Time Management

Time management, productivity tips and strategies to avoid procrastination and gain motivation in business and in life. Includes awesome (and simple!) goal setting techniques and daily routines for moms, and for kids to use at work, school and play.

How to save hours each month with Evernote Web Clipper

Sarah · Sep 25, 2017 · Leave a Comment

Have you ever tried to copy and paste information off of a webpage only to find that the formatting was super wonky or that it copied everything except the piece of information you truly cared about? Even worse, you didn’t realize it until you went back to use the information later. So frustrating!

Do you wish there was a way to ensure that the information you want is saved just the way you want it? Even better, to do it with two clicks?

There is!

Enter Evernote Web Clipper.

I’ve used Evernote to capture and organize essential information for several years, and I continue to be amazed at how easy the interface is to both store and find information. (Don’t have an Evernote account yet? Sign up for your own Evernote account now. #affiliate)

The Evernote Web Clipper is exactly what it sounds like – a tool that copies (clips) information from any web page and saves it to Evernote.

Even better, it has a smart feature that guesses which Notebook the information should be saved to. And it’s accurate about 95% of the time! (This is the point where I intentionally don’t insert a slightly inappropriate sarcastic comment about real life humans I wish were accurate 95% of the time.)

How to use the Evernote Web Clipper

Download the free Chrome plugin. If you’re not already using Chrome as your web browser, stop right now and download Chrome. I’ll wait.
Sign into your Evernote account. You do have LastPass saving all your information securely, right? If not, I’ll wait again.
Browse the web as usual. I hope this one is self-explanatory.
Come across information that you need to save. If you’re not sure what this might be, keep reading. That’s next.
Hit the handy dandy Evernote Web Clipper button on your browser toolbar.
Review the information auto-populated and make adjustments as needed.
- Title: auto populates based on the title of the webpage you are viewing
- Clip: There are several options to determine exactly what you information off the page you want to save. I find the auto selection is accurate about 90% of the time, so it’s worth a quick glance. You can also easily see on the page itself what is selected.
- Organize: Evernote selects which Notebook the information is most likely to be saved to.
- Tag: You can manually add any of your existing Evernote tags, or add new tags as needed.
- Add remark: Include any additional notes you want to remember on the page or why you saved the information.
Hit “Save.” That’s it, you’re done!

At this point, you might be thinking, “Sarah, that’s great and all. But what would I need to save? I’m reading it online, aren’t I?”

Why yes, yes, you are. Excellent question. There are three primary types of information I find super useful to save using the Evernote Web Clipper.

Three types of information to save using the Evernote Web Clipper:

Payment and purchase confirmations. You know, the utility bill, the credit card bill, travel confirmations and the endless endless school communications. I always, always save payment and transaction confirmations using the Evernote Web Clipper. This ensures that all my payment confirmations are saved in the same place, and eliminates any risk that an email confirmation didn’t come through. Two clicks and I can save it with Evernote web clipper.
Articles to read later. I read a lot of articles and blog posts online. Often, I either don’t have time to read the full article, or I know that I want to go back and reference it. With the web clipper, any article is instantly available for me to read later on my terms. Bonus Tip: Tag all of these with a “to read” tag to find them easily!
Limited time-only pages or offers. This is especially useful when you’re not sure if you want to take advantage of the offer in the limited time frame, but know you might want to purchase the next time it’s available for sale. Saving the sales page while it’s available gives you time to study it in detail and make a decision on your time.

Using Evernote Web Clipper has saved me countless hours of headache trying to save information consistently and then finding that information when I need to use it. If you haven’t already, what are you waiting for? Download and start using Evernote Web Clipper today.

Do you have time to think?

Sarah · Mar 18, 2016 · 1 Comment

You know those weeks that feel a year long and like you have no time to think? This was one of those weeks.

Between the time change, two preschoolers, and an abnormally crazy week in the corporate world, I was ready for the week to be over by Wednesday.

It also made me realize the importance of making time to think.

When managing your time and planning a schedule, including time for margin is essential. Things will take longer than you think, and margin allows you to have enough time for the unexpected to still accomplish what you need to accomplish. But most of us plan just enough margin to cover enough space to get everything done.

