A few years ago, Disney Pixar released the movie Up. It’s a sweet little film about a rather crotchety old widower and a young scout who accidentally end up on an adventure together. Not long after they touch down in a far-off land they are greeted by a dog named Dug. He’s a loveable golden retriever who bounds affectionately into their arms and then shocks them both when he speaks English via a special collar translator worn around his neck. The only trouble is, he often interrupts what he’s saying mid-sentence, shouts “squirrel,” and points for a second or two.

In a lot of ways, we humans are a lot like cute, furry Dug. Only our “squirrels” are the bings and buzzes emanating from our digital devices. One minute we’re working productively on something, but the second our phone vibrates, we will drop everything and turn to it…squirrel!

These constant interruptions literally torpedo our productivity. It is estimated the average person wastes 2 hours/day on email, 40 minutes/day on Facebook, 12 minutes/day on Twitter, 10 minutes/day on LinkedIn – and an additional 96 minutes/day switching back and forth between tasks. That means all of our squirrel chasing is costing each of us about 22.5 hours in lost productivity a week. That’s a staggering amount!

Why are we “addicted” to our phones, email, and other e-communications?

There are two big reasons why we feel compelled to incessantly check our phones, emails, facebook pages, twitter accounts, and the like.

The first is because there is a powerful conditioning loop at work. Our digital devices often “reward” us with feelings of belonging and significance when we respond to them; that email from mom, the high-five from a boss, they make us feel good. These two emotions are paramount to humans. If we were rats, they would be our cheese. When a stimuli, like an email ping, is paired with a powerful reward and then delivered at unpredictable intervals, just as happens with our digital devices, we will literally become addicted to the behavior associated with getting the powerful reward. In this case that means we literally can’t resist the urge to check email or grab our phones when they beep at us.

The second reason we’re addicted is because of a little human trait social scientists call reciprocity, or the compulsion to respond in kind to others. It is a trait that enables individuals to make contributions to the larger social group without worrying they are losing out. We are all taught from a very young age to return favors, lest we be shunned as an ingrate. Guess what, it applies to communications too. One social scientist, Professor Robert Cialdini, actually conducted an experiment a few decades ago in which he sent holiday greeting cards to a few hundred people he chose at random from the AZ white pages. Low and behold, he was soon inundated with holiday cards from them, even though they had no idea who he was. You see, our compulsion to respond is hard-wired.

4 strategies for overcoming your compulsion

Although the pull to drop everything and respond is strong, we are not at the mercy of our digital devices. Here are four, relatively simple strategies for resisting their siren call.

1. Reduce the intrusiveness of the stimuli.

Since the stimuli trigger a conditioning loop most of us are unable to resist, one of the most effective things you can do is reduce the intrusiveness of the stimuli when you need to focus on something. That means, turning off all alerts, buzzes, dings, pop-ups that could distract you from your work at hand. If you have a Mac, you can also “hide” your dock while you are working on something, so you won’t see any visual indicators that you have mail. We recommend turning them off for good because you don’t ever really need to be at their mercy.

2. Remove the reward dispensers from your environment (temporarily).

There are programs, like Freedom, and Concentrate that enable you to lock yourself out of “rewarding” programs like email social media sites when you need to really focus on a task. The programs are $10 and $29 respectively, but worth their weight in gold. Using them elevates you from rat in a cage being conditioned by external forces to that of the scientist who is actually doing the conditioning.

3. Reward yourself for good behavior.

Use the powerful emotional rewards of significance and belonging to strengthen new, more productive behavior. For example, if you currently respond to every email, text, etc. the second it comes in, try rewarding yourself with a peek at those emails after you finish a task successfully.

4. Send fewer emails/texts and make what you do send brief and to the point.

Did you know that you can use the power of reciprocity to actually curtail the amount of email you receive? Consider this, Kim Davis, a woman we interviewed for our book Pretty Neat, tried a little experiment. She added a signature line to all of her emails that simply said, “Please keep our email boxes uncluttered, only reply all if it is critical everyone receives your reply.” She immediately noticed a drop in reply all clutter in her inbox. She also noticed others in her department, and then in other departments, adopting her signature line as well. In that spirit, if you send fewer emails, you will receive fewer emails. And if you make a point of sending brief, concise emails, you are more likely to get that same kind of missive in return. Make reciprocity work for you, not against you.

