Stephen Covey, the author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, brings an analogy to explain priorities. The Jar of Life Imagine you have an empty jar. This jar represents the time you have in a day, a week, or even a lifetime. Your goal is to fill it wisely. You can fill it […]
8 Ways to Declutter Mental Space
How does our mental space get cluttered? Think of your mind like a room. Every time you get some sort of input—phone calls, news, emails, work tasks—a bit of clutter is added. Over time, this adds up. Next thing you know, you’re overloaded, and you feel overwhelmed. For some of us, that looks like heightened […]
How a Bullet Journal Can Help You Make Decisions
Everyday, we make thousands of decisions. They range from small decisions that happen in an instant to big decisions that weigh heavily on our mind. On the one hand, we think about what to wear, what to eat for breakfast, and how to respond to that email. On the other hand, we wonder whether or […]
Some Days You Aren’t Productive
Welcome to 2025. Take a moment to think about this past year. About what you accomplished. About the days you were on top of things. About the days that maybe you weren’t. Let’s focus on those days for a moment. Some days you just aren’t productive. Some days, you aren’t meant to be productive. Maybe […]
How to Get Into a Productive Mood: 9 Practical Tips
Some days, you just don’t feel like doing anything, but there are things that need to be done. Here are nine practical tips to help yourself get into a productive mood. 1. Take a short nap When exhaustion hits, getting things done becomes more and more difficult. A brief Power Nap can give you a […]
Productive Procrastination
Hold on a second—aren’t productivity and procrastination opposites? Well, yes and no. And maybe. Let’s break it down. Do you have a frog on your to-do list? Recently, I wrote a blog post on Between Carpools (check it out here if you haven’t seen it), and I mentioned a productivity method called Eat the Frog. […]
5 Tips for Fast Decluttering
Clutter and untidiness has a huge impact on our productivity. All that stuff competes for space in our brain, leaving less space for, you know, thinking. So decluttering can help boost our productivity (and our creativity). There’s research to back this up, but even without that, I think we all know the feeling of spaciousness […]
How to Stay on Top of Everything When It Feels Like Too Much
We all have those moments when we are juggling all the different parts of our lives, and it feels like we’re on the verge of dropping them all. It’s okay. Repeat after me: This is normal. Being overwhelmed in one moment doesn’t mean you need to stay that way. Let’s talk about some ways to […]
What is Intentional Living and How Do I Do It?
I first came across this term a few years ago. It sounds very new age, and is bandied about with terms like self care and mindfulness. But if it’s done right, I think intentional living is a Jewish concept. Doing something with intention is basically having kavanah. What is intentional living? Intentional living is what […]
Time Does Not Fly When You are Not Having Fun
I don’t like taking out the garbage. So I push it off, trying to squash what’s in the garbage to make more room. One time, I decided to time how long it would take me to take out the garbage. Do you know how long it took me? Under a minute. I still don’t enjoy […]