Intentional Living

Commitment Clutter & the Arrival of Spring

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Spring has sprung and I wish I could say these beautiful blooms are residing in my garden, but alas, winter, not aware of the calendar, is too slowly releasing its grasp on the North Coast.  I am confident though that within the month spring flowers will be blooming somewhere along the shores of Lake Erie.  Wherever and whenever those spring blossoms burst forth for you, I wish for you the opportunity to enjoy those all-too-brief blooms. Sadly I’ve noticed over my … Read More

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What are Your Productivity Time Preferences?

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When do you do your best thinking?  Your most productive thinking?  The thinking that yields the most AH-HA!!! moments? When do you have the most energy?  When are you most ready to take on the world?  Morning, afternoon, evening, or after everyone else has gone to bed? Which day of the week do you get the most done?  Are you a hit-the-ground-running-on-Monday-morning person or do you need Monday to ramp up so you can knock it out … Read More

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Resources for Releasing That Are Better for the Planet

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This is a big month for releasing!  I’m playing the #MinsGame with a number of you this month.  If you’re like me and you value the environment it’s important to keep as many discards as possible out of the landfill.  Today I want to share a few of my favorite tools for more environmentally friendly disposal of your cast-offs. 1) One of my favorite tools for helping my local clients find an ideal release site is the Cuyahoga … Read More

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Our Skipping Christmas Experiment & Its Results

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I recently attended a monthly meeting where a couple of people stopped to ask me how my holidays were.  This wasn’t casual conversation though.  They were genuinely curious because they had last seen me in mid December when I shared that my family was experimenting with skipping Christmas in 2014.  When I shared the results, one of my colleagues suggested I blog about it, not next October as I had planned, but now while the holidays are … Read More

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New Year, New Beginnings…Set Yourself Up For Success!

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I wasn’t planning to write a post this morning on New Year’s resolutions.  In fact, when a client emailed asking my opinion on New Year’s resolutions a few weeks ago I replied, “My feeling is that if you want to create change in your life there is no reason to wait for a traditional day, such as New Year’s Day, to do it.” However, I do understand there is a strong tradition of creating a New Year’s resolution. … Read More

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Tools for Getting Clearer on Your Goals

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I spent some time with my vision board this past weekend, with the intention of getting clearer on my goals for 2015. I last wrote about my vision board a couple of years ago.  Here is a little of what I shared about a vision board then: A vision board is a collection of visual images pasted or pinned to a board that represents things that you want to bring into your life.   A vision board uses the … Read More

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Gratitude, It’s Not Just for Thanksgiving Anymore

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This isn’t a long post, because I know you’re getting ready to celebrate Thanksgiving and I don’t want to “gobble” up your time. (Sorry, that was horrible, but I couldn’t resist.) Thanksgiving as we all know is the day on which we express thanks or gratitude.  Today I’d like to convince you to consider practicing gratitude more regularly. A little over three years ago I began expressing thanks more regularly,  daily in fact, in the form of a … Read More

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Have You Given Thought to Your Values Lately?

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When was the last time you actively gave thought to your values?  Not the values of stocks in your portfolio or the values of baseball cards in your collection, YOUR values, your personal values to be specific. These values are something few individuals take the time to consider, let alone build an awareness of.  I don’t think this is because most would deem their personal values unimportant.  Instead, I believe it’s more likely most people have never been … Read More

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You Don’t Need More File Drawers, You Just Need to Keep Less Paper!

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It’s amazing how many people I come in contact with who are overwhelmed by the amount of paper in their lives. Paper is an equal opportunity stressor.  It doesn’t care who you are, how much money you make, where you live or your level of education.  Only those individuals who’ve created a foolproof system for dealing with paper inflow and outflow are winning the war against paper stress.  The rest are waging a daily battle against the … Read More

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Essentialism: Some Thoughts on the New York Times Best Seller by Greg McKeown

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I recently finished Greg McKeown‘s book, Essesntialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less  which is essentially about how to live a more purposeful, focused and intentional life.  I’ve been experimenting with minimalism: actively reducing my number of possessions and the number of commitments in my life.  As such, I was intrigued by the idea of essentialism. If you’re curious about what essentialism is, McKeown provides us with this explanation, “the basic value proposition of Essentialism: only once you give yourself … Read More

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