Happy Healthy Long Life

Time Is Money - Economist Justin Wolfers Offers Advice on How to Spend Your Free Time Wisely. What's the Opportunity Cost?

 

"But the foundation of all economics is something called opportunity cost.

It says that the true cost of something is the alternative you have to give up. 

So each hour that I spend running (or blogging or gardening or Facebooking or watching TV) is an hour that I don't spend hanging out, working, or sleeping. 

How do I choose?"

  -Justin Wolfers, business & public policy teacher at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania-

 

"Stop Hitting the Snooze Button"

-Mel Robbins, author of "Stop Saying You're Fine"-

 

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I wrote the post you'll soon read below on a sunny day in August, 2009.  And it's still one of my favorites.

But, this Thursday morning was a gray, snowy, cold January 5, 2012.  I "made" myself get up early in the pitch black predawn darkness--out of a warm cozy bed (thanks to my heated mattress pad!!).

 

"Good Reasons to Wake Up Early"

I got up crazy early so I would have time to catch up on the news, eat breakfast (chocolate oatmeal), make a Green Smoothie, pack my lunch, pack my "librarian" clothes, and attend a morning super-tough weight class-- before going on to work--and then meeting-up after-work with three of my favorite gal pals for a "1/4" glass of wine, and a birthday celebration dinner at veg-friendly Indian restaurant.  Got home at 10:00 pm.

 

After-Work Birthday Dinner & Fun with the Gal Pals [over 240 years of experience here]

Sure--there are plenty of things I can't do because I choose to eat healthy, cook most of my meals (with the considerable help of "Lab Rat"), work, hang out with my friends, exercise religiously, visit my family every chance I can, and blog.   But, we all make choices every day.

My soon-to-be-28-year-old son's (#2) favorite quote is something like, "Gandhi says we all have the same 24 hours in a day.  How you spend it is your choice." 

I think it's a pretty wise investment to devote time to preparing healthy meals & to exercise.  Sure, I know how difficult it is to find the time--and establish the "plant-based shopping/cooking/eating & exercise habit".   But the returns on this investment are something money cannot buy:  improved health, weight-loss, increased energy, & a great mood!  Really.

 

Update:  Since writing this post in 2009 I've economized on the ways I fit in exercise, shop, cook--and spend my time.  Far from perfect--but, I'm always tinkering with the best ways to "fit it all in".  If your kids are still "in the nest", you have parents to help take care of, or you're a single parent--I know it's going to take a whole lot of creative time management to fit it all in.

 

The Economics of Time - How We Spend What We've Got

 Written August 26, 2009

Yesterday after work I planned to go to the gym, but I changed my mind.  It was 72 degrees & sunny.  I headed home, put on my workout clothes, attached the nifty radio receiver I have for my iPOD Nano & set off for an hour long walk, listening to NPR.

Marketplace Money came on with their series, Econ Fun-01--about what economists do with their free time.  Listening to Justin Wolfers talk about the "Time is Money" conundrum is making me do some serious rethinking about how I'm spending my limited "free time".

Look, we only have so much time in a day.  I'm at a big disadvantage right from the get-go because I live "way out" in the sticks--about a 45-50 minute commute to work--a 20 minute drive to where I work-out--a 30 minute drive from lots of my friends, my favorite movie theater, and decent shopping. 

But I love where I live--it's green and open and quiet and peaceful--and my house is paid-off.  Moving is non-negotiable for now.

I've got some other "time-user-uppers" that are also non-negotiable:

1.  I need 7-8 hours of sleep
2.  I try to exercise at least 5 days a week for 60 minutes
3.  Healthy eating takes lots of time to shop & prepare for.  I "make" breakfast, lunch & dinner, and I enjoy cooking.
4.  Work
5.  Weekend evenings are reserved for socializing
6.  If I want a good night's sleep, I need to just do something mindless after 9:00 pm, like TV, magazines, or book skimming
7.  I would never say "no" to an important activity or event involving family or friends 

Justin's hobby of choice is training for a marathon. 

My hobby of choice--reading about health & wellness, and blogging about it--is a huge time-sucker.  But I love it.  I love learning new things and taking the time to capture them on a computer.  I love the positive feedback from readers all over the world.  But, I have far too much to write about than I have time for and that creates its own stress.

And frankly, Justin is right!  There is an opportunity cost. 

1.   Less time to do nothing--don't discount that one.
2.   Less time to hang out with friends, or take long leisurely walks.
3.   Less time to organize & fix up my house.
4.   Less time to volunteer.
5.   Less time to sit on the couch & read an entire book.
6.   Less time to meditate.
7.   Less time to spend with my husband.
8.   Less time to work in my garden.
9.   Less time to switch gears & pick up a new hobby.
10. Less time to clean up my messes, organize my photos, or learn something new.
11. Less time to just talk.

We all have our hobbies. 

And we all have our time-wasters.  What can we cut out?  Or is it possible that some time-wasters are   mind-savers because they help us to wind-down & chill-out?  Facebook, Twitter, favorite-must-check-daily websites, ESPN, HGTV, sudoku, KenKen, garage sales, computer games, talking on the phone, texting, you-fill-in-the blanks. 

