GTD for the Music Studio Teacher

How do You Get Everything Done?

GTD Next Action List

Some of my readers and podcast listeners have emailed me or made comments to me in person about how much I get done, and I thought I ought to give credit where credit is due. Summer time may be the best time to work on this sort of "project" as we sort out our papers and teaching materials from the past year and think ahead to what we want to accomplish in the coming teaching year.

I use the GTD system. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this system, let me simplify the explanation of what it is, point you in the direction of the book itself, and then I will follow it up with a series of posts over the next month that will explain the system in more depth and provide suggestions as to how it might work for a music teacher's studio.

What is "GTD"?

GTD is a method for "stress-free productivity," as its creator David Allen describes it. Mr. Allen advocates getting to a "mind like water" state, and he points out that our brains are not created to be information storage banks. In fact, our brains do a lousy job at this. For example, I was grocery shopping the other day, and while in the middle of the store, I recalled that I needed to put out a special concert clothes outfit when I got home. When I got home, I remembered that I was also supposed to buy toothpaste at the grocery store, but I had forgotten to do that. If my mind truly had been created for the purpose of information storage and retrieval, then why did my brain fail to remind me of these crucial points at the time when I could have done something about them?

The answer lies in Dr. Allen's methodology: our brains were meant for creativity, not information storage and retrieval. Because so many of us strive to remember things and insist on carrying these reminders in our heads, we actually spend less time and effort being creative, because our brains are tied up with other things. Enter GTD.

Why does GTD Work?

The beauty of following the GTD method is how quickly it points out that we have not made important decisions about things in our lives that need to be done. We have not actually figured out what "done" looks like. We still have what David Allen refers to as an "open loop." And our brain is cluttered with open loops. If you are a clutterer as I am, or you have an email inbox that spills over to another page (or perhaps several pages), then you have most likely fallen victim to the open loop problem. GTD can rescue you, and you will be amazed at how much more you accomplish and how much more free time and space you have in your head for those important creative ideas.

Because I learn by writing about things, I have spent a great deal of time considering the many parts of the GTD methodology. I am going to share with you my thoughts about this important philosophy. Today in this article, I will introduce and briefly summarize the five main points of the GTD methodology. Here are the five basic steps of the GTD methodology:

1. Capture
2. Clarify
3. Organize
4. Reflect
5. Engage

Now let us look a little closer at each of these five parts.

Capture: This is the part when I look around my surroundings and also inside my own memory. I look at my various inboxes, piles of "stuff" lying around on counters and tables, review my calendar for the past week or so, and look ahead at my upcoming commitments, and I gather all of it in one place. I will talk later about what that "one place" might be, but for now the general idea is to "capture" all of those loose ends together.

Clarify: In this step, I spend some time thinking about the stuff I have collected. I consider what "done" looks like. The GTD book actually has a lovely flow chart that asks some basic questions, but I had to come up with my own words to steer me in the correct direction. So I made up a form of questions that fill up the size of a smaller sized post-it note. I clip one of those little slips of paper on each item (file folder, piece of paper, mail) and answer the questions. By the time I finish going through my stack, I have figured out what needs to be done. As a side note, when I complete this step, I have also figured out why there was a logjam at this point (I had an open loop that needed me to make a decision about what needed to be done). And my little note also directs me to the next step I need to take, including whether I need to make this into a project (more than 1 step) and where I want to keep the folder or item. I also do any item that takes 2 minutes or less to complete.

Organize: It helps me to put things in the proper folders. Is this information related to work? Home? The studio? The University? Something else? Are these phone calls to make, errands to run, things to read, or material that I need to store for future reference? In this step I decide what category my inbox items should be, and I put things together with other related items. I will explain a bit more about this step when I discuss tools.

Reflect: There is power in this step too. This is the weekly review step, when I take a few minutes of my time (maybe longer depending on the amount of "stuff" I have accumulated in my inboxes and to-do lists). Once a week I quickly scan through everything on my lists. I make sure that everything has a "home" somewhere in my system. I also may consider (or reconsider) my priorities, deadlines, and even whether I want to pursue the matter any further anyway. I often have a lot of creative ideas that with the passage of time do not seem as exciting as when I first imagined them. I sometimes find it hard to do this step, but my current capture tool has made this much easier for me, so I get this review done more likely than not.

