Blog

Author: Vali HeistClutter Digital Apps Electronic Organizing Filing General Goal Setting Home Organizing Project Management Time Management

Happy National Get Organized Month!

clip0001Happy New Year and Happy National Get Organized Month! I always set a few goals for myself and my business each New Year and organizing certainly plays a key role in accomplishing those goals. Over the years clients have asked for my assistance for many different reasons including New Year’s resolutions.

On the other hand, those resolutions are often derailed because “life happens.” Whether you are ready or not, you could lose your job, suffer through an illness, or deal with a divorce. You can’t always be prepared for the ups and downs of life, but being organized can help. Here are my ten organization basics to help you handle the uncertainties of life and achieve those pesky resolutions you are so adamant in keeping. Let’s break it down:

If it takes less than 60 seconds, do it! Whether it’s putting bills away, making a quick phone call, adding a number to your phone, sending a quick email, do it! Take seconds now or hours later.

A home for everything. Finding a home means you know where to put it when it gets misplaced and when you need it — it’s there!

Choose a time management tool. Use a day planner or smartphone to keep track of appointments, tasks lists, self-appointments, and vacation plans.

Keep lists. Use your time management tool for all lists: clothing, household items, food, gifts, etc. Keep sizes and dimensions on the list. Lists save time and money and no more buying things twice (you aren’t the only one).  

Consolidate contact information. Gather mailing addresses, emails, and phone numbers and place them in your time management tool. No more little pieces of paper and sticky notes all over the place.

Convenience is the key. No digging and no searching. Place things where you use them; keep most-used items front and center — no pushing other things aside to get to what you need.

Focus! Small and large task completion requires focus. Break down any large task into smaller, manageable pieces and stay focused: one bite at a time.

Know what to eliminate. Surround yourself with tasks, events, and people who support your goals. Eliminate the rest and learn to say “no” (I have a handout on my website).

Consult the experts. Don’t reinvent the wheel; ask friends for recommendations and referrals; consult the Internet (but don’t believe everything you read); and then trust your judgment.

Maintenance! Things will get out of order (even in my home), so do a little each evening or once a week in order to keep it that way. Have respect for yourself, your time, and your home. Every time you put something away, it’s a gift to yourself.

Whether you are making resolutions are just trying to smooth out life’s bumps in the road, get organized! You’ll be glad you did.

Clutter Quote: “God takes care of the breath of your life; it is your responsibility to take care of the depth of your life.” Unknown

 

 

Author: Darla PompilioChallenging Disorganization General Goal Setting Organizing Productivity Spiritual and Holistic Time Management

Self Management a.k.a Time Management

SchedulingLet’s face it we all have the same 24 hour day, so it’s not really time we need to manage, it’s ourselves we need to manage. According to experts, during the last 25 years, our leisure time has declined by 37% while our work week has increased by a full day.

Make Time for Yourself
This means we need to be sure to make time for ourselves first. If we don’t take care of ourselves — in the long run — we will not be able to take care of anyone else. That includes eating well, exercising, meditating a few minutes a day, and spending time with family and friends.

Set Daily Priorities
The best way to do this is to set daily priorities and intentions. Setting daily priorities creates a space for achieving your goals. It gives you a clear focus so the mind can hone in the day’s activities. Spending 10 to 15 minutes every morning mapping out your day can save up to 6 hours a week.

Scheduling
Now that you have your list of priorities it’s time to put them on the calendar. Schedule appointments with yourself to complete priority work. This will block out the space you need to get your tasks completed in a timely manner. Be sure to schedule the most important tasks at a time of day that you are most productive. If you are a morning person, then do your most important task first thing in the morning.

Put your personal & business schedules into one calendar so you have a snapshot of all your commitments at a glance. If you need several calendars for work, home and kids, then consider something like Google calendars that allows you to create a separate calendar for everyone in the family that can be snapped together as one calendar and separated on an as needed basis.

Go over your schedule each evening for the next day. This will help you sleep at night by preventing some of the list making that goes on in our heads when we wake up in the middle of the night.

Tasks
Try not to plan too much in one day. Too many items on a to-do list can create paralysis instead of action. Adding fewer more important tasks forces you to focus on what is really essential in your day.

