Productivity Archives - Page 31 of 36

Winter Work from Home Day

Last week the Northeast of the US was hit with an overnight snowstorm that dropped something like 8 inches of snow in my area. It was no wonder that both myself and my husband got an unexpected snow day at home together! However, it wasn’t all fun and game for us as we both have the ability to work from home, and so we ended up working nearly a full day together from our living room. Since I am sure this was just the first snow day of many we are sure to have in the next few months, I thought I would write about my suggestions for a Winter Work From Home Day in case any of you also get to work from home when it snows!

Winter Work From Home Day Must Have’s

A Computer: Whether you will be working from your own personal computer or from your designated work laptop, for most at-home workers, this is your key to getting things done! Make sure to find a nice comfortable spot in your home to set up shop (if you don’t already have a designated office area) and make sure to stock up on pillows and blankets to keep yourself warm in your cozy spot!

Your Favorite Mug: Hopefully you didn’t leave your favorite mug in your office, but really any mug will do! Make sure to keep yourself hydrated with your favorite coffee, tea or other hot beverage!

Comfortable Headphones: Okay, so you don’t need a set of headphones that look like ear muffs (those are just my personal favorite on a cold winter day!) but you will probably find a set of headphones or ear buds a good idea to keep you in the zone and focused on working if you aren’t used to the treat of working from home!

Adorable Office Supplies: Nothing is more fun or can keep you focused on getting things done like lovely office supplies! Hopefully you have a nice notebook at home and some matching pens & pencils! Okay, they don’t have to match, but it all adds to the ambience!

A Fun Gadget: Whether it’s an iPad, iPod, or just your TV with Netflix, you will want to have a fun gadget with you to take your mind off work every once in a while! Just because you’re at home doesn’t mean you can’t take a break, so make sure you take a lunch and at least one fifteen minute break to decompress!

A Hydrating Hand Lotion: If you’re working at home because of a snow day, be sure to keep a nice hydrating hand lotion around to keep your skin hydrated and to defend against the chapped skin created by winter weather! Make sure to apply often!

Do you get to stay at home to work during snow days? What are some of your favorite tips for working from home? Make sure to share your experiences in the comments!

How to Stick to New Year’s Resolutions

Have you ever heard of an app called Everest? Everest is an app that helps you track your goals, so it’s a great resource to use to help you keep track of your New Year’s Resolutions! When you first open the app, it urges you to enter in your first goal. After categorizing your goal and deciding if you want it to be public (for friends to see) or private (for your eyes only), it then gives you options to add steps to getting to your goal. Each step can be given a specific time frame, where you can set reminders for yourself so that you are keeping on track to complete your goal. This app is a great way to manage your expectations and break down your goals into steps that you can take each day that will make achieving your goals a series of steps instead of a giant feat! After all, you can only climb a mountain one step at a time.

Now, the fun thing about the app is that in addition to creating your own goals, you can also accept challenges from the Everest community that range from health/physical challenges (like doing 50 consecutive push ups!) to personal challenges (like finding a job you love). These challenges are of course optional, however, they are a good constant reminder that everyday you could be taking steps to give yourself a happier, healthier and wealthier life!

So, this year I plan to use Everest to track my resolutions and set small realistic steps for myself to take each week to achieve these goals! Do you plan on using Everest or another similar method to help you break your goals down into small manageable steps and then to keep you accountable for achieving your goals?

Career lifestyle organization

Organizational Tips for the New Year!

Happy New Year Everybody! Is one of your New Year’s Resolutions to be more organized? I have to say that next to getting in shape, I think getting organized is a very popular wish for the new year! So, if you are looking to get yourself more organized this year, here are a few tips that I find can be very helpful!

1. Get yourself some new supplies: I recently went to Target to get myself a bunch of new office and organization supplies for the New Year. I think getting new notebooks and pens is a very easy way to get yourself excited for the task of organizing so that you will be more likely to stick to it! I would make sure to pick up an agenda, cute pens & pencils, some sticky notes, as well as any bins, file folders or other accessories to wrangle you daily tasks! It doesn’t have to be an expensive trip, but I believe that the act of buying these things signifies a metamorphosis that from now on you will be organized!

