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You Must Find Time to Play

Excerpted from Find More Time: How to Get Things Done at Home, Organize Your Life, and Feel Great About it.

Did you know that having an active social life as an adult may help you prevent Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia, as you get older? We've always known that mental activity is good for the brain, but a new study from the University of Florida School of Aging Studies shows that the brain loves leisure. In fact, researchers found a 38 percent less risk of dementia in adults having the highest level of leisure activity. In the study, researchers analyzed data from the Swedish Twins Registry, which tracks same-gender twins who were born between 1886 and 1925 and followed them through the 1990s. Specifically, researchers compared 107 twin pairs in which one twin was diagnosed with some type of mental impairment and the other was not. Even when factors such as education level were taken into account, greater involvement in leisure activity—social visits, reading, and vacations—was shown to reduce the risk of dementia. All work and no play will make Jack's brain a dull thing indeed.

It's not enough to sit on the sidelines and watch others play. YOU have to be personally involved in activities. Take a class, meet a friend, or take a tour. Get involved in church activities, intramural sports, service clubs, and charitable organizations. Remember, you're working to live, not living to work.

Here are a few ways you can pamper yourself:

Revisit your childhood. For years, I took for granted living on the Air Force Academy in the gorgeous Rocky Mountains of Colorado Springs. I had no idea that I was living what many would consider an idyllic, sheltered life. On many occasions, I would open the curtains in my bedroom to stare into the big brown eyes of a deer. We would spend hours in the woods behind our house, playing Indians, building forts, and just lying in the sun. To this day, when I need to refresh and reconnect with myself, I take a long walk around a trail in the open space near our home so I can reconnect with nature and the rustling wild grasses.

Reconnect with your childhood. What did you used to love to do? Work with clay? Paint? Draw? I used to spend hours playing the piano and learning new music. Today, finding a few spare minutes to plink out a few tunes is a delicious treat. I also used to spend hour upon hour reading the Little House on the Prairie series as well as countless Nancy Drew and Black Beauty novels. Especially around the holidays, sitting down to relax with a good book brings back warm memories of childhood: sometimes I can almost see a twinkling Christmas tree and smell spicy Wassail in the air. Do the things you loved to do as a child and cherish yourself as an adult.

Schedule a day of pampering. You need time to yourself to relax, refresh, and rejuvenate. Each month, I block a day out of my calendar and have a Pamper Laura day. I visit my chiropractor first, so I'm nice and limber; then I get a massage; then I go to the nail salon for a manicure/pedicure. And, no, I don't feel the least bit guilty about it. I work hard, and so do you. You deserve some personal attention! Do what you love, whether it's a manicure or a bike ride or round of golf. The money invested is well worth the decreased stress level you will experience.

Don't waste alone time. If for some odd reason, I find myself alone in our house, besides shouting "Whoo-hoo!" in my head, I resist the urge to do something "productive." Funny as it seems coming from me, this is NOT the time to throw in a load of laundry or tidy up the house. Instead, I do something I can't do when the kids or my husband are home. I ask, "Can I do this activity when James is around?" If the answer is yes, I find something else creative to do. For example, I like getting out the photographs I've been stacking for the last few months and putting them into their file boxes. Praying and meditating are good options for me. I also like calling a friend, so I can have a decent conversation for once without a child's interrupting chatter.

Get rid of the guilt. I find that women, especially, have been programmed to sacrifice everything in the name of what's good and right for everyone else. If there's anything left over, they get the scraps. I find that men are much better at saying, "I need to relax!" John would say, "I'm playing a round of golf with Joe this afternoon" whereas my girlfriend would say, "I'd really like to go get a pedicure tomorrow, but I should take Jimmy shopping for school clothes."

One thing I know for sure is that you can't give what you don't have. If you don't take care of yourself, your ability to take care of others becomes severely compromised. Being skilled at taking care of yourself improves your capacity to care for others; if you weren't fulfilled, you'd only be able to see other people through the filter of your unmet needs. Not taking care of yourself is actually unhealthy for those who depend on you. And as my husband likes to say, "If Mommy's not happy, no one is happy."

If you're running on an empty tank and fumes of habit, everyone loses. So rid yourself of the guilt you feel when you relax, refuse a request, or take time for yourself. You need it and deserve it if you want to be at your productive best!

Remember, play is not frivolous behavior. The word "recreation" contains the two words "re" and "create." Play is the way to re-create yourself, every day, and remind yourself you are not your work. Your work is part of your life—an important part, yes—because it allows you to live, but it's not the most important part. You must find time to play!

