How to Recognize and Destroy Time Wasters

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How to Recognize and Destroy Time Wasters

They are everywhere. Time wasters. Chronological cat burglars. Minute moochers. Is there any way to stop them? You bet your sundial there is a way so you can improve your time management!

There are chronological criminals among us. So here is some lighthearted advice to take or not as you see fit.

Time is an interesting concept. Babies don’t know anything about it. Children bend it to suit their own selfish needs. Teenagers can be big-time wasters, as long as it makes their parents mad. Adults become enslaved by it. Seniors are threatened by it. And, of course, the deceased don’t worry about it anymore. That’s why you see so many sundials on graves. They’re laughing at the rest of us.

So what does time really mean to us? The living. The working. The anxious. The serfs. All you rich people who might be reading this article at the moment can go hop on your private jets and fly to Bermuda because you don’t care about time one way or the other, do you?

But for the average Joe Timex, time is a nagging presence that hovers over us — giving an evil chuckle from time to time when our schedules go awry. And what makes our schedules go awry? Time wasters!

Now when you’re at home or away from the office, you can deal with time wasters any way you want, legal or otherwise. But, right now, we are dealing with those insidious time wasters in the office, on the factory floor, who keep you from finishing your work.

Time is money, and you’re already in debt!

Let’s start in the home office. Many poor deluded souls believe working at home saves them time. But, of course, that might be true for the lucky few who don’t have spouses, children, neighbors, or pets just waiting to bushwhack them their schedule.

Take children, for instance. They have a built-in radar that knows precisely when you are in a Zoom conference with your manager. When they sense this opportunity, they go into action. Cereal is spilled. Knees are cut. Fights break out. In other words, all hell breaks loose. And for some strange reason, you are the one they expect to take charge of the situation.

By the time you get things settled, your boss has gone off to happy hour, and you wish you could too.

Here’s what to do . . .

  • When your spouse doesn’t respect your work schedule at home, try divorce. If that’s too expensive or emotional, try earplugs.
  • Perchance earplugs are too itchy for you — use that golden question: “Can we talk about this when I take you out to dinner tonight?”
  • If worst comes to worst, prepare a hidey-hole in your home office where you can secret yourself from the tender attentions of your spouse.
  • For pesky neighbors, the best recourse is a vicious dog. One that would bite the leg off of the Dalai Lama.
  • The only exception to this rule would be if your neighbors bring you good things to eat. If that’s the case, use land mines. So they have a sporting chance to get through.
  • Children should be treated with kindness and consideration. They are unaware of the awful burden you bear as a slave in the salt mines. So when they come to you with their petty squabbles and tears, do not turn them away. Just give them lots of candy and lead them to the TV. You’ll never be bothered by them again.
  • (The ASPCA has approved the following recommendations.) Cats should be sedated with catnip. Dogs should be given the biggest bone the butcher has. Birds should be let out of their cages into the great outdoors. Lizards and snakes, which don’t make any noise anyway, should be donated to the local zoo. You don’t have time to take care of them properly.

Time In the office . . .

A time thief may be your own boss. If that’s the case, just grit your dentures and suck it up. It might help to daydream about the beaches of Thailand while your boss is bloviating. On the other hand, if it’s a coworker who constantly purloins your need to count the bottle caps in your desk drawer, then the answer is just put some cotton dipped in red food coloring in your ears.  And if a colleague still attempts to take your time, just point to your ears and shake your head. If this doesn’t discourage them, then try a piteous groan or two. They should take the hint.

In conclusion . . .

Although this has been a lighthearted look at time wasters — and maybe, perchance a time waster to read — the problem of time wasters is real and it is serious. The best way to keep busy and uninterrupted is to look extraordinarily harried and busy and like you will not stand for any interruption. That’s all you really need to know. That will keep most time parasites away.

Why Syncing Your Work and Personal Calendars Simplifies Appointment Scheduling

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Why Syncing Your Work and Personal Calendars Simplifies Appointment Scheduling

If you’re a busy individual, you probably have a separate calendar for work and for your personal life. This helps you divide up your different commitments so that a single calendar doesn’t get overcrowded. However, managing two separate calendars comes with different challenges you need to take into account. 

No matter what kind of error you want to avoid when juggling dual calendars, syncing will be your best solution. This will make your appointment-scheduling process so much easier whether you’re planning activities with your family and friends or organizing a new entrepreneurial venture. Here’s how calendar syncing is going to help you:

Improves Planning

When your work and personal calendars are intertwined, both calendars can be reviewed simultaneously. This allows your online appointment scheduling software to show you all available time slots that work for you. Otherwise, you might book a meeting that fits into your work calendar while overlooking a family commitment you had made for the same time. You don’t want to miss your daughter’s soccer game because you arranged a simultaneous client coffee date. 

With both calendars linked together, you’ll have a better idea of what you have to plan for in the upcoming days. Improved planning leads to increased efficiency, fewer mixups, and ultimately better results as your schedule falls into place.

Helps Manage Your Life Balance

With both calendars synced up, you can also improve that much-needed work-life balance. If you’re noticing that your work calendar far outweighs your personal calendar, maybe it’s time to schedule some more activities with your family. This can also be done in reverse. You might realize you’ve been taking a lot of time off recently and recognize the need to get back to the old grindstone, refilling that work calendar once again. 

Syncing your work and personal calendars will also help you learn the difficult art of saying no. Some appointments you’re just going to have to decline in the name of life balance. Turning down a single work appointment won’t be the end of the world for your career, especially if it contributes to a better family life. 

Stops You From Overbooking

Appointment software will not allow you to schedule over other events, even if you try. You’ll get a nice, big alert warning you that the time slot you’ve selected has already been filled. This will help with tricky situations like the one mentioned previously, where you create a work event without realizing there’s been a personal event scheduled there already. 

This will also prevent others from trying to overbook your time. Many managers use appointment software to make their time available to employees needing to ask questions or report on a project in progress. You don’t have to list out any specifics, but having both of your calendars covered in your available time slots will stop an employee from trying to bother you while you’re at a family gathering. Emergencies are always an exception, of course. 

Automates Schedule Additions and Changes in Both Places

After any appointment is scheduled, it’s automatically added to both of your calendars. This is one less thing you have to do, saving you a little bit of time and hassle when scheduling. Manual syncing is tedious, and also leaves more room for human error than any of us would like. You could accidentally input the wrong time in one calendar or simply forget to include the commitment when taking your other calendar into consideration. 

