What’s important to us changes over time. When I was in my 20’s and 30’s, I was willing to put much more time into my appearance – my hair, my nails, my clothes. Now I like to keep my routines as simple as possible. When I’m working with clients, I find that they have piles of clothes, footwear, and accessories that need some sort of action – actions that they feel they “should” take care of but keep putting off. (I’ve written about…
Read more →How many absent-minded professors does it take to change a light bulb? I thought of this variation on an old joke when my husband — who is, indeed, an absent-minded professor — told me a story about his adventure with a rented car. He was out of town attending an off-site meeting, to which he had driven two other faculty members. All three live in Manhattan and none of them own a car, so my husband had rented a Zipcar…
Read more →When I got my first apartment after I finished graduate school, I learned an important lesson about the power of habits. Several times during the first few weeks, I left my apartment and started my 3-block walk to the subway, only to stop in fear that I had not locked my door. I would return to the apartment and discover that I had indeed locked the door — I just couldn’t remember doing it. Eventually, I trusted that if I left…
Read more →Overcoming procrastination is one of my most popular topics when teaching clients about time management. It appears to be something that everyone struggles with — including me. When faced with a task we’d rather avoid, we can be very creative in coming up with other things to keep us occupied. I’ve written previously about my struggle to overcome the lure of on-line Sudoku (see In Praise of Deadlines). Your particular stalling tactic might be watching TV, surfing Facebook, or obsessively…
Read more →When I advise clients on Time Management, I always explain the importance of leaving time in your schedule for the unexpected to occur. This value of this advice was brought home to me a few days ago when I was going to a client appointment. I was on my way to the catch the crosstown bus to take me from the Upper East Side of Manhattan, where I live, across Central Park to the Upper West Side, where my client lives. …
Read more →
