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 have to take out the extra pair of shoes, the box of energy bars, the toys you’ve taken from students, the extra bottled water, the wire in-basket that never was big enough, etc.   Another possibility for ‘clutter’ is the drawer that could be called the “history of makeup” area.  Whatever might be hiding in this drawer – toss it!  Do you ever really have time to apply makeup during the school day anyway? Get everything out of the drawer so it’s free and clear to become a place to access easily and quickly for your increased productivity.

Note:  If the desk you inherited from the previous teacher is broken, the drawers don’t open or are in some way non-functional, you should walk right down to the custodian’s office and ask for some immediate assistance. This is not a time when you should just “make do.” You are a professional educator and you deserve a functional desk.

One of my good friends, who is a teacher, says that we all need to have the “Disneyland Mentality.”   That is, no one would think of throwing garbage on the ground at Disneyland because there isn’t any trash already on the ground. They have lots of workers on the lookout for the least bit of garbage and no area is left unkempt at any time.  So, what does this mean for your classroom?  Hmmmmm…..

Look around your classroom, office, or home (wherever you are reading this).

• Do you see anything that is not in its designated space?

• Do you see some items that do not even have a designated space?

• Are areas of your desk, side table, floor, or shelves piled (however neatly) with paper, folders, containers, and random items?

• Is there anything within range of your view that gives you an annoying sense of “gosh, that needs to be done,” or a troubling sense of “yikes…I wonder if I should be doing that instead of what I’m doing now?” or the like? 

If these questions make you want to cry or throw your hands up in despair, have hope! Yes, you have some clutter, and yes, it’s time to make a move to rid yourself of it. Even the smallest change can give you a new sense of how your world can change for the better.

Put in place a “Disneyland Mentality.” Don’t allow yourself, your family, or your students to make a mess of your space. Organization should be the constant in your classroom.  Here are some steps you can take immediately to clear the clutter and conquer its attendant chaos.

1. Have a serious throwaway session! Don’t bother trying to organize things you shouldn’t be keeping in the first place. As Barbara Hemphill comments, “If you do not know an item to be useful, believe it to be beautiful, or love it for personal reasons, it’s time to get rid of it.”  

2. Get in the habit of throwing more pieces of paper out than you let come in to your possession every day (and that takes some doing, believe me!)  

3. Do the same for all the incoming items…physical, digital, and mental. For example, have a serious deleting session with your email. Then, get in the habit of getting rid of a higher number of emails every day than you have new ones coming in. Once you have reached the point of 0 (yes, zero) emails left in your in-box at the end of each day, you will be more likely to maintain this state.

Imagine your students grading you on your room’s “clutter factor.” Ouch. Wouldn’t you like to get an “A” this nine weeks in clutter reduction? For some teachers, old habits die hard, but for others, once they learn to get and stay clutter-free, they see the difference and feel the freedom.

Student evaluations are a part of every faculty member’s life. Some consider them to be a positive part of the academic life and others dismiss them as a meaningless exercise (or even worse, as a detriment to good teaching).

You might as well know that I come down on the side of student evaluations being a necessary and worthwhile component of teaching at the college and university level. I also received – and I believe, earned – great student evaluations over the 19 years that I taught undergraduate and graduate students. This wasn’t a fluke.

Here are six suggestions for ensuring that you earn and receive high evaluations from students:

1. Teach well. This may sound like I’m making a flip comment, but it is not intended to be so. First and foremost, if you want to earn great student evaluations, you need to be a great teacher. Some people teach well almost naturally, it seems. Others have to work VERY hard at becoming great teachers. No matter how good you already are, work to be even better. That’s your first tip – and not one to ignore.

2. Determine what you want students to write on your evaluations. For example, I wanted to students to write “I’ve never worked so hard in a class and I’ve never learned so much.” You may have a very clear sense of what you want students to write or you may need to do some extra thinking about this.

3. Tell students on the first day of class, “Here is what I am expecting to have you write on my evaluations at the end of the semester.” Then tell them. You have the phrasing for this after you complete tip #5. You are letting them know what you want and are beginning to install that kind of thinking for them. This also helps them know what your expectations are – and I always assure the students how I will be working so that I earn whatever the positive comments are that they will be making.

