Volume 17, Issue 1

Get Moving!

Take a 15 minute walk with your dog. Try an exergame with your children. Use the stairs at work instead of the elevator. Park at the back of the parking lot at work or while shopping. Take a vigorous walk on your work break. Take a class in martial arts, dance, or yoga. Organize an office bowling league or volleyball team. Walk around the soccer field at your child’s practice. Watch your favorite television shows while on the treadmill. Dance with your children to music. Clean house!

Fit Exercise into Your Life – And Keep it There

Do you remember a time when you were physically active and felt great? You can feel that way again!

All you have to do is  incorporate  moderate-intensity physical activity into your  life, slowly but surely. This could mean riding your bike to local market to pick up a few items for dinner or taking  a  walk  with  some  coworkers  after lunch.

The following ideas and action steps can help you meet your goal to be more active.

Develop Support.  Make use of   the support networks in your life,  including   friends  and coworkers  who  are  willing  to  help  you  stay motivated.

Let people know your goals so they can support you appropriately.  Invite friends, coworkers, and family  members  to  join  you  on walks.  Gather a group for a  weekend  hike  and picnic.

Action step: Name two people on whom you can rely for support and motivation.

Change your surroundings. Change your surroundings to support your goals.   For instance, keep comfortable walking shoes at work or in the car. Have an exercise bag packed and ready to go by your front door or in your office. Post motivating messages in your day planner or on your bathroom mirror.

Action step: Name two ways you would like to your environment to support your goals.

Find the Time. Adding short stints of physical activity throughout your day really works, and with some creative thinking, you’ll find ways to squeeze a little more time out of your busy schedule. Walk down the hall instead of using the telephone or e-mail. Park a few blocks or more away from your destination. Can you take a brisk walk before work? Or climb up and down the stairs for 20 minutes during lunch?

Action step: Think about your schedule at work, home, and elsewhere. Write down at least three times during the next week that you could devote to physical activity.

Make a Plan The next step is to set achievable goals and create a plan of action. For example, if you  want  to  do  physical  activity  after  work, a specific  goal  might  be  walking  the  dog  four  evenings a week.

Action step: Choose one time segment of your week (e.g. work, lunch/break time, before/after work , weekends or during certain chores) that you want to target.

Action step: Choose four physical activity goals that you hope to accomplish within the next month. For example: walk the dog four evenings a week, map a new walking route in the neighborhood, go to the park once each weekend, walk the stairs at the office instead of using the elevator.

Plan for Disruptions. Occasional setbacks do lunch. not mean failure. However, it is important to plan for events that might disrupt your physical activity routine. For example, if you    know it’s going to rain all week, rent a physical activity DVD to use in your home.

Action step: Write down potential setbacks to your routine and how you plan to adapt.

Monitor Your Progress. It is also important to record your progress, which allows you to build on  your  goals.    For    example, say    your first goal is to walk the dog 30 minutes twice a week.  During the second week, you might add another dog walk or perhaps    gardening on Sundays.

Action step:  Record your daily activity.

Reward Yourself.

Action step:  Once you have achieved some specific goal(s), reward yourself.

You might give yourself something small, such as buying a book or going to the movies, or you might want to go big, such as  joining  a  health club    or    buying    a    new    bicycle.    Ideally, the reward will fit in with your activity goals, but it doesn’t have to.

Think Long-term.  Keep in mind as you are progressing that health professionals recommend at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity  physical  activity  at  least  five  days  per  week. This is an excellent long-term goal.  For now, however, just keep building on your successes week by week.

Organized Living

As a new year rolls around, you see catalogs devoted to “beautiful organization” and “organized simplicity” as a theme of aisle upon aisle of storage bins, shelving and other gadgets that are supposed to keep us organized. Many of us can relate to the testimonials related to ”clutter nightmares”. Perhaps you made a resolution this year to get more organized, but the clutter seems insurmountable, or your family doesn’t see the importance of putting  things  in  their  proper  place  the  same way you do.

Why organize?

Organization is one way to reduce stress in our daily lives. Clutter and disorganization are an energy drain and time waster. It costs us money if we do not pay our bills on time – because we can’t locate them –or it can cost us our jobs if we are chronically late due to disorganized work habits. One study found that the average person spent seven hours a week looking for things!

How to organize

Depending   on   what   space   or room you decide needs  a  more organized approach, spend some time in  that  room  taking  note  of what improvements  make  sense in  terms  of  organization.  Then, spend some time on-line or leafing through at magazines for inspiration of what you would like the end result to look like. Secondly, empty the room out as much as possible in order to assess what type of storage would organize  items  that  will  remain  in  the room. Organizational experts suggest that having three large bins labeled:

1.Keep – Items you want to stay in the room.

2.Move – Items that are in good condition but do not belong in that particular room.

3.Go – Items that can be donated.

After sorting all items using the above system, review the Keep items to make sure they support the function of your room/space. The key to maintaining an organized room is to have everything in its place, and designate a place in the room that is in keeping with the function of the room.  Items in the Move bin should be stored in their proper locations. Items to be donated (in the Go bin) should be taken from the house as soon as possible, so they don’t find their way back out of the bin.

Work space

Whether you  use  electronic  or  paper  planning  systems,  make them work for you – not the other way around.

Tips for work:

• Maintain a calendar with meeting dates/times and project deadlines.
• Put away unused items  in  your  work  area  and  regularly  toss  any paper no longer needed.
• Set up a system to effectively prioritize and file e -mail correspondence.
• Set realistic goals on what  you  can  control  with  job-related  tasks. Break large projects  into  small  tasks  to  avoid  becoming  over- whelmed or lose focus.
• Reserve ten minutes at the end of the day to put everything in its place.  Professional organizers agree that putting  something  away as soon as you are done using it helps avoid messy clutter later.

Getting started If your time is limited or you are feeling overwhelmed about approaching the task of organizing home or office space, start small. If your office space is messy, start with the desktop and move onto the drawers, then the floor, in fifteen minute increments.

If you know that your situation is to the point that you need  professional or outside help, review what resources are available to help you get organized. Sometimes friends and family can help you make order out of chaos.  Other times, professional services may be the answer. Your Employee Assistance Program can be a starting point for organizing your daily life, whether itis work, home, or both.

For those wanting to become more organized but feeling overwhelmed with too much to do, PAS helps simplify life. Up to three hours are available to participants to work with PAS organizer coaches to:

Design a program (or system) that can build:

Time management skills

Prioritization skills

Skills to minimize procrastinate

Ways to accomplish more with less stress

Learn techniques to improve:

Planning and scheduling work flow processes

Staying focused

Develop strategies to:

Reduce clutter and be more organized

Organize your home or office

Set up a filing system for home or office

PASWord Express © 2014 is published by Personal Assistance Services, 9735 Landmark Parkway, Suite 17, St. Louis, MO, 63127 -9968 (800) 356-0845. Material may not be reproduced without written permission.