Engage: It is not enough to gather, clarify, sort, and reflect. I need to actually engage with my system and do some work. I need to use the system and get the most mileage from it that I can.

Those are the basic steps in the GTD system. There are many tools available for these five steps, both electronically and old-school paper and pencil. Along with a look at these tools, I will outline how a music studio might benefit from using a GTD-based system. If you are interested in reading the book yourself, here is a link.

Until next time,

Happy Practicing!

----- Paula -----

Disclaimer: the link provided above is an affiliate link. Although you are never under any obligation to buy anything, should you be in the market to do so, using this link will provide a benefit to me and help to support the production of the blog and podcast.

© 2016 by Paula E. Bird

May Day! May Day! Studio Recital Stress!

This month seemed liked the perfect time to talk about upcoming recitals and preparation to avoid any undue stress associated with the event. There are many possibilities to structure studio activities in a way that eliminates or minimizes potential stressors. Here are a few ideas.

Weekly Observation

I actually begin this particular activity in March at the end of our spring break, but teachers can begin this activity at any time. My purpose here is to capture what I need for the recital. So I grab a small legal pad and start taking notes as I observe things that need to be done, come up with ideas for the recital, or think of things that I need to remember. My legal pad fills up rather quickly within 2 days. Here are the sorts of things I include on my list as I note them during the usual weekly lessons.

·      Recital selections: I begin noting the particular pieces that each student would likely perform well and make plans to be sure the student is ready to go by the recital date. 

·      Tools I Need at the Recital: I begin making my list of items I need to bring to  the recital, such as:

o   Piano foot stool

o   Piano cushions of varying height; I need one for myself as well

o   Suzuki piano accompaniment books (this is almost a list in itself!)

o   Other piano accompaniment books (nonSuzuki repertoire or special group class arrangements)

o   Tuner: I use a special tuner that sounds rather loudly to help me do the pre-recital violin tuning. This is a different tuner than my regular tuning app on my iPhone, so I need to remember to bring it.

o   Extra rosin, so I can rosin any bows that I find a quart low during the tuning process

o   My own instrument

o   The printed programs, which I ask students to fold for me at the recital. I also ask students to act as ushers before the recital begins.

·      Items we need for after the recital: We have a reception after the recital, and we bring refreshments for this. I do this informally rather than a sign-up sheet, and it usually works out. I do, however, bring the “extras,” as you will see listed here.

o   Napkins, plates, utensils, cups

o   Any item that would help a quick clean up after the recital, such as:

§  A dustpan and brush

§  Bottle of window cleaner

§  Roll of paper towels

o   I ask parents to discuss amongst themselves what they might bring, and possibly ask someone to be in charge of providing drinks.

Recital Preparation

I make sure that everyone has chosen his or her recital pieces with my approval by the week after spring break. This gives everyone at least a month to have any final teaching points learned and pieces memorized. I have a rule that students must have their pieces memorized by one month before the recital date. On occasion I have permitted a student to play a particularly tricky memory piece with music if there are extenuating circumstances, such as a student has been heavily involved with school performances that require a great deal of memorization. I use my discretion and sparingly, but there are times when this is the obvious solution to a difficult set of circumstances outside of my or the student’s control.

I have made sure to inform the parents before the beginning of the semester concerning the recital date, but I remind parents often again from this point on, just in case someone has forgotten to put the information on the family calendar or there is a new parent who is unfamiliar with the recital process.

I remind students weekly about the recital and the need to be ready. I think I will do a “recital countdown” sign at the studio next year, with the number of days remaining before the recital, and I will hang it on the studio door.

Countdown to the Recital

One month before the recital, I check memory issues. I have reminded students for several weeks before this date, and I have also helped memory issues along the way. Still, there needs to be a deadline, and I have chosen the one month out from the recital as the deadline for this. I usually am the accompanist for my students’ recitals, but if my students were to use someone else, then they would need to make these arrangements by this time if they had not already done so. These students must schedule accompanist rehearsals for the next few weeks.

