When 2020 rolled around, I decided to keep track of how many books I read. I had no idea that we were about to get hit by a global pandemic and I would have more leisure time than ever before. When the year ended, I was delighted to see that I had finished 82 books! At the beginning of 2021, I wondered if I would be able to keep up that pace, as I expected things to become more “normal”…
Read more →I don’t know about you, but I feel like I’ve just emerged from a 16-month hibernation. When New York City shut down in March of last year, it was such a shock to have all of the hustle and bustle grind to a screeching halt. My daughter asked me how long I thought it would take before we were back to normal. I told her that the flu epidemic of 1918 lasted two years, so we should expect at least…
Read more →Raise your hand if you are good at making excuses to avoid doing something. (I would raise mine, but then I wouldn’t be able to continue typing.) If you’ve been reading my Organizing Tips for a while, you may remember that six years ago, I lost 40 pounds. You can find those details in “Lightening the Load“. Then I wrote about having kept the weight off for one year in “Keeping It Off‘”. Given all the wisdom that I shared in…
Read more →The word “routine” is often used in a derogatory way to describe repetitive activities that do not delight or inspire. But I’m a big fan of establishing routines. They enable us to free up our brains to concentrate on other things. After I finished graduate school, I moved into my first apartment and started a full-time job. During the first few months, I sometimes stopped myself on the way to the subway and went back home to make sure I had…
Read more →Today marks an important milestone for me. It is exactly one year that I have kept off the 40 pounds that I lost over a six-month period in 2014. I’ve lost weight before on various programs, but I have never been successful in keeping all of it off for one year. What made the difference this time? I have concluded that a successful weight loss program is like an organizing project. These are the key aspects. Having a goal. I had a clear…
Read more →