Do you have these four areas buttoned up? If not, which of these areas do you struggle with? Have you ever tried a program like Concentrate or Freedom?

Last week I stumbled upon a wonderful post on Harvard Business Review blogs (yes, I am a giant nerd) titled: Why I Hire People Who Fail.

In the post the author reminded readers of something we all know to be true – that failures teach us more than successes because we are forced to look back and figure out exactly what happened. He then explained how he created a wall for memorializing failures, and the lessons learned from them, in his office conference room.

It got me thinking.

As a parent really want to teach my kids to embrace failure as one of life’s greatest teachers. My oldest is a bit of a perfectionist, a trait that he probably inherited from me. I didn’t really grasp the potential of failure to teach until I was well into adulthood. I grew up sweeping my failures under the carpet with embarrassment and shame. I don’t want my children to waste precious learning opportunities doing what I did.

Plus I want them to understand the concept of imperfection to their toes – and embrace it wholeheartedly.

So I am thinking of creating a little failure wall of our own at home too. A place where dad, mom, and eventually the boys, can post our failures publicly and share the hard-earned wisdom gained from the experience. It’s a powerful visual reminder that success comes from picking yourself up after you fall and try, try, trying again.

{Brilliant #fail main image via: 1x.com/photos}

I’m curious what you think about this idea. Let me know if you would ever have the courage to do it at work…or at home.

Today we salute the incredible men and women who have bravely served our country. As we do, let’s also consider the powerful lessons the military teaches us about getting organized.

Teamwork

From their first day in boot camp, recruits become members of a unit. In training, it doesn’t matter who crosses a finish line first or who crosses it last; it matters that everyone crosses. Part and parcel of teamwork is the understanding that you are only as good as the weakest link in your platoon. So members cheer each other on and support one another as they are put through their grueling paces.

The concept of teamwork has the potential to radically improve both your work environment and your family unit. Consider asking how you can encourage and support your team members — and how you might lean on them to help you in areas where you are not as strong.

Respect

Each massive branch of the military functions as one, single team. They can do so because everybody from top to bottom understands that each member has something to contribute.

Do you let others around you contribute enough? Or are you limiting yourself and everyone around you by trying to control how tasks are done.

Duty

Every person in the military must fulfill their obligations within the context of a highly complex operation. The military progresses by building one assignment onto another, but it wouldn’t get very far at all if individuals in the chain failed to carry out their assigned tasks or took shortcuts that undermined the integrity of the final product.

In that spirit, the military drills its recruits over and over again in the basic skills like pressing uniforms, making a bed, and keeping a pristine locker. Soldiers have to do each task just right, and they often have to do them in a matter of minutes.

These drills aren’t done capriciously. They ultimately over time develop a soldier’s discipline and attention to even the smallest details. In addition, it enables many men to comfortably live in a confined space – and keeps their space clean so they can focus on more important matters.

These lessons are absolutely applicable to civilians. Establish habits and routines for dealing with the details that, if left undone would distract and undermine your confidence.

I’m sure there are many more “buttoned up” lessons we could take away from the military. If you have any, please share them with us!

We owe each Veteran (and their family members) an enormous debt of gratitude. From everyone here on the Buttoned Up team – thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

I have always been one with a tendency to cram as much as humanly possible into a 24-hr period. Before I had children I routinely logged 14 hour days, first in corporate America, then as an entrepreneur…and I ran marathons, loved entertaining, and, and, and…

What can I say, I like being busy!

But having kids changed everything.

Well, not everything. My desire to do a lot remained in tact.

Sadly though, the number of hours in the day did not magically expand to accommodate the new additions to my family. As I headed back to work, I struggled to maintain my previous level of productivity given the entirely new reality of having to start later and finish earlier.

I made a lot of mistakes.

At first, I threw all “me” nurturing activities right out the window (after all, I’d say to myself, “isn’t work really ‘me’ time?”). Then I crashed & burned. My husband literally begged me to find a creative or physical outlet.

I time-shifted a lot of thinking work to the quiet evening hours after the kids went to bed. But then my husband and I slowly started to grow apart…

I did work after everyone in the house was asleep. That lasted until my body got down on its knees and begged for more sleep via a bout with pneumonia.