Two weeks before I begin typing up the program. I take my recital piece selections list and begin entering it in the computer. If I have any issues, I take care of them in these last two weeks:

• I verify the correct spelling of my students’ names and their accompanists.
• I like to add the child’s age to the program, so I verify my students’ current ages at the time of the recital.
• If I have time, I like to include a sentence or two about the children’s other interests, such as black belt in karate, tennis competitor, ice skater, artist, and so forth.
• I adjust the order of the program to fit whatever direction I determine is appropriate for this time. I often go in order of the book songs, with a tweak here and there to avoid repetition of the same pieces (more than one performance of a piece does not bother me at all, and I think it should not bother the parents and students either). The program could also go in order of children’s ages, and that would provide lots of variety. Sometimes I have even ordered the program by listing a piece from each book and rotating. There are many possibilities here.

One week before the recital, I do these things:

• Finalize the program and print out the final version
• Get the program printed. This is as simple as running colored paper through a copy machine, but I have also had office supply stores or copy centers print the copies for me.
• Send a final email reminder to parents about the recital.
• Date and time
• Location, address, and directions if needed or a GPS link
• Any other special information or instructions, such as
• Remember to bring items for the reception
• Be there early for tuning or to help younger students tune
• Help to set up for the reception
• Watch out for any anticipated traffic issues (this is prom and commencement season, so there are days that have heavier traffic surprises on occasion)
• Check the state of recital preparation one last time
• Remind students to do extra listening and practice in this remaining week.

Whew! This article turned out longer than I thought! I am glad that I started writing this out, because now I have my own checklist to follow for recital preparation. I feel better already and less stressed because I now have a list to guide me. In future articles, I intend to list things that need to be done at the recital, so be sure to add your comments below so we can add your ideas to the checklist!

Let me know if you have any other items to suggest to the list.

Until next time,

Happy Practicing!

----- Paula -----

© 2016 by Paula E. Bird

Monday Morning Check In: Surviving the Season Finale

Written by Paula E. Bird, copyright 2014

I have noticed that the tenor of my friends' Facebook posts have changed lately as we enter into the finale part of our season. I read about additional stress due to the activities that end our semesters: recitals, final exams, graduations, final papers and projects, season finale performances by symphony and opera companies, and special church events. The activity level has stepped up or is about to increase, and several friends have warned that there will be little let up until the season is finished. So too my own schedule is about to ramp up and get crazy for the next few weeks. How does one survive this finale season without overwhelming stress? For me, there are three things that I do.

Calendar Minutes

First, I carve out some time every week to sit and contemplate my calendar for the coming week (or two). This is not the same time that I will use for reading before bed or watching television. This is actual dedicated time that I will spend for the purpose of looking at my calendar. It is a little time to spend and I do not need more than 10 minutes or so, sometimes less. I find it imperative though that I actually look at the calendar and fix it in my mind. As my readers know, I maintain my iPhone calendar and have a week-at-a-glance type of calendar open on my dining room table for my husband to refer to. My iPhone calendar has a great deal of detail while my tabletop calendar has the big outlines of where I need to be and when.

During this short little time, I check that both calendars match. I do not want anything to sneak into my iPhone calendar that is forgotten on the tabletop calendar. Looking at the overall week I find helpful for many reasons. It reminds me when there is time for basic life activities, such as laundry and grocery shopping, cleaning the house, making meals-to-go for busy days, and paying bills. I figure out the best days or time of day to accomplish errands or schedule appointments, or even reschedule lessons to accommodate my students'  spring softball games or practices. If my life is really crazy, I may have to stop and focus on the calendar every few days for a minute or less. I find that the written calendar greatly helps me to feel as if I am tied to my life, as if I am truly connected to the activities in my life.

Breathing Exercise

Second, I use a little technique throughout my busy schedule. I read about this technique in a little book called The Seven Whispers by Christina Baldwin. I first discovered Ms. Baldwin's work almost two decades ago when I considered adding the journaling habit to my life. I found her books inspirational and beautiful. In fact, I have recently ordered the same book that I first began with so that I would have a fresh copy to scribble in (Life's Companion: Journal Writing as a Spiritual Quest). In Baldwin's Whispers book, she writes about a centered breathing exercise. Take three breaths. In the first breath, "let go." In the second breath, "be here." and in the third breath, "now what?" This exercise takes maybe a minute, but the effect is instantaneous for me. I add one little step before performing the exercise, and that step is to let all my breath out before taking the first breath.