4. Teach your classes with whatever it is that you want students to write in mind. This includes your preparation, your demeanor in the classroom, your interactions with students, the grading of their assignments, etc. You are making sure that you earn and deserve the good evaluations that you are going to receive. The idea is that you are delivering on the “goods.”

5. Begin doing course evaluations no later than the end of the third week of class. This may sound crazy and even a little scary, but…you want to begin asking early and often (within reason, of course) how the class is going for the students. You can ask them to do informal evaluations or you can do more formal evaluations. I prefer short, frequent check-ins with students to see if there are areas where I am not doing well and that I am willing to address (e.g., if they think my expectations are too high, I am not likely to change that, but if they say I spend too long explaining something that had already been explained in the syllabus and they would rather I told people to go back and reread the syllabus, well…that’s good feedback for me).

No matter how magnificent you are as a teacher, you will always have a few students who don’t give you a “high” ranking. But if you use the ideas that are in this article, you will have the majority of students providing a fair, respectful, and good evaluation of your teaching. I know from experience and from helping lots of others with this.

How can you stay in the present (mentally) – or get to the present? Here are 5 strategies:

1. 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 actually, right now, breathe. In. Out. In. Out. It’s amazing that we need to be reminded.

2. Stand up straight or sit up straight (if you are physically able to do so). Just pull your head up, straighten your spine, pull in your stomach, and of course, breathe. It’s interesting how making sure we are doing all of these behaviors just pulls us to the present. Apparently there is no chance of multi-minding when we are focused – just for a moment – on standing up straight, pulling our head up and our stomachs in – and, oh, yeah…breathing. Those four tasks take all our concentration and are sometimes enough to break us out of whatever past tense, future tense, or too tense thinking we were in just before.

3. Say, “One thing, right now.” It’s a calming phrase. It helps you to get centered again. “One thing, right now.” “One thing, right now.” “One thing, right now.” Say it over and over as needed. Let people around you know that if/when you get into a “state,” they might help you by saying, “One thing, right now.”

4. If you have an object that helps you focus on the present – then use that. It might be something physical, it might be a picture, it might be a quote. It’s whatever will calm your mind enough to focus on now – just now.

5. Make marmalade. This recommendation comes from D.H. Lawrence’s suggestion: “I got the blues thinking of the future, so I left off and made some marmalade. It’s amazing how it cheers one up to shred oranges and scrub the floor.” The idea, of course, is to take up an activity where you need to be focused. Making marmalade, doing repair, engaging in some kind of intricate work….all of these activities require your focus and that you be present. Figure out what your marmalade activity is.

I promised that these were simple – and they are. Yet, we often don’t apply simple solutions. Give one or more of these a try when you need to bring yourself back to NOW – and see if you aren’t more focused and much more peaceful, too.

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, stuffed animals, or anything else that is cluttering up your mental or physical space.

VOW is an acronym for:

• Visualize

• Orally Commit

• Work through the obstacles

Let’s explore this acronym…

You may be one of the people reading this post who has a wall (or several walls) of books in your home or office. You know perfectly well that it’s time to move some of them out – whether it’s to make room for more books, to make room for other items, or just to create space, which is a SUPERB reason.

You could VOW to get rid of 2 books (a goal involving a number) everyday for 100 days.

• First, you’d Visualize what it would look like to get rid of 200 books.

• Then, you’d Orally commit to doing so. You could tell a colleague, your students, someone in your family, or your coach. You need to say it out loud so you hear yourself making the commitment. This helps to get the idea and the commitment into your brain.

• Then, you Work through the obstacles. Obstacles might be where you’d find the time to get rid of two everyday; the fear that as soon as you get rid of a book, you’d wish you had it; the worry that stuff will fall down if you start taking out books; and so forth. Since only smart people read these articles, I’ll bet once you name these obstacles, you can work through them. If not, let someone help you. Humans also love to help others.

Another VOW (involving a percentage) that you might make could involve your acknowledgement of the research that indicates that 80-90% of what is in the average professional’s file cabinet will never be used again…so you could VOW to recycle or shred at least 50% of what is in your file cabinet.