If the internet is your time-wasting addiction of choice, you MUST READ a recent article in Slate that shows how it adversely affects our brains, and why it's actually a most unsatisfying activity!  Seeking:  How the Brain Hard-Wires Us to Love Google, Twitter, and texting.  And Why That's Dangerous.  by Amy Yoffe.  Click here for the article.  After reading Amy's article I'm definitely curbing my laptop usage.  (Update 1/7/12): Yeah right!  Hasn't happened.)

Want to waste some time seeing how Americans spend their day?  Check out this interesting interactive graphic.  How are we spending our time?  (Very cool graphic!)

 

The problem: 

According to Justin: "And as I spend my hours slugging out the miles, I'm forced to confront my choices.  Instead of sweating it out on the trails, I could take on extra teaching and earn a few extra bucks.  And so going running costs me good money."

"The same logic applies to you.  Each hour you spend on your hobby you don't spend working harder to get a promotion, studying for a degree, or shopping around for the cheapest groceries."

 

According to me: "Or, each hour you spend on your hobby you don't spend with your spouse, friends, family, neighbors, getting your house in order, having fun or just plain relaxing."

So, am I going to keep on blogging, or am I going to give it up for more walks, housework, reading, Mahj games, and meditation?  Something to think about.  "I keep doing an activity only as long as it yields greater benefits than the alternative."

This "not having enough time to do everything" is a running theme for me.  It's my "Fighting Entropy" syndrome and I've written about it here and here.

Justin's Marketplace transcript:

If You Run the Numbers, It's a Good Time  click here
 

JUSTIN WOLFERS: I'm not just an economist, I'm also a runner, training for the Marine Corps Marathon.

Runners World magazine recently argued that marathon running is an incredibly cheap sport. All you need is a pair of shoes, and you're off and running. But they're wrong.

You see, they were emphasizing the out-of-pocket cost, which is small. But the foundation of all economics is something called opportunity cost. It says that the true cost of something is the alternative you have to give up.

So each hour that I spend running is an hour that I don't spend hanging out, working, or sleeping. How do I choose? Following economic theory, I keep doing an activity only as long as it yields greater benefits than the alternative.

And as I spend my hours slugging out the miles, I'm forced to confront my choices. Instead of sweating it out on the trails, I could take on extra teaching and earn a few extra bucks. And so going running costs me good money.

The same logic applies to you. Each hour you spend on your hobby is an hour you don't spend working harder to get a promotion, studying for a degree, or shopping around for the cheapest groceries.

By my calculations my 16-week training program comes at an opportunity cost of several thousand dollars. A quicker runner would have a smaller opportunity cost. It's only because I'm both slow and an economist that I fret that the world's cheapest sport is actually incredibly expensive.

But to an economist, the choice is still a no-brainer. We think you should only do what you love, and pay for it by doing what you are good at.

By sticking to economics, I make time for running. Rather than spend hundreds of dollars worth of time cleaning my house each Sunday, I hire a cleaner, who does a better job, at a better price.

When a friend asks me to help them move, I write them a check to pay professional movers instead. It's just more efficient.

And while it can be hard to forgo extra income for a long run, it is even harder to justify wasting that time on Facebook. And with the time that saves, I'm pulling on my shoes to head out for another run.

Justin Wolfers teaches business and public policy at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

 

The Great Friday Paper Purge - Sorting Through the Recipes & Papers of My Past

 

My Mom's Apple Cake (originated by Aunt Dorothy)

 

Get rid of things that no longer work for you.

A few saved recipes from the past = precious mementos.

A huge collection = overwhelming clutter.

 

--My Riff/Mash-Up of a Gretchen Rubin Happiness Project Rule--

 

My Thursday Office Purge Party

 

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On Thursday, I spent most of the day going through every drawer, every shelf, every binder, and every file folder in my office at work.   It was a Purge Party. 

Amazing, what I found hidden out of sight in my file folders, drawers, & binders. 

Old, irrelevant, no longer useful papers, manuals, memos, statistics, & computer discs galore!

Here's the reason for the Thursday purge.   Next week we're getting brand-new carpeting in the library.  All the furniture and cubicle dividers will be dismantled--and moved out--to make way for new carpeting.   But, before any of this can happen, all of us had to pack up every single thing in our offices (correction: cubicles).   And there's no way I was going to pack up all that useless stuff.

We brought in a giant paper recycling dumpster, and I purged, baby!  It felt fantastic to unload that useless clutter.  And it was so much fun.

 

My Friday Paper Purge

 

Friday was my day off.  I had a long list of things on my To-Do List--and none of them were remotely close to organizing recipes, or purging home files.  Are you kidding me?  After Thursday's office purge, I had had enough of that for awhile.

But, that's exactly what my Friday turned into.

When I returned home from exercising & errands on Friday morning, I found my husband in the middle of a Clean, Purge, & Organize Mission!  Be careful what you wish for, is all I have to say.

My Husband:  "That pile of stuff on the kitchen island--that's all of your papers, recipes, and things.  I've already thrown out all the obvious garbage stuff that was on the shelves.  So please go through your stuff--decide what you want to keep--or throw it out.  I can't do anymore here until you go through that stuff."

Me:  "Oh gee, thanks!"  (I'm thinking--now, why exactly should my pile of stuff stop you from continuing on with your cleaning & organizing mission?  But, by now he was on to another project--changing the oil in my car.)

