The Numbness of Blended Stacks

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Take a moment to look at your desk. Can you quickly identify all the items that require attention?

Too often we let things pile up in our workspace. This causes us to lose track of our progress and creates unnecessary stress. Yet this way of working is all too common amongst knowledge workers. Is there a better method?

Recently David Allen wrote an article on the Getting Things Done website to discuss this issue. He begins by defining the problem.

The most obvious case is where there are stacks of things that include items that have actions associated with them and things that just need to be filed or tossed. Often this is true of piles of reading material—magazines, junk mail, email printouts, copies of articles, etc. Most people do not make a clean distinction, visibly or psychologically, between what they still tell themselves they should read, and what should be stored, routed, or just thrown away.

Naturally for Allen, the GTD methodology is the best way to resolve this situation.

With a proper segmentation of the nature of our “stuff”, it is amazing to notice the immediate change for the better in clarity and energy. This is the beauty of the GTD Workflow Diagram in helping you walk through that distinction. With a little effective categorizing, you can stop having to keep thinking about having to be doing so much work!

Read the whole article on the Getting Things Done website.

Never Leave a Meeting Without Doing This

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Imagine a meeting where all the participants are active in the conversation. Great ideas are shared and built upon. Everyone feels excited about the goals discussed. Was that a successful meeting? It could be, so long as something important is done before the meeting is adjourned.

Many seemingly productive meetings end up being for naught if the follow-through is fumbled. To ensure it happens, follow this simple rule.

Never end a meeting without summarizing the decisions and assigning the next actions to move items forward.

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Prioritized next actions are the fruits of a successful meeting. When there is uncertainty over who is responsible to do tasks decided upon in the meeting, the risk of inaction is huge. Everyone attending the meeting should be clear on his or her responsibilities before adjournment.

Five key steps to remember:

  • Write down the specific next actions decided on in the meeting
  • Assign the task to participants and make them responsible for completing each action
  • Be clear on the deadlines for each action item
  • Have a means to share updates on each action completed with the rest of the group
  • Finally, decide when and where the next meeting will happen if needed

Follow these steps to ensure that your valuable meetings lead to success afterwards.

Canyon Branch Now Open

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I’m proud to share that the 18th location of the Palm Beach County Library System has opened.

Canyon Branch, located in the Canyon Town Center in Western Boynton, is a 33,000 sq ft facility with a beautiful plaza space, a drive-up service window, our largest meeting room seating 300 people, and the first maker space in the system.

Reporter Carolyn DiPaolo wrote a wonderful article about our opening day and the amenities of the building.

As well, local NPR reporter Wilkine Brutus visited the branch for a preview day and published an article about the library along with an interview with myself.

A project of this size cannot be done without a great team effort. Thank you to everyone who made this new location possible. This includes our Board of County Commissioners, County Administrator, the Library Advisory Board, and the Friends of the Library. Most of all, thank you to all County staff who helped with the project, especially my library employees. Everyone went above and beyond to make this happen.

I invite you to visit the new Canyon Branch to see it for yourself. It is open seven days a week and four evenings until 9 pm.

Learn more about the Palm Beach County Library System by visiting our website.

The “Two Day” Rule for Habit Change

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Did you create a New Year’s resolution?

Did you already abandon it?

With the calendar now reading 2025, this is the time when people make and sadly ultimately abandon their New Year’s resolutions. A resolution simply put is an intention to create a new habit. Despite noble intentions, it is hard to create a new habit that lasts beyond the initial enthusiasm. Willpower alone is never enough. Is there a way to retain the energy of a new behavior so that it becomes successfully engrained for the long term?

In an article on the INC. website, writer Jeff Haden explores this question. He starts by talking about how habits form.

One way to build new habits is to build routines, because routines can be critical to success. Say you’re trying to boost sales, and want to make five cold calls every day. Great: Decide that you’ll make those calls at 10 a.m., block out and protect that time, create a calendar alert, hold yourself accountable by embracing Jerry Seinfeld’s “put an X on the calendar technique,” and get started.

Within a week or two, you won’t have to decide to make five cold calls. You won’t have to force yourself to make five cold calls.

You’ll just make them, because that’s what you do.

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After a habit is established, how do we ensure it does not wither away when time gets tight, or temptation rises up? The best approach is to apply what Haden calls the “Two Day” rule.