I learned from the Dog Whisperer Cesar Milan how to calm myself down. I took a long time to discover that it was not the breathing in that would center me but the initial breathing out that did the trick. When I want to slow down or relax a student, we focus on letting all our air out first before we take a deep breath.

This three-breath exercise is dynamic in that it brings almost instant focus and clarity to a situation. Skittering thoughts are stopped in their tracks. Muscles are relaxed. The mind is stilled into a quiet place where reflection can occur. I use this breathing exercise as often as I need it. I have the three statements on sticky notes in strategic places to remind me to perform the exercise throughout the day or evening.

Silence the Phone

Finally, I turn off the phone ringer. I still have my phone set on vibrate, but the ringer is silenced. I do this so that I do not forget to turn the phone off during rehearsals or lessons. Text messages and emails still appear on the screen, so nothing important will escape my attention, but I find that I do not need to be constantly reminded. With the ringer turned off, the air has less distracting noise in it. Then I resolve not to look at it as often.

I learned this trick when I began teaching 10 hours on Fridays. I did not have time to look at my phone except to glance at it to find out why a student did not show up on time or at all. I found that I missed very little by not checking my phone all day long. My email signature states that I check my emails twice a day, noon and 6 pm. If someone wants to reach me sooner or get a response from me, I ask that the person send me a text message. Then I stick to that twice-a-day plan for emails.

These are my basic "big three" to survive a stressful period in my schedule: sit and contemplate my weekly calendar for a few minutes every week, do a 3-step breathing exercise, and keep the phone ringer turned off and check it less frequently. Keep it simple.

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Have you seen the Violinist.com Interviews book? Laurie Niles, who maintains this excellent website violinist.com, which is dedicated to the violin, has published a collection of her famous interviews. Click here to find out more information and order the book.

For those teachers and parents who are looking for inspiration about practicing, click here to find a few helpful books on this subject.

Monday Morning Check In: 3 Ways to Keep Standing

Written by Paula E. Bird, copyright 2014

Good Morning, everyone. Another Monday in the year's march toward December. Today is the 9th Monday in 2014, if that helps anyone to feel that fire lit beneath them.

Today is a stiff day for me for many reasons. Usually my life rolls along with interesting things happening nearly every day. I enjoy my students and my life. On occasion, however, there are times when unpleasant things or people appear in my path, and I am forced to reckon with the problems that they represent. I find these times and situations to be extremely stressful. I am sure that others have similar difficult moments. How do we handle these situations and moments and the pressures that come along? How do we get through these sticky wickets and move on? Here are three things that I find helpful and remind myself about during these difficult times.

Keep focused on the big picture. Remind yourself what your purpose is. Stay focused on the big picture and not the muddy potholes by the side of the road. Do not let someone else steer you down a road that you do not wish to travel. Resist the temptation to wallow and complain. Get up, get motivated, look where you want to go, and get moving again. I have a fearful little boy who wrestles with perfectionist issues on a frequent basis. I played the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers number about picking yourself up, dusting yourself off, and starting all over again. He loves it and sings it regularly back to me whenever he makes a mistake. We adults need to do the same thing. If you want to see Fred and Ginger, click here).

Watch your thoughts. When we wallow about hurts and disappointments, we dwell on negative ideas. This negativity takes a toll on us emotionally, mentally, and physically. Stop those dangerous negative thoughts in their tracks and immediately refocus your thinking on something positive. Look for something that you can do that will make a positive difference.

What are your strengths? Foster those. Find a person that you can uplift and help in some way. Take your head out of your own head and put it in a different place that will lead you to the sunshine, not the darkness. This step is probably the hardest step for most people. Despite efforts to stay in the positive, the negative thoughts creep back in relentlessly. Be disciplined about cutting off and veering off those thoughts. Write them down if you must think about them at some point (I use the 750words.com site for this purpose), but be sure to get these thoughts out of your head. Replace them with more positive ideas.

Be sure to surround yourself with good things and good people. Find your peeps and stay with them, not for purposes of complaining or whining, but to absorb their happy energy. You need injections of positiveness and enthusiasm, not dumping grounds for your negativity.

