Greetings!

Home from vacation, white shoes stored in the closet for another year. Yes, Labor Day is over and signs of fall have arrived in the northern hemisphere. Already, the poplars here in Oregon have taken on a golden hue. Days are shorter and the quality of the light says winter is on its way. Bears are packing on fat, birds are taking flight for the tropics, and kids are trudging back to school.

As for me, I've had a bad case of "monkey mind" lately. For those not familiar with the term, monkey mind is a phrase coined to describe that lack of focus and high distractibility that occurs when someone is supposed to be peacefully meditating. Monkey mind has manifested as an inability to stay firmly rooted in whatever I'm supposed to be doing. Instead, I've bounced off the walls and tasks with lightning speed. I sometimes do a lot of stuff but in the end, it's all busy work.

Whenever I start feeling like a ping pong ball, getting back in the groove with David Allen's Getting Things Done principles and practices does me a world of good. To read more about one of the tools I use, check out "Sweating the Important Stuff" below.

The Zugunruhe News is one year old. To celebrate, newsletter subscribers are eligible for a hefty discount on coaching services all through the month of September. To learn more, click on the "Anniversary Sale" link on the left.

At Zugunruhe, we believe in helping people to work smarter and achieve more. More time for the stuff that matters. I can help you achieve a balanced life--one that includes fun and joy and accomplishment. Ready to get started? Give me a call and claim your free thirty minute session right now. There's no obligation and you're guaranteed to come away with practical steps you can take right now to move toward the life you've been dreaming of. What are you waiting for? Call me today: 541-738-6339. I look forward to talking to you.

Peace be with you,
Tara

Sweating the Important Stuff   "Small things, done consistently, create major impact."--David Allen I have a confession to make. I am addicted to getting things done. Accomplishment, doing stuff, completing tasks, all make me feel really good. I'm a doer (and something of an over-doer). Because I enjoy getting things done, I'm a big fan of David Allen's book Getting Things Done: The art of stress-free productivity. I work to implement much of what he advocates, including the weekly review process. A weekly review is a what David deems the "critical success factor." For me, the weekly review is the time when I get my calendars (daily, weekly, long-term) synched up, capture and schedule all the tasks and action items that have accumulated over the week, and get enough elevation on my life to make sure I'm getting to the really important stuff. A while back, though, I realized I was going for week after week "not getting to" a certain set activities and results. At the time, there were three things I was consistently having trouble putting and keeping on my schedule: a critical writing project, exercise, and walking my dog. I spent some time journaling and identified several practices that contributed to my efficiency and well-being. Those included spending fifteen or so minutes each day planning for the day ahead (a task I call 'planning and reset') and doing an evening debrief (review and recap where I look at what did or didn't get done that day). I put everything I identified into a short checklist with blanks to fill in (for time spent exercising, for example) or Y/N's to circle indicating yes or no for other activities. I expected my checklist to function in three ways: At the beginning of the day, to make me aware of my priorities. At the end of each day, to serve as a quick check on how I did. During my weekly review, to supply me with a snapshot of my week and let me know how I'm doing on what's important. But I didn't stop there. I asked myself a critical question. I asked myself: how will I be accountable? One of the issues I find folks struggling with is being accountable to themselves. We're often great at being accountable to other people. If you're a successful person, you got that way by following through on your commitments to others, yes? But if you have trouble following through on the things you do for you, you're not alone. I often put myself last. To up the ante, and keep accountability to myself in the forefront of my mind, I created an intention prompt. Using an email reminder service, I put one of my intentions in front of myself every other day. For some reason, having that email show up and being faced with the question: "how are you doing?" seemed to make a huge difference. Intellectually, I know I'm the one who is doing the asking but it's almost as if someone else is checking on me, like a guardian angel, tapping me on the shoulder in a friendly, but insistent, way. And so far, so good. The exercise equipment is well used, the dog is walked, and the writing project is seeing excellent progress. If you're having trouble with one or more activities that you'd like to be involved with just about every day, I suggest you try a checklist paired with an email reminder. This simple exercise may yield powerful and satisfying results for you.

Anniversary Sale!   To celebrate our one year anniversary, we're offering all coaching services at 25% off! This offer is available only to newsletter subscribers. Just click here to set up your free half hour get-acquainted session and claim your discount.