Automatic syncing will also come in handy when you share your calendars with other people. For example, you might share a personal calendar with your significant other. If they plan an event in your shared calendar, you’ll want that to pop up automatically. This will enable greater communication between you two and prevent conflicts from arising because of a lack thereof. 

The syncing of calendars with appointment software is great if you use these tools to better coordinate with your team as well. Sending an appointment invitation for an upcoming meeting will give employees the time to arrange their personal schedules accordingly. 

Enables Easier Transitioning

It can be difficult to shift your thought process from your work life to your personal life. By syncing their two respective calendars together, you’ll be able to make easier transitions throughout the day. 

For example, a major perk of using appointment software is to send and receive reminders and notifications. This can help cut down on tardiness and no-shows. However, you can find yourself feeling flustered if your notifications seem to be competing instead of coming in a linear fashion. Synchronized calendars will reduce this effect. 

There’s no time like the present to begin syncing up your work and personal calendars. It will make your appointment scheduling so much easier and improve your time management as you head into 2022.

Increase Your Energy for a Happier Work-Life Balance

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Increase Your Energy for a Happier Life Balance

It wasn’t all that long ago that the term “work-life balance” was all the rage. But, how exactly did the business world view the concept?

For many, it’s recognizing that an employee’s work experience is only one aspect of their lives? The other consisted of family, friends, hobbies, and overall health. The objective of work-life balance is to ensure that work doesn’t interfere with life outside of work too much. When this goal is met, employees will be happier and more productive.

“Work-life balance” may seem like a relatively new concept, but it first became popular during the 1970s and 1980s. It was actually stressed by baby boomers who attempted to achieve a balance between work, family, and other areas of their lives. The changing experiences of generational groups, however, have led HR leaders to reassess the term. Generation X, according to Forbes, has placed a high emphasis on achieving a balance between work and family. It also uses PTO to focus on family life and non-work activities.

But, as millennials have entered the workforce with gusto, Forbes adds that “they are more interested in finding a career path that will support their’ lifestyle,’ which in this context means their life outside of work.” In other words, younger age groups have focused on pursuing jobs and employers that support the lifestyle they desire. Rather than securing a job and then creating a life around its hours, income, and other aspects, this approach inverts the conventional approach more associated with Boomers.

As a consequence, concepts like “work-life integration” have become increasingly popular. But, maybe we’re overthinking this. “Rather, we simply must manage our energy,” asserts Gila Vadnai-Tolub for McKinsey.

“We must learn critical skills to balance our energy levels to ensure we alternate high-performance periods with resourcing times,” adds Vadnai-Tolub. “Athletes do this by alternating training with resourcing activities, and we must do the same via activities that give us energy.”

The Primary Types of Energy

“There are four primary types of energy: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual,” states Vadnai-Tolu.

  • Physical energy. Most of us are familiar with this type. Generally speaking, it provides us with an indication of how tired we feel and how well our bodies feel. It’s for this reason that we understand we need to walk occasionally. However, it is not only long-term fitness plans that matter, but also daily refreshment moments.
  • Mental energy. This is often obtained from tasks that require analytical and cognitive abilities. For example, you may be physically fine but mentally exhausted after spending a long time concentrating. Each of us has specific mental tasks that drain or lift us.
  • Emotional energy. To achieve this, one must have connections with others – from giving and receiving love to helping a friend or colleague deal with a problem. Consequently, negative emotions such as fear, frustration, and anger drain energy and damage performance, she says.
  • Spiritual energy. When we do something we love, something that speaks to our spirit, we receive wisdom, compassion, integrity, joy, love, creativity, or peace as a result. For instance, it’s a common experience to become mentally and physically tired while working on a project. Nevertheless, we’re able to keep going because it is something of fundamental importance.

Being aware of these can help you better manage your energy throughout the day. For example, when you recognize that you’re physically or mentally zapped, you would take a break to recharge.

What’s more, you can find ways to give yourself an energy boost. For example, let’s say that you’re frustrated with how long a project has taken you to complete. Reminding yourself of the meaning behind your work or collaborating with a supportive college could reduce those negative feelings and give you a jot.

Why It’s Important to Manage Your Energy

You may be thinking that managing your energy isn’t all that big of a deal. After all, you can just brew a pot of coffee to wake yourself up. While that might give you a temporary boost to wrap up a tedious task, truly managing your energy has the following benefits, according to Karen Kallie R.N., M.A.C.P;

  • Accelerated change. Working energetically gets at the root of problems, makes them easier to resolve, and empowers you to provide positive, quick, and practical solutions, really a change from within.
  • Diminished resistance. Often, our attempts to change are stymied by the struggle, thereby impeding the flow of change. Energy work can aid in eliminating that struggle. When using energy, we can experience ease and grace instead of force and willpower.
  • The discipline of the mind. A more focused mind helps us channel our energy more efficiently towards our goals and fulfill our desires.
  • Enhanced clarity. As a result of eliminating emotional turmoil, negative attitudes, and exhausting thought patterns, one can perceive reality more clearly, oneself and others.
  • Improved intuition, creativity, and spiritual experience. By strengthening and removing old memories, beliefs, and maladaptive patterns from the overall energy system, the entire system functions better, enabling higher levels of function to expand.
  • Clearing energy blocks from our systems creates an opening for positive growth. To prevent ourselves from getting sucked into repetitive cycles filled with what we do not want, we create more of what we want in life. When our minds and bodies are relaxed, we become more open to allowing greater flow, which also helps us to quiet our ego and recognize other energies.

How you Can Increase Your Energy for Happier and More Balance Life

Establish fixed schedules for work.

When will your workday begin and end? Ideally, this should be based around when you’re most productive, aka your biological prime time. While not always possible, when you can establish a work schedule, you can avoid energy-depleting distractions, like emails or office visitors.

“Use technology to your advantage by using the various apps and digital reminders that make it more difficult for you to break your own rules and access things outside of work time,” advises Dr. Beurkens. “Although technology can feel like it’s taking over our lives and infringing on our work-life balance, we can actually use it to our benefit in helping us stick to the boundaries we know are healthy for us.” For example, you may choose to set time limits, turn off your active status, or even set up an auto-responder to let others know you won’t respond outside your regular working hours.

You should also share your calendar with others. Of course, this doesn’t have to be everyone on your contact list. But, letting your co-workers or family members know when you’re on and off the clock prevents work-life lines from getting blurred.

