Those Pesky Recipes You Tear Out of Magazines

Hello! I know this blog has been about me this whole time, but a client actually emailed me a question & I thought the answer I gave her might be helpful to other people out there in the world, so I decided to post it.

*Keep in mind that we've already been working together, and although it's just been three weeks, she's already made a HUGE shift in managing her time, energy and resources at work with one incredibly simple step. I had her isolate a set time every day to handle a particular aspect of her job that was bleeding into every hour and task and preventing her from really getting anything done. She now handles client work from 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM, and all related emails and phone calls that arrive after 1 PM simply wait until the next day.

This approach had a profound and immediate impact on her time, energy and productivity--as well as the way she felt about herself and what she could accomplish. You can totally try this, and I bet it can work for you too! Anyway, I wanted to share this so you understand how experiencing this success made it so much more possible for her to take the next step towards reclaiming her time and living the life she wants to live. Here's her question & my answer:

"When I am reading I like to rip out the magazine pages of either recipes to consider making or websites that the magazine mentions that I want to look up. How would you suggest I handle these pages?

"And I would love to ideally give myself 20 minutes twice a month to go through the pages and either use the recipes and look up the websites or discard the paper. For now I just have pages and pages of meaningless cutouts with little plan for dealing with/enjoying them. What do you suggest?"


Excellent question! OK:

1) Where are you when you go through the magazines & pull out the pages? If it's always at home in one place, then we'll create a storage system for you there; if it's all over the place--on the subway, at work, at home...--you'll want one end-point storage solution plus temporary spots for the in-between (like a place in your purse or at work until you get it home).

2) A storage solution should be really simple--a folder or file or poly envelope for recipes & one for websites, or even a 2-pocket folder with one side for recipes & one for websites. It's great if it's pretty/funky/colorful & easy to spot. You should keep it in one convenient location--desk, night table, kitchen...--and consistently put things in there. We can talk more about troubleshooting if it doesn't quite work when you first set it up.

3) Love the 20 minutes twice a month. I'm tempted to have that be the thing you try this month by putting it in your calendar at specific times & treating it the way you do your customer service time. If that feels right to you, please email me & let me know WHEN & WHERE you plan to do it (take the folder to Starbucks, do it at home at night or on a weekend...). Be specific. You KNOW you can do this because you've done it at work already!


Hope you find this helpful too! Feel free to let me know if you've got any questions about your own organizing spillover. I'm happy to answer whatever I can!