Stay healthy. Get plenty of rest, eat good food, and move yourself with an exercise program of some sort. Do not succumb to any desires to do something otherwise. Losing sleep will stress your system and leave you prone to infection and illness. Bad food, even if labeled "comfort" food, is bad for you. Food is fuel and you need good fuel in moments like this. Do not give up on your exercise program. Moving yourself with exercise will help to eliminate the effects of stress and release endorphins that may help you to feel better. No matter how busy you are, make the time to stay healthy so that you can fight this battle from your strongest vantage point.

Times of disappointment are tough to handle and difficult to experience, however, they are a part of life and will rear their unpleasant little heads often enough that it behooves us to get a good grip on how to handle these issues when they arise. These three tips above are my top three ways to get myself through these moments and come through the other side with my goals intact, my attitude upbeat and useful to uplift others, and my health strong and supportive of my life.

Have a good week. That is my plan.

Happy New Year!

Written by Paula E. Bird, ©2014

Happy New Year! It is time to get back into shape, eat healthy, and set up routines and systems to accomplish all that we want to do this year. Today is the first day of a clean slate, and we can make this year be anything we want it to be. Today is a good day for reflecting on our values and our accomplishments as well as thinking about those things that did not work out as well as we had anticipated.

I remember when a teacher asked master Suzuki teacher Ronda Cole what she does when one of her students starts slacking in her practice routine. Ronda Cole's answer was that she turns on the heat. "They will either cook or flee." The student will either become more serious about practicing and learning or decide to give up.

Sometimes we drift. We start out on a good road that is filled with momentum, energy, enthusiasm, and promise. Then life gets a little cloudy and muddy. We become busy with other concerns. We stop pressing forward and instead sit down for a little rest. We lose sight of the direction we were headed in the first place and why we even wanted to go there. We stop thinking about what we want and start reacting instead to the things and people that push and pull at us. We lose our power to decide what we want and instead begin working for other people's goals.

I propose that we turn up the heat this year. I propose that we make some decisions about whether to cook or to flee. I propose that we spend today thinking about the things that we want to accomplish this year, and that we come up with a plan to follow.

Parents, have you lost sight of the reason why you decided to have your child take music lessons? Perhaps it might help if you scrolled through the archives and revisited some earlier posts about the importance of music lessons and spending time working with your child as he or she works to develop an ability and skill.

Parents, have you lost track of your commitment to practice with your child on a regular schedule? Perhaps it is time that you set up a new calendar system that will help you to keep a solid practice routine that occurs on a very regular basis. You will discover that practicing daily and allowing no more than 1 or 2 days of missed practice will actually help your practice with your child. Many of my studio parents tell me that the time they have problems working with their children is directly related to the number of missed practice days, and that when a daily practice habit is established, practice sessions go smoother.

Teachers, have you lost the will to teach? When we teachers allow ourselves to get too busy, we open ourselves up to burnout and stress. We must remember to allow ourselves some time off for reflection, meditation, and rest. The fact is that when others are enjoying a holiday break, we musicians are working. From the end of the Thanksgiving weekend until today, I have pretty much been working nonstop with performances and rehearsals. I need to remind myself about taking breaks too.

Teachers, have you allowed yourself to fall behind in paperwork or studio upkeep? How about scheduling a work day (or half a day) to deal with these issues? I have stacks of papers and music that I need to file. When the studio had a new carpet installed, I had to empty my music cabinet in order to lighten the cabinet enough for me to move it. When it came to putting my music stacks back in the cabinet, I quickly stuffed things in and did not take the time to reorganize the cabinet. I have paid for that ever since. Now might be a good time to take care of that, before I fire up the studio for the coming semester.

Teachers, have you allowed yourself to continue with some students who might do better elsewhere? I have difficulty letting go of students and will do as much as I can to help turn around an unpleasant teaching situation. I try to encourage parents to make a serious commitment to music lessons and to the value of practicing regularly with their children at home. I have many resources and ideas to help parents with this charge. Unfortunately, there are families who do not share the same value and commitment to learning an ability or skill to play a music instrument that I have. Although I try to turn this around, these families do not work alongside me and seem to want things to be easy, when in truth, things like this are never easy in any area of life. Perhaps it is time to let these families leave the studio or seek another teacher elsewhere. I do not enjoy these types of conversations with parents. I survive them mostly because I remind myself that there are other families out there who do share my values and commitment to music education and who want to become members of my studio. By allowing families to remain in the studio when they clearly do not wish to be committed members, I am in effect denying these other families the opportunity to learn in my studio.