An example of a VOW involving an amount could be determining that as you declutter (and then destress about your laundry room/pantry) is that you will fill two average-size grocery bags with food you’ll never eat, containers that you don’t need, or whatever else can be removed from that space.

Human beings love measurable goals. Use that proclivity to your advantage by VOWing to get rid of a particular number, amount, or percentage of something as you reduce your clutter and the experience the concomitant reduction in your stress.

And you are invited to access the full-color Get a Plan! Guide(R) to Ridding Your Workspace of Clutter to REALLY get going on decluttering.  This special Get a Plan! Guide(R) will give you (and others with whom you work) suggestions and motivation to start de-cluttering your workspace (and even your home).

What if you want to eat and snack in a healthy manner? Does that mean no more good stuff? And why should you care about this?

Snacking at work can be one of the biggest productivity downfalls for three reasons:

• We DON’T eat at all – and then because we’re starving, we eat half the house when we get home. That is never good. When you eat too much at night, you can’t go to bed comfortably to sleep, and then you toss and turn for hours and are less rested the following day.

• We don’t eat at all while we’re working and our blood sugar takes a dive, along with our mental capacity to think, problem-solve, write, teach, or whatever else we need to be doing. This is no good either!

• We eat goofy things (that’s a technical nutritional term) because they are around. In case you are wondering, pretty much if it comes out of a machine, it’s in the goofy category. Cheese crackers with peanut butter in them. Ugh, but they look tasty when you’re starving. Day-old muffins in the workroom that have hunks cut out of them. Lovely. If you’re scavenging, it’s not a good sign.

Use these two multi-faceted suggestions to eat smart, stay focused, and not turn into a scavenger. It is all much more productive and infinitely more attractive.

1. Fresh vegetables, including asparagus, broccoli, squash, and tomatoes – The list can go on and on here. Whatever is in season (and in many parts of the country, you can get “in season” vegetables that are shipped in from another part of the world – in any season. If you like to buy locally, then just stay alert for what is available. You may also choose to grow your own, especially in the summer. That is REALLY the best and the healthiest. It can be only minutes from garden to table so you’re losing no nutrients. As long as you don’t pile a ton of butter, oil, or other fats on top of your vegetables, you are in good shape. Taking raw or cooked vegetables to work with you as a snack will make you the envy of your co-workers. And, they will wish that they were also getting healthier instead of getting more run down and out of shape.

2. Pasta. Yum! Pasta is another one of the many foods that you might love that can be as tasty – or more tasty – by not loading it up with a bunch of heavy fats that you don’t really want. To tell the truth, plain pasta with nothing on it is good (especially when you are hungry!). Or you can add some fresh vegetables or a small amount of cheese or just some fresh-ground pepper and it tastes scumptious. Pasta is very filling and so then you are not hungry and wondering about the next items you’re going to eat.

So, what will you pack to take to work tomorrow?  I’d love for you to make comments below.  We’re interested in your suggestions!!

Let us say that you have decided to close the door to negative people (figuratively, of course). What is tough about this decision is that sometimes the negative people work in our offices (or live in our homes or are related to us in some way). Deciding to “close the door” on the people who are negative is a first step. However, because we may need to interact with these folks on a regular basis, we do have to take further steps after our decision so that it comes to fruition.

We will use the example of metaphorically “closing the door” on your interaction with colleagues who are forever buzzing around and upsetting you and others with their fear-mongering, negativity, and gossip. Unfortunately, this is an all-too-common scenario in many workplaces today.

Step one is to say to yourself, “I am closing the door on the gossip and negativity and fear from these three colleagues who have infested my thinking for the last 3 years.”

Step two is to begin to generate the ways that will allow you to accomplish this (and it is not easy, I know!) Here are some possibilities to consider implementing:

1. I will be ready to change the subject whenever one or more of them start talking with me and it is negative.

2. I will specifically speak to each person and let him/her know that I am working hard to stay on the upside instead of the downside and am going to work to focus differently.

3. I will walk away from situations in the office that look like they will turn into negativity sessions.

4. I will learn more about the personal parts of every one of these people’s life so that I can ask questions to help them focus on something good that is happening.