2. Develop your own system of organization: What organization means to you and what it means to me are most likely very different things. You have an idea in your head of what organized looks like to you and that’s your goal! So, you need to decide on a system to organize yourself that fits your goals and also the way you work. You can devise a system in which all new tasks are entered into a to-do list in an agenda, so that as you get things done you check off the items and add new items as they come in, or you could use a physical inbox where you organize tasks and papers, or you could use an app on your smartphone to keep track of everything! The possibilities are endless, but the point is, you need to find a system and stick to it!

3. Put new tasks into your organization system first and then go back and take care of the past: I think one of the big issues people have when they start to get organized is that they think they need to organize all the old items sitting on their to-do list first. What ends up happening though is that many people find the old “stuff” too overwhelming because they can’t see any progress for their new “stuff”. I say to start your new organizational process with today forward, making sure everything from this point on is organized, then once you feel like things are under control with the here and now, you can then go back to old items and incorporate those into your new system as well.

4. If you have a hiccup, don’t fret, just reset: Another major issue that prevents people from staying organized is that when they have an issue or they stop using their system for a little while, they give up on it as thought the system as failed! The truth is, even the most organized person in the world has breakdowns in their organization system and routine. People get lazy for a little bit or they assume they can go it without their system for this project or these tasks. Just because you do this, doesn’t mean your system has failed, you just need to recognize what brought you back to that point and get back on the horse and keep going. Organizational systems are never perfect, people are never perfect, forgive yourself and get back into your system if organization is truly a goal for you!

5. Continue to tweak: Like I said above, organizational systems are not perfect, they require effort on your part to make them work and to fix little bumps in the road and even major bumps in the road. As you come across issues, think about how you can fix them and implement those changes into your routine. And guess what? You may eventually find that the system you put in place in the beginning of the year is not the same as the system you end up with by the summer or even by the end of the year, and that’s okay! It’s okay to change, it doesn’t mean you’re not good at organizing, it just means that people grow and their systems need to grow with them!

So, is getting organized one of your New Year’s Resolutions? Do you have any other tips or tricks that you find useful that may help others trying to get organized? Please share your tips in the comments!

lifestyle organization Productivity Solutions

Best of Strange & Charmed 2013

Since today is New Year’s Eve, I thought it would be a perfect time for me to reflect on the success and growth of this blog in the last year! This morning I woke up to an email from WordPress that linked me to a Stat’s page for the site that gave me all sorts of fun details about my top posts, my commenters, visitors and site views!

My Top 5 Posts from this year have been:

1. Synching Scrivener to PlainText

2. iPad vs. Filofax

3. How I Use Scrivener to Organize my Writing

4. Turn Your iPad into a Macbook Air with Clamcase Pro

5. The 5 Best iOS Apps for Writers

Now, although these posts were my most viewed, I, of course, have my own list of favorite posts! These are the posts that were some of the most fun for me to brainstorm and put together. Some took a lot of time behind the scenes in terms of photographing, organizing materials, and/or Photoshop skills, but in the end these are posts I am very proud I was able to bring to fruition!

1. Inspired by Kate Spade

2. Starbucks @ Home: Salted Caramel Mocha

3. 5 Things a Woman Can’t Live Without

4. My Blog Organization Binder

5. Must Have Apps for Working Professionals

The final items I wanted to include in this post were the articles I wrote outside of this blog! You may not have even been aware that I have been writing elsewhere this year, so I thought this would be a good time to review and link those posts, as they are all extensions of Strange & Charmed in one way or another!

The first site where I was able to publish a few articles this year was Levo League! You may have seen me mention them a time or two before, but Levo is a great website that I discovered last year, and this year I was given the opportunity to join their arsenal of amazing contributors with these two articles!

