Weekly Round-Up #148: Stress Causing Clutter, Time Management Doesn’t Matter And Get The Best Night’s Sleep Ever.
Welcome to this week’s round-up. This week we look at how clutter can cause stress and depression, why time management doesn’t matter and how to get the best night’s sleep ever.
Welcome to this week’s round-up. This week we look at how clutter can cause stress and depression, why time management doesn’t matter and how to get the best night’s sleep ever.
Break Up With Bookmarks! – Lumio
I first featured Lumio back in Round-Up #128. Over the few months they’ve been hard at work improving the chrome extention and developing an app for iOS and Android. Lumio allows you to bookmark text snippets, pages, and much more and now you can access them across all your devices.
8 Rug Placement Tips For The Perfect Space – Invaluable
I’ve linked to some articles about Hygge recently and it’s got me thinking about the environment I work and live in. I’ve already added some plants, lights and a nice rug to my bedroom and it’s now time to concentrate on my office. I was thinking of putting a big feature rug in there and this article has given me plenty to think about!
How To Choose A Planner For Next Year In 3 Steps – Lil Divette
I think I’ve decided on my planner system for next year. I love my pocket size diary and bullet journal but there are a couple of tweaks I want to make so it fits in with things I need to track and is super-flexible (I’ll be writing about it soon so keep an eye out). If you’re not sure what planner to go for in the new year then Lil Divette has some questions you need to ask before yourself settling for your next planner.
3 Ways To Boost Your Team’s Productivity And Avoid Burnout – Zapier
It’s all to easy to become obsessed with productivity: measuring every metric, counting every second spent on every task. But does that actually help you get more done? No it doesn’t, according to this article from Zapier – in fact you could end up making your employee’s ill because of it.
8 Ways To Improve Your Concentration At Work – Nootropic Watchdog
Whilst this article centres around people who have ADHD, a lot of the techniques can be used by anyone who has a lot of information to remember, or a lot of tasks that they need to keep track of.
Backpack: The Best Alternatives For Project Collaboration – Blogging.com
In an article I wrote a few years back, I mentioned that I used BackPack to manage the projects I was working on. The guys at Blogging.com contacted me to let me know that BackPack is no longer being maintained (I haven’t used it for a while so hadn’t noticed) and pointed me in the direction of an [article they’d written with some great BackPack alternatives)(https://blogging.com/reviews/backpack/) so if you’re looking for an online project management tool then check out their recommendations.
How To Never Tell Anyone Anything About Yourself – Lifehacker
You don’t have to be a secretive person in order to keep things close to your chest. Maybe you’re not sure whether you can trust someone, or you might want to keep your relationships with your work collegues separate from your personal life, whatever the reason then you can learn a few tricks on how to avoid giving anything away about yourself in this article.
If You Think Building Habits Can Help You Reach Goals, This Will Change Your Mind – Lifehack
Apparently we’ve been going about achieving goals all wrong according to Lifehack! In the past we’ve been told that building up strong habits is the key to achieving our goals but infact these habits could be the real reason why we can’t achieve them.
3 Tough Truths About Our “Priorities” No One Wants To Admit – Marc & Angel
Sometimes we work on priorites that we think are important rather that the ones that are actually important. This means that we put the things off that we really should be working on and end up fighting fires that shouldn’t have been allowed to start in the first place. In their article, Marc & Angel talk to you about a ficticious student who’s going through a bit of a bad time at college – but it could equally apply to an office environment or your home.
30 Fun And Effective Ways To Use A Blank Notebook – Little Coffee Fox
My “How To Bullet Journal Guide” will be out in a few days (eek!) Until then, if you’re looking for a bit of inspiration on how to use all of those notebooks you have stashed in a drawer (we all have that one drawer don’t we?) then check out Shelby’s 30 great ideas on how to use them.
Time Management Is A Waste Of Time – Manage Your Energy Instead – Forbes
Whilst your calendar and to-do list are important, this article from Forbes argues that all of your preparation is worth nothing if you don’t have the energy to complete any tasks on your list and covers some simple techniques for keeping your energy levels high in order to allow your productive self to flourish.
7 Blatant Signs That Stress Is Throwing You Off Your A-Game – Inc
As well as low energy levels, stress is also a major factor in distrupting your productivity flow. In order to combat stress you first need to recognise the signs and this article gives you some of the indicators that you may be experiencing higher levels of stress than usual. Once you understand your stress triggers you can then begin to take steps to reduce the problem.
Clutter Is Weighing Me Down – Help Decluttering My Home – Your Modern Family
I’ve been writing a lot about clutter recently – probably because I have been going through a big clear out at home recently, but also as we get closer to Christmas we’ll want the house to be tidy for all of the visitors that will be popping in – and you’ll need to make room for all the extra stuff you’re going to get.
As well as making a good impression, and extra room, decluttering is also good for your mental health too. Clutter can be the sign of stress or depression, or can cause stress and depression. You can sign up to the free week-long declutter email series and a free daily declutter printable to get you started.
Today’s Families Are Prisoners Of Their Own Clutter – Boston Globe
Some of the time, depression caused by clutter is our own fault. We live in a consumer driven society which leads us to buy the newest gadget, or a pair of shoes we don’t really need but we vary rarely take care of our home environment thanks to our busy lives and this means the mess soon builds up. This article is a bit of an eye-opener as there are a lot of things you may find yourself doing that you don’t even realise are causing a problem.
Are you guilty of any of the things mentioned in this article? I have to admit on cheating with dinner every now and again when I can’t be bothered to cook – how about you? Let us know in the comments.
102 Best Tips To Get Your Home Super Organized – Good Housekeeping
If you know that you need to make a change and get rid of some of the clutter then take a look at this gallery of 102(!) tips from Good Housekeeping to get your started. From the power of colour coding to utilising dead space over doors, there’s an idea for every issue and space.
7 Foods Scientifically Proven To Reduce Anxiety – The Purpose Fairy
If you want to use food alongside decluttering to reduce your stress and anxiety the you can’t go wrong with the ones on this list (thank goodness avocado is on the this!)
How To Fix All Your Sleep Problems With Science – Bright Side
As someone who suffers from chronic back pain it’s often difficult for me to get to sleep at night. I’ll certainly be trying some of these tips next time I have a twinge. There’s some great advice on how a small change in your sleeping position have have a big effect on not only your quality of sleep but health too.
17 Cheat Sheets That Will Actually Help You Sleep Better – Buzzfeed
If the scientific tips in the previous article don’t quite work for you then Buzzfeed has put together this great list of infographics that covers almost all aspects of sleep from relaxation and curing insomnia to snoring (which I really need to take a good look at!)
Do you have any top tips for getting a great night’s sleep? Let us know in the comments what your advice is.
Have A Great Weekend
I hope you have enjoyed this round-up, as always if you have any links you like to share with me and my readers please contact me through the website or send me a tweet.
Until next week, Stay Productive!
- Follow Katy Whitton on:
