I’ve always liked the song at the end of Bedazzled. The chorus tells us, “If you want to be somebody else, change your mind.” It’s so true. If you don’t like how things are going in your life, it often takes little more than just taking a different perspective on what’s happening to help change things around for us.
Over the weekend, I was reading David Lorenzo’s Carnival of Career Intensity and found this post that really echoed that song line. In this case, the mindset that needed changing was how he viewed his job, and I love the change he made. My job really struggles to help me make ends meet and cuts up my day in such a way that taking on any second job that isn’t a freelance job impossible. I’ve been told repeatedly that any sane person would have walked out long ago, but I’ve stuck with it.
Am I crazy? Probably, but I also love my job. It lets me do something that I would do regardless of whether or not I had a job that paid me to do it, and I love the company. I already pretty much have a hobby of teaching, and my current job pays me to do it. Yeah, I do some administrative work I’m not wild about, but I want to see things move smoothly, so I do it to help out.
If you’re finding your energy at work flagging, you might seriously give this article a read. If it doesn’t change your outlook on your job, then maybe it’s time to find a new job.
Posted by Rebecca as Changing careers, Creativity, inspiration, and motivation at 8:22 AM EST
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Right now, I’m in the process of redefining my career path, so I’m focusing on organizing my work and living space in a great attempt to avoid that fear-filled process. (It’s really not that scary. I know where I want to end up, but defining the path to get there appears to be one of those things you almost have to stumble into accidentally.)
Anyway, I’ve been trying to streamline my workspace into something that both motivates me to keep working on my projects and this career remodel, and keeps everything where I can find it easily when I need it. As a result, I’ve been gathering organizing tips wherever I can find them. This scan has a great set of tips, some of which I already use. I admittedly prefer to hang binder clips from the edge of a bulletin board to keep up with papers, though. I find it very sturdy and easy to work with. I also tend to use children’s school boxes to organize everything from stationery to packaging supplies to random odds and ends that don’t seem to fit with any other grouping.
What quick fixes do you use to organize your home office space?
Posted by Rebecca as Uncategorized, Organizing at 8:09 AM EST
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“Leadership is practiced not so much in words as in attitude and action.”
– Harold S. Deneen
“You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.”
- Abraham Lincoln
“Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.”
- Gloria Steinem
Posted by Rebecca as Leadership and management at 8:22 AM EST
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It almost seems a little too new age, but I recently followed a link to The Unschedule, and thought it wasn’t such a bad idea.
In fact, it looks suspiciously like how I already operate.
The Unschedule suggests that you make a schedule of all the non-project tasks you would normally do, and then only record time spent on the project you’re trying to finish when you spend thirty minutes or more on it. For someone easily discouraged when they get behind their schedule, this might be just the ticket.
On my own calendar, I only schedule the hours I have to be at work. Beyond that, I only enter tasks that get accomplished. Because I group like tasks into categories and then color code the categories, it allows me to glance quickly at my calendar and see how much I’ve accomplished and what areas have seen a lot of work ocmpleted during the previous week and the current week. (I do keep a to-do list beside my calendar to remind me of tasks I’d like to get done during the week, but that’s only because I respond well to that kind of motivation.)
If you’re having trouble because you feel like you can’t get anywhere on a project, give the Unschedule a try.
Posted by Rebecca as Organizing at 8:15 AM EST
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I’ve never been able to just sit down and freewrite. Given how much I love to write, I have no idea why this technique has never worked for me. I think part of it has to do with the fact that I tend to do so much of my prewriting and free associating in my head naturally that writing it down just feels foreign.
It’s a technique that I do recommend to my students when they are wrestling with any sort of dilemma. Some of them find it very helpful, and I think that’s largely because it gives them an outlet, a way to jog loose their thoughts and feelings, and allows them to uncover and nurture a more authentic response to their situation.
For us “grown-ups”, it’s the same thing. Once we have an outlet to let us break through our own mental blocks, it’s easier to reach the creativity and answers that may have eluded us.
If you think you might want to experiment with writing as a way to help you work through something, consider this list of suggested methods to help you out.
Posted by Rebecca as Creativity, inspiration, and motivation at 7:31 AM EST
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I’m addicted to my to-do lists. I can’t help myself. There’s nothing like setting out a long list of tasks and watching that list diminish as you work. I usually find it very satisfying.
I love my to-do lists so much that I have a ton of them. Nearly everything I’m working on, regardless of where it is in my life, is in its own broken-out list. Then, I have a master list where I keep the to-do list bits I want to focus on. It’s amazing how much I’m able to accomplish through this (admittedly obsessive-compulsive) method.
I keep my lists organized in EverNote, but that was after trying several different to-do list apps that really couldn’t handle my method of organizing. I could have gone low-tech, I suppose, but my paperless nature prefers my solution.
Want to find what helps you get on top of all your projects? Check out this list of to-do list methods.
Posted by Rebecca as Organizing at 7:50 AM EST
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A couple of years ago, i threw out the idea of New Year’s resolutions and replaced them with Goals for the Year.
So far, it’s been a rather successful approach to mapping out my year. But I’m amazed to see how many other people seem to take a similar approach to the New Year. I don’t know why…we all know resolutions are honestly there to break into a million iridescent pieces.
From my perspective, a goal is a much better method because it isn’t about just saying you’re going to do something. It’s about planning how to get from where you are currently to where you want to be. It’s about reflection and action. Somehow, I find both of those terribly motivating, even on those days when all I want to do is play on my DS.
Some articles on approaching the new year as a time for goal-setting
Posted by Rebecca as Creativity, inspiration, and motivation at 7:43 AM EST
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I admittedly have some mixed feelings over this model for educational leadership that I came across right before my computer blew a resistor.
Part of it may have to do that I was given this link amidst a link of different archetypes that i cannot find now.
Part of it may be because I find the descriptions a bit granola at best and a bit broad at worst.
If we actually push past my misgivings, though, these various leadership types are really present in every sector, not just education. In fact, if you’re lucky enough to have a leadership team who blend all of these types together, then I figure you probably would have quite the skilled team ready to encourage the entire team on to greatness.
It bears some reflecting.
Posted by Rebecca as Uncategorized, Leadership and management at 7:34 AM EST
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