In part 2 of the Mini Series, I take you through how to set up your office to be a productive environment, especially if you are working in a home office.  

Working from home has its own set of challenges – home schooling kids who always want snacks, packages being delivered during a recording, the inevitable dog or cat interruption during an important Zoom meeting (though they are super cute!). 

Tune in to learn how to minimize the distractions. 

This Mini Series is 6 bite sized trainings with actionable strategies to unclutter your office space, time and information. These are just a few of the pointers I offer in my From Fog to Focus coaching program. 

I decided to offer this series to honor the one year anniversary of the global pandemic. Even after a year of working from home, so many people are still struggling with balancing it all. Or they’ve returned to the office and even the simplest tasks of our day to day work has changed. 

I’d love to know what has helped you most in this mini series.  

To learn more about your host, Catherine Avery:  

Productivity by Design  

Facebook Page and  
LinkedIn 

To connect with Catherine: Schedule a Call  

*We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites at no cost to you. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, I start with how you set your vision for your life or a specific project. Before you set out on a trip, you set your destination. Then you plot the route on a map. Setting your vision is similar.

I take you through the exact process I use to set my vision before I get into the planning of any project.

This Mini Series is 6 bite sized trainings with actionable strategies to unclutter your office space, time and information. These are just a few of the pointers I offer in my From Fog to Focus coaching program.

I decided to offer this series to honor the one year anniversary of the global pandemic. Even after a year of working from home, so many people are still struggling with balancing it all. Or they’ve returned to the office and even the simplest tasks of our day to day work has changed.

I’d love to know what has helped you most in this mini series.

To learn more about your host, Catherine Avery: 

Productivity by Design 

Facebook Page and 
LinkedIn 

To connect with Catherine: Schedule a Call  

*We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites at no cost to you.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I asked my guest, Lisa Zawrotny, to talk about balancing the many roles that we face in the sandwich generation. She speaks to the important of taking a break in transition. 

While clearing physical clutter is important, the work of healing emotional clutter is even more so. We talk about the mindset it takes to let things go especially when we think (know – hah!) we’re right. 

We delve into the effects of chronic stress and the pandemic. And how we create systems that honor our thresholds. We wrap with a discussion of the importance of breathing when we’re in those stress filled moments and the power of the pause. 

Links: 

Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma by Peter Levine 

About 

Lisa Zawrotny founded Positively Productive Systems after a deeply overwhelming time in her own life juggling multiple roles as a caregiver, wife, mother, and business owner.  

Her path to healing using value-based decluttering and customized systems was so profound she knew she had to share it with others.  

Now as a Certified Stress Management & Productivity Coach and host of the Positively Living Podcast she helps multi-passionate entrepreneurs and multi-tasking caregivers make space for what matters in life. 

Website: Positively Productive  

Podcast: Positively Living 

To learn more about your host, Catherine Avery:  

Productivity by Design  

Facebook Page and  
LinkedIn 

To connect with Catherine: Schedule a Call  

*We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites at no cost to you. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kat Sturtz lives up to her nickname with her nine lives. She has been there and done that. Now she wraps up all of her years of brilliance to help primarily work from home entrepreneurs thrive.

We start with Kat’s Triple A approach to any project in business which is simply adopt, adapt and adjust. Then we delve into how sometimes we can use our procrastination to free up our minds.

Finally, Kat offers us a few easy to implement pointers on managing desk clutter.

Links:

Bob Burg

Mailstrom

About –

Kat’s nickname suits her well. She can be very finicky, has used up several of my nine lives (including being medically revived three times and spending time in a coma), and loves catnaps.

As a business life mentor and The Purgatory Relief Coach for People Who Think Marketing is Hell, Kat now works primarily with home-based solopreneurs who are temporarily stumped, stuck, or stalled.

She’s the owner and founder of 56 Vibes Services, Rocking Your Path, and You Can Cuisine with my retired chef husband ... and also the host of Fast Action Fridays interview series first started way back in April 1st 2014.

Kat has an eclectic business background that includes farming, restaurant/hospitality management, advertising sales, journalism, publishing, as well as business consulting and marketing services for a wide variety of small businesses and non-profit organizations, going back to 1971.

Rocking Your Path

Contact Kat

To learn more about your host, Catherine Avery: 

Productivity by Design 

Facebook Page and 
LinkedIn 

To connect with Catherine: Schedule a Call

*We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites at no cost to you.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I asked Clara to join me on the podcast because she had a life changing experience in taking a weekend off. This doesn’t sound like a big deal, but when you’re a military spouse with a couple of kids, you’ve just moved into a hotel in a brand new country, your parents are moving and ALL THE THINGS plus a pandemic, taking a weekend off is a major deal. 

We talk about the resistance we feel as parents to get time away followed by the surrender and the release. And that monkey brain chatter that happens when we have nothing planned and nothing to do. Yet it’s so important to unplug, to be a human BEing not a human doing.  

But when we rest, the kind where you get bored, it’s transformational. 

About Clara Goldberg-Freeman 

Clara has been a military spouse for over 16 years, mother to an 11 year-old girl, and a 13 year-old boy.  

Two years ago, combining all her life experiences and professional background, Clara started her own business, Clara Mei Consulting. 

She is a certified life coach and group facilitator who is committed to guiding women craving to go from their safe life or safe job to their Soul life or Soul job (whether in the office or at home). 

She also has a masters in public health with a focus on behavioral sciences and health education.  