Planning for sleep, rest and recreation is also essential. We were wired to need downtime to recharge and relax. Unfortunately, this is often the first time to go when things get crazy.

But do you plan for time to think?

In business and in life, setting aside dedicated time to think, plan, and strategize is critical to not becoming stagnant or ending up on a hamster wheel you never planned for.

“Because we’ve always done it” is not a good enough reason to keep doing something – in work or in life.

I’m in the middle of reading Michael Hyatt and Daniel Harkavy’s new book, Living Forward, which is all about life planning. They advocate setting aside an entire day to create your life plan. While I have yet to set aside time for my life planning day, I have (and frankly, a whole day does feel rather daunting with my current schedule – although Hyatt and Harkavy give counter-arguments to the most common time excuses people give to not dedicating)

In our always on culture, I realized that I very very rarely have time with no input and noise (again, see: two preschoolers). In order to create time to think, it is essential to find ways to silence the noise and create time and space to think.

Three ways to silence the noise and create time to think

Turn off the radio/podcast/music. This week, I’ve started turning off the radio/podcast/music while commuting. It may only be 10-15 minutes once or twice a day, but the first few times felt weird. I’m slowly growing used to using that time to think through whatever is pressing on my mind rather than continuing to input more and more information.
Go for a walk (or a run). Again, with no noise input. Look around you. We’ve got a rare Northwest sunny spring day today, and I’ve got some time blocked off in my calendar to head outside solo.
Block time on your calendar and find a quiet room. For some this is much easier than others. Once you’ve blocked the time, protect it as if it is an essential meeting, because it is. I fully get how hard to find space it is if you work in a crowded office or are home with small children. Get creative. I’ve heard of people who get up in the middle of the night for a time to have that space. Can you put classical music or white noise on headphones and create alone space while still with people?

I’ve been amazed at what has come to mind simply by giving myself the space. Some lighthearted, some serious, some things to adjust my plans and some simple “a ha” moments.

When and where do you create space to think?

Manage your energy, not your time

Sarah · Feb 24, 2016 · Leave a Comment

If you focus on how to manage your energy, your time will manage itself.

Do you believe that?

A few weeks ago, I had a meltdown. And not a pretty one.Is there such a thing as a pretty meltdown? I don’t think so, but suffice it to say that I didn’t act much better than my toddler.

The cause? I pushed myself to work on a project well past my bedtime. I’m not a night owl, and I know this about myself. I was on the brink of exhaustion and incoherency when I sat down, and yet I still convinced myself that this task absolutely had to be done right then.

It didn’t.

What happened is that I spent an hour working on something that likely would have taken me 20 minutes if I had done it at 6am and not 11pm.

This also led to a minor panic attack at work the following day when I was overwhelmed with so many different tasks I needed to work on that I didn’t even know where to start. I had more work and was getting less done in a given time frame than I would have if I had gotten a decent night’s sleep.

As professional working women, we’ve all been there at one point or another. It’s easy to convince ourselves that pushing through is the answer, when it’s not. The answer is to manage your energy.

There’s nothing more inefficient than pushing through and continuing to attempt to work when you’re not at your best.

When you’ve hit a wall, it’s time to hit reset. Here’s how:

4 Ways to Hit the Energy Management Reset Button

1. Take a breather. If it’s not late or you absolutely can’t go to sleep, take 5 minutes for a breather. It’s wise to use this time to literally breather, taking big, deep, belly breaths. Meditation can work wonders. So can getting up and moving. If at all possible, go for a walk.

2. Skip non-critical work. In my meltdown scenario, I had a non-critical meeting on my calendar that I skipped in order to have the time to take a breather, vent and reset.

3. Have a mini-vent session. Done strategically, letting off some steam can be a great way to let it all out so that you can refocus. If you have a trusted co-worker or friend, a mini-vent session can be a great way to get what’s frustrating you off your chest and refocus back on what needs to be done. Caveat: Be careful that a strategic mini-vent session doesn’t become an regular habit that distracts both you and your co-worker from your work on an ongoing basis.

