The Daily Saint

This Friday: A Quote from St. Augustine on Organization

St. Augustine of Hippo, a tremendous saint from Africa in the 4th century once said, "peace is the tranquility of order." Some thoughts as we wrap up our week:

• to which project at work did you bring order this past week?
• which project do you feel most "at peace" with?
• what can you do at home this weekend to unclutter or simplify?

The great misconception about a desire for order is that it's about controlling and being obsessive.  I tend to think that those who maintain order at home and at work are not so much control freaks but have figured something out that the rest of us have yet to discover. 

Introducing 14 Surefire Stressbusters

Photo by Kortini

It's official- stress is increasing as fears of a recession are looming.  Whether it's the housing market, workplace insecurity or personal troubles, stress is here to stay.  I'd like to introduce a process that's sure to counter this trend.  It's called Surefire Stress Busters.

My friend Gene Monterastelli has developed this program and I'll be a contributing partner for the section on time management.  Surefire features a nice combination of audio segments, ebooks and traditional email information.  Best of all, it's free!

Sign up today by clicking here or by entering in your information in the widget "Free Stress Busting EClass" to the right.  Enjoy!

Are You a Spectator or a Participant?

Photo by HometownInvasion

If there is one thing that GTD teaches us it's to close the open loops in our life.  These often revolve around our project list.  It's often the  seemingly small projects ('buy gift for Claire') that we leave open until the very last minute, when we are forced to do something ('only one day until Claire's birthday').  The lesson?  Act on your thoughts and keep your projects moving...somewhere and somehow.

My students and I have been studying a critical event from the 1960's which I believe encourage the closing of some open loops and the opening of others.  Vietnam War?  Nope.  Labor movement?  Not even close.  We've been studying what is known as the Second Vatican Council.

Vatican II was a meeting (actually a series of them) which lasted from 1962-1965 and involved nearly 2500 Catholic bishops.  Some key decisions were made at Vatican II, including the groundbreaking idea of holding worship services (Mass) in the language of the people.  But that's not even remotely close to being the most important aspect of the council. 

What Vatican II did for Roman Catholics and for the world was to encourage people to go from being spectators to participants.   When we become participants, we take responsibility and that of course involves risk and vulnerability.

Some areas in life in which we can move from spectatorship to being players might include:

• Leadership at work: rather than being a complainer, a participant takes action where he can and does his job to a high level.
• Leadership at home: rather than putting himself first in the family, a participant seeks to lift up those around him.  What can I do to make my home happier for those around me?
• Leadership in your community:  close an open loop (i.e. the school board is spending money irresponsibly) by running for office, volunteering on a committee or hosting a party.

You can see the interchange between leadership/participation and the closing of loops.  The best online resource for a Vatican II overview can be found here. I believe that we are all capable of leadership which is a fancy word for being a participant ... in life.

How to Create an Ideal Day at the Office

LifeHack.org has my latest article called, "12 Steps Closer to to Your Ideal Work Day".  Whether you work at home or commute to an official office, I think you'll enjoy this post. 

3 Vices that Sabotage Productivity

Photo by Mhauri

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.

10 Sure-Fire Ways to Beat the February Blues

Photo by kool_skatkat

It's that time of year again, when the cold doesn't go away and the days are dark.  A former boss of mine once said, "Never make a big decision in February," and I think that he was right.  It's not a time of year that, in the Northeast U.S. at least, is particularly cheery.

What can you do to combat the February blues?  Here are some sure-fire ways that will pick you up and get you smoothly into Spring:

Change your voice mail message.  Sounds so basic but give it a try and see what happens.  Your callers will also know that you have a pulse and are keeping it real.

Move around your furniture.  A change in layout, placement, or even pairing can go a long way.  Furniture placement is definitely an art so figure out what works for you and then enjoy what you've created.  Generative activity is one of the best triggers to the brain to stimulate happiness.

Purge your closets. Tossing 'stuff' is also a great way to maintain simplicity and combat the winter blues. 

