Articles Categorized Productivity

Thoughts on Weekends aka Work-Life Balance

On Fridays I post a floral picture and wish everyone a good weekend. But even as I extend my wishes, I realize that what I think of when I use the word “weekend” isn’t accurate. Many people work on weekends as part of their regular hours. Others bring work home. I did that for years.

Female Voices on Digital Devices

Electronic assistants scatter across my desk. There’s the cordless telephone, the iPhone which I use more frequently because I don’t have to put in the numbers, and my Echo Show from Amazon, which I mostly use as a very upscale music device. Siri lives on my Apple devices, but I seldom call for her services.

“Should I Kill Myself, or Have a Cup of Coffee?” – Albert Camus

Calliope, Muse of Eloquence and Epic Poetry just highjacked my blog for the second time. Last time she led me to scandal when I wanted to write about washing machines. This morning I expected to write about the social ritual known as “Morning Coffee.” “No, No,” Calliope said wagging her finger and pointing at my

HAPPY ADMINISTRATIVE PROFESSIONALS’ WEEK

Once upon a time, perhaps around 1955, there were four career paths for women. In alphabetical order women could become nurses, secretaries, teachers, or wives. Wives, of course, didn’t work. [Note the fictional aspect here. Of course wives worked, and there were lots of jobs done by women. But technically a job isn’t a career.

S.M.A.R.T. GOALS for 2017

  Here it is – my first blog of 2017. Ouch! Still hurts to write the new date. As the illustration points out, it seems 1913 was only the day before yesterday. But time marches on and so does another year of celebratory rituals. Rituals are closely related to routines, and one of my regular

Library of Congress – Our National Repository

  When you think of Washington D.C., what comes to mind? Most people think of visiting the White House, the Capital Building, and Mount Vernon. Maybe various exhibits at the Smithsonian Museum. But, unless you’re an academic researcher, you might overlook the Library of Congress, and it’s well worth an excursion.   Congress established the

SURMOUNTING “THE WALL”

  How often has this happened to you? You’re concentrating on a task … or thinking about concentrating on a task, and suddenly you realize you’ve been asleep. If you were in the act of writing at the time, there’s a wiggly line slithering off the edge of the page. Not only are the notes

Sandra & The PNWA Conference

Today’s featured image is a Wildebeest scratching his head in the dirt. It perfectly illustrates how I feel after spending the weekend at the 59th Pacific Northwest Writers’ Conference in Seattle. The conference is well-organized. The sessions are high quality.  The information — there’s just too much for my synapses to digest. So, what did

An Old-Fashioned Vacation

I’m on vacation. On a very nice cruise ship. With a spa. Looking at lovely scenery. Without a consistent Internet connection. International roaming rates may apply. Huh? I’m not particularly tech-savvy. I cheerfully admit my iPhone is smarter about itself than I’ll ever be. There are probably millions of things I could access on the

MAKE A LIST – CHECK IT TWICE – DO IT ANYWAY

People have made lists as long as they’ve been able to write things down. Take this monk, for example. He could be contemplating the relative size of angels in order to solve an age-old question: How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? Or, he could be trying to remember what he