• Prioritize your list so that you get the most important items completed first

• Break projects down into actionable steps

• Add any info you need to complete the task—phone #, links, addresses, etc

• Separate work and personal tasks

• Group tasks together like all phone calls, all errands, similar writing projects

• Avoid multitasking. It takes the brain four times longer to recognize and process each time you change gears to a new task. If you switch back and forth constantly you are wasting valuable time.

• Consider timing your tasks to give you a more accurate idea of how long certain activities take each day. This will help you to better plan your time.

Parting thoughts:
Most people are dis-organized because their organizing systems don’t match their current lives. If your system is the same you used in college or when you first started working, it may be time for a change. Using a new organizing system takes time and practice. There is no one-size-fits-all. If you have been doing the same thing for 20 years and you implement a new system — give it a little time.

Author: Annette ReymanClothing Clutter Donating Family General Goal Setting Home Organizing Paper Room Transformation Seasonal

De-Clutter Countdown to 2014

Annette's blog picAs you anticipate watching the ball drop in Times Square on New Year’s Eve, why not use these last days of 2013 to start your own countdown to the New Year? If clutter’s been an issue, here’s a countdown that will help you shake off the dust of the past so you can embrace the promise of the future. Ready? Here we go:

10!  De-clutter your family room –  Choose ten catalogues or magazines to recycle.

9!  Lighten up your bookshelves – Select nine books to donate to your local library.

8!  Make room for your new holiday clothes –  Go through your closets and drawers to see what you still love and what still fits. Remove eight articles of clothing to donate to your local Good Will Store.

7!  Unburden over-stuffed cupboards – Remove seven old, broken, or mismatched mugs, glasses and plastic cups.

6!  Manage a messy ‘junk drawer’ – Recycle or toss six items: old pens, dried up white out, and unknown stray parts that have been there for too long.

5!  Streamline your pantry – Remove five food items: throw out any food past its expiration date and find something you could donate to a church or local food bank.

4!  Freshen up your sock drawer  Remove four pairs of socks that have holes, worn-out elastic or that you no longer like to wear.

3!  Reduce bathroom clutter – Discard three toiletry items that are expired or used up.

2!  Clean out your jewelry case  Find two pieces of broken jewelry like mismatched earrings or broken chains, which you can discard or bring to have repaired.   

1!  Reclaim lost counter space in your kitchen – Remove one large item that you do not use daily such as an appliance or basket that’s serving no useful purpose. Store it away or donate it if you no longer need it.

I raise a glass to you – here’s to a healthy, happy, and organized New Year!

Author: Gabrielle Watters-SmithGeneral Goal Setting Holidays Project Management Seasonal Shopping

The Holiday Time Puzzle

Keep Calm & Twinkle On

Yes, it’s that time of the year again. The grocery store revealed the first clue that something was happening. There — I was greeted with remnants of goblins and candy, cranberries and stuffing, tinsel and gift wrap galore – ALL AT ONCE.

Immediately, my mind tallied the numerous tasks that needed to be accomplished in the next few weeks. By the time I made my way to the check-out line, I’m fairly certain that my frazzled expression and my declaration that the “holiday season has arrived” caused the cashier concern.

I really do enjoy the holidays, but sometimes it’s hard to wrap my head around the extra seasonal tasks and obligations that need to fit into my already busy 24 hours. It’s a time puzzle indeed!

With these five simple strategies below, you — and I — will have time to enjoy this season.

Take a few minutes and “Brain Dump.” Do NOT keep your holiday to-dos in your head! One of my favorite everyday organizational tools is workflowy. It’s a great way to organize your projects and tasks on your computer, smart phone, or tablet. For those who like to write, a notebook works just as well, but have it with you everywhere you go.

Focus on what’s important. Pause and really think about what makes your holiday season special to you and your family. Are there traditions and events that you look forward to or approach with less than a little enthusiasm? For example, if the thought of baking 12 dozen cookies does not fill you with the holiday spirit, take it off your list or delegate it!

Calendar your important holiday projects and tasks first. You will be more productive knowing that you are planning for and doing what brings you joy during the holidays. Then fill in with the less significant tasks.  Be at peace, if you cannot accomplish it all.