I kept my mouth shut.  Trust me--there was no way I wanted to go through those piles--right then--at that moment--but I can't stand clutter on my kitchen island.  It had to be dealt with right away.  This was stuff I've looked through before--stuff I hadn't been quite ready to part with in the past. Ugh.

But, I definitely didn't want to be the roadblock to my husband's cleaning & organizing mission.

So, I carefully went through the pile on the kitchen island.

• My mom's last wallet, with her driver's license, little notes, membership cards.
• One recipe album, 2 recipe notebooks, 5 file folders worth of recipes from the past 39 years of marriage  (periodically weeded)
• My kids' left-behind CDs.
• My meager collection of CDs
• Two giant notebooks & a file box filled with non-medical newspaper clippings, inspirational stuff, articles worth saving, how-to information (like how to hang a picture), business cards, records of past home-improvement projects, what's planted in our garden, some medical records, travel ideas, book & movie recommendations, and more.  At one point in my life these were all things that were "save worthy".

 

Three hours later I had purged a giant garbage bag with papers from my past--all ready for the recycling dumpster!

And, yes,  I saved what was worth saving.

 

The Recipe Purge

 

I already knew I was committed to this plant-based no-oil lifestyle without needing to purge any recipes from my past.  My pantry has long ago been purged of junk.  I've been eating plant-based for 3 1/2 years now.  No-added-oil for 13 months.  It feels like how I've always eaten.  It's normal.  It's routine.

But, ditching my recipes & cookbooks feels like drawing a line in the sand.  Like throwing out clothes that no longer fit.  Or making your kitchen officially Kosher.  It's saying, "This is me, now.  I'm not the same person that I used to be.  This isn't a fad.  It's no longer just an experiment.  Sure, I'm open to tweaking--but oil, dairy, meat...  I don't think so!

So, now it's a done deal.   All those holiday recipes I had collected for briskets, kugels, blintz souffle--the desserts made with lots of butter, nuts, shortening, eggs & oil....GONE!   (Don't worry---if anyone should ever need them--they're all findable on the internet)

All those saved newspaper/magazine/internet/photocopied/hand-written recipes for cookies, cakes, chicken, beef, and casseroles...GONE!

All the cookbooks I no longer use--The Barefood Contessa's, Rachel Ray's, The Silver Palate--banished to the basement bookshelf.  Donate to the library?  To friends?

It was a no-brainer.   I had no regrets or second thoughts.

I can't imagine making anything anymore with shortening, butter, oil, eggs, cheese, cream, meat, or poultry.

Surprisingly, there were plenty of recipes worth saving.  Some I had long forgotten about, that can be easily tweaked to go oil-free or dairy-free.  It was nice to be reminded of them.

 

My Special Flowered Recipe Notebook--39 Years of Cooking History

 

Yes, I'm a sentimental softy, at heart.

There's a whole history of recipes from the special people in my life that lives in my Pink Flowered Recipe Notebook.  They're yellowed with age.  They're grease-splattered.  Some are hard to read.

Plenty are written in the handwriting of those special people.  They're "forever keepers".

Of course, I saved all of those.

 

My Sister's Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

 

 

My Mother-in-Law's Sour Cream Coffee Cake

She was making this in her kitchen on the day we first met--1970.

 

My Sister-in-Law's Spaghetti (she passed away 30 years ago)

 

Uncovering Buried Treasures

 

I was listening to Senator Sherrod Brown on the radio as I was busily sorting through the piles on my kitchen island.

Brown happened to mention his wife, Connie Schultz, had just celebrated a birthday.  Connie's a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, who's a favorite of mine.  She's smart, funny, & has chutzpah.  She's not afraid to tell-it-as-she-sees-it!   Click here for a Connie Schultz, I-can't-believe-this-is-really-true story post.  

How strange that I had just uncovered a copy of a yellowed Plain Dealer magazine page with a poem she had written almost 10 years ago.

Update:  I just re-read my Connie Schultz post--hadn't read it since I wrote it in 2008.  Gotta say--the story about Jane left tears in my eyes & gave me chills.  You see, Jane's grandmother just happens to be my mom!  And, here's another coincidental twist to all of this--I also remembered that I had tucked a copy of Connie's poem into Jane's college graduation card.  The rest of the story....she's graduated with a Dr. of Physical Therapy in 2010 and she's doing just fine!

 

 

Create Your Own Rainbow

 

We think we have all the time in the world.

Some day we'll go home early.  We'll write that song,

Speak our mind, say we're sorry and make it right.

Some day we'll pluck our biggest dream out of the sky

And declare this one here is mine.

Some day.

The future is no place to leave our hopes,

And waiting for the right time to make our mark can blind us to

the perfect moment right in front of us.

Quietly beckoning us to seize its promise.

And begin.

 

-Connie Schultz-

 

Connie's poem wasn't the only piece of buried treasure that I rediscovered on the Kitchen Island yesterday--and decided to save.   There were other gold nuggets that I saved, put away, only to rediscover again, the next time I go on a paper purge.

 

I Guess I'm Not the Only One

 

At dinner last night I told my friend Joyce about my recipe purge. 

Turns out--she did the exact same thing 2 weeks ago.  Dumping all the recipes & cookbooks that no longer fit with the way she now cooks.

 

Help!  Does anyone have some practical advice on how best to save papers & scraps of useful "orphaned" info--so it can be easily retrieved--not buried alive?  Please Share!