Eat, drink, and be merry.

No, this isn’t a DMB plug. But, if “Tripping Billies” lifts your mood and energy, then go for it. So, instead, this covers the basics of increasing your energy.

You are what you eat.

With the proper diet, you can keep your body healthy, feel energized, and stay optimistic. Plus, healthy food can be tasty. And, personally, I enjoy learning and preparing new recipes.

Additionally, cooking healthy doesn’t have to be a time-consuming endeavor if you try the following;

  • Get your hands on a cookbook featuring quick and tasty dishes, or look for health-conscious recipes online.
  • Take advantage of ready-to-eat fruits and vegetables.
  • You’ll find it easier to resist the temptation to order a pizza f you prepare a weekly menu and freeze meals in advance.

But, what exactly should you eat? As per the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, an optimal energy diet should include fruits, vegetables, lean protein, low-fat dairy products, and whole grains.

You should also consume various foods from various food groups to get the proper nutrients to help you stay energized throughout the day. You should eat fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables, especially dark, leafy vegetables, such as carrots and sweet potatoes, which are high in nutrients. For healthy protein options, fish and legumes are available in a variety of forms. In addition, eat three servings of whole-grain cereal, bread, rice, or pasta each day.

Stay hydrated.

Another benefit of eating healthy? You may be consuming water-rich fruits and vegetables, like tomatoes, oranges, and strawberries. That’s a simple way to ensure that you stay hydrated throughout the day.

In addition to water, green tea, Yerba maté, and coffee are also drinks that can stimulate energy. Just be careful not to overdo it with the caffeine. When the body withdraws from caffeine after consuming too much coffee, as an example, it can result in energy loss.

Also, it’s alright to have the occasional alcoholic beverage. “Moderate drinking seems to be good for the heart and circulatory system, and probably protects against type 2 diabetes and gallstones,” states the Harvard School of Public Health.

Promote happiness and creativity.

Having a positive attitude toward life enables you to tackle your tasks more effectively. Alternatively, stress can be exhausting and negatively affect your health. In addition, research shows stress can hinder creativity.

You can relieve stress by taking care of yourself and choosing creative outlets that you enjoy;

  • Each week, dedicate some time to de-stressing and relaxing.
  • If possible, enjoy some quiet time in the morning.
  • Consider learning a new hobby or taking art classes if you’ve always wanted to take one.
  • Decrease your exposure to negativity, like avoiding news overdose or hanging out with toxic people.
  • Practice gratitude and do something meaningful daily.
  • Enjoy everyday tasks. Some ideas would be making an ethnic meal for dinner, singing in the shower, learning a language during your commute, or gamification at work.
  • Take walks outside — without your phone.
  • Find ways to laugh, like watching funny videos or playing with your dog.

Get your body moving.

Feeling lethargic by the middle of the day? Have you ever felt exhausted by simple everyday tasks, such as grocery shopping or chores around the house?

According to the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, getting 150 minutes of physical activity each week can add to your energy instead of taking it away. Why? When you exercise, you relieve stress and tension, strengthen your muscles, and boost your endurance, which improves your ability to perform other physical activities more efficiently.

Restrict your sleep.

“If you think you may be sleep-deprived, try getting less sleep,” states Harvard Health Publishing. “This advice may sound odd, but determining how much sleep you actually need can reduce the time you spend in bed not sleeping.”

Sleeping with this process facilitates easier sleep and results in a more restful night’s sleep. And, here’s how you can do it;

  • During the day, do not nap. If you do, keep it short and sweet, preferably under 20-minutes.
  • Try going to bed a little later the first night and getting four hours of sleep.
  • If you feel you slept well during the previous four hours, you may want to add another 15–30 minutes of sleep the following night.
  • Continue to add little by little, as long as you are sleeping soundly on successive nights.

Enter the dream world.

“Dreams play a crucial role in some of our most important emotional and cognitive systems, helping us form memories, solve problems and maintain our psychological health,” writes Alice Robb, in “Why We Dream.” Dreaming has the power to make us fitter, happier, and smarter.

However, how can we harness the power of dreams?

Just remembering can be a huge help to keep your dreams alive. “Reminding yourself of your intention as you fall asleep can yield a bounty of memories in the morning,” Robb writes.

A dream journal, she suggests, should also be kept nearby. Then, upon waking, pause for a few seconds before writing down what you dreamed.

While dreams often affect us automatically, Robb argues that they are amplified when we experience them directly.

It’s possible to improve the quality of our sleep in subtle ways as well, such as avoiding alcohol close to bedtime, exercising regularly, waking up naturally, and limiting screen time. You can also stay in deep sleep mode by meditating before bed and keeping your room cold (between 60 and 68 degrees).

And, we should treat dreams “like the real and profound experiences they are,” Robb writes. “Let’s give them their rightful place in the world.”

Overcome negative bias with work-life balance.

“The negative bias is our tendency not only to register negative stimuli more readily but also to dwell on these events,” explains Kendra Cherry for Verywell Mind. “Also known as positive-negative asymmetry, this negativity bias means that we feel the sting of a rebuke more powerfully than we feel the joy of praise.”

For example, on the way to work, you get into a spat with your significant other. You then dwell on this for the entire day. Consequently, you get short with your co-workers, make poor decisions, or can’t focus on the task at hand.

Our ancient ancestors had to pay “attention to bad, dangerous, and negative threats in the world was literally a matter of life and death,” adds Cherry. “Those who were more attuned to danger and who paid more attention to the bad things around them were more likely to survive.” Today, however, this can strain relationships, harm your reputation, and make it difficult to be optimistic.

The good news? You can overcome the negative bias by;

  • Stop the negative self-talk. Instead of dwelling on past mistakes, you cannot change; consider what you have learned and what you will apply to the future.
  • Reframe the situation. Find a way to reframe the events in a more positive light when you interpret something negatively.
  • Establish new patterns. If you find yourself dwelling on negative things, try to distract yourself with an uplifting activity like listening to uplifting music or going for a walk.
  • Savior positive moments. Take a moment to appreciate the good things that happen in your life. Think about the wonderful feelings the memory evokes several times in your head.

Make work a series of sprints.

Unable to think clearly? You’re overloaded and have the fragmented attention of a distracted person. So how can you remedy this? Sprint into your most essential tasks selectively.