The premise is simple: Never let two days pass without acting toward your goal. If your goal is to make five cold calls a day, and you don’t make them today, that’s OK. Just make sure you make five cold calls tomorrow. If your goal is to spend 15 minutes talking to at least one employee every day—about their goals, their ideas, about bottlenecks or logjams you can help clear so they can more easily do their jobs—and you don’t do that today, that’s OK. Just make sure you do that tomorrow.

If you eat out tonight and fall off your diet wagon, that’s OK. Just make sure you get back on it tomorrow.

Learn more about habits and how to sustain them by reading the rest of the article.

Newest Palm Beach County Library Branch Opening January 11, 2025

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What is the most amazing way for a librarian to start the new year?

By opening a brand-new library branch of course!

I’m excited to share that my library system’s newest location, the Canyon Branch, is opening on January 11, 2025. Over the past five years I have been working on this project alongside our architects, interior designers, construction contractors and a host of library and County staff. It is the first location that I was involved in creating from the ground up. Now all the hard work that the Palm Beach County team has put into the project is about to come to fruition.

Thank you to all the people whose support made this new branch possible, including our library district residents, County Administration, and the Board of County Commissioners.

Do you want a sneak peek at the library before our official opening? On Tuesday, January 7, the Friends of the Palm Beach County Library System will host tours of the Canyon Branch from 3-6 pm as a fundraising event. Friends of the Library members pay $10 per person for the early access. Not a Friends member yet? Become one at the door for as little as $25 or sign up now through their website.

If you live in or near Palm Beach County, I invite you to attend the ribbon cutting on January 11, 10 am. Can’t make it that day? Then drop by anytime afterward to visit the new library. It will be open seven days a week all year round.

The Canyon Branch is located in the Canyon Town Center at 8915 Senator Joe Abruzzo Ave, Boynton Beach, Florida 33472, about a mile west of the Florida Turnpike exit.

Below is the press release for the opening day. I look forward to seeing you at the Canyon Branch library.

Press Release

The Palm Beach County Library System is excited to begin the official countdown to the grand opening of the Canyon Branch Library. The culmination of this momentous project is set for Jan 11, 2025, where the branch will officially open to the public. This has been many years in the making, with the official planning for the new branch library beginning in 2019.

A six marble column art installation called “Opening Minds,” designed by Brad J. Goldberg, graces the front of the building. The columns feature famous quotes and titles from American and World history and binary code representing the intermingling of the traditional and digital world. This installation reinforces the Library’s vision of opening minds to a world of unlimited possibilities.

The new building features an open and spacious design. It boasts a collection of 130,000 library materials, a beautiful atrium, a bright Children and Teen Area and our largest meeting room space.

Located in the heart of the lively and up-and-coming area of Canyon in western Boynton, the Palm Beach County Library System hopes to provide the community with a space that connects, inspires and enriches the lives of its members.

Library Director Douglas Crane stated, “We are excited to welcome residents to the new Canyon Branch. It will offer a wealth of resources, programs and services designed to meet the diverse needs of our community.”

Follow the Palm Beach County Library System on social media for updates and sneak peeks of the branch, @pbclibrary, on all platforms.

Don’t Know the Reason for the Meeting? Then Don’t Meet!

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Have you ever left a meeting with a variation of this question spinning in your head:

“What was the reason for that meeting?”

It is very easy to call a meeting, yet few people consider the organizational impact of these gatherings. By simple logic when people are meeting, they are not doing their regular work. If the meeting does not provide value by its end, the impact on the organization is negative in terms of time wasted and energies drained.

Here are three disheartening statistics found on the website Flowtrace.

  • 71% of meetings are considered unproductive by employees.
  • 45% of employees admitted to feeling overwhelmed by attending too many meetings.
  • An estimated $37 billion is lost annually in the U.S. due to inefficient meetings.
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Therefore, it is important to know the right time to call a meeting. Thankfully there is a simple way to determine if a meeting is unnecessary. It goes like this:

If you are unable to articulate the purpose of a meeting, then a meeting should not be called.

Without clarity of purpose, a meeting is destined to slip into a time sink of wasted words. A tool to get off on the right foot is to fill in the blank below with ten words or less:

The purpose of the meeting is ____________.

