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Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but also the parent of all the others. — Cicero

For years I had kept a gratitude journal — a notebook in which I recorded things large and small in my business for which I felt grateful.

I knew that great thinkers from all ages and traditions had commended the practice of gratitude. Though I was never certain how the gratitude journal “worked,” I was aware that whatever I focused on was the thing I attracted, and I continued to find the practice helpful in combating the slumps that beset solo entrepreneurs, so I recommended it to many of my organizing and productivity clients.

Recently, I encountered scientific validation for the power of my gratitude journal (see source of original study below.) As described by Dr. Martin Seligman in his book Authentic Happiness, “(the researchers) randomly assigned people to keep a daily diary for two weeks, either of happenings they were grateful for, of hassles, or simply of life events. Joy, happiness, and life satisfaction shot up for the gratitude group.”

Here’s my method for keeping a gratitude journal: Find a small notebook that pleases you. As you finish work each day, jot down a few things for which you feel grateful. Here are some of mine:

• I am scheduled to teach the GO System workshop at (a client) next month.
• Steve Overman wrote a recommendation for me on LinkedIn. What he wrote was warm, gracious, articulate, and deeply felt.
• (One of my board colleagues) told me she is glad I’m president of the organization. She feels the group is more inclusive and welcoming.
• Tonight I arrived home at 7 pm after an 11-hour day. The dog walker had already taken care of the dog. It was heaven!
• I was able to refer (a client) to Susan Tiner for bookkeeping and financial organizing. I think it will be a great match for both of them.

Start your gratitude journal. Begin by recording one to five thoughts daily for a few weeks. Then use your journal as often as it seems helpful.

As you prepare to do a review of your accomplishments as part of your planning process, be sure to scan your journal entries to remind you of past accomplishments.

Do you keep a gratitude journal? What have you observed? Leave a comment here.

(Original study cited above: Emmons, R.A., & McCullough, M.E. (2003). “Counting blessings versus burdens: Experimental studies of gratitude and subjective well being in daily life.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, No. 84, pages 377-389.)

A quote for the day:

Giving thanks for abundance is sweeter than the abundance itself.

- Rumi

I wish you all a Thanksgiving filled with abundant sweetness. I am grateful for your presence in my life. Thank you.

Recently I was seated next to Laura Van Galen, the dynamic head of Bleu Marketing, a full-service direct marketing firm based in San Francisco. She described to me a practice she uses with her senior team, the daily jump-start meeting.

Are all the parts working together?

Here’s how the jump-start meeting works: every morning each manager has three minutes to describe the top three things they will be working on that day. The meeting lasts no more than 15 minutes.

Here’s why it works: it provides group accountability, it helps sharpen everyone’s focus, and it improves everyone’s clarity about what the group as a whole is working toward.

The entire leadership group stays focused and productive, all pulling in the same direction. The investment in meeting time pays back handsomely in improved coordination among all the managers.

Are your meetings short, targeted, and productive?

A quote for the day:

There is time enough for everything in the course of the day, if you do but one thing at once, but there is not time enough in the year, if you will do two things at a time.

– Lord Chesterfield, in a letter to his son, c. 1740

Bon Appetit!

Like a featured recipe in a cooking magazine, productivity has many ingredients. Some are obvious (oh, there’s beef in the beef stew!) while some are subtle (who knew that excellent doughnuts actually require a whisper of nutmeg??) We can leave something out, we can make substitutions, but the dish won’t achieve the same heights without all its parts.

Here’s the ingredients list for productivity:

• Be clear about your priorities
• Funnel everything into one system
• Manage your time and energy
• Know how to delegate and discard
• Play to your strengths

Are you missing any ingredients? Is there something you’d like to add to your recipe?

It's a time management thing

The national “do not call” list is well-known to many people. By registering your business or home number, telemarketers once were forbidden from calling your number – at dinner time or any time – for five years.

Exceptions included those who were calling for legitimate charities, which sadly include the well-paid fundraisers who dial on behalf of the local police and fire departments, and anyone to whom you’ve given permission.

Recent changes to the do not call list have eliminated the five-year expiration date. A law which became effective in February changes the “5-year” rule. Now, once you enter your phone number on the list, your preference for uninterrupted dinners lasts forever.

If you should receive a call after registering with the list, file a complaint here. This address also works to register a new phone number you’d like post a “no call” notice, so that you will not receive marketing calls.

Eliminate the excess at work and at home

Are you a professional organizer or hope to become one? Don’t miss the upcoming teleclass “Eliminating Excess”. This class is part of the series of classes offered by the National Association of Professional Organizers.