4. Pick a task that requires a different part of your brain and get back to work. If you’re stalled out on a heavy thinking task or project, take the time to catch up on more mindless, repetitive tasks that tend to get put on the back burner. Even if the heavy-thinking project is critical, you’ll feel better and be able to dive back in quicker if you feel accomplished with your “down time” rather than staring into space, getting even more frustrated.

In my case, I did all of these. I took a breather, skipped a non-critical meeting, had a mini-vent-my-overwhelm session with a trusted co-worker, and was able to pick a critical task and make good progress, as well as finish out the rest of my day.

Note: This has nothing to do with being a morning person or a night person, or with getting a recommended number of hours of sleep per night (although getting enough sleep is also highly important). It has everything to do with knowing yourself well enough to know when you are at your peak and when you aren’t, and planning tasks accordingly.

What’s the cost?

If you’re still thinking that you don’t have time to step away from the task, consider these statistics:

If one poor energy management decision per day costs an average of 45 minutes, that’s almost 4 hours per week, almost 16 hours per month and a whopping 200 hours per year. That’s the equivalent of five 40-hour work weeks.

Even if it takes 15 minutes to reset and get back on track, that’s still a time savings of 30 minutes per day, 2.5 hours per week, over 10 hours per month and 130 hours per year. That’s the equivalent of over three weeks per year.

Say what?! If I had an extra three to five weeks per year, I’d certainly be much farther ahead on my goals. Or heck, how about an extra three to five weeks of vacation?!

What could you accomplish with an extra three to five weeks of working time per year?

What could you accomplish with an extra three to five weeks of working time per year?

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How do you relieve stress? (plus four keys to getting stress levels under control)

Sarah · Dec 13, 2015 · Leave a Comment

Last week was one of those weeks. You know, the ones where it seems like anything that can go wrong will.

There was nothing truly major; it was just one thing after another after another.

We had:

A stomach flu (which included a day out of daycare and parents trading off childcare based on who had meetings at what time)
A case of pink eye (which necessitated a first-thing-in-the-morning urgent care visit. Also, did you know that there are non-contagious strains of pink eye? Me either, but I sure was grateful mine was one of those!)
Forms, updates and billing challenges with health insurance, auto insurance, home insurance, and medical bills (with the usual array of endless paperwork, red tape and back-and-forth phone calls)
Signed papers for our new house, which officially closes next Tuesday (see: endless paperwork)
Then there were the Christmas parties (two one of us attended, two more that were skipped)
Normal home life (see: terrible two’s in full swing, and why didn’t anyone warn me that age four is harder than age two? Also, #kidsnotsleeping)
And slightly-busier-than-typical work weeks

On top of that there was the endless rain, and with it, the worse-than-normal traffic that I didn’t adequately prepare for. Then the fun experiences like calling an office that should have been open, only to find out they weren’t when I had planned around getting phone calls done in a certain time frame and other small annoyances that added up quickly.

Monday brought the greatest December 24-hour rainfall on record in Portland with 3.32 inches in a day. My attitude felt like the weather outside.

I’d love to say that I handled it all with grace and perspective.

I didn’t.

I found myself stressed, tense enough that I was feeling physical pain and grumpy angry enough that I wasn’t all that pleasant to be around (Sorry, Charles).

By about Wednesday, I was calm enough to think, “Hmm, I clearly can’t control how my week is going, but I need to get my stress levels under control regardless of the circumstances!”

Four Ways to Get Stress Levels Under Control

1. Acknowledge that it’s hard – without any caveats – and then move on.

Please tell me I’m not the only one that needs to start here. If I don’t acknowledge what’s difficult in my life, and attempt to go straight to “Well, others have it worse off,” I just get angrier. Especially if it’s someone else trying to rush me along. Don’t make me feel like what I’m experiencing isn’t real. Are there times I need to buck up and get over it? Of course. But typically in the middle of it isn’t the best time to address that.
Note: There’s a difference between acknowledging something is hard to yourself or another trusted person and whining, complaining or wallowing in it. Also, acknowledging your own hard doesn’t minimize anyone else’s hard.

2. Recognize what triggers you.

Take a step back and look at the big picture. What’s really stressing you out? There are some obvious stress triggers that affect most of us: lack of sleep, poor nutrition, money.