1. The Only 5 Productivity Tips You’ll Ever Need to Know

2. Productivity Tips from a Road Warrior

The second place you can find me on the web, outside of Strange & Charmed, is GeeksterLabs! GeeksterLabs is a website I have been following for years that focuses on all types of consumer technology. This summer I joined the team as a feature contributor, writing about fun and quirky ways to make the most of technology! Since I have written a steady stream of articles for them, I have included the direct link to my author page here, so you can check out all the articles I have written!

Overall, I would say that 2013 has been an amazing year for this blog! I have seen growth month after month and I hope that trend continues into 2014! So, let me know what you’re favorite posts were from Strange & Charmed in 2013 and the types of articles you hope to see more of in 2014! Happy New Year Everyone!

lifestyle Solutions

How to Properly Store Your Wedding Cake

One of the most exciting parts about planning my wedding was decided on a wedding cake because when you make your appointment with your bakery they actually let you taste all different flavors of cakes and icing! Our wedding cake ended up being two layers, the bottom was a lemon cake with a citrus icing that was amazing and the top was a traditional red velvet which is my husband favorite!

As you may already know, there is something of a wedding tradition that you save the top tier of your wedding cake for your 1^st anniversary! For a long time, I thought this was a totally gross tradition, that was, until I did it myself! I was completely surprised when I defrosted mine because it actually tasted so good! Granted, it didn’t taste like a freshly baked cake, rather, it tasted like a cake that has been left in a refrigerator for a day or two! It’s so crazy to think that it didn’t spoil over the year, but I will have to attribute that to how it was stored. So, I thought I would share with you guys the proper way to store that top tier of your wedding cake and then how to prepare it for your 1^st year anniversary so that your cake stays as yummy as possible!

After you get married, it’s really important that you deal with the top layer of your cake as soon as possible to ensure freshness for the year in storage. I suggest getting the cake prepped and in the freezer within the first 12 hours after your wedding! First, you need to cover your cake in plastic wrap, at least 2 layers to make sure every inch is covered and that the plastic is closely fitted to your cake. Make sure to remove any air bubbles or tighten any looser spots of plastic because the less air you have trapped in your cake at the time of freezing, the better for the life of your cake! Next, wrap your cake up in aluminum foil, enough to generously cover it! Then pop it in the back of your freezer! I left mine in the back corner of my freezer so that it would stay out-of-the-way and consistently cold for the year. Leaving your cake too close to the front of your freezer may cause the temp to vary as you open and close your freezer. The defrost instructions are super simple. Once your anniversary comes around, all you need to do is take the cake out of the freezer, remove the aluminum so that only the plastic remains and leave it in your refrigerator to thaw for 2 days! I took a sharpie and wrote my defrosting instructions on the top of the aluminum foil of the cake so I wouldn’t forget what to do a year later! Like I said, my cake defrosted beautifully and tasted delicious, so I hope these instructions help any of you in this situation!

Did you end up saving the top layer of your wedding cake? How did it taste after a year in the freezer? Do you think this is a fun tradition or a gross one? Let us know in the comments!

lifestyle Solutions

5 Frightfully Fun Halloween Activities to do @ Home

This year Halloween falls on a Thursday night, so unless you’re a college student or really into the holiday, you will most likely be celebrating at home! Don’t let your adult responsibilities get you down, there is plenty of haunted fun to be had even if you aren’t planning on partying it up! Here are five Frightfully Fun activities for Halloween Night!

1. Have a Monster Movie Fest

There is really nothing better than watching scary movies on Halloween! Some of my favorite Halloween classics are Hocus Pocus, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and Sleepy Hollow.

2. Listen to The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe as read by Christopher Walken via YouTube

Yes, this really exists and its pretty incredible. If you are a major Christopher Walken fan like I am, you will surely appreciate his eerie narration to one of literatures classic haunting tales.

3. Read H.P. Lovecraft Stories by candle light

Lovecraft is considered one of the great masters of horror, so if you prefer the pace of a good novel instead of a classic film, try one of his spine chilling tales. Make sure to ready by candle light for an extra creepy effect!