This idea comes from engagement consultant Tony Schwartz. In the New York Times, Schwartz argues that since quality work helps you concentrate, and you can only focus for a short time, you should be aware of how and when you focus on doing your best work.

“… it’s better to work highly focused for short periods of time, with breaks in between, than to be partially focused for long periods of time. Think of it as a sprint, rather than a marathon. You can push yourself to your limits for short periods of time, so long as you have a clear stopping point. And after a rest, you can sprint again.”

That last night is crucial. As a renewable resource, your mental energy does not replenish on its own. You must be responsible for maintaining it. FYI, using your phone isn’t “taking a break,” either. Instead, go for a stroll, daydream, or talk to a colleague,

Take the day off for work-life balance.

Do you have unused vacation time from your job? If so, make sure to take use them up!

The benefit of taking days off regularly is that stress can be reduced, and burnout can be avoided. This will give you a chance to clear your head, reflect, and recharge. It may even be beneficial to take a mental health day where you do nothing except cater to your health and wellbeing — even if it’s just spending the day reading in your PJs.

Reach out for help.

As opposed to neglecting or suppressing negative thoughts or memories, address them by talking to someone. By expressing your feelings out loud to an understanding person, you’ll be able to release what’s unspoken. What’s more, the other party, whether it’s your spouse, co-worker, mentor, or therapist, can help you develop solutions to your problems.

Image credit: Anna Tarazevich; Pexels; Thank you!

How to Run an Efficient Team With Fewer People

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How to Run an Efficient Team With Fewer People

A quick glance at the Fortune 500 will show you some well-oiled corporate machines that dominate their respective industries. Small companies and startups will try to emulate those same business models with varying degrees of success. Is it possible for a small organization to run a team as efficiently as a business behemoth?

The answer is yes, but you might have to customize your approach to fit your specific team. Running a small-scale team is a much more intimate and detail-oriented matter, but when done correctly, it can be just as efficient as any company you compare yourself to.

This article will help you and your team increase your efficiency and help your small business find great success even with fewer people on deck.

Lean on Automation

When operating with a small team, look for ways to automate basic tasks that take up a lot of time when performed manually. This frees up your team members and allows them to focus their attention elsewhere, getting much more done in a regular day. 

Take online appointment software, for example. With this solution in place, customers can book their own appointments, check future availability, and even make payments without the help of a customer representative. You’ll no longer need to have a team member on the phones all day helping customers do those things.

You can automate a whole bunch of tasks — outreach emails, invoice reminders, social media posts — if you have the right tools for it. Look for solutions that will take control of basic tasks so that your team can focus on more complex assignments. 

Focus on Team Communication

You’ve heard it before, and you’ll hear it once again. Communication is absolutely vital for teams of all shapes and sizes. Even one miscommunication can be quite disruptive.

Improving team communication doesn’t have to be complicated. Try using project management software or an instant messaging platform to keep everyone on the same page. Hold consistent meetings and touch base with your employees on a regular basis. Ultimately, successful communication comes down to the effort you put into it, so don’t let a day go by where you’re not communicating with your team in some way. 

Another important aspect of communication is gathering feedback. Ask your team about what’s working and what’s not working, then use that information to change your workflows. Few things will improve your team’s efficiency more than listening to their process improvement ideas and putting them into practice. 

Manage Workloads

Some miscommunications are worse than others. One side effect of bad communication is poor workload management. With a small team, especially in a startup, there’s a chance that some members are taking on far more tasks than their peers, which creates a distinct disparity between co-workers. If the imbalance persists, it can begin to breed resentment.

You might appreciate that your hardest-working employee is taking on as many assignments as possible, but the truth is that they’re likely experiencing some diminishing returns on their productivity. If they’re biting off more than they can chew, it won’t be long before errors occur or something has to be pushed aside.

By managing the workload over your entire team, projects can be distributed more evenly. This will likely result in tasks being completed much faster than if a single person was trying to do everything on their own. 

Build a Positive Team Culture

Company culture might seem superficial, but employees are valuing culture more now than ever. A positive company culture will draw in better employee prospects, which will naturally increase your efficiency by introducing more good workers into the mix.

In addition, your culture will directly affect team morale on a daily basis. If your team enjoys coming to work every day and mingling with their co-workers, they’ll work harder and more efficiently together. A poor culture will cause team members to drag their feet and potentially even look for a different employer.

How do you build a positive culture? There are a number of different approaches, and the ones you choose will depend on your team’s values. Casual wear, a revamped break room, team lunches, and after-work activities are all possibilities to consider. 

Promote Autonomy with Your Team

As a leader, it’s important to be hands-on with your team. However, you need to avoid becoming a micromanager. Going too far in the “helping” direction can actually hurt productivity and efficiency. 

While remaining involved, promote autonomy throughout your team. Make yourself available for questions and guidance, but don’t stick your nose in when you’re not needed. This might be difficult to achieve if you’re an entrepreneur working on your startup, but it’ll pay off in the long run.

If you want to measure how these tips are working for your team, start tracking some key metrics (hours worked per process, cost of goods/services sold, etc.) that you can compare over time. As you see those numbers improve, you’ll know you’re turning your small team into an efficiency powerhouse. 

The 5 Habits that can Change Your Life

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Habits that can Change Your Life

Having habits and routines are essential aspects of our everyday lives. Whether you want to meet a goal, be more productive, or live a more balanced life, habits are those small changes that can add up to significant results over time.

One of my favorite books, Atomic Habits by James Clear, talks about how developing habits doesn’t have to be complicated or feel foreign. You have the power to select the habits you want that will help you make progress. If you’re not quite sure which habits to add to your daily routine, here are five key habits to start that can change your life.

1. Wake Up At a Reasonable Time

Getting up early can make a significant impact on how your day is going to shape out. Of course, this isn’t to say that you have to get up at five am each day. However, training your body to wake up earlier is an excellent habit that will provide a big reward.

Getting up early gives you the time to complete your morning to-do list and be able to craft the best routine to tackle the day. Even getting up 15-20 minutes earlier than you usually do can be a great habit to develop. It might not seem like much, but it’s a start and will add more time back into your day, so you’re not overwhelmed with your schedule.

Waking up earlier doesn’t have to mean you’re getting less sleep either. In 2019, Sleep Cycle, a free app to track sleeping routines, released a study of their three million active monthly users. They concluded the average person sleeps 7 hours and 18 minutes each night. In addition, the average bedtime was 11:39 pm, and wake-up time was 7:09 am. So Americans are getting sleep, but also not oversleeping.