Make it a productive day! ™

1. Register NOW to participate in National Leave the Office Earlier day, Friday, June 2, 2006! You are pledging to only work eight hours that day. Go to www.TheProductivityPro.com and fill out the registration form on the home page. By registering, you will receive a free 10-day eSeminar to help you prepare! You will also receive a letter you can give to your boss to let him/her know what you're up to and a flyer you can post on your organization's bulletin board. On the holiday, you will receive complimentary eBooks and other goodies.
2. Mark your calendar now for June 13, 2006! My newest book Find More Time: How to Get Things Done at Home, Organize Your Life, and Feel Great About it hits bookstores that day. If you order it on www.Amazon.com that day (where it's cheaper than the bookstore price) and forward your receipt to me at Laura@TheProductivityPro.com, I will send you a bundle of other goodies! You must purchase the book on that day to get the freebies, so ask a co-worker to purchase it for you if you'll be out of the office. Offer does not apply for purchases made at any other bookstore. Laura's new book has already been picked up by four book clubs and will be printed in an exclusive hardcover edition, which will be available to members of those book clubs only.
3. Laura Stack is now a Certified Microsoft Office Specialist in Outlook 2003! Thispremier Microsoftdesktop certification is a globally recognized standard forexcellence inknowledge of Microsoft Office software. The Office Specialist program measures proficiency and awards a valuable credential recognized worldwide as proof that an individual has the desktop computing skills needed to work productively and efficiently with that software application. See this month's featured seminar for a discount on Laura's course Microsoft Outlook® Integration: Tips and Tricks for Managing Workflow

Q: Laura,

I really liked your article last month on lists. When do lists become unwieldy? When do lists become time clutter? When do lists become the task, and not task management?

Sharlene

A: Any data your brain feeds you should be tracked. The trick is to determine what needs to be tracked, at what level of detail, and why. Then it's easier to determine how best to organize it.

Projects, for example, aren’t usually listed in enough detail. You can't "do" a project, you can only do the individual pieces of a project; therefore, it’s worth the time investment to make a list of all the components.

A master to-do list, however, is just a running list of things you might do someday and therefore doesn’t require a lot of detail. Once you decide to activate an item on your master list, you need to create a detailed project list. For an example of how to break a project down into tasks and subtasks, view my sample WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) file.

Study finds meetings decrease well-being. Reliable Plant Magazine - Tulsa, OK, USA.

Emerging from the paper pile swamp. Management-Issues - London, UK.

5 rules to make your work day sane. CNNMoney.com - USA

Laura,

I received your book and have just started to read it. With work, school and trying to work with my horse all going on at the same time, I have actually been finding time for all of it. I am slowly working towards a better balance and MAN, I feel much better. I hope this continues to be the case for me.

Organizing my work before I leave and knowing what I have to do the next day (pending any thing crazy that pops up) has helped. I also found one other thing to use my notebook for. I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night, thinking about work. I find if I write it down in my notebook right away, I can get back to sleep! Amazing!

Thanks again!

Leah

Schedule this training by May 15, 2006, to be presented anytime in 2006, and receive 10% off your regular investment.

Microsoft Outlook® Integration: Tips and Tricks for Managing Workflow

Did you get formal training in using Outlook? Most employees don't: "Here's your computer, your email address, and your in-box" is usually as good as it gets. Thousands of email messages later, it's impossible to keep on top of it. In this course, Outlook methods are demonstrated "live" using the LCD, and participants practice the skills hands-on with open laptops with screen shots and exercises in the workbook. In addition to learning how to use Outlook's features to improve productivity, participants will learn a cohesive process to combine with their new skills to increase performance dramatically.

Course Objectives

1. Learn the purposes of Calendar, Tasks, Journal, Notes, In-Box, and Folders.
2. Turn off automatic notification options and play a sound for "special" people.
3. Make notes in email messages and apply automatic formatting.
4. Use Rules to organize and run programs on your messages.
5. Capture an email as a Task or a Calendar item automatically.
6. Create new tasks and assign and track tasks you create for others.
7. View multiple calendars for other people, school, or your personal life.
8. Use Notes to keep lists and store clippings from the Internet in Note folders.
9. Remove attachments from messages before moving them to folders.
10. Learn new techniques for organizing personal folders.
11. Use Outlook Today to see all your messages, appointments, and tasks for the day.
12. Use the Journal to track every email, phone call, meeting, and notes associated with any Contact.
13. Integrate your electronic methods with paper systems to keep your entire desk organized.
14. Sort and process email, paper, and voice mail using a single methodology to maintain the system