It took me awhile, but I eventually got my sea legs. One thing I learned along the way: there are five big time traps that working women should avoid at all costs.

The Five Time Traps

• Responding to everything immediately For some reason women tend to feel obligated to reply to someone or pick up a phone right away, when it’s really not necessary. Maybe it’s because you don’t want to be rude. Maybe it’s because it feels urgent. Stop. A study by HP showed a 10-point drop off in IQ when someone is distracted by an incoming call or email. That’s more than twice the impact smoking pot has on your IQ! If you have a pavlovian response to alerts, turn them off when you are doing something and make standing ‘appointments’ to check messages and emails.
• Procrastinating online Be honest, how much time are you spending surfing the internet during the day? Sadly, 61 percent of employees admit that they spend at least some time surfing non work-related websites during the work day. According to AOL and Salary.com, 44.7% of workers said surfing the Web was the biggest distraction in their workplace. The same survey found that, on average, employees waste over two hours a day online. The problem is, we tend to surf in 15-20 minute increments of time, saying to ourselves “well, I don’t have enough time do really focus on and do x, y, z – so I’ll just see what’s happening on Facebook.” It’s a slippery slope. Wear a rubber band around your wrist and every time you find yourself mindlessly surfing at work, snap it against your wrist. Awareness is the first step to recovering that lost time.
• Skipping the menu planning Not only will a lack of a plan cause your stress to skyrocket every day around 4:30pm, but without one you waste time at the grocery store, waste money (the average American family throws out almost $600 worth of meat, produce and grains that have gone bad each year), and waste precious moments with your family because you’re dinner plans aren’t buttoned up. There are so many great tools for overcoming your meal planning avoidance: online menu-planning services, like The Six O’Clock Scramble, free printables, and great blogs, like 5DollarDinners.
• Skipping exercise When you’re feeling time-crunched, it’s often the first thing to go. But studies show workday workouts improve your time management skills by 28%, your ability to concentrate by 26%, and your overall productivity by 25%. Your boss will benefit, you will benefit, the people you love will benefit. Stop shortchanging yourself and everybody else in the name of saving time.
• Keeping a work-only to-do list How you keep your lists isn’t important. That you keep a list – and include all areas of your life on it – is. Life with children is complex, if you insist on carrying around all of those personal to-do’s in your head, you (a) waste time and energy trying to remember what’s on that list and feeling insecure you don’t, and (b) will perceive that you have more on your plate than you actually do. Reduce the noise in your head and see the big picture with a comprehensive list.

I suppose I will continue to go through, cycles of readjustment as my boys grow up. But for now, I make a real effort to steer clear of these traps.

What about you, do you fall prey to any bad time sucks? Was your re-entry to work as bumpy as mine?

This simple yet innovative USB Clip design provides a simple method of keeping data files together with hard copy documents.

The design by Emamidesign has won a 2010 Red Dot product design award and became a Best of Best winner.

The coloured flash USB drives simply clip onto letters and documents and are designed to replace CD or DVD-ROMs for archiving or transferring data. The bright colours make sure that the drives are not lost or missed by the recipient of the brochure or document. Once received simply remove from the document and insert into your USB port for easy access to data.

Too bad, it is only a concept at this time.

(via Design Fetish)

The 2012 Weekly.agendas are here!

They arrived in our warehouse yesterday and our amazing Chief Juggler, Anne Marie, was there to document the unloading – and fulfill all the pre-orders! If you already ordered yours, it should be arriving in a day or two. If you haven’t – better get cracking as they are going like hotcakes.

I clock about 50-55 hours a week at work. That’s a lot of time – and, I don’t know if I’m alone in this regard – but I simply cannot spent 1/3 of my life in an environment I find aesthetically depressing. Everywhere I’ve ever worked, from a generic office cube to a sunny corner office, I have made it a point to add one or two touches that energize me and make me want to sit down at my desk and get to work.