Getting enough sleep but still being able to wake up early is key to starting your day on the right track. Not everybody needs an alarm to wake up, though, and that’s okay. Waking up around 7:00 am is actually something that leaders like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg practice each day. Waking up early will set you in a nice daily routine that can help you be productive.

2. Schedule Out Your Day

Scheduling out your day is another vital addition to this list of habits that can change your life. It’s important to know what you’re doing for the day to avoid getting distracted and losing focus. In addition, scheduling out your day can give you an idea of your priorities so you can accomplish what’s most important to you.

With a clear schedule, you can be productive and not overwhelmed and bogged down by all your responsibilities. But, of course, there are some things that just won’t make it into your schedule, and that’s okay. We want to have a plan but also don’t want to work ourselves to the point of exhaustion.

If your current schedule isn’t working, that’s okay; there are ways to fix it. We’ve highlighted a few tips on how you can get your schedule catered to you. Of course, some things are more important to schedule into your day than others. We’ve mentioned seven crucial components that should be included in your daily routine.

Expressing gratitude and scheduling downtime are just a few of the habits that can be added to your day. Sure, you can prioritize productivity, but you also need to be kind to yourself in mind as well. Time is our most valuable resource, and something we can’t get back once it’s gone. Having a schedule will help you successfully use those minutes and hours and help establish a good routine instead of wasting away time.

3. Give Yourself Deadlines

Giving yourself deadlines to achieve each day is one of the best habits you can develop. Most people don’t like deadlines or the pressure that comes with them, but this can actually be helpful when you change your perspective.

Having a goal in mind when a task should be completed can greatly impact your day. Instead of never having a time in mind when something should be done, give yourself that timeline with a deadline. Deadlines have helped me so much in the past because I often procrastinate. There are some things I probably never would have gotten done if I didn’t have a specific deadline.

There are a few key benefits you can gain working under a deadline. Accountability is a big one. Hold yourself accountable if your deadline comes and goes and you still don’t have the task completed. Do you have someone you can count on to be your accountability partner? If not, consider asking a trusted friend or family member to help you.

Having that accountability allows us to access why the task wasn’t finished and how we will improve by hitting a deadline in the future. Having a deadline in place can also help you build momentum. Knowing you have that completion time in mind can help you stay motivated and limit distractions.

4. Make Time For Movement

Establishing a habit of moving your body throughout the day can change your life. It’s not good for us to be sitting all day without getting up and moving. According to a Mayo Clinic 2019 study, people who sit for eight hours a day with no physical activity have the same risk of dying similar to someone who smokes or is obese. This is bad news for many Americans because sedentary jobs in America have increased more than 83% since 1953, according to the American Heart Association. According to the same survey, only 20% of Americans have physically active jobs. The average office worker actually sits 15 hours a day.

That number is even higher for people who are still commuting to the office every day. Sitting without exercise can raise our chances of many different health risks, including high blood pressure, stroke. Heart disease, obesity, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and more. What can we do to offset these health risks and work from our seat lifestyle?

Well, we need physical activity in our lives. Something as simple as using a treadmill or walking around the block can make a significant impact on your health. Make sure to take breaks and get up from your chair. Standing up as often as every 30 minutes can be huge for you. If you can even stand while doing phone calls, this can be an excellent way to move around and get your legs moving while also getting working done as well.

5. Make Self Care a Habit

Believe it or not, you are your most important asset. We need to take care of ourselves above all else. Make sure you are making time daily to address your self-care. It could be something as simple as meditation, prayer, reading, journaling, or even just focusing on a non-work-related goal you have in mind. Prioritize passion projects that you have as well.

Self-care focuses on both your mental and physical health. We need to keep our health in mind and shouldn’t overwork ourselves. If your time allows scheduling a course can be good for you. It can be job-related or just in a passion that you’ve had. It’s essential to prioritize ourselves and our well-being.

Summary

There has been a shift to working from our desks that hasn’t been seen before. We can’t let our physical or mental health be affected by this way of life. Work is vital, of course, but we are our most important asset. These habits can help you prioritize yourself and improve your life in every way.

Don’t Let Your Busy Schedule Overwhelm You: 5 Ways Appointment Software Can Help

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Don’t Let Your Busy Schedule Overwhelm You: 5 Ways Appointment Software Can Help

Sometimes, in our efforts to be productive, we can all too easily overdo things. While it can be good to stay busy, it’s definitely not worth maxing out your schedule to capacity every single day if you’re not handling it well.

Feeling overwhelmed will sap the productivity right out of all your busyness and likely leave you feeling stressed all day. That being the case, it’s highly doubtful you’ll be accomplishing everything you set out to do.

A healthy balance between productivity and time management is much easier to achieve through the intentional use of appointment software. With just one tool, you can stay busy without feeling overwhelmed by your massive to-do list. Listed below are five tips for using online appointment software to help you find the balance that’s best suited to your personality and work style.

1. Learn to delegate.

Learning to delegate can be a difficult process for younger or inexperienced entrepreneurs. After all, your start-up is “your baby.” Passing off your baby to someone else is never easy. Can you trust others to take exceptional care of your start-up the same way you do? Through the savvy use of online appointment software, you can at least point them in the right direction.

At the simplest level, appointment software can at least push those employees with delegated tasks to complete their assignments on time. Appointment bookings can act as agreed-upon time slots for their responsibilities as well as deadlines for their assignments to be completed. As you get more comfortable with deadline-driven task delegation, you’ll cultivate reliable helpers who help bear the burden of your intense daily workload.

2. Go all in on automation.

The greater the number of routine tasks you’re able to automate, the less cumbersome your busy schedule becomes. Automation can even free up your schedule so it’s not as busy as the pace to which you’ve become accustomed. Nowadays, automation doesn’t have to cost a lot, either.

The first thing online appointment software can enable is customer self-service. For example, let’s say you’re a car mechanic. A customer can book an appointment for an oil change without having to call you and distract you from your work. Your schedule stays busy, revenues increase, and you cut out some of the more tedious details.

Another example might be using automation for other aspects of customer relations. Sending appointment reminders, invoices, and feedback surveys can all be done automatically through the use of online appointment software. You won’t have to spend your time on these tasks and can instead choose to get home at a decent hour or finish an extra project before the end of the day.

