Have fun, clean your office and feel better about your workplace environment. Hey, it may even make you more productive!

Here’s a few tips to get you started, then click on over to read the rest of the article, if you like!

Step 1 – Get yourself ready. Without your own preparedness, you may have to interrupt your flow several times to compensate. Put comfortable supportive shoes on – when you stub your toe on the corner of your desk – your tootsies will be glad they weren’t bare! Crank up the volume on energetic and motivating music. Grab tools for sorting(storage bins or garbage bags work fine), cleaning recycling, notepad & a pen. If you use a timer a la “Flylady,” bring that & use it, too!

Step 2 – In your office, look at it with a fresh pair of eyes. If you were a neighbor walking in to this, what would look out of place? Do you see trash, things that belong elsewhere, or things that need mending? Make notes in your notebook about the things that need mending. We’re not going to stop to do that right now, we’re on a mission!

Read the rest of the article…

Today is a good day to:

1. Request your free copy of your credit report from the credit reporting agencies. Contrary to what the credit report commercials may say – you don’t have to pay for their service or be charged for a 3-in-1 report. You can just mail a letter to each of the credit reporting agencies and have them mail you your one free yearly report.
2. Check your interest rates & fees. Check with your bank, credit companies, etc to find out what rate you’re paying or being paid for using their services. Ask if they can do better. Really, they may give you a lower APR or up the interest you are earning, just for asking.
3. Collect your receipts for the year. Go over how much you’ve spent on what, and check to see if certain expenses are tax-deductible or qualify for a tax-credit. Ask your accountant or tax professional about often overlooked items that you should watch for.
4. Set your budget – if you haven’t already done so – for your Holiday Gifting. Set how much money you will be spending total. Then list the people and charities that you want to give to. Set them in order of importance. Take out just enough cash to cover your budget, so you’re not paying interest on the gifts you give. Search the internet and call around for the best prices on what you want to buy. If you run out of money, which you shouldn’t, the people and charities at the bottom of the list will just have to wait. The people that you care about and would want to give gifts to, probably wouldn’t want you to pay double for what you give them – they’d probably graciously wait, rather than make you pay interest on their gift. If they don’t care enough about you to wait – why do you care about putting yourself in debt to give them a gift?

Well, there you have it – aside from taking care of my clients and articles today – this is what I’ll be doing. Feel free to join me in Money Monday!

Don’t get me wrong, I really unplugged over the Thanksgiving weekend, and didn’t so much as check email during family and friends time. It was a rare occasion, indeed.

But there’s always something thrilling, for me, in helping people define their goals, go after them, achieve them, and make money from home or with something they love doing. Or the thrill of the creation. Or sewing a tapestry of words, or code, together and making something that other people enjoy. It’s got all of the elements that I love about creating live productions, just without the applause.

I had a moment, several times over the course of the weekend, however, where I remembered something that I still had to do for a business coaching or web design client. And normally, my M.O. would be to drop family/social/recharge time and get the thing done.

But this weekend, I talked myself out of it every time. And while it may make the productivity experts cringe – I firmly believe that knowing when to unplug, unwind and recharge is key to keeping creativity, and productivity rolling.