff Ravenscraft, the Podcast Answer Man. With a couple of quick telephone conferences, Cliff was able to advise me on equipment purchases and  help me assemble and use my new equipment.  His service was friendly, responsive, and related in terms even a rookie podcasting mom could understand.

Had I taken my normal route of consulting "dummies" books, I'm certain I would still be losing sleep and performing at a sub-optimal level.  Once I determined that putting together a quality podcast in a time efficient manner was important, the end goal seemed to justify the expense of bringing a consultant on board.  I am incredibly pleased with the return on my investment.

Do you have areas of your business or personal goals that could benefit from the perspective of a consultant or coach?  Can you reallocate resources to locate the funds necessary to bring in such expertise?  If the answers to these questions are yes, consider dropping the "dummies" books and get ready to achieve your goals with greater speed and efficiency.

Blog Post:

This week, there's been much discussion about a recent study involving sugar substitutes.   Time Magazine references the study in its article entitled Can Sugar Substitutes Make You Fat?   The article seems to point to weight gain in animal test subjects who were fed artificially sweetened substances, owing to the fact that they consumed more than their sugar-fed counterparts.

Regardless of the details of the study, I enjoy hearing about research like this because it gives me pause to stop and think about the state of my own nutrition.  As a Catholic, during this period of Lent I have cut back drastically on my sugar substitute intake thanks to my chosen Lenten fast.  For Lent, the only beverage I am consuming is water, so my normal diet soda fix has been missing the past few weeks.  I can't say that I've noted any other impact on my caloric intake from not taking in a bunch of artificial sweetener each day - but now that I've read the study information I will probably pay closer attention.

Along with exercising and resting properly, we know that eating "whole" foods as much as possible is best for our bodies.  If we stick with obtaining our sugar through fruits and other natural resources, we're probably on the right track.  This week's study will not likely have a major impact on my nutritional life, but it will prompt me to stop and consider my diet a little more carefully - and that's a sweet thing!

Blog Post:

Have you struggled to get organized but still feel burdened by your clutter? Is there one room that just drives you crazy or do you have a hard time finding things when you want them? If so, it may be time to call in a professional organizer.

The National Association of Professional Organizers offers a wonderful website that will help you find an organizer for whatever your needs might be - business or residential, information management, special events, and organizing for those with special physical needs. It just might be what you need to be as organized as you want to be.

 

- Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur
http://spiritualwomanthoughts.blogspot.com
http://momentofbeauty.blogspot.com

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Over the years, I have subscribed to various e-mailings. In addition, some folks have taken it upon themselves to also send me lots of e-mail. For every important piece of email I was getting, there must have been five that were very low priority. And there were many that I didn’t want at all.

It was a huge daily distraction to have to scroll through them all, sort them, and delete them.

So I finally got around to setting up the online filtering tool on my email. (This is different from the Spam filter, that was already set up.) I came up with several categories: Mostly jokes, Catholic, Political, Sales, E-newsletters, etc.

Since then, I have been relentless in taking the time to reroute something out of my regular email to the online filtering system. I was also relentless in unsubscribing to mailings I no longer wanted. I would be in the middle of an important project and if one of these emails came through, I would stop, log onto the Internet, and set up the filter to reroute to one of the holding folders.

It has worked out well. Now I review these emails on my laptop, usually in the evening when I’m relaxing watching TV. They don’t usually require a lot of attention or any action, so they are not such a burden anymore and I actually enjoy them more now. Most importantly, they don’t distract me from my work.

It’s really great to not have a cluttered inbox anymore.

Blog Post:

I'm not like your typical 40-something year old suburban mom.  I have no desire to spend long afternoons shoe shopping and the thought of spending money on a designer purse makes me a little sick to my stomach. 

But I do have a vice when it comes to consumerism - I'm a gadget geek.  For the past year, since its release, I've been covetous of the Apple iPhone.  Last year, I avoided the temptation by telling myself that the 8 GB model was simply not enough memory to justify the price.  Now, with these week's news of a new 16 GB model, I find myself once again obsessing about a new cell phone.  It's crazy!

Do you obsess over gadgets, and if so do you find your satisfaction level to be high once you've made the purchase - or is the joy in the anticipation? 

Also, if anyone out these is upgrading and wants to donate your old 8 GB iPhone to a deserving suburban mom, I know someone who might be interested….

Blog Post:

Everyone knows what a time-waster meetings can be. Here is a good idea for making that time more beneficial - Assign tasks before the meeting! With everyone on email, it is possible to send out tasks to people easily. Have each person be in charge of some research so that once the meeting begins, the time can be used for discussion and decision-making, rather than stating the problem and assigning tasks. This should help cut down the need for a second meeting!

 

Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur
http://momentofbeauty.blogspot.com
http://spiritualwomanthoughts.blogspot.com

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Right before Thanksgiving I began GTD’s organizing methodology. I did a pretty good job of purging most of my office and getting all my things, both personal and business, into the “system.”

The only thing I didn’t do was to go through every single paper in my two large filing cabinets and a bookcase in my office, nor did I go through every “nook and cranny” in my house. Yes, I’m that obsessive.

So with the New Year I thought it would be nice to set a goal for “processing” everything in my house and that it would be nice to have it all done before my daughter’s graduation in May, which is before her wedding in July. I picture having everything “perfect” before guests arrive.

I planned to finish the bookshelf and filing cabinets in my office in January; do the bookshelves in the hall and kitchen in February; dining room/bathrooms in March; master bedroom and garage in April. The kids’ rooms can wait until they move out. Good plan I thought.

Well, it will be the end of January on Thursday and, though I did the bookcase, I haven’t completed processing one drawer of the two filing cabinets I’m working on! I have started it though. I’ve been distracted with a daughter who got bit by a dog and has had to have rabies shots, and then she had another unrelated health problem and was in the hospital last week.

So I think I will retrench and reset my goals to be completed by Thanksgiving. Actually, I should probably go for a five-year plan. I do have a wedding to plan after all and I haven’t figured out yet when I’m going to do the taxes.

One of the things I’m having trouble dealing with are all my books. In the past, I’ve winnowed, but I’m finding it very difficult to winnow this time around. I really pretty much want them all even though I know I’m not likely to use many of them. I’m not sure why it’s so hard.

BTW my daughter is fine.

Blog Post:

When it comes to the art of social network, I am a slow learner and a late bloomer.  It normally takes me fifteen times being invited to the latest and greatest before I'll dip my big toe in and take the dive.  This experience occurred this past weekend, when I finally consented to someone's "connection" request on LinkedIn.  I'm now slowly at work on editing my personal profile and making connections.  Like a teenager, I couldn't withstand the peer pressure when yet another "cool" person (one I admire professionally) invited me to join their network.  The trick with all of these tools is to learn to use them efficiently while not letting them stand in the way of our productivity.  We can become so consumed with networking online that we don't get any actual work accomplished.

I'm still untangling the ins and outs of LinkedIn, so I hope to have another update in a month or so when I am more experienced with this particular tool.  In the meantime, if you have any suggestions for me on LinkedIn, I'd love to hear from you.  You can find my profile here.