3. Take regular breaks.

Your schedule can probably use more than just a little breathing room here and there. You’ll actually increase your productivity by taking a break every once in a while. Even if you’re a superstar entrepreneur with a rapidly growing start-up, you have your mental and physical health to prioritize over everything else.

Using online appointment software to schedule breaks ensures that you might actually take them. Otherwise, you might find them all too easy to blow off, filling your schedule to the brim with even more stress-inducing activities. While these might be productive, your excessive activity can lead to burnout — and even physical illness — if allowed to go on for too long.

Another way to make sure you take a break from an overloaded schedule is to make time for personal matters such as family or hobbies. You can — and should —  pepper your schedule with family meals or a trip to the movies. When you prioritize non-work activities, you’re far more likely to relax, refresh, and not feel so uptight throughout your waking hours.

4. Leave yourself some breathing room.

You can maintain a busy schedule while still adding in some wiggle room. In fact, a little bit of breathing room is strongly encouraged, especially if your busy schedule is leading to physical stress and heightened levels of anxiety. If you’re finding it difficult to space out your schedule, try using appointment software to make it happen.

Adding breathing room can be done by adding buffer times between your other commitments. Enforcing a mere 10 minutes in between appointments provides sufficient time to catch your breath, check an email or two, or grab a snack to refuel.

Additionally, enforcing buffer time can save your neck whenever appointments run longer than originally planned. That 10-minute window can help you make sure the following appointment doesn’t start late. (Just make sure you take the following buffer period as a break!)

5. Minimize errors.

Whenever your schedule is packed end-to-end, you aren’t leaving any room for error. One mistake or simple miscommunication can cause a ripple effect. One late arrival disrupts your entire day, leaving you and your tight schedule in shambles. Using online appointment software helps you avoid many of the errors that happen simply due to your mind being scrambled.

Overbooking is a classic example of a common mistake easily solved by using appointment software. Without it, you might accidentally double-book an appointment slot if your too-busy mind causes you to overlook the actual number of available slots. Appointment software uses built-in algorithms to stop overbooking in its tracks and direct customers to available slots.

Yes, you can stay busy and productive without giving yourself a problem with high blood pressure. You’ll notice a difference in stress levels when you start using appointment software to enhance your schedule.

Planning for Retirement With Calendar

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Planning for Retirement With Calendar

It’s never too early to start planning for retirement! In fact, it’s encouraged to begin planning for the day you retire as early as possible. The sooner you begin planning for retirement, the more contributions you can make to ultimately live out your dream.

It’s also ok to realize that it’s not too late to start making retirement plans. If you don’t know where to start, let’s work through some of the basic steps you should take to begin creating your retirement plan and turning it into a reality:

Start to Visualize

Picture in your mind the ideal retirement scenario. Do you find yourself in a house on the beach or a cabin in the mountains? Do you go golfing every week, or is your time spent woodworking in the shop? Ironing out these details allows you to create goals to work for and implement into your retirement plan.

Make sure you write down your retirement goals somewhere. You can refer to these goals over the years and adjust them as needs and interests change. You might have to change your overall retirement plan to match your new trajectory. Regardless of how often you change your mind, you’ll always have a set plan to work toward.

Your goals and aspirations will need dollar signs attached to them. How much money will you need each month to live out your dreams? An estimation of your cost of living will give you a tangible target goal for your retirement fund.

Set Money Aside

Retirement isn’t cheap. It takes quite a bit of money set aside to live the life you want without earning a steady paycheck. Fortunately, if you start setting money aside now, you should be able to retire comfortably by the time you’re in your 60’s.

Between paying bills and shopping on Amazon, people tend to forget to make contributions to a retirement or savings account. Your Calendar can help with that. Set a monthly reminder to move some money into one of these accounts.

The day you set aside money doesn’t matter as much as making sure you have committed to the process. Your day could be the day you receive your paycheck so that you always make that contribution before spending it on something else.

Be sure to note that retirement accounts such as a 401k have limits to which you can contribute each year. But for most of us — we don’t have $58,000 to drop in our 401s — so just make sure you contribute to your fund.

Be sure to get a tax person to look at your info. Even the Forbes article says $57,000 ($63,500 for those 50 and older) after it tells about the limit being $19,500 — plus another catch-up of $6K.

Nonetheless — getting as close to that savings maximum limit as possible gives your account a greater ability to accrue interest over time, so it’s a good goal to reach if you’re living within your means.

Take Advantage of Company Plans

Most companies offer retirement benefits to their full-time employees. If you qualify for such a plan, take advantage of it while you can. With the help of your employer, you can significantly expand your saving and investing potential over the years.

The benefits you’ll typically get are employer contributions to your retirement account, usually in the form of a 401k. The contributions made by your employer stack on top of the contributions you make on your own up to a certain percentage. You set aside much more money, which generates a more significant return as interest piles up over the years.

Choosing retirement benefits may even impact where you decide to work in the future. A typical employer contribution is 50 cents on the dollar up to 6% of your income. Don’t worry; they’ll do the math for you, but this is a good benchmark for deciding which retirement benefits package you lean toward the most.

Get a Grip on Your Time

You only have so long to prepare for retirement, so there’s no time to waste. However, by improving your time management, you can do more to work toward retirement before it’s too late.

For instance, using an online calendar can help you plan out your days better to get more done in the same eight-hour shift. Getting more done can lead to entrepreneurial advances, promotions, or other career jumps that augment your income. Proper time management can also open doors for side hustles and other forms of income to be added to a retirement fund.

Be sure to remember that you should enjoy life leading up to retirement as well. Time management with your Calendar allows you to get your work done while spending quality time with family, pursuing hobbies, and getting proper rest. These aspects of life are just as important now as they will be when you ultimately retire.

Find Alternate Sources of Income

Speaking of additional income, this is a great time to address the need for more than one source of monthly stipend. The reality is that many Americans don’t make a great deal of money from a single paycheck to pay their expenses, keep up a healthy savings balance, and save enough for retirement. Many have found success by generating additional income through a variety of means.

Investing is one way retirement dreams have become a reality for many Americans. Unlike a 401k or IRA account, investment portfolios don’t have a contribution limit. You can invest as much money as you’d like and withdraw it at all. Make smart, calculated investing decisions on stocks and bonds, and you can watch your money grow from year to year.