Any tips for creating useful retrievable files--that don't turn into "another way station before going into the trash"? 

How do you keep track of what you file/put away?

 

And Stay Tuned:

• The latest very exciting news in Alzheimer's/Dementia Prevention
• Our Brendan Brazier's Recovery Drink Review--along with his energy bar recipe
• It's been 13 months on the Esselstyn plant-based no-oil diet--coming up--My Review

 

 

Dr. Ed Hallowell, Author of "Crazy Busy Overstretched & Overbooked" Pays a Visit. Strategies for Controlling Our ADD-Like Technology and Busyness Addictions

 

About ten years ago Attention Deficit Disorder guru Dr. Ed Hallowell noticed a new malady he dubbed: CrazyBusy.  It feels like ADD or ADHD, but it's not the "real thing"--it's an environmentally-self-induced condition.

It's the feeling of being overstretched, overbooked, too busy to just sit down & relax, distracted, unorganized, not knowing what to do first--brought on by our seductive technology that makes us hyper-available--and a culture that values busyness over slowing down & taking "time out" to just think.

Dr. Edward M. Hallowell, child & adult psychiatrist who is one of the leading experts in ADD & ADHD

 

 

Last Wednesday, ADD/ADHD expert Dr. Ned Hallowell paid a visit to my medical center to speak at our Wellness Grand Rounds.  The last time I went a Wellness Grand Rounds Dr. T. Colin Campbell, author of The China Study,  spoke and my eating habits have been forever changed. (Dr. T. Colin Campbell Pays a Visit:  Does This Mean I Have to Become a Vegan? click here)  I think Hallowell's visit is going to have a similar life-changing effect.

When Dr. Hallowell speaks, you listen.  This guy is THE ADD/ADHD expert, because he knows exactly what it feels like.   He's dyslexic with ADHD, so if he can control his time & environment well enough to graduate from Harvard & medical school, teach medical students, write multiple books, run a private practice, and still be an attentive parent & husband--I'm all ears.  Besides, you can't help but like this guy.  He's warm, down-to-earth, and funny!

OK.  Dr. H. had a lot to say, so I'm dividing his words of wisdom into 3 posts:

1.  The CrazyBusy Malady.  Pseudo-ADHD.  How to recognize it & what to do about it.

2.  ADD/ADHD.  What is it?  How to manage it. Why we should look at it from a Strength-based model--not a Disease-based model.

3.  Adult ADD.  How to recognize it.  How to manage it.

 

What's the CrazyBusy Disorder & What Causes It?

CrazyBusy is a self-induced, culture-induced, technology-induced disorder that leaves us feeling frazzled, forgetful, frenzied, unorganized, and overloaded. 

Does this sound like you? 

You have way too much too do, you're constantly interrupted at work and at home with demands for your time, and even when you're not being interrupted by others, you're interrupting yourself by constantly checking your email, your Blackberry, your cell phone, your Iphone--or googling every random question that pops into your head.  No wonder we're all feeling busier than ever, accomplishing less, and about to SNAP!

CrazyBusy feels just like ADD/ADHD with one big exception:  ADD/ADHD is a condition one is born with.  CrazyBusy is a condition we create ourselves--and it's much easier to control.

Take the Vermont Test to decide if you have ADD or CrazyBusy.

If after spending one week on a farm in Vermont, you are happily relaxed and plowing the fields, you have CrazyBusy.  If you end up turning the place into an amusement park--you've got ADD.

The Vocabulary of CrazyBusy.

1.  Gemmelsmerch.  It's a made up word to "describe the force that distracts a person from what he or she wants or ought to be doing.  It's as pervasive & powerful as gravity."  It's all the stuff that distracts us: magazines, TV, the computer, cell phones, Blackberries, phone calls, ideas that just pop into your head, the mess in your house/office/yard (yes, that too is a distraction), email and on and on.

2.  Screensucking.  Wasting time watching the screen of a TV, computer, or video game.

3.  EMV.  That tell-tale voice of a person who is reading their email while talking on the phone.

4.  Doomdart.  The forgotten task that suddenly pops into your head when you're doing something else--and off you go to attend to it.

5.  Taildogging.  Going faster and faster simply because  everyone else is.

Hallowell's Favorite Story of Person Hopelessly Technology-Addicted

A woman asked him, "Is it OK that my husband puts his Blackberry down next to him when we make love?"

 

What's Happened to our Lives to Make Us Feel So CrazyBusy?

1.  Technology.  It's speeded up our lives.  We're always reachable.  If we're not careful we'll be too available and we won't have any sacred uninterrupted time to think.

2.  The Addictive & Seductive Nature of Technology.  There really is a dopamine release (the feel-good brain chemical) when we see a new email, text-message, or missed call.  So, when we do have down-time, instead of disconnecting and taking time to think or do important tasks, we go straight to the computer and check our email, Facebook, twitter, or regular daily websites.  It feels like we're doing work--but we're really sabotaging ourselves.  We're giving up control of our time.

 

Hallowell's Advice to Get Control of Your Time

1.  CONTROL Your Technology--Don't Let It Control You!  Develop a system that works for you--when you take calls, how you prioritize emails, taking regular time away from the seductive computer.