Today is a good day to think about these sorts of things. While we think about these things, let us reflect with the perspective of turning up the heat and really doing something about what we think. Let us really cook this year.

Monday Morning Check In: 8 Simple Habits for a Better Life

Last week I wrote about designing the perfect life, and as you can imagine, I am still in the process of thinking about that. Designing a perfect life is serious business and should not be done quickly. I have spent a week thinking about the things in my life that I want to keep, eliminate, add, or limit. This may take a while, but that is alright. A perfect life is worth the time spent designing it. After I design my perfect life, I will need to build in some options from time to time to allow for flexibility. Life does not remain stagnant.

Today I want to discuss simple habits. These simple habits are those little routines, rituals, or "traditions" that we perform on a routine basis. These simple habits are important because from the culmination and totality of the habits we perform are created the results that we experience in our lives, whether we welcome these results or not. Lack of fitness and good health due to poor exercise and eating habits may have devastating effects on our quality of life over time. The simple habits of poor time management or the inability to say no to over-scheduling leads to stress that affects every part of our lives: physical, mental, social, and spiritual. I think of stress as a pinpoint prick in the bottom of a bucket that allows the good things in life to leak out, slowly perhaps, but inevitably. Because the pinprick is so tiny, we often ignore it, if we even realize that the hole is present. Over time, however, the effects become obvious as the bucket level diminishes. Another way to think of stress is like a termite or the creature in the Pac-Man game. Over time the little devil chews away at the good things and leaves us with tunnels and empty spaces.

Simple habits are important for everyone, adults and children alike. Teachers and parents need to build a life of simple habits in order to role model these good life habits and skills to students and children. I am referring to the good habits, not the habits that lead us down the path of impaired quality of life. I think habits are good things if they are done with reflection and intent. Here is my brief list of 8 simple habits that would lead to or enhance a pleasant life:

Take a daily walk. Exercise is important and what simpler exercise is there than walking? Start with 10 minutes or a jaunt to the corner intersection. Add a few minutes or additional distance every few days until you reach the time limit that you are comfortable with and that you can sustain over time and a busy schedule. One benefit I noticed in my own walking program is that over time I took less and less time to walk the same distance, so I added distance to my daily walks and kept my walking routine within the same time frame. If you have a dog, then a daily walk is a great thing for your pet. Walks are also aids to good thinking. You will be amazed at the thoughts that visit you and the solutions to problems that will reveal themselves on a daily walk.

Get some sleep. This will always be something I have to work at because I have never been a terrific sleeper. What I have found that helps me is to get up at the same time every day. This daily alarm helps me to be more mindful of my bedtimes. Sleep is a necessary function for good physical and mental health. If you build up the daily walk habit, you will have an easier time getting to bed on time. Nothing helps your body to remind you to go to bed at a decent hour than a regular daily exercise routine.

Drink plenty of water. This is another area that gives me trouble. I know that I need to drink water, but unless I feel really thirsty, I tend to gloss over this requirement. I have an iPhone app now that reminds me to drink water. For sure I drink a glass upon rising and at meals. I find it helpful to drink some water before bed or with an herbal tea, although others may not enjoy this same ritual.

Eat food that is good for you. Food is fuel, Tony Horton of Beachbody and P90X fame tells us. "You are what you eat" is another expression that tells us the same thing. Our bodies and minds will perform better if we are more mindful of what we eat. We should eat a decent breakfast, watch our caloric intake, and make sure we have adequate sources of protein, nutrients, and other minerals and vitamins in our food choices. We should eat a big salad once a week or a smaller one on a regular basis. We should eat more vegetables and perhaps go meatless for a meal or two. We should avoid fried foods, and for sure, stay away from fast foods. In fact, the closer to the source of our food we can go, the better for us ultimately. This means that fresh food is better than packaged or frozen or canned. Whatever diet lifestyle choice we make, the best habits related to food in any program are to eat breakfast and to watch how much we eat.