I’m about to make the shift to a new office soon and went looking for inspiring ideas. Here are a few of the things I found:

Not only do I love the framed quote above this desk, the magnetized pin board is also a wonderful way to keep inspiring snippets of things visible. The magazine holder looks good as part of it too. {image via: tumblr}

Wow. Just wow. Talk about a dreamy workspace. {image via: ffound}

Mood boards are a great way to add a bit of inspiration. Plus you could change them up easily. Only downside for me is I’d probably make a mood board once and then let it get stale (maybe a year?) before refreshing it. {image via: A Creative Mint}

Sometimes inspiration can come in the form of beautiful desk accessories. I love this set from the fabulous English brothers at designwright. These are available from the Lexon Catalog, but at $150, you need to think of them as “art” not necessarily accessories!

I can never have too many calendars around. I love my Weekly.agenda, but also usually have a hanging calendar as well. This one, from Polish artist Iwona Przybyla, is just to die for.

White walls with white shelves make the perfect backdrop for colorful book spines and knickknacks collected along the way. {image via: Rachel Whiting}

This is a very cool way to add functionality to an otherwise in-the-way column. Plus you bring in a little bit of the outdoors to boot. {via: Sight Unseen}

Of course, nothing is better than a sentimental piece or two. {image via: Made By Girl}

{feature photo credit}

How do you add inspiration to your workspace?

Imagine if you will, you are huddled over your computer early one morning, plowing through your overstuffed inbox. In a distracted state, you reach for your hot, steaming mug of coffee. Without looking, you bring it to your lips. Then, suddenly, for just a split second, your fingers loose their grip. As if in slow motion, the mug jerks sideways and a wave of muddy brown liquid sloshes all over your computer. After a moment of frantically trying to sop up the mess you realize, there’s no hope. You hear a strained clicking sound from the guts of the machine and watch helplessly as a once bright light fades to black.

Are your palms sweaty at the mere thought?

Assuming the physical computer is covered by insurance, the real issue this hypothetical situation reveals is the critical importance of backing up your data. While the chances of having a catastrophic event like the one described above may be low, the chances of data loss due to computer or hard drive failures are quite high. In fact, the average life expectancy of a hard drive is only 3-5 years.

If you do not yet have a back-up system in place, it is only a matter of time until you lose all of your data; your photos, your movies, your important documents, and your music.

Happily, back-up technology has come a long way in the past few years. It has never been easier to secure your precious memories and documents. There are essentially two different approaches to backing your data: storing the information “in the cloud” and on an external drive. We take a look at the pros and cons of each approach and outline some services and products in each area that make the whole process pretty darn effortless.

Saving Your Information in “The Cloud”

As this approach implies, rather than backing up your files on your computer or on a hard drive that you own, you store them virtually via a paid, online service. Because it is their job to ensure the long-term security of your data, which they do with things like redundant data centers, storing your data in the cloud is one of the more expensive options. That said, compared with the cost of trying to recover lost data, it’s a pretty cheap insurance policy. Here are three excellent, fairly-priced data-storage services.

Dropbox. This simple online file storage service with a very intuitive interface enables busy people to backup without thinking much about it. It works whether you use a PC, a Mac, or a Linux machine. There are also versions for mobile devices as well, from Blackberrys and iPhones to Androids. The service is free for the first 2 GB. Then there are paid plans for 50GB ($9.99/mo) and 100GB ($19.99/mo). Just download the app, make the dropbox your main “virtual filing cabinet” (using any filing names and conventions you want) and you never have to think about backing up again. The program will automatically update and sync files between the cloud and your computer whenever it’s online. So those vacation pictures you just uploaded to your computer, yes, they’re backed up too. Side bonus: you can access files from any computer (or smart phone), anywhere. So you’re never without a file when you need it.

Windows SkyDrive. If you are one of the millions currently using Hotmail, Windows Messenger, or Xbox Live, you already have access to use Windows SkyDrive. This online file hosting service allows users 25GB of free space to upload their files to a cloud storage that can be accessed from any computer. You may keep the files private, share them with contacts, or make them public. One great feature unique to SkyDrive is group integration, which allows users to create groups and use up to 5GB to share, modify, and delete files (ideal for that photo book you and your siblings want to put together for your parents). You can also subscribe to RSS feeds of the content of public folders, which contain image previews and download links if you need an easy way to keep up to date with friends or acquaintances.