Hallowell's favorite success story:

A rising star who had climbed the ladder at Starbucks thought she owed her career success to her masterful multi-tasking prowess on her Blackberry.  She was even able to cook dinner with one hand, and send emails with the other.

When she got hired away by the Gates Foundation, she was told they didn't allow Blackberries at work.  She had to give it up.  She freaked.  How could she give up the secret to her success?  But she wanted the job, so she gave it a shot.

First week of giving up the Blackberry:  She was anxious and edgy.

Second week of giving up the Blackberry:  She felt calmer, and got her best work done--ever!  When it comes to productivity, uninterrupted time trumps multi-tasking every time.

Moral of the story:  You need to be in charge of your technology.  You can't be so available that you have no time to work on what's most important to you--what matters most.  Take control of your time--or it will evaporate and you won't even know where it went!

2.  CANCEL. Construct boundaries for your time.  Don't be a victim of your own generosity, or you'll risk being picked at all day.  Don't be afraid to cancel people--or organizations that are sucking your time--or that you are hanging on to out of guilt.  It may seem difficult at first, but if you get into the habit of canceling what doesn't really matter, you'll be amazed at how much better you feel and how much more energy you have.  Try to think of at least one activity, meeting, or event you can cancel right now.  Pare down your life to its best.

3.  CARE.  Pick 3 things you want to accomplish today.   This exercise takes 5-7 minutes a day--but it gives your day direction.  Decide what you care about most.  You do not have time for everything you care about, so you must prioritize.  If you don't do this consciously, you will do it unconsciously simply because what you care about exceeds the time you have to devote to each item on your list.

You need to spend most of your day doing what you're good at, what you like, and what adds value to the world.

If you aren't doing this, you'll end up sick & unhappy.

4.  CREATE organization in your life to help you concentrate.  Take the time to set up structures and systems in your life to help you get organized.  This might mean a new filing system or getting your home or office in order so it's not a constant concern or a distraction.  It could even mean setting aside a part of an evening solely for conversation with your spouse, or a time you book into your schedule for exercise.

5.  CONNECT with the people & projects that matter most to you.  Take the time to figure out who & what matters most to you and connect with them.  You'll reap the benefits of a positive emotional atmosphere at home, at work, and wherever you go.  Connecting with others is also the best way to reduce worry.  Hallowell's sage advice:  It's fine to worry,  just try never to worry alone.

6.  CULTIVATE your Lilies and discard your Leeches.  To do this you must take what the people in Alcoholics Anonymous call the fearless inventory, but in this case it is not of yourself, but your life.  What do you want to do more of?  What do you want to do less of?  Figure that out, then do it.

Do Your Best Work By Creating More of the C-State and Less of the F-State

C-State:  You'll do your best work when you are cool, calm, collected, and concentrated.  Preserve it!

F-State:  You'll do your worst work when you are fearful, forgetful, frustrated, frazzled, and frenzied. Guard against it!

 

The Productivity Secrets of Warren Buffett and Bill Gates

Busyness doesn't mean you're productive. 

Warren Buffett supposedly doesn't have a computer on his desk.  I'm not sure how he does any work without one--but then again, I'm not going to argue with his success.

Bill Gates supposedly retreats to a cabin in the woods for several weeks every year--just to recharge, think, and read without interruption.  After personally going on a few week-long silent meditation retreats over the years, I second Gates' productivity technique.

Successful people take time to STOP AND THINK!

 

 

So where do I personally need a CrazyBusy Tune-Up?  It's pretty clear to me. 

I need to:

1. Control my screensucking computer addiction.

2.  Pick just 3 things every day to accomplish--I need to remember I can't do everything I care about--I need to prioritize.

3.  Create better systems to organize all my projects and papers--and my house and household chores--so I won't spend unnecessary time & energy distracted by disorganization.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Never Forget a Birthday or Anniversary Again - Get Reminders with Google Calendar

Gretchen Rubin's Number One Tip for Keeping Friendships Strong:

Remember birthdays: it guarantees that you get in touch at least once a year.

-Gretchen Rubin, author & blogger "The Happiness Project"

No doubt about it.  I'm a work in progress. I try this--I try that--I get rid of this--I forget about that--I see how this works--how that doesn't work--and I keep trying until I get it right.  The "birthday/anniversary remembrance project" has had a long slow learning curve.

Anyway, I used to be awful about sending out cards for birthdays & anniversaries.  Which is a real stupid way to be, because I LOVE TO GET CARDS!!  Then it finally dawned on me.  I NEED A WAY TO REMEMBER BIRTHDAYS & ANNIVERSARIES SO I CAN SEND OUT CARDS!

You'd laugh if you saw my scribbly, scrawly tiny birthday calendar that's in my 15 year old Day Runner planner--that I only keep around for that one tattered  birthday calendar page.  I'm a real slow learner.  The system works well if I remember to look at the calendar ahead of time, so I can actually buy a card and send it out before someone's birthday or anniversary has passed--but I don't look at it often enough. And usually too late. It was a pretty stupid system.

I Finally Found a Simple & Amazing Solution for Remembering Special Occasions

• Use Google Calendar!  For a brief recent review of the calendar click here.

• I started using Google Calendar a couple of months ago for appointments, events & things I needed to remember.  It's best feature is its email or pop-up reminders that you set according to your preferences--minutes--hours--days ahead.