Clean your car.  Since you have to spend time in the car on a regular basis, keeping it clean makes a lot of sense.  You'll maintain a healthier space but the act of cleaning will also give you a boost to make it through February.

Change your website or blog design. Why not mix it up?  If you use Wordpress or Typepad, there are many templates out there which are easy enough to install.  Try something out and ask for feedback from your readers.  Why not create a contest that would let the readers choose the look and feel that they enjoy the most?

Streamline your desk. A clean desk is essential for maximum productivity.  More than that, it keeps you in the zone and allows you to tune out visual distractions.  Keep it simple, nothing more and nothing less.

Clean out your wallet or handbag.  Similar to purging a closet, a journey through a wallet or purse reveals all sorts of things.  Clean it out and you'll be amazed how much lighter it is when receipts and unnecessary items are tossed.

Go for a new look. Mix it up with a new hair style, an affordable wardrobe makeover or one new accessory which you'll use regularly.  If your health insurance provides for new glasses, why keep wearing that old pair with the broken nose-pieces?

Take a mini-vacation. A long weekend during February makes a lot of sense.  It doesn't have to be far from home nor expensive to make this idea happen. 

Throw a party.  Invite a small group of your good friends over and call it a "Winter Blues" get together.  Invite everyone to bring a dish and then enjoy the night!

Why it Might be Time for an Executive Retreat

Photo by Ratterrell

Today our staff will be on retreat.  Nothing fancy, just an opportunity to step back from the daily grind and think about our mission and objectives.  We do this 2-3 times per year and while some members of the staff get nervous about the idea of prayer, dialogue and reflection, it's always worth it.

Aficionados of Patrick Lencioni know that an executive retreat can benefit a team in several ways.  Retreats can:

• Create bonding. 
• Reveal personality.
• Promote reflection.
• Allow disagreement.
• Invite fun.
• Generate emotion.

While I don't believe that lives will be changed today as a result of our 3 hours on retreat, I do believe that our corporate culture is gradually shifting towards our overall mission.  Over time, our process of retreating allows staff members to be themselves, try new things and see issues from angles of coworkers whom they might not ordinarily interact with.   Maybe it's time your team got away for a day of retreat?

Resources for the Road
7 Deadly Sins of Executive Retreats
Executive Retreats Online
Seton Hall University: Executive Retreat Program

If Rambo Had Email...

Photo by Notinet

This is a guest post by Craig Huggart. He is the author of Escape From Email Hell and blogs at Tech Rest.

How would John Rambo manage multiple email accounts?  Isn't that the question that everyone is wondering as the latest installment in the Rambo movies hits the big screen?

Managing your email can feel like bailing water from a sinking boat. The water is coming in faster than you can bail it out. It's even worse when you have multiple Inboxes and you want to get them all to empty. So what can you do if you are like me and you have multiple email addresses that you use all the time? The answer is to consolidate all your mail into one desktop email application.

Why one place? It's so much easier to manage one big list than two or more smaller lists of email. Also, when you use one application all the time you can get lightning fast with it.

Why desktop application? Even with a fast internet connection, desktop apps are just faster. In addition, they have more robust integration with Calendar and Tasks.

How do you get it set up? I use Outlook 2007 and pull in my Gmail and Yahoo accounts via POP3. For details on how to set up Gmail see Setting up your Gmail with Outlook 2007. For Yahoo see Setting up your Yahoo mail with Outlook 2007. I paid about $20 USD for a pro Yahoo account. On the other hand, there are programs out there that will get you around this. If I had to do it over again I would probably stick with Gmail. I've just had my Yahoo address too long to make it easy to switch.

Why Gmail? It's got great *S*P*A*M filtering and the POP access is easy to set up. Also, you can set Gmail to archive all your read messages (see partial screen shot of the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab of Settings). So after I pull my messages into Outlook from Gmail, my Inbox in Gmail is empty. With Yahoo, I would have to manually more them. Yahoo users, if you know of a way to do this automatically let me know.

