Tipster Tuesday #2

Being Awesome also includes being organized.  Today's tips involve getting control of your schedule.

• Each night, I review the next day's schedule and then do my to do list for the next day.  Some people advise doing it each morning.  I choose to do it the night before, so I don't lose any time sitting down first thing in the morning.  Who knows... I might not get back up.
• Make a master to do list based on your goals and then you can see what fits into your weekly schedule on Sunday evenings.  
• Schedule time to do things.  Even if it's laundry... you can mark off 2 hours for house work and write -- see list-- and then don't let anything (not even Facebook, this blog or Pinterest get in the way!).  If your calendar is digital... make it a recurring appointment.  Don't be afraid to say, "no I can't do lunch today... I have to get my housework done."  CHances are your friend will say... "yeah, me too, I was hoping to avoid it." And you can say, "well, let's reward ourselves with coffee at 2 pm... why don't you come to my house."  Well, this is genius... you now have something to look forward to and you have a very hard deadline because someone is coming over. 
• Don't forget to schedule some "me" time.  Right now I'm LOVING learning to knit (and loving that my daughter is sitting next to me knitting too)... so I'm scheduling my knit time just after dinner.  My little ballerina princess and I can knit together and watch some t.v.  And it gives me a well earned break when I know... all I have to do is the dishes now and I can RELAX.  
• Feeling overwhelmed during the day?  Don't grab a caffeinated soda to get you through (bad calories, remember)... just stop, take a deep breath.  Make yourself some peppermint tea (and if you don't like that, locate your little jar of peppermint extract and take a wiff, or chew a piece of sugar free mint gum for a few).  You'll feel perked up... without the wasted calories. [I secretly believe this mint trick may be why a friend was HOOKED on Shamrock Shakes during her pregnancy].
• Just read a statistic that 10% of your time spent planning saves you 90% of wasted time during execution.  More time = more awesomeness.