Dear   ,    

I hope you're enjoying our beautiful summer weather!  As you know, I think every time of year is a great time to get organized, so I've included two articles below:

• One on a new time management strategy to help keep you on track through the lazy days of summer, 
• And one to help prepare you for recycling when you decide to clear out some of your old outdoor furniture.  

Don't forget to keep your beach bags packed and ready to go, with sunscreen, towels, sunglasses, flip flops, Frisbee, and your favorite summer reading material. Enjoy!

- Maryann Murphy, MSW

Mini Habits: A New Time Management Strategy

Would you like a new strategy to help you get back to those habits you promised to establish last New Year's Eve?  A new e-book by Stephen Guise, Mini Habits: Smaller Habits, Bigger Results, suggests that the problem with most of our efforts to establish new habits is that we start too big, then get discouraged and de-motivated along the way.

His strategy is to start with behaviors that are, in his words, "stupid small", so small that it would be ridiculous NOT to do them even when you're "too busy" or even "too tired". For example, rather than planning to do 50 push-ups, make a commitment to do one push-up a day.  Just one.  It's so easy, your brain (and body) will put up very little resistance to the idea each day (except maybe to think it's too easy).  By training yourself to do that one push-up every day, you've started to develop an exercise habit, one you can actually keep up with, even when you are busy or tired or "not in the mood".

Of course, you can always do more.  In fact, once you start, you're likely to want to do more, and that's great.  Just don't beat yourself up on the days when all you want to do is the one push-up.  If you're consistent in developing the habit of exercise (or whatever other habit you want to develop), you're succeeding.

I started using this system in May, and targeted 6 mini-habits at once (which Guise recommends against, but hey - I'm impatient)!  It was amazing how easy it was to keep on schedule and to do more than the "stupid small" amount I needed for success.

Some additional mini-habit ideas:

• To start reading more: Read 2 pages a day (for me, this quickly turned to many more pages almost every day, but I kept the commitment at just 2 pages).
• To overcome writer's block:  Write 2 sentences/day. 
• To get in the decluttering habit: Throw away or give away one item/day.
• To get more organized: Spend 1 minute/day filing or throwing away papers.

What habit would you like to develop AND stick to?  Pick a stupid small version of that habit, and make a commitment to doing it daily. The e-book is available on Kindle for just $5.99, or in paperback for $10.39 through Amazon.com.  It's a quick read and provides more details about how to make the system work for you.  Guise provides additional resources on his website, http://minihabits.com.  Give it a try and let me know how it works for you!

Recycling Corner:  Patio Furniture

Q:  What's Irish and stays out all night?