Entrepreneur and Organization – Are You Suffering From Too Much LifeClutter

Email, snail mail, blackberrys, blueberries, iPhones, fax machines, endless meetings, committees, kids events, charity events, time with friends, time for yourself…what was that last one?

With the widespread use of technology there seems to be a constant expectation that we all need to be available to one another on demand…at our client’s beck and call, on someone else’s schedule other than your own.

If this sounds familiar, I’m here to tell you help is available…you CAN break the cycle and get you life back, unless of course you’re with the FBI or the press secretary to the President. If you’re not in that type of a job, you can shut the world off, IF you really want to.

My term for this problem is LifeClutter. It’s a situation that we’re all guilty of, and that is self-inflicted. We’ve allowed ‘stuff’ to creep into our lives, often undetected, and overrun our schedules. It’s an epidemic worse that the plague.

At least the plague could be seen, people quarantined and controlled. This epidemic is both self-inflicted and is in fact killing us. Stress, over work, over eating, hypertension and more. Are you suffering silently?

Common signs of LifeClutter Disease:

Double or triple booking yourself hoping one or more will cancel Missing more than one family event in an average week Taking calls from clients during off hours without world time zone issues Taking work on ‘vacation’ just to stay caught up Feeling nervous if you haven’t checked email in an hour Sending yourself a test email to make sure the system is up and running Spending more than an hour a day on email, voicemail, snail mail and social media – combined Joining or remaining on multiple committees and dreading every meeting

Here are a few tips for fighting back…they work.

Schedule one meeting per time slot, you waste more time having to rebook the ones that don’t cancel at the last minute which interrupts yet another day.

Pre-schedule as many of your family events as possible throughout the year. Schedule all of your my kid’s school events, vacations, 1/2 days and sporting events as soon as you know them. You won’t be able to make them all but by doing this simple scheduling practice you will be able to attend a whole lot more than if you wait and have to schedule around work events.

In my case this process helps me make ALL of the important ones and about 75% of the rest. When a meeting or other conflicting event comes up, simply say “I already have a client booked that day, what other day will work for you?”

Consider not giving clients your cell number. If you’re in a business that requires that someone be on call, simply get a cell phone with a dedicated number and rotate the phone to whomever is on call…the rest of the management team can truly be off-duty.

Work and vacation don’t mix. If you have one really big meeting, project, etc. that can’t be left, set a date and time to be available. Stick to that specific time and date only, otherwise shut off the phone and leave the laptop.

Schedule specific times to check email and respond to it. As an example, I get about 200 emails a day, about 40 actually require action on my part. A procedure that I’ve found to work well for me is to only check email three times a day when in the office and as time allows when on the road. Also limit yourself to about and hour or less per day to check, respond to and update emails, social media and such.

Committees…I have one simple rule, if the agenda hasn’t changed or progress made by the third meeting, you’ll never see me at a fourth. How many could you resign from and not be missed?

Fight LifeClutter at every turn, you only have 1,440 minutes in a day, don’t squander them on someone else’s agenda items.