Just because technology enables you to be available 24/7 doesn’t mean you have to be. You need some down time for your mental health.
You may ask how is that even possible in this day and age? Here are some ideas to take you off the 24/7 treadmill.
Just because technology enables you to be available 24/7 doesn’t mean you have to be. You need some down time for your mental health.
You may ask how is that even possible in this day and age? Here are some ideas to take you off the 24/7 treadmill.
You’ve taken care of all your estate planning and have a health care proxy, power of attorney, and executor of your estate. Bravo! However, your estate planning really shouldn’t end when you write your will.
Consider this: what if the unspeakable happens and you are incapacitated or die. Does your health care proxy know how you want to be cared for? Do you want to be kept on life support, and if so, under what circumstances should life support be continued or terminated? Does your power of attorney know where you keep your important papers? Does your executor know where to find your will and, if you have any, trust documents?
Do you use the same password over and over because it’s too difficult to remember multiple passwords? If you do, then all you need is one website to be hacked to put your information at risk, and you would need to change your password everywhere.
Or … are your passwords scribbled on a piece of paper, tucked in a drawer—where you don’t have access if you’re away. You could lose the password information if you spill coffee on the paper, or your dog chews it, or you simply misplace the paper. It is also a risk that someone with access to your house can find that paper.
With Labor Day and the annual frenzy of returning to school and work approaching, let’s talk about finally striving to achieve a reasonable work/life balance.
Many of us fall into the trap of working all the time, thanks to tools and technology that make this possible, especially for those who work from home. While it can be satisfying to accomplish a lot, it can also be detrimental to our mental health. We all need down time, fun time, and family and friend time. How can we achieve that if we are being constantly sucked back into our work life in our off time? So… How can we start to carve out some time for ourselves?
We all have that kitchen drawer: the one with whisks, can openers, vegetable peelers, and dental floss. (Dental floss? Yes, for slicing soft cheese like goat cheese.) Is your kitchen drawer a jumble? A place where you need to go on an expedition? Do you ask, “I know it’s here somewhere, but … where?”
Have you ever misplaced something, often a precious item or something you are on a deadline to retrieve, only to finally find it, thanking your lucky stars? Did you keep on looking for it once located? Of course not! You stopped, likely relieved beyond measure, swearing this would ‘never’ happen to you again, right?
If you have ever been to a real estate open house, you may have noticed most have a binder on the kitchen table with notes about the house. The binder may contain information about where the water shut-off can be found, appliance manuals/instructions, and recommended providers of home services. This item serves as your handy-dandy all-in-one-place binder.
Imagine this scenario: You are unconscious or unable to communicate because of an accident or medical event. Would first-responders or ER staff know whom to call?
What if you have kids to pick up from school or day care? Or pets home alone? Do you have a backup plan?
In this scenario, you don’t want to be a Jane or John Doe.
If you are like most people, admit it now: you have a file folder/drawer/bin called, “Miscellaneous”. Heck, you may also have a folder on your computer with the same name.
Murder “Miss Eleni S”. Get rid of it. Now. It is dangerous… so much so that you need to kill it.
Why? Because it’s too easy to dump everything into MISCELLANEOUS because, well, MISCELLANEOUS covers anything and everything. It Is akin to not putting things away. Find some common way to categorize the information or objects and sort them into those said categories.
Do you find yourself feeling disorganized at work? Would you like exert control over your chaotic work schedule?
To begin, you may want to organize your work projects. Depending on how many projects or clients you manage, different tools are available, at different price points, ranging from free to hundreds of dollars a month.