4. Dress up as your favorite Ghoul and hand out halloween candy

What’s the next best thing to trick or treating? Handing out the candy, of course! It’s the perfect excuse to dress up for Halloween and the trick or treaters love the unexpected surprise when you open your door!

5. Rock out to a custom Halloween mixtape

Nothing can put you in that Halloween Spirit like music, so make your own playlist to set the mood for a spooky Halloween at home! Some of my fav’s are The Monster Mash, I Put a Spell on You, and Witchcraft!

Happy Halloween Everyone! How will you be spending your night? Let me know in the comments!

printables

Free Printable Project Planning Pages

A few weeks ago I tweeted out that I was interested in creating some free printables for Strange & Charmed and after the popularity of my free calendar, I decided that it was time to release some more! This time I have created a line of planning pages that you can use for meetings, notes, project planning and even career planning! I have created a few different layouts to suit a variety of preferences and needs. I hope you enjoy what I have created and as always, if you like these free printables, make sure to leave a comment or send a tweet to @MissTrenchcoat so I know you are enjoying them! If these go over well, I may have a few more things in the works as well for those of you who loves printables as much as I do!

Included in this set are, (2) Note taking page styles for project planning and note taking, (1) Dream Job tracking page, (1) Small steps to success goal tracker, and (1) Multiple Goal Tracker.

Click here to get the full set of printables——–> S&C-ProjectPlanning-Printables

printables

Free Printable Calendar for 2013

One of the things I have been working on for the blog is free printables. I love printables because they are like instant office supplies, so I thought the first item I would create and release to you should be a nice clean calendar for the balance of the year! I love full page calendars and I have been using these as the editorial calendar for my blog. I especially love the notes sections that I included on the right sidebar of the calendar, goals this month, books to read, blogs to follow, and places to visit! That way you can keep track of suggestions and recommendations you hear from friends and colleagues. I hope you enjoy these, and please, if you download them and like them, please make sure to share the link to this post via your social media feeds! Sharing my work helps me to continue to help you with free items like this that I have worked hard to create for my readers!

To download the PDF, just click here—> S&C-PrintableCalender-2013

Enjoy!

Productivity Solutions

My Blog Organization Binder

In order to help me stay more organized and focused on my blog and creating great content for my readers, I recently put together a “Blog Binder.” Basically, I bought a three-ring binder and filled it with things to help me keep track of my blog post ideas, editorial calendar and any and all inspiration I have for my blog!

First, I started off by finding a binder that was a physical representation of my blog. I know that sounds a but silly, but I really needed this binder to look like my blog so I chose one that was a nice modern print that I found interesting and of course the color scheme for the binder was in line with the teal and grey of my blog! I also adorned the binder with a binder strap from the Martha Stewart for Staples collection. It, of course, is a teal/aqua color!

Next, I filled the binder with tabbed sections. For this, I used my Martha Stewart large tabs, again from Staples! I knew I only needed a few sections so I broke them down into three important ones; Current Month (for my editorial Calendar), Inspiration, and Articles.

The first page of my binder is my Manifesto for my blog. Once I typed it out, I used Adobe InDesign to format a page that incorporated the look and feel of my blog. So much nicer than just printing out a statement with no life or color to it!

The next page is a mini inspiration board that defines my Target Audience. It’s important for me to keep my ideal reader in mind so that I consistently write for her. For example, my target reader is a female working professional, is interested in technology and loves good design! When it comes to my blog and my expectations, its important for me to always keep in mind that my blog isn’t for everyone, it’s for a very specific type of person. If some people don’t like my blog, that’s okay, if they aren’t my target reader I can’t expect them to like what I am writing!

Next comes my editorial calendar. I have a few months planned out in advance so I keep the Current Month tab on the active month. These calendar pages were also created using InDesign to match the look and feel of my blog. See a pattern here? It’s important, for me at least, that I keep a consistent image so that I don’t clutter up or confuse my brand. I will be releasing these calendar pages in the next few weeks in case you are interested in using them for yourself.