Plan your day. I have written about this many times before because the benefits are so spectacular in terms of time management, scheduling, and priorities (More Productive Days, What's in Your Toolkit?, Got a Moment to Spare?). Looking at our next day's schedule before retiring takes a few seconds. Pulling out our clothes and making sure our meals and other takeaway items are ready to go will take a minute or two at most. The savings in time and stress level the next morning will be priceless. I also find that this habit easily spills over into a "plan your week." I like to sit down on Sundays and look over the week's calendar. This larger view of my upcoming time helps me to do a better job of managing my daily schedule.

Do something creative every day. I recommend a daily writing habit. Visit 750words.com. Other people may enjoy some sort of craft hobby, such as yarn crafts, painting, sewing, model building, car restoration, gardening, listening to music (or attending concerts), or pets and animal husbandry. This type of activity draws on different areas of the brain and may well involve social aspects as well.

Stimulate your mind every day. Read a book, spend 10 minutes learning a language, work on a crossword or Sudoku puzzle, take a class, learn a new skill, or take up a new venture or hobby. Research suggests that these activities have a beneficial effect on staving off deteriorating mental issues that visit us with time and aging.

Talk to someone every day. This is an especially important habit for me because I have a tendency to turn into a turtle if I do not have social interaction. I especially have difficulties during holiday times when I may go for several days in my home and not see anyone other than my husband or animals. If I do not make an effort to "get out and about," I begin to lose the ability to actually converse with others. I have a 3-day limit. I must talk to someone outside of my home before my three-day window expires, even if it is merely a trip to the local feed store and a conversation with the helpful folks who run the place. Research also shows that social interaction leads many to experience greater longevity than those individuals who lead more isolated lives. I am talking about "in person" interaction, not the kind that comes via a computer or a letter. Actually get out of the house and talk to someone. Even a phone call will suffice.

Eight simple habits. Simple because they are easy to do. Simple because not much thought is required to do them, yet the results from each of these simple habits are great and worth the small effort required to implement them.

Monday Morning Check In: Do Your Best

Written by Paula E. Bird ©2013

Recently I found myself listening to someone tell me why he had failed to meet a particular set of requirements to finish his degree program. During our conversation, the young man said something like, "I didn't realize that everything would just depend on this one thing." My response at the time was, "Really? You didn't realize that this was a possibility that you might have to meet this requirement?"

My next thought was to assume that what the person said to me was true, that he had not realized that everything would hinge on meeting one requirement. So my next question was, "Would you have done anything differently if you had known?" I actually did not want the person to answer that question, because if he were to come up with something that he could have done, then that meant that the he was not doing the best work that he could do.

When I was a fledgling teacher, I observed a difficult group class that was led by the fine teacher, Vicki Vorreiter. I say that the class was difficult because there was one child in the group who displayed many inappropriate behaviors. As I watched this child in action, I noticed how infectious the child's disruptive behavior was to the rest of the group class members. I could almost see the energy of disruption spread outward from the source point of this one child.

Vicki found casual ways to be close to the child during the course of her class activities. Every time she was working with this child, she would follow up their encounter with, "Do your best." At some point, her suggestion to "do your best" became the question, "is this the best that you can do?" I saw the child respond each time in a positive way to these reminders, even if the change lasted for just a few minutes. It struck me that this seemingly little expectation was important as it reminded the child to rise to the occasion.

"Do your best" does not mean that we will be perfect in everything that we do. The phrase instead suggests that wherever we are at the moment, we should do the best that we are capable of doing. We should not be turning in less than what we are capable of doing. We should not settle for mediocrity, a C+, or just getting by. We should strive to give the utmost that we are able to give.

What keeps us from doing our best? I suggest the following things will interfere with our ability to turn in our best work, and therefore, I believe we should diligently keep a lookout for these interferences. Many of these things are related to each other, so by addressing one item, we may have a positive effect on other areas as well.

Sleep Deprivation. We do not perform well when we are physically or mentally tired. The human body needs adequate rest in order to function optimally. Although sleep needs vary across the populations, the research definitely supports the fact that we all need sleep in order to be alert and healthy.