Box.net. Similar to the other two options listed here, the box.net file hosting service enables users to manage their documents, media, and online content virtually. But unlike the other two options, this service is specifically geared to business users. It boasts features like online workspaces that enable multiple users to view and edit a file, comment, and even assign and manage tasks within one folder. It integrates with business programs like Salesforce.com and Google Apps. And its integrated content viewer and the ability to embed these files anywhere on the web make it ideal for creative professionals. You can get a personal account for free (5GB of storage), but the premium service levels offered are: Businesses ($15/user/month) and Enterprise (custom pricing).

Saving Your Information “Automatically” On External Devices

Both PCs and Macs have sophisticated backup software that is built right in to your computer’s operating systems. Unlike the services that store your data in the cloud, these programs have the ability to backup your entire system image, which is an exact copy of your drive (including system settings and programs, not just your files). If you ever need to restore a computer that’s crashed, this makes the process much, much easier. We strongly recommend this approach for anyone who lacks confidence in their program installation skills.

In an ideal world, you should use these programs in combination with an external hard drive. You could certainly partition a portion of your computer’s hard drive to use as your back-up, but, if your hard drive fails, your backup partition is likely to as well.

PC Users – Backup and Restore. If you have Windows, you already have Backup and Restore. Windows Backup and Restore allows you to make copies of data files for everyone who uses the computer. It’s very customizable, as you can let windows choose what to back up, or you can select the individual folders, libraries, and drives you want. By default, your backups are created on a regular schedule, but you can always change the schedule or create a backup manually at any time. The program automatically keeps track of which files are new or modified, and adds them to your backup.

Mac Users- Time Machine. Time Machine is basically the Mac users’ equivalent to Backup and Restore. It allows you to automatically back up your entire system, and keeps an updated copy of everything on your Mac, including application programs, files, photos, music, movies, emails, calendars, and contacts. It allows you to restore items, or even entire systems with ease, and all you need is a backup drive.

Here are three external devices that are worth considering if you are going to go this automatic back-up route.

Western Digital Elements External Hard Drive. Western Digital offers External Hard Drives in 6 different sizes ranging from 500GB ($59) to 3TB ($119) in space. They are eco-friendly, and already formatted to work with Windows, for easy plug-and-play access to your extra storage (they can also be reformatted for Mac). Find them on Amazon.com

Toshiba Canvio Basics Portable Hard Drive. This sleek hard drive comes in four different sizes, ranging from 320BG ($54) to 1 TB ($89) on Amazon.com. Its attractive, compact design will look good on any desk and makes your files truly portable.

SanDisk Cruzer. Flash drives are an excellent way to store extra files. They plug right into your USB drive, and are compatible with all computers, and even some photo frames, cars, and TV’s. They’re compact enough to fit in your purse, being only a few inches long, and you can purchase 16GB of extra storage for only $19.61. This nifty version, which has a retractable USB, is available at Amazon.com.

Sometimes it can feel like your life is all over the place. Work is a mess, home is a mess, and your life just needs a good old-fashioned overhaul. From keeping your space neater at work to getting those darn dinners cooked, we’ve culled some of our favorite tips from over the years and put them all together in one quick and easy cheat sheet. You don’t have to tackle everything at once but sometimes it helps to see the top list of solutions listed in one place.

Three Ways to Control the Cyber Clutter:

1. Start using Dropbox. This fantastic web-based storage system is the best backup-without-thinking-about-it solution we know of. Rather than saving everything to your desktop, Dropbox saves all of your files in “the cloud,” which means you can access them from any computer, anywhere using your user name and password. Just download the app, make the dropbox your main “virtual filing cabinet” (using any filing names and conventions you want) and you never have to think about backing up again. The program will automatically update and sync files between the cloud and your computer whenever it’s online. So those vacation pictures you just uploaded to your computer, yes, they’re backed up too. We’ve used it for years, love it, and never lost a file.

2. Adopt a systematic file-naming convention. The number one virtual time-waster? Hunting for files you know you have but just can’t seem to find. Pick a simple naming convention that you use on every file you create, from spreadsheets to Word documents. Nobody is judging your file names for the next Pulitzer prize, so make it something you’ll know and understand. A format we love: “date created _file name.” But it doesn’t matter what your system is as long as you do it consistently.