5. I will ask the boss if she/he can encourage all of us to look on the bright side and bring our creativity to situations that seem gloomy.

6. I will resign from particular committees that involve extensive interaction with these three people and seek different opportunities to contribute to the organization.

These are six options. I have no idea what will work in your situation so you can continue generating possible options or modifications to the ideas suggested above.

Is closing the door on negative people as easy as deciding to eat something besides yogurt everyday for lunch? Nope. You’re up to the challenge, though, aren’t you?

If you want your life to be better, if you want something to be different this time next year, if you want your energy focused on the upside instead of the downside, then you will want to open yourself to solutions.  Many are available through the Staying Positive Society – www.StayingPositiveinaFreakedOutWorld.com.  Check it out!

“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 want to shut and which ones we want to open. For the purposes of this article, let us consider those doors you want to deliberately keep open instead of letting them just slam shut (or gradually close).

Maybe you want to decide to keep the doors open to certain experiences, people, things, behaviors, attitudes, practices, strengths, and more. If so, I recommend that you get a door jamb or a prop of some kind to make SURE that the door stays open. It makes sense that your door jamb is actually a plan you need to put into place (no matter how rudimentary at this point) for how you are going to keep particular doors open. Let’s think about some examples:

• Do you need to set up date night with your honey? Will that happen magically or do you need to establish a plan to make that happen?

• Do you need to get a walking partner to keep you on track with your walking plan? Who should you call? And how about calling him/her today?

• Do you need to hire someone to clean your house so that you can continue to enjoy a productive environment, free of detritus? Might there be people who would be happy to fill this role for you?

• Do you need to enroll in a class to increase your skills in one or more areas so you can stay on the cutting edge? Where might you take such classes? Is there a website you can access – today – to learn more?

• Do you need to call a friend to set up time for lunch? If you want to keep up your relationships, this is one way to do so and it takes deliberate actions on your part. Don’t trust this to chance.

• Do you need to join a group that gives you a weekly boost of instruction, direction, and energy? Then get out there and do so!

“It is your life – and it is your decisions that help to make your life what it is. Make a plan that involves these decisions. Surely you don’t want your decision muscles to get flabby“. H.W. Andrews encourages us by saying,

Not all of your decisions will be correct. None of us is perfect. But if you get into the habit of making decisions, experience will develop your judgment to a point where more and more of your decisions will be right. After all, it is better to be right 51 percent of the time and get something done, than it is to get nothing done because you fear to reach a decision.

Decide to keep the doors wide open to what you want in your life. Then make a plan so your decisions become a reality.

It is not just the big things that need to be eliminated in order to reduce stress. You may need to get rid of those extra Cool Whip tubs that fall out of your cabinet every time you open the drawer. You will be surprised by what is on this list. How about starting to eliminate your stress by getting rid of:

1. A ratty planner. Go out and buy one that you love – right now!

2. Ugly decorations for any holiday. Less is more.

3. Irritating sounds (try noise canceling headphones – the technology is amazing).

4. Unnecessarily long meetings (be sure to announce the time you’ll be leaving at the beginning of the meeting).

5. Paying bills by writing checks (and addressing envelopes and putting stamps on). On-line banking and bill paying is fast, easy and secure.

6. Waiting in line at the post office to buy stamps. Please. You have better things to do.

7. Old prescription eyeglasses. The glasses you have from 3, 4, 5+ prescriptions ago…have got to go (and can be dropped off at your eye doctor’s or the Lion’s Club to be given someone who needs them).

8. Returning low-dollar items. If you bought it at the dollar store and it’s defective, fagetaboutit! Depending on your income bracket, you might choose never to return anything….just give it away.

9. Gadgets that don’t work (can openers, VCRs, etc.). All they do is bug you. Get rid of them!

10. Gadgets that you never use (Ron Popeil and other info-mercial kings have single-handedly contributed to the need for this listing!).

11. Plastic tubs in your kitchen (you have Rubbermaid, Tupperware, and so forth a-plenty…so why do you need 35 Cool Whip tubs?).