Why not IMAPP? I tried IMAPP and there were two things I didn't like. One, it downloaded ALL my messages to Outlook. Two, I didn't like having two separate lists in my Inbox when it was done. For those of you not familiar with IMAPP the big advantage is that it keeps your mail in sync when you access it from multiple places. So, for instance, you delete a message when you are reading your mail on you PDA and it would also be deleted from the server.

How about a portable solution? Thunderbird is a great email client. If you want a portable solution you might try putting Thunderbird on a thumb drive using Portable Apps. I use the Portable Apps version of Firefox and love it. With Thunderbird on a thumb drive you could have your desktop email client with you wherever you go.

3 Easy Ways to End a Meeting on Time

Have you ever been in a meeting and thought is was going to end, only to find that it keeps going and going and going?  It's as if you are a runway attendant with the orange cones.  You're trying to get the plane to land but its pilot can't seem to get the coordinates right.  Painful indeed.

I've written about meetings several times on TDS but lately I've had a renewed interest as several meetings have gone on and on.  I've become so frustrated in fact that once I turned on my stopwatch when I thought the meeting should end.  As the participants talked on and on and then we did conclude, my watch indicated that an extra 20 minutes had just been gobbled up with fluff talk and chit chat.  How I would love to reclaim those lost 20 minutes!

What to do in these kind of situations?  If you're able to identify the "problem" and it's recurring, I offer the following:

1. Offer to facilitate the meeting yourself.  This is risky in that it puts you on the line for the next time around.  It also, depending on the current meeting planner, might send a message that he/she isn't the ideal facilitator.  Walk gently with this one and know the facilitator well.  You certainly don't want to come across as a know-it-all.  I did this recently and it worked, the person thanked me for taking one more thing off of her plate. 

On the other hand, if it's a one-time meeting or a group that you can't facilitate yourself, you can:

1. Politely say, "Are we done?"  Bluntness works with certain groups and but not with all.  Know your group and judge whether they can handle this.  The bottom line is simple: life is busy and there are other things to do- why spend more time in a meeting than you have to?

And finally, if that's not a viable option, you can:

1. Begin to pack up your things and say, "This was good.  I have another appointment to attend.  Thank you." While I would rather not pack up my things, this visual sends  a message to your group- you are a busy executive with things to do so let's get on with it. 

Be attentive to the meetings that you're in today.  How well are they being run?  Could then end earlier and on a more positive note?  Sometimes ending is as important as how you begin.

Resources for the Road
Ending Meeting Madness
How Can I End My Meetings Effectively?
Managing Meetings Effectively

How to Overcome Anxiety with Simple Trust

(Photo by Jaki Good)

While many people are back to work after the holidays, Friday is a welcome relief from what may have been a brief stint back at work.  Sometimes a two or three day week can be as tiring as a full five day run.  You want to trust in your New Year's resolutions and hopes for a good start to '08 but the daily grind can get in the way.

The Spiritual Twist
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, a founder of elementary school education in the United States, had a great way to solve all of this work-stress-work tension.  She said, "God, who sits above, smiles at the anxious, calculating heart, and makes everything easy to the simple and confiding."  As someone who gets paid to be attentive to details, I can certainly relate to this quote.

While this does not mean that all stress goes away, a simple and upright heart can go a long way to dialing back the tensions of daily life.  What does it mean to be simple and upright of heart?  To a man, I think that it implies a lifestyle that is not overcrowded by too much stuff and too many commitments.  It also speaks of the need to make a difference in whatever we do but especially at work. 

The Practice of Simple Trust
To put St. Elizabeth's quote into practice, try this for today:

• When you notice, physically, that you are under stress, step back and walk.  Walk your hallway or go outside.  Keep it under 5 minutes.
• Having moved your body to process some of the stress, sit down and write.  Write on your Blackberry, laptop or in a notebook.  Just write.  Answer: "I am currently dealing with x@0%!" Just put your stress down on paper and get it out of your head.
• Return to work. 

Some would say that this is overly simple.  That is the point.