Origami Day Shape Your Time

With college starting back up, many are already feeling the pressure of assignments, bills, and other commitments piling up. Stress begins to set in, and our thoughts are consumed with “what do I need to do next?” and “what am I forgetting?”  Most likely, the idea of achieving work-life balance is in the back of every student’s mind, a far off, unattainable dream.  

So how do we reach this dream?

July 2nd at noon marked the halfway point of the year. Yes, we are already in the back-half 2021, moving quickly towards to end of another year. Don’t wait until the end of the year to start making it matter. Start now. Start taking small steps to help you feel proud of your life now.

If you are looking for a silver lining to the pandemic, one is the positive impact it has had on remote work. Before the “largest remote work experiment in history” many employers were skeptical of their teams working from home. 2020 gave many employers no choice but to have their employees works remotely.

As many young people graduate this month and begin new chapters, I encourage us to consider what we are teaching them. As you pen a card or offer a word of advice to the recent graduates in your life, I encourage you to impart on them some of the following themes:

With all the downfalls of technology, there are ways to use it to our advantage. The positive intentions of our devices can be realized if we are willing to take control over our tools versus letting them control us. Consider the following three tips to help you utilize your tech for a life of better balance.

Think about the last time you found yourself in quadrant 1 (Q1) of the Eisenhower Urgency Matrix. As a reminder, this is something that is both urgent and important. Once you have it in mind, trace back the path that brought you there.  What caused you to be in Q1? In truth, there are two ways to end up in Q1: by chance or by choice.

For many of us, meetings are a normal part of life. Since time is a limited resource, with no room to waste, consider the following best practices to make the most of your meetings.

I understand how you feel. Why should you make a plan, when plans just keep changing? I asked myself this same question as I firmed up my business plans for the year. Here I was planning, organizing, and worrying (just a little) about what was to come. I was listening to Alicia Keys and as she sang the line, “everything’s gonna be alright” I understood why we should keep planning.

If you are feeling overwhelmed with all the things you need to do, make a list. It’s a very simple and effective solution to keep you peaceful and productive. Follow three quick steps. 

Let’s picture a staircase for a moment. Imagine you are standing at the bottom and 20 steps are laid out in front of you. How are you going to get to the top? 

Past me was a train wreck. Not an obvious one, but more like organized chaos. She managed to get stuff done, but always in the most tornadic way possible. I will never forget one of the times I ran out of gas on the side of the road

This is one of my favorite concepts that is really at the core of what Origami Day does. I learned about this practice early in my journey for balance from my favorite book, Essentialism by Greg McKeown.