Charleston, South Carolina was a trip full of opposites for me: I battled 20 mph headwinds on my bicycle to reward myself with a visit to the Moon Pie General Store. The muffler on my car went kaput, but my walks on the waterfront were luxurious and sunny. There were many other experiences that created a hodge-podge week in Charleston and I’ll describe some of them here.
Time blocking is one of my favorite life techniques. I won’t say “life hacks,” because it’s not a hack: it’s just an obvious and careful planning tool.
I first shared a video from Fast Company on time blocking in 2011. I had already been using the technique for at least a year, so this brings me up on 6 years I’ve organized my life this way.
Time blocking is a way to organize your time, whether for work projects, personal projects, goals or even regular household tasks.
I recently spent 16 days in Asheville, North Carolina. I housesat for a couple and their dogs, which gave me a really affordable way to explore the city slowly and from a location just a few miles from downtown.
I’ve heard great things about Asheville. One coworker just returned from the area and another was heading there. It also popped up on my radar screen a few times as a burgeoning beer and food mecca while I was learning about the hiking opportunities in the area.
A Sabbath is a day of rest, observed by some Jewish people from Friday evening to Saturday evening and by some Christian people on Sundays. Within these religious traditions there’s also a ritual of worship on these days. For the past few years, I’ve created my own Sabbath rituals and I thought it was about time I wrote about them.
Since 2014, I’ve blocked off “Sabbath weekends” every few months. On these weekends, I don’t work, I unplug from the internet and all digital devices, I don’t schedule too many projects for myself, and I focus on restful activities, like reading, meditating, going for walks, and journaling. On a few Sabbath weekends, I’ve even tried not to spend money.
Many non-profit staffers and small business owners start blogging because they “know” they “need” to do it or because someone suggested it would help their cause. These are innocent nudges in the right direction, often doled out by a board member with marketing experience or a CEO who wants to write or by a consultant who is ready to set you up with a blog, whether it’s right or wrong for your needs.
I’ve personally cautioned more people out of blogging than into blogging because a blog wouldn’t best serve their goals or because they just wouldn’t be able to devote the appropriate time to it. Blogging can be a huge undertaking and first one needs to ask if a blog is right for your cause or your business.
Here are some questions to ask before starting a blog:
There’s no denying that social media can be a huge responsibility to take on within your work. For those who use it personally, it becomes real obvious real quick how much of a timesuck Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube and other channels can be. So it corresponds that managing social media professionally can be intimidating.
But how much time does it really take to have a professional presence on any given channel on behalf of your organization?
Raleigh, North Carolina is a quietly bustling capitol city. On the surface, things are quiet. But once you plug into the scenes Raleigh has to offer (food, beer, coffee/donuts, art, history, politics) you’ll quickly find that a lot is going on.
I recently spent five days in Raleigh, visiting friends while working remotely for two clients. My work kept me at the laptop part-time, but the rest of my days and nights were fun and relaxing.