Classes for Businesses and Organizations

Busy professionals regularly juggle multiple projects (and deadlines), interruptions, huge To Do lists, and a mountain of email. And we all know that multitasking doesn’t work.

Our curriculum starts with a three-hour Time Management Class which is designed to increase productivity and work performance – and reduce stress. The follow up is our two-hour Planning class.

Work with your brain – instead of against it

When you understand how to do work with your brain (instead of against it), you can more easily manage your workload, reduce the overwhelm, and spend your time responding instead of reacting.

Did you know that what we do and how we do it is less about willpower and personality… and more about how the brain is wired?

In our Time Management class, you will:

Learn about the brain’s natural tendencies
Get a clear understanding of the strengths/weaknesses of your own executive function skills
Know the visual tools/strategies that support your brain
Practice techniques that improve decision-making and alertness – and reduce stress
Increase your ability to keep time and task in hand

In our Planning class, you will:

Reduce “project overwhelm” by supporting your brain
Identify and prioritize projects (and the actionable steps inside them)
Get the tools/strategies to get started/stay on task/finish the elusive projects
Learn new techniques to expand your ability to be present
Leave with an easy-to-follow action plan

You will find that these visual tools/strategies are applicable in your personal life as well. We regularly hear how people have shared this information with their partners, children and extended family – and how their lives have also been positively impacted.

We Travel!

If your business is outside of the Portland Metro or the San Francisco Bay area, we can come to you. Travel fees vary depending on location.

Call 503-380-8031 or Click to Contact Us

Read what our clients have to say…

“This was a great class that reminded me of some organizational tools I should be using but more importantly grounded the advice in psychological & neurological principles that helped them make sense.”
~ Noah Brimhall, Director of SEO & CRO

“The course definitely covered some of my problem areas. While the practical and tactical solutions are simple, Mary Ellen did a great job of connecting efficiency problems to their causes and solutions with relevant scientific research.”
~ Bryce Hanson, SEO Manager

“Great analysis of not only what can help increase your productivity (personally and professionally), but also breaking down the ‘why’. Having the insight to the neuroscience definitely made everything more tangible for me!”
~ Alex, Customer Success Manager

“Very informative and refreshing.”
“Loved your class! It was great to learn how I am wired then find solutions to help combat that.”
“I loved your approach of understanding the way brains work. I was really fascinated by the knowledge. I feel like I have a better understanding of my brain, in addition to ways in which to best work around it.”

We had the pleasure of having Mary Ellen present the first part of the Time Management Training to our Workforce Recruitment and Training team. This came at a great time for us as recruitments and projects are starting to pick up.

I personally found her science evidence-based approach on how our brain works and how it relates to time management fascinating. My colleagues and myself were engaged throughout the whole session. We were able to go back to work with realistic and effective tools to help better plan and manage our workload. We are already looking forward to the second phase of the time management series next month!
~ Halima Abdirizak, OSS III, City of Portland

I got a lot out of the class, both for work and home. Mary Ellen clearly explained the class structure so we knew what to expect of the 3 hours class. She explained the complicated topic of brain science in an understandable way, utilized the many styles of learning, visual, auditory and kinesthetic. Included many relatable examples, and offered many different practical and useful tools to try out to help manage your time. I think everyone came away with something they could try!
~ Kristan Alldrin, Parking Operations Coordinator, City of Portland Bureau of Transportation