12. Anything past its expiration date (medicine, spices, contact solutions, canned goods, mayonnaise, etc.).

13. Habits that you obsess over.

14. Emails. Not all email….but if you have hundreds or thousands of emails in your inbox, sent items, deleted items, or some other “items” folder….you are not being peacefully, predictably productive. Start eliminating.

15. Phone books. What in the world do you need phone books for? MAYBE keep one but, for heaven’s sake. Get rid of all the others. They are big and cumbersome and just in the way.

If you can get rid of one of these today, you are making progress. Start working toward eliminating at least one each week for the next 15 weeks and you will much less stress in just four months from now. Hooray for you!!

Please comment on what you want to eliminate – and the difference it makes for you!!  We’re interested

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 your head and on to a piece of paper (or into a document on your computer). Either way, get a list – and then we will work on that list.

I want you to look over your list of procrastinated tasks (projects, etc.) and deliberately, mindfully, and purposefully DECIDE to ask for help on at least one of them. I’ll wait right here while you are doing that.

There are two ways to think about this:

1. Sometimes, you need to ask someone else to help you by doing a particular task, errand, or other commitment and

2. Sometimes, you need to ask someone to handle sometime that you have been handling so that YOU can then complete or make progress on one of your procrastinated items.

For example, let’s say you are procrastinating getting several articles finished – all of which you need to get written and published if you are going to be able to confidently go up for tenure. The help you need to ask for is that your significant other get himself and the kids out of the house with minimum muss and fuss for at least 4 hours every Saturday afternoon, rain or shine. That’s the help you need.

In another case, you have been procrastinating cleaning out the garage. You ask a teenager to come over and help you. You are happy to contribute to this young person’s financial well-being if he will help you get things down out of the rafters, off top shelves, and out of various garage nooks and crannies. And, you will be so happy to have him haul things away to a dumpster, Goodwill, recycling places, etc. when the sifting and sorting are complete. You are not delegating out the garage cleaning – you are asking for the help you need so that you can clean out the garage.

Go through your list now and determine the items where you need to deliberately ask for help. Put the name of the person you will be asking for help. The idea here is to think about the ones you’re procrastinating just because you need some kind of help with getting it done.

Here’s a secret: People are glad to help. They are especially glad to help if you have come across as an “I-can-do-it-all-myself” person. I know this from experience.

Here’s another secret: It is hard to ask for help if you have been an “I-can-do-it-all-myself” person – and it gets easier. I know this from experience.

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 is powerful about them is their simplicity and yet the profundity of what you can accomplish. In the best of all worlds, you could change someone’s life. In most cases, you can brighten the person’s day.

Guess what else? You also brighten your own day by engaging and connecting with others. So, here are ten ways to make connections with others.

1. Write notes. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, just a quick, preferably hand-written, note.

2. Use social media. Authentically acknowledge what others are doing and saying.

3. Go to lunch. The idea is not to go to lunch by yourself but to go to lunch with someone – for the one and only reason of connecting.

4. Meet for coffee. Just as with #3, you are meeting someone for a beverage just to check in. Surprise someone with an invitation and see what happens.

5. Make a phone call. Out of the blue, call someone you haven’t connected with for awhile. Today.

6. Send a card. Keep a supply of different greeting cards available. If you don’t have just the “perfect” card, then send a standard card with your personalized note in it.

7. Give a hug. If you pay attention, you will notice those who need one.

8. Take food. It can be an entire meal, a treat from your crockpot, some vegetables from your garden, a special take-out dish from a local eatery, or a single cookie or cupcake just to say, “I’m thinking of you.”

9. Put others in touch with one another. You can help others make connections via email, social media, face to face introductions, or a number of other means. Where others take their connections is up to them, but you want to have done your part to tell both parties why you’re making the introduction…and then get out of the way. It’s not about you, it’s about them.

10. Recommend a book. Just the right book at the right time can be a blessing for the person who receives the recommendation. It may be that the book is right or that you were knowledgeable and caring enough to send the recommendation.

Just because these are short doesn’t mean they are to be dismissed.  They are deceptively simple.  You really can make an effort on one of these today – and see what positive connections occur.

To receive weekly sets of 10 productivity tips similar to these, go to www.TopTenProductivityTips.com (and the weekly tips are free).  We are all learning together!