After the calendars are my inspiration pages. They start off with a page filled with some of my favorite quotes that I pulled from Pinterest. I also have some infographics about productivity to keep me inspired when I feel too lazy to write!

The next section is the tab Articles. Here I have printed out some of my favorite articles that pertain to blogging and/or productivity. Laura Vanderkam’s What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast is one of my favorite articles that I constantly return to when I need an extra push in my day! In this section I am also thinking about adding some of my favorite blog posts that I have written over the years just to show case for myself some of my best written work!

Next I have also included this adorable teal chevron wire bound notebook. Its filled with lined pages and is three hole punched so it attached nicely to my binder. I use these pages to just list out post ideas and items I want to keep track of.

The final section is filled with squared planner paper. Since I have been getting more into the graphic design elements of blogging and designing printable calendars and planning pages, I use this section to sketch out ideas that I will then create using Adobe CS6 software. This image shows a rough idea for a planner page I would like to release as a printable for my readers in the near future.

So that is it! I hope you enjoyed taking a peek into my Blogging Binder! I hope this gave you some ideas of how you too can organize your blogs or any large and ongoing projects in your life!

Do you have a blog? What sort of organizational methods do you use to keep yourself on track? Have you seen an improvement in the quality of your work since you have started using an official organizer like this?

Productivity tech The Pink Mac

iPad vs. Filofax

Late summer is one of my favorite times of year. For a long time it meant back to school for me, which I loved, but now it means back to work after a summer filled with vacation days and long lunches outside in the sunny weather. This is also the time of year when I feel a burst of energy to get myself reorganized, and I don’t know if its because academic planners are just everywhere this time of year, but its the perfect time to check up on your planner and calendar system that you may have set in place at the start of the new year or to implement one if you are not currently using a reliable system!

When it comes to using a calendar and planner system, the biggest choice you have these days is to choose digital or paper. Each system has their own benefits and drawbacks, but your habits and needs will ultimately affect how useful one type of system is over the other.

iPad or other Digital Calendar System

Pro’s: iPads really excel as personal planner and calendar systems because of the variety of applications you can use to get yourself organized. While there are plenty of apps for individual note taking and calendar optimization, there are also plenty of all in one apps that can keep you organized throughout your day. IPad’s are also great because normally within the apps you can choose to view your information in a variety of ways, like in daily, weekly or monthly formats. If you need flexibility in your daily life in order to get things done, an iPad may give you everything you need.

Con’s: While iPad’s make great planners because of their array of apps, they are still sometimes cumbersome to use. Many people find input via iPad difficult and slow. Since the iPad also needs to be charged in order to function, your planner system is completely dependent on your ability to keep it charged or have access to an electrical socket. Now, of course there are many portable charging systems you can purchase for your iPad if you work in the field or out of an office, it is still more cumbersome than a traditional paper planner.

Filofax or Paper Planner System

Pro’s: One of the best things about a Filofax organizer is that they are nearly infinitely customizable. There are a multitude of planner pages, calendar views and notepads you can use with a Filofax that it makes finding your ideal system a breeze. You can also use a Filofax to store additional papers, sticky notes, and business cards so that you can keep important information close by. Since your dealing with paper and pen/pencil, you never have to worry about being without your notes or calendar, no matter how long you are away from your office. As long as your Filofax is by your side, you can keep yourself organized and on task!

Con’s: Although Filofax organizers have a variety of formats for calendars, notes and to-dos, once you have written in a to do item or scheduled a meeting its permanently there and if you need to change or update information, you often need to erase and rewrite it over again. The flexibility of editing information is much more difficult with paper planners and once you are set with your “view” (daily, weekly, monthly, etc) you cannot easily convert to a new one without purchasing more inserts and rewriting all your information over again.

Kate Spade Planner

Lilly Pulitzer Agenda

Filofax Organizer

Russel + Hazel Mini Binder

So, what sort of calendar system do you use? What apps do you keep on your iPad or iPhone to keep you organized? Are you a paper planner person? Which planner system do you use?