I walked into the kitchen recently and I immediately noticed, there on the counter, a huge bag of yellow squash from a friend. I jokingly thought, “Wow. Look at all that yellow squash! I wonder if they grow anything else?” And of course I know that they do, but it got me to thinking about gardeners and leadership.

Over the past week, it seems like I have had conversations with so many individuals who are procrastinating about something in their life. The situations range from a job change to taking different actions with the care of a loved one to writing a book. I immensely enjoy these discussions because it's motivating to me to hear people talk about their passions and goals. Too many people accept the status quo for far too long, and when they are finally moved to take action, it's too late.

In a past blog, best-selling author Seth Godin wrote:

“We say, ‘I am afraid’ as if the fear is us, forever. We don’t say, ‘I am a fever,’ or ‘I am a sore foot.’ No, in those cases, we acknowledge that it’s a temporary condition, something we have, at least for now, but won’t have forever.

I don't know about you, but the workday after a holiday has always felt a little disjointed to me. On one hand we should be ready to take on the world after an extra day or two of rest from work, but on the other hand, I find myself longing for more of that personal or family time that I got during the day off. If I'm not careful, I can find myself meandering through my day and not getting anything of real value accomplished.

"My life is a lump!" The person on the call was a colleague who was lamenting how their work-life satisfaction had shifted so much in the past few months. She even had the audacity to challenge the three rings model I share in my book, Juggling Elephants (No offense taken). "Being confined to home while I was already working remotely with a global team requiring extended work hours has reduced my life to one ring-WORK!" To be fair, she did also mention that she was grateful to have a job in these uncertain times.

t's been cool and rainy for so much of the past two weeks in my community, making it difficult for people to mow their lawns and work on their landscapes. A couple of days ago, however, the sun came out, the temperatures went up... and BAM! I think every mower, leaf blower, and grass trimmer within two miles was running at one time this weekend. People were ready to get out and get things done.

Each workday seems packed with a variety of activities, meetings, and phone calls that tend to stack up until we get overwhelmed feeling of overload. However, as I work with coaching clients and talk with others I have realized that often people experience some fairly significant difficulties with their coworkers. These situations and at times particular people can be an immense drain on you and your time. In fact, they can cause mental and emotional overload which pours into our ability to get our work done.

Workdays can be such a blur and, if you are like me, there are days that you may leave work feeling like nothing of real value got accomplished. Maybe your attention was scattered in so many different directions that your focus was too diverted to get things complete. I’ve certainly been there and want to share some ways to utilize time blocks effectively in order to get more done each day.

You know the type of days where you are super focused on an important task, making immense progress, and then all of a sudden, WHAM, you get interrupted and feel completely derailed? While we’ve all been there, it’s certainly not our preference and going from productive to sidetracked is frustrating.

As leaders we have questions, often many of them. However, I’ve been learning through David Marquet’s book, Leadership is Language, that we could be asking better (and perhaps fewer) questions. Working to improve this area of communication with our team, we’d likely produce better-quality results and outcomes.

I laughed out loud when I read the article, Farts, Cats, Naked Bodies: People are failing hilariously at working from home. So many disasters in video conference calls. I’ve also had several intense conversations with people working remotely who are ready to sell their children, strangle their spouse, and even sell their pets. They are learning what I have known for over 25 years… working from home is TOUGH!!! I could list lots of reasons why that’s the case…

Procrastination is a word that’s frequently tossed around to explain our inclination to put things off until “later.” For over two decades, I’ve given tips, techniques, and solutions to help people with their procrastinating tendencies. To define, it’s simply the action of delaying or postponing something. Depending on the situation, I’ve encouraged others to break their tasks down into smaller pieces or to find a time slot where you have mental and emotional energy.

Recently, I chatted with a friend going through some fairly big life changes. They were about to have their schedule open up with extra free time to do other types of things. I excitedly began to list all the different things they would have time to do.

However, upon deeper conversation, it became obvious that they weren’t so excited about this newfound time. A little stumped, I began to realize that they had been putting off some things that should have been done or handled a long time ago.

Studies show that about 80% of New Year’s resolutions are broken by February. We are just a few short weeks into 2020 so likely many of us have already broken some of our fresh, new goals and resolutions.

While we were well-meaning with our efforts to change, revamp, or tweak certain habits in our lives, alas, we just didn’t quite cut it. Like myself, I can just imagine some of you saying that you simply weren’t good at “it” or the effort wasn’t going well. I believe that I have a solution for you to bounce back from your “resolution fail” and even improve on your goals going forward.

A recent CNBC article stated that over 61% of Americans had "getting out of debt" as their number one goal for 2020.  Number 2 was to "max out their retirement accounts," followed by "negotiating a raise," and "starting to invest."
I smiled as I reflected on those goals because the same thing could be said about how many people feel about how they would like to change how they use their time.

Let’s face it, we all want to be more productive and extremely efficient in our work. So how does one pull off that kind of productivity? Do you jump into your daily tasks with reckless abandon while throwing caution to the wind? (Ok, let’s hope not.) Maybe you take a more low key approach and simply consult your calendar for your potential next steps. It’s worth asking, what would help you get into the right mindset for a productive day? I’ve got a few suggestions and hope they help you too.

One of the commercials I find most humorous this time of year is the one that suggests the best gift you can give yourself is a new vehicle. Don't get me wrong. If you need a better car or truck to get life done, I am in your corner. I love talking about cars. And if any of you are feeling exceptionally generous, I promise I wouldn't turn down a shiny new car in my driveway (after all, my daughter Sydney did turn 16 last month).

Typically, people sleep with at least one mobile device next to their beds each night. Not only do they keep them close 24/7, but they often check their work email in the evenings and on weekends. Ultimately, this has become an extension of the workday and at the detriment of the employee, their work, and their personal life.

We can make no mistake about the fact that we live in a busy, fast-paced world today. I’ve often heard people, including myself, justify one’s busyness by saying that while they may work hard that they, in turn, play hard too.  While incorporating both work and play helps with work-life balance, there could be an essential missing piece to this mindset.

What does a productive day look like to you? In one of my training sessions when I asked that same question the answers varied greatly. A few examples include:

• I would work on what is important rather than just urgent.

• I could work without the interruptions of others.

• I made time for my own growth and development.

• I would have the chance for deeper discussions with members of my team.