To learn more about your host, Catherine Avery:  

Productivity by Design  

Facebook Page and  
LinkedIn 

To connect with Catherine: Schedule a Call  

*We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites at no cost to you. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My guest, Leo Tumwattana, talks to us today about hyper-scheduling and why it works better than just having a to do list. With a to do list, you don’t have a time commitment for making that action item happen. 

When Leo couldn’t find a project/time management tool that met his needs, he created his own, Sorted. One of the things I most admire about Leo is that he incorporates features his users suggest into the app, such as a grocery list (love this!) and emojis. 

We discuss how using a project management tool helps you see where you’re spending your time and when you’re most efficient. Leo is a night owl. I’m an early bird. 

We wrap up with how hyper scheduling can help the ADHD brain, reduce your stress levels, and free up time you can spend with your family and friends. 

Note: Productivity by Design (and the Uncluttered Office) is not an Affiliate of Sorted and has not been an Affiliate during the three months prior to the date hereof. 

Links:  

Get Things Done by David Allen 

Eisenhower Matrix on my podcast 

Eisenhower Matrix Daily Task and Project Planning Notepad by Daily Ritmo 

The Pomodoro Technique by Francesco Cirillo 

Time Timer 

About -  

Leo Tumwattana is the Co-Founder of Sorted. 

His undergrad is in Computer Engineering (University of Toronto) and he has an MBA from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.  

He joined Louis Vuitton to explore corporate side of things. Then went back to his first love, coding.  He did a few app start up ideas while also working on Sorted as a personal project. 

He found a trusted teammate and co-founder in Harry, which helped kept Sorted alive when his wife was diagnosed with Breast Cancer.  

Sorted 

Twitter: @sortedHQ 

To learn more about your host, Catherine Avery:  

Productivity by Design  

Facebook Page and  
LinkedIn   

To connect with Catherine: Schedule a Call  

*We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites at no cost to you. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While I love systems and processes, Zach Fisk is a technology genius. We talk processes with me providing the overview and Zach explaining his favorite technology to fill in the gaps. Zach uses a combination of Google Tasks and Notion to get his tasks done. 

Zach reviews a whole host of the tools within Google Suite and how he uses them to balance his work and fun. 

You won’t want to miss the many ways you can keep up with your contact list and the importance of themes. 

Links: 

Atomic Habits 

Jacquie Lawson e-cards 

Bob Burg Cards  

About – 

Zachary Fisk is a technologist, productivity tool enthusiast, and nature advocate.  

He recently launched ZNFConsulting to assist non-tech savvy small business operators to integrate technology into their workflows. 

In his spare time, he enjoys hiking and practicing mobile photography and desktop editing.  

ZNF Consulting  

To learn more about your host, Catherine Avery:  

Productivity by Design  

Facebook Page and  
LinkedIn 

To connect with Catherine: Schedule a Call  

*We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites at no cost to you. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dan Paulson and I start our conversation about systems with our why. So we can spend time with our families. Ideally, in beautiful places not just home. For Dan, that’s a home on the Lake of the Ozarks. Dan lives in Wisconsin so a trip to the lake in winter is a true reprieve. 

We talk about the benefits of working online, even though we both miss in person meetings. 

Dan tells the story of how he learned his work ethic and then how he had to unlearn it by putting boundaries, automation, and systems in place so that he can enjoy his family. 

Of course, we explain several of these – time blocking, automated scheduling, scheduled emails, reusing content, and project management apps. 

About – 

Dan Paulson helps business owners build growing, sustainable organizations.  His superpower is to teach leaders how to get out of their own way by building strong teams and systems to achieve improved results. 

Links: 

LinkedIn 

Free One Page Plan: heydanwhatsnext.com. 

To learn more about your host, Catherine Avery:  

Productivity by Design  

Facebook Page and  
LinkedIn 

To connect with Catherine: Schedule a Call  

*We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites at no cost to you. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My guest AnneMarie shares her brilliance on how entrepreneurs with ADHD battle the beast of procrastination.

She shares her three best strategies: break down into small manageable tasks, put on your favorite music, create a daily to do list. Checking off a to do list gives that dopamine rush, we ADHDers love.

AnneMarie busts the horrible stories we tell ourselves about our procrastinationshares her Content Bible, and helps you beat the procrastination blues.

About -

AnneMarie Vaughan is from Nova Scotia, Canada. She is a new entrepreneur and coach to other female entrepreneurs who have ADHD and are looking to gain clarity on their ideal path. She has struggled with procrastination time and time again and has successfully been able to reframe it to a more positive experience and become more productive in the process.

Links:

AnneMarie Vaughan

High Vibe Mindset Tribe

To learn more about your host, Catherine Avery: 

Productivity by Design 

Facebook Page and 
LinkedIn 

To connect with Catherine: Schedule a Call

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’ve had our first quarantine at Casa Avery. I explain how our habits, created when I went through cancer, have helped us weather the 10 solitary days. 

I explain why I think tiny habit shifts are more effective than setting New Year’s resolutions. Did you know that most people have quit on their resolutions by Jan 12th? 

I talk about my latest habit shift, reading a chapter of a business book each morning, starting with James Clear’s Atomic Habits. The irony is rich, no? 

You’ll want to tune in to hear the three small habit shifts you can make today in your work space, time, and information. 

To learn more about your host, Catherine Avery:  

Productivity by Design  

Facebook Page and  
LinkedIn 

To connect with Catherine: Schedule a Call  

*We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites at no cost to you. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices