Time & Life Management

I read somewhere that one of the biggest time-wasters is procrastination, but I think it is disorganization. Which is it?

Signed, Disorganized Procrastinator

Procrastination is not only a huge time-waster, but a stress-inducer as well.

In an often-told tale that goes something like this, a Native American elder once described his inner struggles to a friend:

The Internet, a wonderful tool that allows us to retrieve information in seconds, can also rob us of hours if we are not careful. Have you ever looked something up and found yourself reading countless other articles by following link after link of fascinating data? I know I have! There is so much to see, and it is so easy to get to that it is tempting to just read and read and read. How do we stop?

Life is full of interruptions and always will be. That's what happens when you live among other humans. How we respond to it is another thing. While the interruption may not be entirely in our control, how we handle it is.

Every year I freak out around the holiday time and I really would rather not do that. I overdo it, even though I tell myself not to, and I don't really enjoy it as much as I would like because I am running around doing way more than I can handle. Any hints you could provide would be wonderful! - Stressed Out for the Holidays

You may be the person who always hosts a holiday dinner or celebration. Perhaps this is your first time to host the holiday party or you were delegated to plan the company party. However it came about, if you have the privilege and challenge of hosting, here are some tips to make it easier.

Buying and keeping track of gifts is a big problem for me. I forget what I have gotten already and what I planned for my nieces and nephews, and then don't I get the things I have bought for people to them in time. I find I have this same issue with birthday gifts during the rest of the year too. How can I fix this? - Perplexed Gift Giver

What can you recommend for people living in spaces so compact that there’s hardly any place to hide things out of sight? Such as shoes, linens - and the ever-growing collection of things to throw out or otherwise redistribute! - A Faithful Reader

Last week, “A Faithful Reader” asked about ways to store things out of sight in small living spaces. I’ve broken my response into three categories of acquiring more space: under places, over places, and inside places. This week I am sharing ideas of ways to organize over places (otherwise overlooked areas?) that can be better utilized or repurposed as storage spaces.

I was working with a client a few days ago and I asked a simple question: “What do you want to complete in the last two weeks before the end of the year?” The reality of the time frame startled him. “Oh wow!” he exclaimed, “That’s right, there are only a couple of weeks left!”