You will be able to assist your clients when:

• one office mate calls the stuff clutter, and the other says it’s a collection
• your client wants to de-clutter AND keep as much stuff as possible out of the trash
• your client is discouraged because they’ve decluttered before, but stuff always comes back
• your client has a cluttered calendar and task list

In this course I supply strategies for identifying clutter and hoarding, forms to help you and your client formulate a project plan, ideas for dealing with clients with different learning styles, lots of resources to donate and recycle surplus items, and much more.

This teleclass will be offered for the first time on Thursday, November 12 from 7 to 9 m Eastern, 4 to 6 pm Pacific. To register, visit the NAPO curriculum page and click on the bar for PO-204T: Eliminating Excess.

As I began to write an outline of her project, my usually reserved client let out a desperate groan. She was experiencing feelings of being overwhelmed and “beaten up” by the things she had to do, and the outline looked like a big weapon. I  avoid making my clients miserable, so I whisked the paper away and asked, “Are you interested in trying something new?” She was.

Mind-maps make introductions easy

I picked up a fistful of colored markers and, using a big sheet of flip-chart paper, wrote a few words naming her project in the center of the sheet and drew an oval around them. Radiating from the central theme, we began to add various concerns, sub-projects, thoughts, and questions. The “something new” that I introduced was mind-mapping, a technique to organize information in a non-linear way.

Use mind-mapping whenever you want to gather information, ideas, and questions; sort out connections that may not be apparent, or present information in a more holistic format than is possible with lists or outlines.

Here are three uses for mind-mapping:

1. Designing a class, speech, or book. Put the topic or title in the center of the page, then add themes you want to address related to that topic.

2. Introducing someone publicly. Put the person’s name in the center of the page, then surround it with all the areas you want to cover: work history, awards and accolades, contributions to the industry, philanthropic interests, and so on. It’s amazing how much information a one-page mind-map will hold, allowing you as the presenter to speak from compact notes without reading text. The speaker will bless you for it.

3. Planning a project such as a move or renovation. Into the center of the page goes the goal. Surrounding it are the broad categories of action needed to make it a reality. Radiating from those categories will be discrete tasks.

If you’re struggling to get your arms around a project,  create a mind-map first. You’ll be off and running.

What will you do with a mind-map? Leave a comment here.

In the past two weeks I have spoken with two professionals, both highly capable and generally cheerful people, who are facing genuine cases of burnout.

We sometimes hear the tern “burnout” tossed around to indicate a variety of unpleasant conditions, so let me clear about what I mean. Burnout is not the same thing as stress, boredom, or frustration. Genuine burnout is marked by

• a lack of productivity (there’s no work going out the door),
• an inability to rest or relax (there is no balance between exertion and recovery),
• a feeling of helplessness and disengagement (nothing makes a difference), and
• a lack of reserves (any small exertion of intellectual or emotional energy is exhausting.)

When nagged with the feeling that we aren’t getting enough done, our first impulse may be to redouble our efforts, try harder, and work longer. And during these uncertain times, we often hear misguided advice to that effect: “Now is not the time to quit your job, slack off, or change course. When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” In actuality this course only deepens the problem.

What can we do if a case of burnout looms?

1. First, slow down. I hear some of you scoffing, “Slow down? I’m so far behind already! Only a clueless person would tell me to slow down.” Please, stay with me on this. If what you’ve been doing has led you to the brink of burnout, how will it help to continue in the same direction, only faster and with more determination? Doing more of what you’ve been doing will not lead to a better outcome.

2. Re-examine your goals and priorities. If you have worthy goals in your life, then sailing through changing winds and storms to reach them can be seen as just another part of the journey. If you do not have a compelling destination, trials and setbacks may seem senseless and punishing. Consider what things really matter to you. Know the difference between your “nice to haves” and your “non-negotiables”, and make time for the things that matter most. If you hear yourself saying you “ought” to do something, give that action extra scrutiny. Chances are it’s someone else’s desire, not yours. Consider what your life might look like without it.

3. People often reach the point of burnout because of over-work. Ask yourself whether you are overworked because you find it difficult saying no to requests, you let perfectionism drive you, or you’re afraid to delegate. With insight and a bit of practice, you can learn to set appropriate limits, delegate effectively, and declare something “good enough”.

4. Feelings of helplessness are made worse by a chaotic environment. Get help to organize your time, paper, and projects. Begin by bringing order to one area of your life, then move on to enlarge the domain of calm and order in your life.

5. Make use of supportive relationships. Human connection is a powerful force for recovery. As a professional organizer and productivity trainer, I am able to help my clients identify the resources they need to stay productive and fulfilled, and to keep healthy balance in their lives.

Detailed information about burnout is available in the well-written and comprehensive article at HelpGuide.org