Starting your own business is another excellent way to increase your income. You can do some freelance work on the side using one of your skills or look at getting into real estate and collecting rent on a couple of properties. Each option has risks and labor involved, so choose wisely the paths you wish to take.

If you want retirement to be everything you hoped it would be, start preparing now. Draft out some preliminary plans in your Calendar and begin taking steps forward, and by the time you wish to retire, you will have the resources to do so.

Black Thumb? Your Calendar Can Help You Keep Indoor Plants Alive

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indoor plants

The cold weather isn’t just getting you down. With less sunlight, your indoor plants will also struggle this time of year. You’ll need to be more proactive in caring for them to help them thrive until spring.

If you don’t have any indoor plants, consider getting one. Having a plant at your desk can spur productivity while working from home during COVID-19. It can even help ward off seasonal depression, a major concern this year when compounded with extended quarantine.

To aid you with your indoor horticulture, use an online calendar. This tool will help you organize your efforts and help your plants to stay strong through the winter. Here’s how it’s done:

Let the Light In

You need to take advantage of every hour of light to give your indoor plants the best chance at success. You can set all sorts of reminders in your online calendar to let the light shine on your indoor plants.

You can rotate window placements to follow the path of the sun, or even just set a reminder to make sure all the curtains are open. If natural light is hard to come by, consider setting up some grow lights and putting them on a schedule.

Set a Watering Schedule

Everyone knows that plants need a good amount of water to survive. What you might not be aware of is that overwatering during the winter is a serious problem. Many plants go dormant during the colder months, reducing their growth and their need to be watered.

Use your online calendar to create a watering schedule to make sure your plants are staying hydrated. Just be sure to remember not to overdo it with enthusiastic watering.

Cycle Through Pots

Just as your home needs to be cleaned regularly, so do the homes of your indoor plants. The pots and containers you keep your plants in grow old over time and can build up waste at the bottom which needs to be cleaned out.

Cycling through pots keeps plants fresh. At the very least, make a schedule for some regular maintenance. Your plants will be very thankful. Again, be reserved; too much potting and repotting can damage your plants.

Do a Little Dusting

As odd as it may sound, dusting off your plants is a helpful trick for helping them through the winter. Keeping the leaves clean and clear allows them to absorb more light, improving their overall health.

If you already use your online calendar to schedule housekeeping, leave your plants for last. The other bits of cleaning you do will stir up dust in the air that will settle on your plants. Dust those at the end and you’ll ensure they stay nice and clean.

Monitor Temperature

Plants can be a little finicky about their preferred temperature. Too hot or too cold and you can lose them fast. For this reason it’s important for you to monitor the temperature in your home both day and night.

If you happen to have a smart thermostat in your home you can set an automatic schedule to adjust temperatures. If not, use your online calendar to develop a schedule and stick to it. Make sure it doesn’t get too cold at night or too hot in the afternoon.

Check for Bugs

Winter is prime time for sickness, such as the flu and the common cold. These “bugs” as they’re called are frequent in humans, which your plants don’t have to worry about. What is a concern, however, are actual bugs who’ve made it inside your house for warmth and are looking for their next meal.

Set reminders in your online calendar to check for signs of pests. The sooner you spot signs of nibbling or crawling, the sooner you can start treatment. Research some products that can be used to prevent and rid your plants of insects so you can stock up and be ready to nip it in the bud.

Use a Humidifier

Some areas of the world get very dry in the winter. Most indoor plants prefer to be humid, so the dry spells of the winter months can rustle them up a bit.

You can purchase a small humidifier to set next to your plants to keep them comfortable. To ensure it’s running properly, schedule times in your online calendar to refill it and make sure your plants are benefiting from the mist.

Prepare for Travel

Got holiday travel plans in your online calendar? Chances are you aren’t planning on your plants tagging along. Plant sitters are expensive, so add some time to prepare them for your absence before you hit the road.

Bunching your plants together will help them to stay humid and warm even when you’re not there to check on them. Giving them extra water before you leave will also prevent them from drying out over the duration of your trip.

Track Warm Days

Some winter days will be surprisingly warm, especially at the beginning and end of the season. When there’s more sun than usual and the temperature is high enough, let your plants out for a little outdoor time.

Don’t forget to bring them back in at the end of the day! Your online calendar will remind you to bring plants back inside so they don’t freeze out in the cold.

Play Some Music

The debate on whether music actually helps plants to grow might never end. Regardless, it’s still worth a shot if you’re a new botanist enduring your first winter. Some soothing music just might do the trick.

If you do plan to play music, you can use your online calendar to rotate through playlists. Line it up with your day and you might be able to enjoy it as well.

Cultivating a green thumb in the winter is no easy task. You’ll warm up to the idea as you plan the process in your online calendar. Soon your plants will be looking as good as they do in the warmer weather.

Image Credit: sohail nachiti; Pexels; Thank you!

Black Thumb? Your Calendar Can Help You Keep Indoor Plants Alive was originally published on Calendar by Hunter Meine.

8 Powerful Tools for Small Teams

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8 Powerful Tools for Small Teams

Small teams can be surprisingly powerful when given the right tools. A well-equipped team armed with helpful apps and programs can keep up the pace with larger organizations that are working inefficiently. Additionally, software programs and digital tools allow small teams to get their work done without exceeding a 40-hour workweek. 

Here Are 8 Tools for Small Teams:

If you’re looking to set your team up with some new gear, you’ve come to the right place. Check out eight of the best tools for small teams and the benefits you’ll get from using them daily:

1. Appointment

When operating a business with limited staff, you want to use your resources wisely. Your goal should be to take care of your customers in the best way possible while not overextending yourself. Online appointment software is a great example of how you can accomplish this.

Take Appointment, for instance. This tool enables customers to check availability and book appointments without any assistance. This eliminates the need to have one of your team members manning the phone lines at all hours of the day, allowing them to accomplish more tasks. 

2. Calendar

As a small team, one of your most valuable commodities is your time. The better your team utilizes their time, the more your business can profit. Few tools scratch the surface of what Calendar can do to optimize your team’s time management. 

For starters, with Calendar you can easily share events that include the entire team and even account for differing time zones. Calendar Analytics gives you an in-depth look at how your team is using their time so you can make efficient adjustments to their schedules and practices. 

3. Slack

Communication is everything for small businesses. Luckily, with a condensed organizational structure, it should be easier to communicate effectively than it is for companies with hundreds or even thousands of employees. Using a messaging platform such as Slack will make collaborative communication second nature. 