Click to view additional City of Portland reviews

“I LOVED this workshop – applications for both personal and professional life. I’ve used several tactics already.”
“I really appreciate that your training focused on the basics: do not multitask, do one thing at a time, reverse engineer projects from the desired outcome, do your best to be present.”
“I loved the class, wish I could of participated in the full version. The workbook was helpful and made implementing some of what I learned right away [easier]. The science behind how our brains work in relationship to the topic was fascinating. It also justified my need for physical and visual tools outside of current mobile technology. I also loved sharing what I learned with others.”
“I have been applying the techniques suggested in the class and it has a made a huge difference in my accomplishments throughout the work day.”
“I found the information very useful and helpful. I have new tools to use for managing my time and projects.”
“I thought the workshop was very well organized and very helpful! Mary Ellen is great at personalizing the ideas and strategies in the moment so people understand.”
“I really enjoyed and benefited from this class. I went straight home and used the time cube and the time circles with my son and he has been using them every day with homework.”
“I liked the course.”
“I got a lot out of the training. Thank you!”
“Great class. I especially liked how well you provided concrete tools to use for common time management challenges.”
“The class presented several simple tools already within my ability to employ. The instructor explained the tools and answered questions from a position of deep experience and expertise. I also appreciated the grounding in neuroscience, it “humanized” the material and made it more directly impactful, to me at least.”
“I found your class to be informative and ** timely **! Thank you for the provision of insight as to how the brain works and how to retrain it to be more effective.”
“I thought the class was very informative and interesting. I enjoyed learning the scientific side of how our brain functions and relates to what we are experiencing. You provided a lot of interesting facts, tips, and skills that can be implemented in a way that didn’t feel overwhelming. The class was a good pace and the cube breaks were a great live example of time management.”
“I enjoyed the class and learned a lot of useful information. I think anybody can have a positive takeaway from this course.”
“The response inhibition (feel your feet!), task initiation (timer to START tasks) and working memory tips (and I’ve been using lists for decades more crudely) were my favorite new tools to improve my time management & stress levels.”

Mary Ellen is wonderful! She created trainings for us that were relevant, engaging, and applicable, and she is an absolute pleasure to work with. She’s responsive, organized (of course!), flexible, and really committed to doing excellent work.

She worked hard to make sure she understood the different roles and needs of various staff groups, meeting with supervisors and gathering information, so that she could design trainings that were tailored to the specific needs of each group. Her training style is approachable and interactive, and it’s clear she has deep knowledge and expertise of her subject. She uses lots of stories and examples to help trainees understand the content, and staff especially appreciated how interactive the sessions were.

In the training environment, it was great to be able to think about and plan for how the new skills could be applied on the job. We will absolutely work with Mary Ellen again and can’t recommend her highly enough.
~ Rebecca Koon, Training and Equity Coordinator

Click to view additional Home Forward reviews

“Best training at Home Forward ever.”
“I learned to use analog clocks and a few different ways to plan out my time!”
“The class was very Informative. I am using a lot of things that I learned and have applied them to everyday life at home and at work.”
“I thought it was very helpful. I now have a daily calendar and a weekly planner. It’s definitely helped me get my schedule in check.”
“Excellent.”
Super helpful for both myself and staff. We are already using some of the suggested tools!”
“I really liked your presentation it was of great help. I am working with my folder every day and trying to use it in my personal life. The only comment I would have is how fast we went through the material although it helped with keeping everyone on track. I wish it would have been a little slower. Thank you 😊”
“Very great ideas were given to keep track of time and organizing techniques. Also very good information about how our brains work.”
“I found your training very helpful. I have already implemented only checking my email 3 times a day which has helped me stay more on task and a bit less stressed :)”
“I love the binder I received! It is going to help me with coordination around the many properties I oversee.”
“I thought the training was well done. I was able to take away some tips that I could use in my day to day work.”
“Useful and eye opening.”
“I appreciate the opportunity to talk and think about our use of time and how we might improve this to become more efficient but also less stressed.”
“I liked this training and found it be very useful at work and home. I really enjoyed how our brains function and what we use and how we store memory.”
“This was an excellent training with very helpful tips and fantastic information!”
“I really enjoyed the class.”

Mary Ellen Baker created a customized time management training for my non-profit sales and support team. She worked diligently for many months by meeting with myself and my managers to create a training that would teach my team the skills they needed.

The training she created was perfect! For adult-learners she built in many exercises to keep them challenged and engaged. Though the training was in late 2017, many of my team members are still utilizing the techniques she taught us. I think my team is more efficient and organized overall since taking her training.
~ Melissa Miller, Department Director

The class was very informative. I appreciated having material to look over, and that we worked on together throughout the class. The pace was perfect in terms of feeling comfortable to ask questions as they came up, and felt safe enough to not feel shame/embarrassed by our questions.

Mary Ellen was knowledgeable, welcoming, and engaging. I really appreciated the follow-up emails with further documents and information.
~ Beatrice Camacho, Tenant Organizer
North Bay Organizing Project (Santa Rosa, CA)