Comments on: Are You Addicted to Feeling Good?

By: Lynne Woodside, RN, CLNC

Lynne Woodside, RN, CLNC — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 20:56:04 +0000

I developed a system when I was working in the corporate world (doing medical disability appeals reviews for the number two insurer in the nation) which worked then (with a zillion interruptions every day) and still works in my every day independent practice.

Everything that comes into my office lands on the left side of my L-shaped desk in a designated tray in a stack of trays. Phone messages or calls to be returned are written down in order of receipt and/or urgency and placed square in front of my phone which is to the immediate right of the “Intake” trays. My most-used hardcopy reference texts are on the desktop-to-ceiling book shelf – which takes up the rest of the “L.” Immediately in front of me is a desktop-to-ceiling corkboard-covered wall. To the right is my Outgoing product(s) trays. Everything goes from the left in a clockwise fashion to the right of my desk. What isn’t completed gets put on my “where is it” calendar and subsequently onto my “appointments-with-myself” log.

In addition, current and/or urgent files are color-coded and are put in “standing files” on that ceiling high book shelf with the attorney’s name or firm name in big block letters with the phone number and address on the standing file label for quick-look access if I need a quick question answered or relay a bump in the road. It really does work for me, but then I usually work alone…Now if I could just fix the fuzzy slippers, jeans and baggy sweater thing!

By: Kaye Miller, RN, CN-III, CAPA, CLNC

Kaye Miller, RN, CN-III, CAPA, CLNC — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 14:14:11 +0000

While I agree mostly with this concept, I am one of those who has to start with the clean slate early to be my most productive. The key is discipline…knowing when to stop the trivial matters and “get on with it.” The positive mental organization in the morning will result in the best work product in the evening.

By: Connie S. Chappelle RN, MN, CLNC

Connie S. Chappelle RN, MN, CLNC — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 13:17:23 +0000

Not only does my best attorney-client work projects come in the early morning, but my best marketing ideas and work also come to me in the early morning. I try and keep a notepad and pen near so that an idea I may have buried in my subconscious won’t be lost if it should surface when I am working on something else. Sometimes people joke about my lists, but they also remark on how much I seem to be able to accomplish.

Explore what works for you, but always get the big projects (e.g. work products with deadlines) out of the way first. It is my “feel-good” addiction.

By: Vary Fischer

Vary Fischer — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 15:04:01 +0000

What a timely and excellent article! I just finished working two cases, got them loaded in my car, called each attorney to see when I could deliver them, found I had some “feel good” time, checked this blog, and WOW! Found I had just lived what Vickie had written about.

It is so true. Getting into the meat of the work early in the day gives such a head start on projects that when they get put aside for a couple of hours later, you can’t stop thinking of them and THEY become the feel good project, because you know when you do finish, it will be such a great feeling.

There’s a reason Ms. Vickie is the guru:-)

Thanks for these tips, Vickie.

By: Becky Anderson

Becky Anderson — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 14:26:49 +0000

I have learned over the years that I need an organized space and desk to do my most productive work. When I started my CLNC^® business, I found myself starting every day with cleaning and/or organizing my desk, filing things, etc. And Vickie is right, “work” expands to fill time. So I learned pretty quickly that I needed to end my day with quickly organizing my workspace, putting in plain sight the things that needed my attention first in the morning so that when I began my next day, I was fresh for the things of highest priority. It is working very well!