SOLUTIONS FOR YOUR TIME CHALLENGES

How to Prevent Holiday Stress in 2021

By Helene Segura, M.A. Ed., CPO® | November 2, 2021 |

Sharing this letter has been a tradition since 2012. Over the decades, I’ve learned that it takes entirely too much effort and stress to take things to the hilt at holiday time – decorations galore, baking like nobody’s business and hosting holiday parties featuring homecooked mains, side dishes and desserts for a few dozen guests.…

Get Organized for the Holidays! (2021 edition)

By Helene Segura, M.A. Ed., CPO® | October 28, 2021 |

Back in the beginning of this year, I recommended that you reflect on the prior months and record a quick debrief of your 2020 holidays in order to get organized for your holidays in 2021. Can you believe it? The 2021 holidays are just around the corner, so it’s time to get a-crackin’! Do you…

Apple Crisp “Cobbler” Recipe (Standard and Keto, Slow Cooker and Baked)

By Helene Segura, M.A. Ed., CPO® | October 21, 2021 |

Ingredients Crumble Topping 1 cup all-purpose flour (for Keto: almond flour) 1 cup brown sugar (for Keto: golden granular monk fruit or other brown sugar substitute) ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon ¼ teaspoon nutmeg 1 pinch salt 1/2 cup butter, cut into ¼” -ish cubes 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional) Apple Coating ½ cup brown sugar…

Productivity Lessons from the Facebook Outage

By Helene Segura, M.A. Ed., CPO® | October 14, 2021 |

When Facebook crashed last week, millions of people around the world were sent into a tizzy. In addition to the Facebook outage, Instagram and WhatsApp (both owned by Facebook) also went down. All three platforms were offline for six hours. Here are some takeaways from the Facebook outage. Do you have a back-up communications plan?…

Productivity Boost – The Importance of Recharging

By Helene Segura, M.A. Ed., CPO® | October 5, 2021 |

Too many times we forget to put “recharge” on our to do list. We do our best to accomplish tasks for our work and personal lives, but we don’t make a conscious effort to plan for taking a break from pushing ourselves. In fact, most of America does not completely recharge. In 2013, American workers…

What is Time Blocking or Time Boxing?

By Helene Segura, M.A. Ed., CPO® | September 30, 2021 |

Whether you call it time blocking or time boxing, the overall concept boils down to this: You make appointments with yourself to focus on certain subjects or tasks. Here are a few keys to time blocking or time boxing: Know your professional and personal priorities. This should drive your decisions. Determine how much time you…

The Tool Every Home Office Needs

By Helene Segura, M.A. Ed., CPO® | September 16, 2021 |

“What is the single most important tool every home office needs?” A journalist recently posed this question to organizing and productivity experts. This was my response: The single most important tool every home office needs is a battery backup. APC is a popular brand, but they’re not the only ones:  If there is any kind…

Strategic Planning for Q4 – Where Exactly Are You Going?

By Helene Segura, M.A. Ed., CPO® | September 8, 2021 |

Do you ever feel like you spend so much time dog paddling, doing your best to keep your head (or at the very least your eyes and nose) above water, focusing on that to do list every single day (hoping to knock out at least a few items)…that you never pause to lift your head…

How to Smoke a Boston Butt Roast

By Helene Segura, M.A. Ed., CPO® | September 2, 2021 |

Whether it’s Labor Day weekend or an ordinary Saturday, it’s always a great time to barbecue pork! If you don’t have a lot of time to study how to smoke a Boston Butt (aka pork shoulder), here’s a quick tips list: *Fire up your grill It will take anywhere from 30-45 minutes for your grill…

How Can Time Tracking Help You?

By Helene Segura, M.A. Ed., CPO® | August 26, 2021 |

As I was archiving some of my writing from ten years ago, I was reminded how strategic best practices stand the test of time, unlike fad hacks that are popular today but fade over time. Case in point. The following is an excerpt from a written interview with a journalist in which she asked me…

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