Sunset from our deck at Caswell Beach, NC

How is your summer going? While summer technically just started a few days ago, in our area, the eastern U.S., it has felt like summer for several weeks. To the delight of many kids, school is out for a couple of months, and summertime activities are in full swing.

While relaxing and enjoying the beach or lake is on the agenda for many of us, we can also be productive during this time. We can get some much-needed chores done and still have plenty of time to relax. But only if we plan. If we fail to plan what we want to accomplish, we will find ourselves facing September head-on with nothing to show for it but a memory of fun times. And while there is nothing really wrong with that, we could have those and also get a few things accomplished. I have a Three-Part Process for Effectiveness; Plan, Purge, and Perform, that can provide some structure for this.

One suggestion for Planning is to identify one task for each month that we commit to accomplishing. Ideas include organizing photos, destroying negatives (Millennials will not likely have these!) and any photos of people you do not recognize!  Those with only digital photos can spend this time deleting photos digitally.

Purging can include clothes, toys, and even furniture. Clean out your closet, getting rid of clothes that no longer fit, or that have not been worn recently. This includes those clothes that you paid a lot of money for and have not worn! It also includes shoes, jewelry, and scarves. Be brutal. Trust me on this one. You and your closet will be so much lighter.

Our family trip to Hilton Head always includes the Salty Dog

Performing can be described as doing anything that improves our effectiveness. If we plan to perform one task monthly this summer, doing so and not just “planning” to do so is performing. Using the example above, when we have cleaned out the closet, we have performed.

There are many options to our monthly tasks. Choose yours. Whatever has been hanging over your head that you have been planning to do, yet have not yet done, is a good choice. Once you have completed your tasks, you will feel pride in your accomplishments. And you will not even miss the time spent being productive instead of relaxing.

A wonderful and productive read. I do not agree with everything in it, but I do not agree with everything about anything!

It is so easy to just go through the days, weeks, and months, letting time slip through our fingers. We can spend plenty of time relaxing and still have time left over to be productive. Try it.

And let me know how it goes.