Life Of E's

If you are like most teachers, you may have some clutter lurking in your classroom – and let’s start with your desk. Look at that big drawer in the lower right- or left-hand side of your desk – the one where files are supposed to go.  To use that drawer for its intended purpose, you will [...]

Tags: clutter, distractions, focus, Productivity, tips

Perfectionism runs rampant through the professorial world. Let me acknowledge up front that I am perfectly familiar with this, having lived with it for 56 years at this point, but having learned a great deal in the last 25 about how to deal with it so that it’s not debilitating. Here are ten tips for [...]

How can you stay in the present (mentally) – or get to the present? Here are 5 strategies: Breathe. The idea is that you breathe in. Then you breathe out. This helps you to get centered – and somewhere I read that the space between breathing in and breathing out – that’s the present. So [...]

Tags: distractions, energy, focus, positive, Productivity, success, tips

Human beings love to achieve…to set goals and to reach those goals. It’s motivating. Use that to your advantage when you are cleaning, clearing, decluttering – and of course, destressing. Make a VOW to rid yourself of a certain amount, number, or percentage of your ‘stuff,’ whether your stuff is books, papers, files, cans, emails, [...]

Tags: clutter, distractions, focus, Productivity, stress, tips

“Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.” – William Jennings Bryan In life, “A door must either be shut or open.” (Anonymous); I think that means we need to determine which doors we [...]

Tags: distractions, focus, positive, Productivity, success, tips

Are you an “I-can-do-it-all-myself” person? Do you have some tasks, responsibilities, or projects that you have been procrastinating? I will assume that since you are still reading that the answer is yes to both. If you have a mental list of items that you are procrastinating, I first recommend that you get them out of [...]

Tags: communication, energy, just whelmed, Productivity, stress, success, tips

“If I had to characterize one quality as the genius of female thought, culture, and action, it would be the connectivity.” ~Robin Morgan Here are some simple ways to make connections with others (and it is OK to read this even if you are a man). These are deceptively simple ideas. And, part of what [...]

Tags: communication, positive, Productivity, success, tips

You may have noticed something that I’ve noticed:  Some of the people we are around who are the most negative appear not to be thankful for one single thing. And I have to believe that there is not a person alive who is unable to find something for which to be thankful. What always strikes [...]

Tags: focus, just whelmed, positive, success, tips

In a recent *E*mail *E*xtravaganza, one of our members asked me some great questions and I wanted to share those questions and my answers so that they might help you, too. Q. Dear Meggin, you suggest that we hire someone to do things that can be done by someone else. How does one assess how [...]

Tags: cost management, cost of time, delegate, hiring others, invest, spending money, time management

Unless you are ever-vigilant (and have been for the past 5 - 10 years) when it’s time for de-cluttering, you will need a trash container.  If you are only cleaning out one wayward drawer, then a teeny trash basket may be enough.  On the other hand, if you are de-cluttering your entire classroom, office, garage, or wherever else [...]

Tags: clutter, distractions, focus, Productivity, tips