January 5, 2009

Get In Gear Newsletter

a personal note from Cairene

announcements

First, welcome new subscribers! Thanks for joining the conversation. I'm glad you're here.

Second, after participating in the Morning Meetings at CubeSpace last fall, I got to thinking... Why limit the opportunity to ask questions to those who can meet me at a specific time and location? There are easier ways for me to help more people. Technology is handy that way. So, if you need a little guidance or a nudge in the right direction - just ask here.

Third, I need your help. Please take this short survey about the email guide you received when you subscribed. I'm making some revisions and I would love to know how it has been helpful and what would make it better - and if the subject warrants a class of its own. Thanks in advance for your input!

classes

the true discipline of time management
If you are ready to leave that overwhelmed, overcommitted, disorganized, late, forgetful, drained, panicked, guilty place you're in right now, but conventional time-management strategies haven't helped - become a Time Disciple with me.

Those productivity gurus aren't writing books for someone like you. You are rare. Unique. You need to create your own system. And you already have the answers. You just need a way to get at the information.

Through a process of compassionate self-observation and a right-brained approach, you'll learn how to organize time and tasks in ways that feel natural and are effective.

• Instead of repetition and routine, we will focus on rhythm and pattern.
• Instead of strict structures, we will allow for the flexibility and spontaneity that life and the creative muse demands.
• Instead of logic and analysis, we'll make decisions according to heart and intuition.
• Instead of predetermined plans, we will be guided by feedback.
• Instead of words and charts, our time will be shaped by resonant imagery.
• Instead of a compartmentalizing, we will create schedules that reflect a holistic and synergistic life.

I know this works, because I use this process every day to stay organized and get things done (and feel good doing it).

If you are tired of trying to force your activities into boxes on a calendar and discipline yourself to conform to a schedule... If you would like to stop punishing yourself and learn how to change your relationship with your own unique sense of time... please read more about the course and consider joining me. By this spring, you could be on your way to calm, prepared, on time, energized, confident – and ready for anything.

course begins Monday, February 16. Early-bird tuition $137. [details and registration]

bite the candy
Get-in-Gear Fridays are back. Except they aren't on Fridays anymore and it's not about getting in gear. The phrase feels a bit naggy, don't you think? Like your mom asking you for the umpteenth time to clean your room. That is so not what these sessions are about. It's about having guilt-free fun finishing something you've been putting off. It's about discovering the treats at the bottom of your to-do list . Learn more here.

next session: Thursday, January 29, 9:30am-1:00pm. $25 [details and registration]

one-on-one coaching

Want more individualized attention than is available in a class? Need help with a specific area of your business or special project? I currently have four openings available for one-on-one coaching at 2008 rates. (When they're gone, they're gone - seize the moment.) [learn more]

events

I am pleased as punch to announce that I will be participating in the Association of Professional Landscape Designers annual conference this summer as a workshop leader and presenter. More details to come as they are finalized, but this I can say: we are going to have a great time putting admin in its place and creating sustainable schedules for ourselves.

[Perhaps I should be speaking to your group, too? I'd be just as thrilled to work with you, you know. If so, please contact me.]

get in gear > to resolve, loosen and release

If you know me, you know that I love a good metaphor, spreadsheets make me a bit weak at the knees (best planning divination tool ever), and I also have a thing about word origins.

Because it has come up so often in the last week or so, I looked up the word "resolution" in the dictionary a few days ago.

The meaning that is emphasized this time of year - something one has reached a firm decision about - is not the first one listed. At a more basic level, the word is defined by answering, solving, determining, breaking down the complex into the simple. It's other common meaning has to do with focus - the sharpness of an image, for example - and being able to distinguish the individual parts of an object.

The word comes from the Latin - re- + solvere - meaning to loosen or release. Answering, solving, simplifying, focusing, determining something we might want to make a firm decision about, all turn out to be acts or processes of loosening and releasing. How great is that?!

New Year's resolutions can feel punitive - corrections of past failures, reminders of shortcomings. As such, we tend to be tight-fisted with them - goals we push ourselves to achieve like a drill sergeant. Just do it right this time! No excuses! Punch, punch, punch.

But to be a resolution, maybe we need to loosen our grip on the command we've decided upon, open our hand so we can clearly see the parts. You can't solve a problem if you can't see all the little things that contribute to it, look at them with fresh eyes, maybe let some of them go, then reassemble them in a new more harmonious way.

Because that turns out to be another meaning of resolution: to progress from dissonance to consonance. In setting your goals for the new year, imagine them coming together like the voices of a choir (or maybe a righteous power chord if you aren't the classical type).

Here's wishing you harmony in everything you do in the coming year.

This "loosening and releasing" business? We do a lot of it in the True Discipline of Time Management. Like letting go of our out-dated rule books. And should's. And goofy myths about productivity. That sort of thing. You might want to give it a try.

talk back

Like what you've read? Irked? Confused? Have a suggestion? Got a question? Let's start a conversation. I'd love to hear from you - send me a line or comment on the blog.

recently on the blog

• Introducing the "Lessons Learned" Category | in which I share the daily insights, big and small, that result from a simple yet powerful practice of self-observation
• Introducing the "Business Manual" Category | a daily glimpse into the living document that helps my run my business (watch and learn)
• On Not Lurking | how we do one thing is how we do everything
• Cheers to 2009 | a look back at a quaint bit of marketing and my wish for the new year

subscription info

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Unless otherwise attributed, all material is written and edited by Cairene MacDonald.
© 2008 Cairene MacDonald, Third Hand Works. All rights reserved.

Cairene MacDonald
Third Hand Works
PO Box 31113
Portland, OR 97231
contact

from overwhelmed to ready for anything
organization and time management for people in their "right" minds

Third Hand Works | administrative guidance for independent creative professionals