• It took me about 1 hour to enter every niece, nephew, brother-in-law, friend, neighbor, co-worker, relative or significant others' birthday and anniversary. This one time set-up will be automatically repeated FOREVER (that's how you need to set it up!)--or until Google disappears off the face of the planet.

• Use Google notifications (reminders) for every birthday or anniversary you enter.  This is absolutely the best part of Google calendar.  You can preset your calendar to send you an email reminder, or a pop-up reminder whenever you specify.  I set my notifications to send me an email reminder 1 week before a birthday so I can buy the card & mail it out.  Once I get the email reminder, I keep it "unread" in my Google mail box until the birthday arrives, just so I don't forget the special day.

• I repeat-You do it once & it's forever: You can easily set up all your birthday-anniversary reminders ONE TIME ONLY, & set them to repeat every year, forever!  I love that feature.

• Tip #1- Change the Notification setting default: Before you start to set up birthday reminders, look to the left-hand side of the Google calendar screen, under the little Monthly calendar--find the link to "settings".  Click on it & then look for the link to "Notifications" in the upper right-side of the new screen.  You can preset all your birthday notifications to be the same & it will save you from having to change each entry, separately.  In my case, I set up my reminders to come as "Emails" 7 days before the event.  When you are all done, then you can go back & change the Notifications settings to something else, that will be more useful in your regular use of your calendar.  As in all instructions--you'll see what I mean when you actually do it!

• Last tip-Enter birthdays on top: When setting up birthday/anniversary reminders, enter the info on the TOP light blue strip of the calendar page, not within the time-slots.  You'll know you're in the right place because there will be a little note that says: e.g. Mom's birthday.

• Why GMAIL & Google Calendar Rule!  I know I will keep my GMAIL account for a long time to come, so I don't have to waste time using some fly-by-night computer birthday service that may go out of business, nor am I concerned about a change in my email address.  There's nothing wrong with having a GMAIL account, along with any work, hotmail or yahoo accounts!  You may even prefer it. You can access your Google calendar & GMAIL wherever you are.
  

• It's so easy. I'm definitely not a Google Calendar maven, but I found the whole process very easy to do.

• Take the tour first. I highly recommend you take a look at the Google Calendar tour to get started.  Email me if you have a question--I'll help if I can.

• Remembering birthdays & anniversaries is one of the easiest ways to make you & everyone else happy!

An Overview of Google Calendar

Simplify. Organize. (And relax.) Organizing your schedule shouldn't be a burden. That's why we've created Google Calendar – our free online shareable calendar service. With Google Calendar, it's easy to keep track of all your life's important events – birthdays, reunions, little league games, doctor's appointments – all in one place.

Using Google Calendar, you can add events and invitations effortlessly, share with friends and family (or keep things to yourself), and search across the web for events you might enjoy. It's organizing made easy.

	Gmail Integration Gmail now recognizes when messages mention events, and you can add those events to your calendar with just a couple clicks.
Quick Add Just click a spot on your calendar (or use the Quick Add link) and start typing to add a new event
Calendar Sharing View calendars that others have shared with you, and let your friends and family see your agenda.
		Invitations Send invitations for any event on your calendar by adding guests
		Reminders Never forget another event again. You can even get reminders sent right to your mobile phone.

Take the Google Calendar Tour

Features

Calendar Sharing: Set up a calendar for your company softball team, and share it with the whole roster. (Your shortstop will never forget about practice again.) Or share with friends and family so you can view each other's schedules side by side.

Invitations: Create event invitations, send them to friends, and keep track of people's responses and comments, all in one place. Your friends can receive your invitation and post responses even if they don't use Google Calendar themselves.

Quick Add: Click anywhere on your calendar where an event belongs (or use the Quick Add link), and start typing. Google Calendar understands whole phrases like "Brunch with mom at Java Cafe 11am on Saturday," and will pop new events right into your agenda.

Gmail Integration: Add your friend's Super Bowl party to your calendar without ever leaving your Gmail inbox. Gmail now recognizes events mentioned in emails.

Search: Find the date of the Baxter family BBQ (you knew it was sometime this summer). Or, search public calendars to discover new events you're interested in and add them to your own calendar.

Mobile Access: Receive event reminders and notifications on your mobile phone.

Event Publishing: Share your organization's events with the world. Learn more with our Event Publisher Guide.

Quick Facts

Cost: Free Languages: The interface is currently available in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Finnish, Swedish, Russian, Chinese-Simplified, Chinese-Traditional, Korean, Japanese, Portuguese and Polish. You can enter calendar information in many other languages, too.

Fully supported browsers: - Microsoft IE 6.0 or later (download: Windows) - Mozilla Firefox 1.0.7 or later (download: Windows Mac Linux) - Safari 2.0.3 or later JavaScript and cookies must be enabled on all browsers.

General Questions

How do I sign up?
If you already have a Google Account, just visit the Google Calendar homepage, enter your username and password, and click "Sign in."

If you don't yet have an account, you can create one now.

Does Google Calendar connect to other calendar applications and devices?
Yes. Google Calendar uses open calendar standards to give you more choice when it comes to accessing your calendar. You can view your schedule using any application or device that accepts iCal or XML files. Learn more

Can I import events from Microsoft Outlook or other calendar programs?
Absolutely. You can import information from other popular calendar applications – like Microsoft Outlook and Yahoo! Calendar – quickly and easily. Learn more

Can I set limits on the info I share with others?
Yes. You control how much you share, and who you share it with. For instance, you can let Aunt Jane see details about your ballet recitals but not your Lambada lessons. Friends and organizations can share their calendar info with you, too, and you can view it alongside your own agenda.