Then there are stressors that may be huge for one personality type and non-existent for others. Know your personality and recognize what triggers you – so that you can do something about it.

Time stresses me out. Being on time specifically. Being late due to traffic, poor planning on my part, toddler tantrums, meetings that started late, meetings that ended late, or any other reason makes my neck knot up faster than you can say, “Merry Christmas.” I know this about myself.

Knowing this doesn’t prevent the stress, but it does help me to plan around it. How much earlier should I plan to leave the house to account for traffic and kids? (Then take that buffer time estimate and double it). What meetings can I reschedule in anticipation of others running late?

3. Take a deep breath and cut out the non-essentials.

There were a few moments where there was nothing I could stop doing in that moment – but I could stop and take a few deep breaths.

Lack of sleep and lack of health meant my energy levels were low – and entirely used up on getting the essentials done. My eyes hurt, my body ached and I was exhausted. I let Charles take over as much of the home front as possible, let the laundry, dishes and emails pile up, and went to bed early.

The two Christmas parties that were skipped were work parties of mine. I would have liked to go, and it likely would have been good professionally to be there. But they weren’t essential.

4. Find reasons to be thankful.

There’s a reason gratitude journals are so popular – intentionally focusing on being thankful and positive works. It took me a day or two longer than it should have to get to this point, but it really is true. All of our health concerns are minor. We have insurance – of all kinds. The hospital bill is from an injury Charlie fully recovered from. I am fully recovered from the auto accident. We didn’t have any flooding with the major rains this week, and we each had at least one co-worker who did. I truly do have much to be thankful for.

How do you get your stress levels under control? Any additional tips for me?

3 foolproof ways to schedule your time and get more done

Sarah · Oct 30, 2015 · 1 Comment

We’ve talked about creating a to-do list, and prioritizing that list, but how do you find the focus and time amidst all the distractions of the day?

You schedule your time.
How do you go about scheduling your time?

By time blocks

Block time out on your calendar for specific tasks. This means literally scheduling a meeting with yourself and including the project you plan to work on in that given time frame.

Many people find that a daily flow or routine of time blocks works well. In fact, a standard work day or school day is already a large time block dedicated to a particular task.

Within the work day, I find that blocking off my first 15-30 minutes or so for email, prioritizing plans for the day, getting mentally prepared for the day (and, let’s be honest, getting coffee!) set the tone for a great day. I also have several standing weekly meeting in particular time slots. This adds structure to my days, while still allowing flexibility within each day.

By type of project

If you know what time of day you’re most focused, you can schedule dedicated blocks of focused time when you’re at your peak, then transition to meetings or more mundane routine tasks when you know you struggle with having brain power. For example, I know that scheduling a heavy brain-focused work session on Friday afternoon is a recipe for procrastination and inefficiency. But it’s a great time to update spreadsheets, complete blocks of data and draft out a schedule for the following week.

By blocking your time by type of work, you can keep focus and flow even when you are transitioning between specific tasks.

With a different focus per day

This one is harder in a typical corporate career, but many entrepreneurs and freelancers have great success with it. The basic idea: Identify your key areas of focus and block off specific days of the week to work on those tasks. Michael Hyatt often talks about how he only takes appointments on Fridays.

One example:

Monday: Client communication + meetings
Tuesday: Strategic planning & reporting
Wednesday: Project work
Thursday: Content creation (i.e. blogging + newsletter + social media)
Friday: Miscellaneous

As a blogger or writer, an alternate would be to schedule separate days or blocks of time for writing, editing, photo creation, posting/scheduling, etc.

3 foolproof ways to schedule your time and get more done (including one of Michael Hyatt's strategies!) If you prioritize and guard your time, others will also. As a leader (employee, parent, entrepreneur, etc), what example are you setting for your team (boss, children, clients, etc)? If you have time blocked and allow interruptions, your team will feel that they need to do the same. Your example speaks louder than your words.

Yes, responding to communication in a timely manner is important, but most responses can wait an hour or two. There are very few instances where a response is needed that quickly for which you won’t have advance notice. And in that case, it’s clearly not a good time to block off for focused work.

How do you block your time?

This post is part of 31 Timesaving Tools, Tips & Templates, read the rest of the series here.