3. Schedule regular digital clean outs. Just like you schedule your time to clean the gutters or plant the bulbs, you need to set aside time to regularly clean out your files. Whether it’s five minutes on Friday afternoons or twenty minutes once a month, weed through and delete folders and files that are past their prime. Trust us, if you haven’t opened it in a year, you don’t need to keep it.

Three Ways for Keeping your Desk Clutter-Free

1. Use a Pen & Notebook. This is the simplest and neatest way to keep track of to-do’s, to-call’s, and other notes. We especially love the built-in delegation component to the Do&Delegate.list ($8.95) and, if you’re working full-time, the ordered lists in the Do&Delegate.work can be a real sanity-saver. But really, any inexpensive composition notebook can be effective too. It’s not necessarily what you use, just that you get in the habit of writing things down.

2. Keep Paper Filing Basic. What matters most is that you can put your hands on the files you need, quickly. So keep your system simple – and use stacking files as they are great for file people and pile people. Pick one day a week to file papers that are taking up valuable desk space. If you come across a paper that doesn’t fit in an existing file folder, keep it in a “general” folder for a week. Once a month take 15 minutes on a Friday afternoon and clean out your folders.

3. Establish a Clean-Up Routine. Sadly, cleaning the clutter on your desk is not a one-shot deal. The key to keeping it under control is to do one or two things to organize your office on a regular enough basis so you avoid the big ordeal of having to dig out from under a massive mess.

Three Rules For Making Weeknight Meals (Less Painfully):

We have an entire chapter devoted to this important topic in our book, Pretty Neat.

1. Subscribe to the TheScramble.com. This membership-based website that delivers a comprehensive weekly menu right to your inbox every week, complete with shopping list, should seriously win an award. It’s fantastic. When you sign up, you will get a week’s worth of recipes and a shopping list for easy and quick grocery store runs. Sarah’s been a subscriber for over a year and will vouch that the recipes are yummy – and easy enough for a harried kitchen novice to whip up. Plus, if you don’t like the menus generated automatically for you, you can always search the database for alternates.

2. Fine-tune your knife skills. Find a community college, culinary school or shop, or even a local restaurant where you can sharpen your skills with a knife. It doesn’t sound like much, but knowing how to wield a knife and properly chop can shave ten minutes off your prep time in the kitchen.

3. Have Some “Get Out of Cooking Free” Dishes in the Freezer. Whether the meeting ran late, you aren’t feeling up to snuff, or you simply don’t want to break out the sauté pan, there are going to be some days that you won’t be able to cook. Plan ahead and make double portions of certain dishes, like lasagna – or this yummy (and easy) homemade Mac & Cheese recipe from Apartment Therapy, that freeze well. That way, you (or anyone who is home before you) just need to open the freezer and defrost it without having to pick up the phone or turning to not-so-healthy frozen dinners.

Three Ways to Put Yourself on Your To Do List!

1. Make it a Judgment- and Guilt-free zone. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that you need lofty goals in order to set aside time for yourself. Remember that you don’t always need to working towards something – it just needs to be a time for you to recharge.

2. Schedule it. Whether it’s one hour a week or an afternoon on the weekends, make sure that you build it into your schedule. If you don’t, you won’t do it. It’s that simple.

3. Build your Support System. Women are great at many things, but many women don’t like to ask for help. Don’t be afraid to ask others for assistance, whether it is watching the kids or providing emotional support. Get creative about asking for help. Starting a new diet? Ask your husband to shelve the family’s outings to the ice cream parlor. Need someone to watch the kids while you try a new Pilates class? Switch off with a neighbor. You’ll be surprised by how helpful people can be when you just ask. We’ve got lots of great articles about the best strategies for delegating and free printables designed to help you get things off your plate (and done well by someone else).

{feature photo via: i heart organizing}

Finally! No more wasting time and searching frantically through stacks and stacks of cards or into that deep corner of your desk!

The WorldCard Ultra Plus is an elegant-palm-sized color business card scanner. Slot-in design makes Ultra the easiest and most intuitive way to scan business cards you have ever experienced. This is great for the on-the-go person to bring along on business trips to file contact info into a database before returning to the office. No wonder why this won the 2011 red dot product design award. Click here to learn more.