Stress. We do not perform well on a long term basis if we perform continually under stressful conditions. Although we may need to function on occasion under pressure-cooker circumstances, if we have a steady diet of stress and problems, our work product will ultimately suffer. Stress is also related to health problems, so it is important to structure our lifestyles in ways that will minimize the amount of stress that we encounter. For more information about stress and handling it, read some of these previous articles:

• Stress!
• Stress and Kids
• Stress & the SR Factor
• 8 Tips to Manage Stress
• What's in Your Toolkit? (my tools to avoid stress)

Time. Many of us set ourselves the task of doing more than our time will allow us to adequately handle. Closely related to stress, our time or lack of it will cause us to feel pressure to perform under less than optimum conditions. I find that regularly reviewing my calendar and my priorities will help to eliminate overscheduling problems and the stress that comes from taking on too many activities and responsibilities for the amount of time that I actually have.

Poor Health Habits. By now, we are all aware that obesity is one of biggest problems that face us in the world. I struggle with these issues too, as I am sure most of us do. Many of our problems stem from our making poor health habit decisions or from our creating obesogenic environments, in which poor health habit decisions are easy to make. Adequate nutrition will give us energy to sustain physical and mental effort. We will look and feel better. Regular exercise will keep our heart and lungs healthy, aid our efforts to maintain optimum weight, reduce our stress, and enhance our moods. Getting adequate rest would also fall into this category.

Attitude. Overall, I think that our attitude and approach to life have the biggest impact on our ability to do our best. Attitude also colors our thinking about each of the areas discussed above. Probably the most important thing that we can focus on in order to build our ability to do our best would be to address our attitude. Here are some examples of attitudes that would adversely impact our ability and desire to do our best.

• Mediocrity. Let us revisit the discussion I had with the young man. He revealed his attitude to be that he would not have to give his best, and that he would be passed along with his giving less effort. I find this attitude to be prevalent in many folks, that somehow it is alright to give less than the most that we can and that others will or should cut us some slack or give us some leeway. This attitude expects others to be gracious and allow us the freedom to be less than we are capable of being.

• Entitlement. This attitude reveals that the person expects others to provide, and in fact  that the person is entitled to receive something, whether the person has done the work to deserve it or not. When folks complain about the need for welfare reform, I believe that they may be complaining about this type of attitude. I bump into this attitude in the university classroom on occasion when a student expects a certain grade just for showing up to the class without anything more.

• Negativity. A negative attitude includes complaining, whining, and being inappropriately critical. We have all had our share of complaints, but there may be some who have practiced the ability to complain to a high degree of skill. If you complain to the person who has the ability to address the complaint, then your complaint may be warranted. If you complain to someone who does not have the ability to address the problem, then you are suffering from a negative attitude problem. Whining is another form of making noise with no expectation of resolving the problem. Criticism is not necessarily a bad thing, if it is given for the purpose of improving a situation. I have met people who are highly skilled in the art of finding something wrong about everything, and many of these people begin a conversation with criticism. Criticism ultimately builds distance in a relationship, so being highly skilled in the ability of distancing oneself from others is a negative attitude. For another look at negative attitudes, visit this previous article: Are You a C, W, or E?

• Excuses. Excuses seem alright at the time, and most of us have had to make them at some point. However, making excuses can become a habit, and excuses keep us from dealing with the underlying issues that cause us to make excuses in the first place. Excuses remove the responsibility from us and place it on someone else. Because excuses sound plausible, they are easy to make. The habit of making excuses though will encourage the lack of personal responsibility. For more discussion about this area, visit this previous article: Excuses, Excuses!

I think that it is important that we do the best that we can do at all times. As teachers and parents, we have a very important purpose and responsibility. We are responsible to raise and influence future generations. We impact the lives of our most important treasure -- children. I believe it is imperative that we hold ourselves to the highest standards of what we are capable of doing, especially if we wish to raise a future generation of highly functioning adults.

In order to do your best, start by focusing on the changes that you need to make to improve the areas I have discussed above. This week, let us all look closely at whether we are doing our best and at how we can tweak our lifestyles in order to raise our level to be the best that we are capable of doing. Let us be firm in our purpose in life, which is to do the best that we can to raise children to be the best that they can.