What about privacy? Will Google share my information?
Google takes your privacy as seriously as our own. We won't share your personal information with anyone, except only under the limited circumstances described in our privacy policy. For more details, please refer to the "Information sharing" section of our Privacy Policy and the Google Calendar Privacy Policy.

I have more specific questions about using Google Calendar. What should I do?
Please visit the Google Calendar Help Center.

Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You! You May Be Surprised

"If you're anything like me, you do more than passively observe the surroundings when you enter someone's living space for the first time.  My research focuses on how people's possessions can tell us even more about their personalities than face-to-face meetings or, sometimes, what their best friends say about them."

 -Dr. Sam Gosling, author of Snoop, psychology professor, University of Texas/Austin-

                                                                                
Dr. Gosling has been looking under beds, peering into closets & rifling through music collections, all in the name of research, for almost 10 years.  He claims he can figure out a lot about you, especially by looking at your bedroom. 

At first this made me kind of uneasy. Uh, what would the piles of books and magazines all over my house say about me?  And what about my choice of pictures on my book shelves, the open bottle of wine, the bowls of fruit and vegetables, the bottles of vitamins, receipts, and other junk on top of my kitchen counters?

I heard Sam on NPR on the way home from Chicago & yesterday I read all I could about his research.  His new book, Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You, is about to hit the bookstore shelves.  I'm a sucker for personality profiles, so I had to know more.

The good news, at least for me:  Clutter isn't so bad!  It can mean you're creative & open to new ideas & experiences!

Sam can typecast you by your taste in music, what your office looks like, what's in your bedroom, what's on your walls, and what kind of junk just happens to be lying around your house.

"My research team went into bedrooms and offices and recorded their impressions in standard personality tests. We then compared what they thought about the occupants with what the occupants thought about themselves and what their friends thought about them."

What our "stuff" is telling the world:

• Gosling says that the more he peers into people's personal spaces -their homes & offices-  "The more  I've come to believe that what's going on outside the mind, reflects what's going on inside the mind."

• Our living spaces shout to the world who we are.  They're an IDENTITY STATEMENT. We decorate to please ourselves.  We pick colors, pictures, and memorabilia that give our space the "Stamp of Us". Our stuff shows what we value and how we view ourselves.  What we hang on our walls, what books we prominently display,  reflects how we want others to view us.  We leave out what we don't want to show people.  We hide the stuff we want hidden in our closets & drawers.

• Our "stuff" tells the world what we do in our homes.  Whether we listen to folk music, garden, watch lots of TV, drink single malt Scotch, collect Israeli stamps, read World War II history or entertain others--it's in our "stuff".

• Our "stuff" also tells the world what we do outside of our homes.  Check out the receipts for plane tickets, sports or concert programs, athletic shoes, garage sale finds, or the invitations & appointments hanging on the refrigerator.

• And then there's our character.  Our "stuff" gives big clues as to how we rate in the "BIG FIVE" personality traits: openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and emotional stability.  But, in the final analysis, our "stuff" says more about how open we are to new experiences and how conscientious & organized we are, than it does about the other traits.

•  Are you organized or on the messy side? This doesn't mean exactly what you might think it means.  According to Gosling, "You may want your lawyer to be very organized and have a clean desk, but if you are meeting with someone in advertising, you would want their desk to be covered in papers and ideas that represent their ability to be creative." 

• Are you open to new experiences or are you reserved and conventional?  A diverse collection of books & magazines, original art, and souvenirs reflects someone who's open to new things.  It's not the quantity that's important, but the diversity!  Does your CD collection have rock, jazz & classical, or are you just collecting Country?  Openness was correlated with curiosity, imagination, being unconventional and having a wide variety of interests.

• A labeled CD collection, books arranged by subject, & nothing on flat surfaces---of course this means organization, but it also means conscientiousness.  To have an organized living space it's not sufficient to just organize it one time.  It means consistently putting the phone book back on the shelf,  throwing away the newspapers, and hanging up the clothes. Interestingly, the conscientious folks did not make particularly good use of the space in their offices.  Go figure? Conscientiousness=order=efficiency=self-discipline.

• Are you an extrovert or an introvert?  This trait is easiest to determine in an office, rather than a home.  The extrovert wants to lure people into her office to chat & schmooze.  She'll have a comfortable chair, an open door, maybe a jar of jelly beans, and the office will be decorated with pictures and lamps. The introvert's office will have subtle "no visitors please" clues.  A hard chair, and no decorating to speak of. Forget about the candy.

• For the most part, our stuff will not show whether we are agreeable, good-natured, emotionally stable, neurotic or bad-tempered. But, some research indicates that agreeableness is associated with rooms that are cheerful, colorful, clean, organized, neat, comfortable, inviting, with no clothes strewn about! Folk wisdom holds that pleasant people occupy pleasant rooms,  and agreeable people are concerned with the aesthetic comfort of their visitors.  Sounds like the house of someone I'd want to visit!

• Lots of color, brightness and a well-lit room reflects someone who is kind, open and sympathetic.