Slack works by using different text channels for team members to send messages to each other. Each channel has a different function. The sales team can have their own channel where they can discuss matters that don’t pertain to the IT department. The marketing team can talk about promotional plans without flooding inboxes in the editorial department. 

4. ClickUp

You can do so much better than writing to-do lists on the whiteboard of your conference room. Implement a program such as ClickUp to manage your projects with greater precision and efficiency. 

ClickUp gives you different views of projects to help you better break them down. Team members are assigned different roles and assigned pieces of the project as it works its way from start to finish. Knowing and managing your team’s individual roles and tasks is a big part of creating an effective team dynamic. 

5. Zoom

Startups now have the luxury of hiring new employees from all over the world. The challenge is connecting with your team when they’re spread out across the map in different time zones. While apps such as Slack will help, using a videoconferencing tool like Zoom will make interactions much more personable. 

As your team connects through frequent Zoom calls, they’ll be able to communicate better than through text-based messaging alone. Sharing goals as a team is also easier when team members are able to hold face-to-face discussions with each other. 

6. Square

Businesses need to get paid, and the sooner the better. Outstanding invoices are really stressful and awkward for entrepreneurs trying to make sure they’re breaking even each month. A payment tool such as Square will speed the payment process along.

The great thing about Square is that it has tools that can be used for in-person transactions as well as online purchases. You’ll be able to direct payments no matter where they come from and do so without delay. 

7. Buffer

Social media is one of the greatest assets your small business has access to in today’s world. However, it’s also a difficult medium to stay on top of when you have so many other tasks to handle. Even with a small team, Buffer makes managing social media campaigns as simple as possible.

To start, you can use Buffer to schedule all of your prepared content to be posted exactly when you want to make it public. After you set your schedule, Buffer will compile analytics on your posts so you can make a better plan for your next round of content. 

8. PandaDoc

Businesses have lots of documents that need to get signed. New employees have paperwork to fill out, including tax information, non-disclosure agreements, and acknowledgment of business principles and practices. Companies require signatures from clients to finalize contracts or payments. Whatever it is that needs signing, a tool such as PandaDoc will speed up the process.

Using PandaDoc, all of your signatures can be done digitally. This means you can make legal agreements with employees and customers no matter where they live. Simply send the document, and with a few clicks, the process is done. 

The addition of one of these tools can make a big impact on your team’s performance, no matter how few employees you have. Even if it’s just you and a friend starting a business together, using the right tools can make the work more efficient and effective.

How to Recognize and Destroy Time Wasters

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How to Recognize and Destroy Time Wasters

They are everywhere. Time wasters. Chronological cat burglars. Minute moochers. Is there any way to stop them? You bet your sundial there is!

There are chronological criminals among us. So here is some lighthearted advice to take or not as you see fit.

Time is an interesting concept. Babies don’t know anything about it. Children bend it to suit their own selfish needs. Teenagers can be big-time wasters, as long as it makes their parents mad. Adults become enslaved by it. Seniors are threatened by it. And, of course, the deceased don’t worry about it anymore. That’s why you see so many sundials on graves. They’re laughing at the rest of us.

So what does time really mean to us? The living. The working. The anxious. The serfs. All you rich people who might be reading this article at the moment can go hop on your private jets and fly to Bermuda because you don’t care about time one way or the other, do you?

But for the average Joe Timex, time is a nagging presence that hovers over us — giving an evil chuckle from time to time when our schedules go awry. And what makes our schedules go awry? Time wasters!

Now when you’re at home or away from the office, you can deal with time wasters any way you want, legal or otherwise. But, right now, we are dealing with those insidious time wasters in the office, on the factory floor, who keep you from finishing your work.

Time is money, and you’re already in debt!

Let’s start in the home office. Many a poor deluded soul believes working at home saves them time. But, of course, that might be true for the lucky few who don’t have spouses, children, neighbors, or pets just waiting to bushwhack them their schedule.

Take children, for instance. They have a built-in radar that knows precisely when you are in a Zoom conference with your manager. When they sense this opportunity, they go into action. Cereal is spilled. Knees are cut. Fights break out. In other words, all hell breaks loose. And for some strange reason, you are the one they expect to take charge of the situation.

By the time you get things settled, your boss has gone off to happy hour, and you wish you could too.

Here’s what to do . . .

  • When your spouse doesn’t respect your work schedule at home, try divorce. If that’s too expensive or emotional, try earplugs.
  • Perchance earplugs are too itchy for you — use that golden question: “Can we talk about this when I take you out to dinner tonight?”
  • If worst comes to worst, prepare a hidey-hole in your home office where you can secret yourself from the tender attentions of your spouse.
  • For pesky neighbors, the best recourse is a vicious dog. One that would bite the leg off of the Dalai Lama.
  • The only exception to this rule would be if your neighbors bring you good things to eat. If that’s the case, use land mines. So they have a sporting chance to get through.
  • Children should be treated with kindness and consideration. They are unaware of the awful burden you bear as a slave in the salt mines. So when they come to you with their petty squabbles and tears, do not turn them away. Just give them lots of candy and lead them to the TV. You’ll never be bothered by them again.
  • (The ASPCA has approved the following recommendations.) Cats should be sedated with catnip. Dogs should be given the biggest bone the butcher has. Birds should be let out of their cages into the great outdoors. Lizards and snakes, which don’t make any noise anyway, should be donated to the local zoo. You don’t have time to take care of them properly.

Time Wasters In the office . . .

A time thief may be your own boss. If that’s the case, just grit your dentures and suck it up. It might help to daydream about the beaches of Thailand while your boss is bloviating. On the other hand if it’s a coworker who constantly purloins your need to count the bottle caps in your desk drawer, then the answer is just put some cotton dipped in red food coloring in your ears.  And if a colleague still attempts to take your time, just point to your ears and shake your head. If this doesn’t discourage them, then try a piteous groan or two. They should take the hint.

In conclusion . . .

Although this has been a lighthearted look at time wasters — and maybe, perchance a time waster to read — the problem of time wasters is real and it is serious. The best way to keep busy and uninterrupted is to look extraordinarily harried and busy and like you will not stand for any interruption. That’s all you really need to know. That will keep most time parasites away.

Image Credit: Miguel Á. Padriñán; pexels; thank you!

How to Recognize and Destroy Time Wasters was originally published on Calendar by Abby Miller.

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