Naturally Simple

One Week Being Paperless and Productive

Lessons in Becoming Paperless or paper-free

Hard to believe but a whole week has gone by since I decided to challenge myself to become paperless.  I have not used a notebook or a regular pen…. Ok, wait, I am totally lying.  I had to write an anniversary card for my mother in law on Friday.  I did that on an actual paper card with an actual pen.  But aside from that, I have worked all week on my…

This month I’ve decided to challenge myself to go completely digital in my planning and productivity plans. Follow along to see how it works and how I adapt.

As if the month of July wasn’t enough discomfort for me I decided to challenge myself again in the month of August.

Let’s Go Digital

For a while now I’ve been toying with the idea of going digital. Setting up my life set up digitally where I can have access to all things all the time and where I don’t have to worry about storing or shredding papers. I am not going to sit here and claim that I’m…

Two Things I learned in July

July was a month of lessons for me. One of them disappointing at first something that made me feel broken. The other something I always suspected but never gave a lot of thought and considered it something everyone is able to do. So not very special right?

#NaNoWriMo  

I  once again, entered the NaNoWriMo craze all energized to write my book. I decided on a political thriller because that’s what…

NaNoWriMo – A Rambling Post

This is not going to make much sense.  It’s a stream of consciousness!!!!!

So I decided to do NaNoWriMo again this July ….. Camp NaNo to be exact.  I’m not sure what made me think I would be able to keep up but something in me is convinced that it’s just a matter of really wanting something badly enough.  So here I am.  Five days in and I’m not sure I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing.

I have…

Who do you want to be?

Become your Future Self

We often feel stuck in our careers and feel like we are spinning our wheels and getting nowhere fast.  I know this because it happens to me…. all the time.  There are times when I need to feel a little bit sorry for myself and blame the fact that I haven’t gotten that promotion or that great project (at least I thought it was a great project) on someone or something…

How to Prepare and Hold Meetings

Have you ever sat through an entire meeting and had no idea what the purpose was? To make matters worse, when you left the meeting you had no idea if you were supposed to do anything or even if anything was accomplished? I have.

Attending meetings like these can be so frustrating.  Not only do I come out of the meeting completely confused but I feel like I wasted my time when I could have been…

The Importance of Cross Training your Team

Cross training…. Every time I see these two words I can’t help but think of some form of work out and feeling tired. In this case cross training is not a work out and it doesn’t have to feel exhausting. Cross training your team is a simple thing that a manager can do to ensure that the work will get done even if someone is on vacation or sick or in the current situation not able to come to office…

Working from Home – How do I feel about it?

I’m not new at working from home.  A couple of years ago I worked from home for an entire year.  I loved and it was probably the most productive I’ve ever been.  I don’t have children (I have two poodles) so I never had to worry about getting interrupted and my time is my time.   During this time I set up a new process for regulatory monitoring for the entire consumer bank and the process is…

How I’m becoming paperless

The past couple of years I have tried and failed and tried and failed to become paperless at home and in the office.  I think I’ve posted a few times about my attempts and then eventually I give up because it becomes difficult to maintain.  I will admit that it is not the easiest thing to do and I find myself many times a day reaching for a pen and paper to jot down a quick note only to remember…

How I stay Organized and On Task

Very often I’m asked how I manage to do so many things.  How do I have time for two blogs, a full time job, launching a business, keeping a house without help (the husband helps a little) and philanthropy work.  Nope, I’m not super human, nor am I a robot.  The way I manage all these things in my life is by staying organized and on task.  Yes, I still, sometimes, fall off the wagon and…

Photo from ReadersDigest No copyright infringement intended. 

Working remotely is becoming increasingly popular.  Why shouldn’t it?  Remote work benefits both the company and the employee.  The employee is able to work in a much less rigid environment and not waste time commuting back and forth allowing, or aiding, in a better work/life balance (note that I’m not a fan of that saying and I don’t…

These are some strange and stressful times.  Not only are we dealing with a lot of change in our personal lives but also with our work schedules.  There’s been a whole lot of adjusting being done.  Some of us find ourselves back to an old way of working…. If you recall, I used to work from home full time a few years ago…. others of us have had to quickly become teachers to our children while at…

I haven’t done all that much.  Not only have I not done much but I’ve been jumping from project to project as if I were aimless with no direction.  Perhaps because I am, aimless and have little to no direction these days.

Right now I have three projects logged into Camp NaNoWrimo and I don’t think I’ve written on any of them except the romance project that I started back in the beginning of May.…

Some Books Just aren’t for Me

These are some really difficult times we are all going through.  The past couple of weeks, as I’ve been “forced” to stay home with little more to do than think, read, binge documentaries and other mindless shows, I’ve had plenty of time to come to terms with the fact that some books just aren’t meant for me.  It’s not necessarily the book that’s bad or the story is bad.  It’s just that the book…

Book Review – A Witch in Time by: Constance Sayers

A week ago I was walking through Barnes & Noble not searching for anything in particular.  In fact I had decided, before walking into the store that I was not going to pick up any books.  I have a few on my Kindle that I’ve started and not finished yet.  Not because I’m not enjoying them but …. shiny object syndrome.

Anyway, true to self I wound up walking out with a new book (after paying for…

Book Review: The Age of Witches by Louisa Morgan

Publication Date: April 7, 2020

The Book is a tale of friendship, family, honor and respect for the old ways.  It’s also a battle of good and evil.  I received the book as an ARC from NetGalley after requesting it.

The story follows a family descendent of the Bishop Family of witches from the Salem Witch Trials.  Although the story is fiction it is based on facts. The family line had been broken…

Audio Book – The Deal of a Lifetime by Frederick Backman

The Witch Chronicles is not doing it for me.  It’s actually set me back on my reading the past month.  It’s not that the book is bad, it’s actually interesting in its own way.  I actually think the problem is me.  I’m starting to think that series are not for me.  I’m not sure why.  Perhaps it’s the fact that switching books makes me lose my momentum and by the time I pick up the next book I’m…