If you can’t spell out a clearly stated purpose that anyone in your organization can appreciate, then don’t hold the meeting. According to the Flowtrace article, 72% of survey respondents listed setting clear objectives as important for a successful meeting. Therefore, being clear on the purpose is key to making meetings more impactful and energizing.

So, what is the purpose of your next meeting?

Are You an Overthinker?

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When encountering a problem, do you spend time thinking about how to solve it?

Usually, it is a good practice to think deeply about how to solve a problem. Understanding the situation and considering ways to solve it can be very helpful. However, is there a limit to how helpful thinking about a problem can be?

According to Darius Foroux, overthinking can be a huge impediment to solving problems. In a recent blog post, he shares how thinking too much can be a trap for the mind.

Despite all this knowledge of philosophy and knowing what I “should” do, I still get caught in bouts of excessive thinking.

During these moments, I no longer observe my thoughts and live in the present moment; my thoughts consume me.

In the past, I was permanently stuck in that state of mind. It’s not uncommon. Most people live their lives as slaves to their thoughts.

When we obsess over our woes, it becomes harder to solve them. So, is there a way to get past repetitive thinking? To resolve the tendency to overthink, Foroux suggests doing a practice that spiritual folk have done for ages.

The key to overcoming overthinking is not only about awareness. Yes, being aware of your thoughts is important. This is the starting point of waking up.

You must become the observer of your thoughts.

But it’s also about understanding your nature.

To understand more about this concept, please read the rest of blog post.

Why You Should Join a Professional Organization

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As we move towards the new year, many professional associations are reaching out to retain existing members and invite new people to join. In my case, I am a proud member of the American Library Association, the Public Library Association, CORE, the Florida Library Association, and the Palm Beach County Library Association.

Some people resist joining an association because they don’t see the value in spending money on the membership. However, there are many great reasons to join a professional association and take full advantage of their offerings.

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Here’s my top seven reasons to join a professional association.

Networking Opportunities: Professional associations host events, conferences, and online platforms that allow members to connect with their peers. Access to a community of like-minded professionals fosters collaboration and an exchange of ideas.

Career Advancement: Many associations have job boards, recruitment events, or exclusive listings that help members find new work opportunities. Also, associations provide access to training programs, certifications, and workshops that enhance skills and share new ideas.

Industry Knowledge and Resources: Many professional associations publish journals, articles, and white papers that provide insights into trends and research findings. Members also have access to webinars and speaking events to hear from leaders in the profession.

Credibility and Recognition: Being part of an association can boost member’s credibility and establish them as a respected professional. Many associations set standards and ethical guidelines, helping ensure that members uphold expectations of quality and professionalism.

Advocacy and Influence: Professional associations often lobby for policies that benefit their members and industry. Being a member allows you to have a voice in these advocacy efforts. Some associations offer legal support or resources on hot topic issues.

Leadership Opportunities: Volunteering for committees, boards, or events within the association can develop leadership abilities and help members stand out. This is especially helpful for those who are seeking supervisory experience to improve their resume.

Support and Mentorship: Associations often offer formal mentorship programs that connect less experienced professionals with leaders in their field. Having a network of people in similar positions can provide advice, support, and insight into career challenges.

Give yourself the gift of professional growth by joining an association today. For library workers and supporters, both FLA and ALA lowered their membership rates this year. So now is the perfect time to invest in yourself.

6 Ways to Be More Productive

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What do experts in efficiency say are the best ways to be productive?

Journalist Emily Laurence reached out to productivity coaches to learn what they recommend to their clients. She summed up her findings in a recent article in GQ magazine titled 6 Ways to Be More Productive and Actually Get Stuff Done. The first piece of advice was to prioritize what needs to be done.

Productivity coach Juli Shulem says that there’s one word she repeatedly hears from all her clients: overwhelmed. When it comes to being more productive, she says that the biggest roadblock is that most people have no idea where to start. So instead of doing anything, they’re paralyzed and do nothing. Can you relate?

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So how does one decide where to start? The coach offered this advice.

Shulem says the first step to being productive is getting on paper everything you need to do. This includes both tasks that are immediate and need to be done that day as well as what eventually needs to be done. For big “to-dos” that are farther out, Shulem recommends breaking it down into smaller micro tasks. For example, if you have a big work presentation in three weeks, the micro-tasks could be research, building your deck, and doing a run-through of exactly what you’re going to say.

To learn the other five ways to be more productive, please read the rest of the article.