• Lots of souvenirs & memorabilia?  You're sentimental.  

• Are you a collector or a hoarder?  Hoarders collect everything, can't throw anything away, and this causes them much anxiety.  Collectors, on the other hand, take much pleasure from what they collect.  They also are much higher in the BIG FIVE TRAIT of conscientiousness.  They're orderly, organized & on the ball!

• We are not very good judges of how organized we are.  Everyone has different standards for organization & neatness.  Did a friend ever tell you to please excuse the huge mess in her house, only to walk into a pristine showplace?  For some people a glass in the sink is a mess.  For another a mess looks like something "a cyclone just hit".  Dr. Gosling suggests you ask your friends how organized you are, to learn the truth.  "They know if you're someone who has a spare stamp, or if your someone that they need to preschedule 30 minutes ahead for a movie, because they're tired of always waiting for you.

What your music says about you:

• Jazz, classical or other "complex sounds"?  They typically have a high IQ
• Country, Top 40, "easy listening"?  They're conventional, honest, & conservative.

So what does all this have to do with being happy, healthy, and living a long life?  Heck if I know.  It's just fun & interesting to play detective, both in other people's houses and our own.  I think we're all a little blind-sided about how we look to the world. A couple of months ago I was surprised to hear a friend describe me as someone who lives pretty modestly. Yes, I guess it's true, but I never thought it was noticeable.

                  

Fighting Entropy With New Habits - Why I Vow to Make My Bed Every Morning

 "It almost seems as if making your bed everyday and keeping your life in order is futile. In a sense it is. Every time you try to organize, you’re battling a natural force that drives the entire universe: entropy."

-from The Art of Manliness-

I woke up at 3:00 in the morning consumed with thoughts of entropy--that left to its own devices everything (like my house, my garden, my body & my brain) just falls apart --there are only 24 hours in a day--the maintenance never ends--and now I'm adding some extras to my To-Do List for this month--HOW CAN I GET IT ALL DONE?

• Mulching the darn garden.
• Weeding the darn garden.
• Planting the darn plants.
• Replacing our 20 year old air conditioner that just died.
• Fixing my car, now that the Check Engine Light can no longer be ignored.
• Reading a book for book club.  A Good Thing.
• Hosting the book club.  A Good Thing.
• Making final plans for our family vacation coming up in 4 weeks. Yikes! A Good Thing
• Hosting out-of-town company. A Good Thing
• Traveling out of town for a wedding. A Good Thing
• Rehanging the pictures I removed 1 year ago when we painted our house-that I haven't rehung because I wanted something hipper than what's been hanging there for over 20 years, and I don't exactly know what that is.
• Cleaning out my disgusting basement.
• Finally getting started on redoing my oldie moldy upstairs bathroom.
• Replacing the faded, worn-out family room furniture.
• Researching & making plans for a July weekend to Niagara-on-the-Lake.  A Good Thing
• And yada yada yada

I know-this is definitely a case of whining on the yacht!  Why am I moaning?  Children in Haiti are eating mud sandwiches, people are starving in Myanmar, and now the earthquake in China.  And I'm whining about having too many wonderful things to do? 

And then, by chance at breakfast, I happened upon Benjamin Franklin and his own sorry struggles with bringing order into his life. He had far more important things to accomplish than I, and yet all the household stuff drove him crazy, too. That's when I had a brilliant revelation.  Maybe there's a connection between an orderly life and a happy accomplished life.

If I want to fully enjoy my family, my friends, my projects, and actually do something about Haiti or Myanmar or the environment---maybe I need ORDER IN MY OWN HOUSE FIRST.

Franklin chose Order as his third virtue because it “would allow [him] more time for attending to [his] projects and [his] studies.” Franklin understood that if he wanted to get important things done in his life, he had to make sure the little things wouldn’t get in the way.

From the website: The Art of Manliness comes advice for people like me, who hate planners and systems, but need a nudge to get going.

The secret to bringing order to your life and overcoming entropy while only minimally increasing it in other areas of your life is simple: DO IT NOW. No system, no in-boxes, no index cards. Just do it now. After you get out of bed, turn around and make it. After you receive a piece of mail, take action on it immediately. As soon as you’re done eating, wipe down the kitchen. If you drop a sock on the floor, pick it up without hesitation. It’s not as easy as it sounds because whenever a bit of disorder appears in your life, you will feel entropy pulling you to ignore it. You must train yourself to repeat the mantra “do it now!” and push through this force.

If you find that you can’t do something now, write it down in a simple notebook. There’s no need to develop an elaborate capturing and filing system. Just write it down so you don’t forget.

But what about tasks that require multiple steps, ones you can’t take action on immediately? You will get to them eventually. They’re big; you won’t forget to do them, and you don’t need a system to get them done. Meanwhile, by creating an organized home, car, and workplace, you create an environment out of which the bigger tasks will flow far more easily.

Long before the “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” and “Getting Things Done,” men like Theodore Roosevelt accomplished amazing things without an elaborate system. You don’t need to set up some crazy regimen either. All you need to know to become a Master of the Universe are three little words: do it now, dagnabit. Okay four words.

I left the house this morning with my bed made, my clothes hung up, the sink empty, and everything picked up.  It added about 12 more minutes to my morning.  Who knew? I can do this.