This Week I "Unplug"

This week I am relaxing on vacation. The beach and ocean are doubling as my front yard. My wife, kids, parents, sisters, nieces and nephews are all my family for the week. The count in the house is 20. Yes, 20! We all get along, because we all want to have a great time. The rules are easy. Be safe. Have fun. Each day brings a mix of us reading, watching movies, swimming in the pool, kayaking in the ocean, relaxing on the beach and on the deck, playing cornhole, ping pong or frisbee. We all do our own thing throughout the day, yet we all converge together for game night. Every night. Tonight we are playing “Warewolf”. At 9pm, my sister yells “Warewolf!” and we all run downstairs to the large formica table that has enough chairs for all twenty of us. Last night we played “Family Fued” and tomorrow we have planned a “Treasure Hunt”. The bottom line is, we enjoy each others company. Game night is a time when we all twenty of us leave our electronic devices far away from the table. We listen, laugh, and talk with each other.

Most of us keep our phones and other electronic devices in our rooms, checking them once or twice a day. Others, like our teenage kids, use them a little more frequently. But we all unplug for a good majority of the day. It’s our vacation from the everyday distractions of the world we live in today.

This week, I have also made it a point to leave my phone in my room. Even though I am only checking my emails once a day, it feels like I’m “unplugged”. I can still respond to any urgent messages, but I have the “choice” to respond to the rest of them. In today’s world, it’s easy to say everything is urgent and important. We are all fighting for attention on social media, in emails, and on the phone. This week I scale it waaaaaay back, and relax. That’s what vacation is all about. Try “unplugging” a little on your vacation this summer and watch the magic unfold.

As a Professional Organizer, Speaker, Author, Podcast Producer & Host, Rick Woods helps residents and businesses make room for clarity, by getting rid of the clutter that gets in their way.

Listen to Rick's free weekly podcast "Make Room For Clarity", which focuses on interviewing business & health experts by visiting www.makeroomforclarity.com.

Inquire about Rick's professional organizing business, "The Functional Organizer, LLC.", which focuses on decluttering, organizing, paper filing and time management by visiting www.tforganizer.com.

Madness in March

Only 18% of all division-one college basketball schools make the NCAA Tournament. The 64 best teams in the nation are in the Big Dance for one reason. They never gave up. If they had a bad game one night, they would have to erase that performance and move on. The next game would be their focus.

The secret to success is to improve on past performance by asking the right questions going forward.

What does the team need to improve on in practice to prepare them for the next game?

How did they execute the plays?

Who stepped up and led their team during key moments of the game?

How did the team manage the clock when the game was close?

When did the game take a turn for the worst and how did the players react?

What was their shooting percentage?

Did they take too many deep shots or were they capitalizing on closer, higher percentage shots?

Were they playing a loose zone defense or an aggressive man-to-man defense?

How big was the team they lost to and what are the size match ups in the next game?

How well did the defense play?

Did they grab enough rebounds?

And on and on...the questions continue. The best teams dig deep and solve the problems that plagued them in previous losses.

If they have a winning streak, they build on that and keep doing what works. Why are we so shocked when a 14 seed beats a 3 seed? Sure, they are the "underdog", but they work just as hard as the other, more "talented" team because they are in the top 18%.

How is your business these days? Have you taken any hits (losses) lately? If so, what questions are you asking to avoid these losses down the road? Maybe you are riding a "hot streak"? Great! Keep doing what you're doing and build off of those wins, so you can be in the top 18% or better yet, STAY in the 18%.

As a Professional Organizer, Speaker, Author, TV Personality, and Podcast Producer & Host, Rick Woods helps residents and businesses make room for clarity, by getting rid of the clutter that gets in their way.


Rick’s newly released book “Make Room for Clarity” is a step by step guide to getting rid of the clutter that gets in your way. Available on Amazon. Listen to Rick's free weekly iTunes & Stitcher podcast "Make Room For Clarity", which focuses on interviewing business & health experts by visiting www.makeroomforclarity.com.



Inquire about Rick's professional organizing business, "The Functional Organizer, LLC.", which focuses on decluttering, organizing, paper filing and time management by visiting www.tforganizer.com.