Set time limits to these tasks. Parkinson’s Law states that ‘work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.’ You will be amazed how quickly you are able to make a decision with a time limit. Go ahead, limit time spent gift shopping at the store or online.

Delegate, delegate, delegate. If you are entertaining during the holiday season, allow others to help you. This can mean a guest bringing a dish to contribute to your festive meal, someone setting the table, or helping with the mega dish clean-up. This year, I recognized that hosting the Thanksgiving meal was more than I could take on. After discussing alternatives with my family, we agreed that getting together was very important. Our solution — to meet at a centrally located restaurant for a leisurely family dinner. Less time shopping, cooking, cleaning, traveling and MORE time being together. I am grateful!

Feel free to share with us how you are planning to ease the stress of your holiday season.

Author: Yasmin GoodmanChallenging Disorganization General Goal Setting Home Organizing Procrastination Productivity Project Management Time Management

Curious George Isn’t Just for Kids!

Yasmin and Curious George

Kids May Have Curious George, But Adults Now Have Curious Accountability!

Like Curious George, who stimulates children’s natural curiosity about the world around them, Curious Accountability offers adults a new perspective for tasks associated with getting organized; one where they embark on an exciting journey of self discovery and realized goals. This methodology turns the act of getting organized into a skill building activity. Personal ‘aha’ moments promote longer lasting effects for those who want to get organized and remain organized over time.

At the National Association of Professional Organizers conference in New Orleans last month, Casey Moore and Cameron Gott introduced the concept of Curious Accountability. They defined this concept as “a positive evaluation process based on respect and trust that focuses solely on learning from actions (or inaction). The learning in turn, raises the awareness necessary for developing new skills and tools and achieving goals. Applied consistently over time, Curious Accountability increases self-knowledge and resilience and fosters effective behavior change”.

The word accountability, for many, has a negative connotation — answering to another or a feeling of being punished. In this Curious Accountability model, the focus is on learning and self discovery. Whether the task was accomplished or not, isn’t important. What is important is what the person learns from the process of doing or not doing the task.

Curious Accountability requires a contextual shift in one’s thinking to bring unwanted habits that promote disorganization into the lime light without the usual cloak of shame and blame. If we apply the same kind of curiosity, inquiry, and learning a scientist brings to their fieldwork — or Curious George brings to his daily adventures — we can free ourselves of the ever present good, bad, right or wrong rating systems we apply to our actions and efforts. We can, instead, view our actions, results, and even the “no results” through the filter of learning and exploration. Over time, we are left better problem solvers, in action, and moving towards our goals with more joy, confidence, and ease.

In this learning-focused approach, one might ask themselves at the end of a task or project (accomplished or not):

What did I learn?
What is the value of this learning to the task or overall goal?
What hurdles or “obstacles to overcome” did I discover?

Questions like these are good for illuminating what is important to us moving forward in our organizing endeavors. Should you “get stuck” in this new model, the role of the professional organizer, practiced in this technique, is to be an/a:

Active Listener – listening for the client’s goals and aspirations — long and short term
Cheerleader — keeping the person on track
Mirror – reflecting (not judging) how effective their actions are
Reminder for Self Awareness – let client’s experience inform their next actions
Involved Learner – redefine success

A professional organizer can summarize the learning as it relates to your over all goal or project leaving you ready, prepared, and empowered for your next week of Curious Accountability.

Kids may have Curious George to reveal the magic of curiosity, but adults now have Curious Accountability to propel them forward toward their goals with greater ease.

Author: Darla DeMorrowChallenging Disorganization Clutter General Goal Setting Organizing Productivity

Three People Walk Into A Bar at the NAPO Conference

NAPO 2013 Darla w Tolin

A neuroscientist, a professional organizer, and a mom walk into a bar… Sounds like the start of a joke, but it describes a bit of the National Association of Professional Organizers conference in New Orleans this year. You didn’t get to attend? That’s ok, because you can easily find a recap or two of the conference.

Probably the most important thing, though, is one simple idea. It’s the reason you landed on this page and are reading this article. Dr. Ari Tuckman talked about it. Dr. David Tolin talked about it. Dr. Kelly McGonigal talked about it. All of these folks, by the way, are great practitioners to follow in the world of organizing and productivity.

We don’t organize because we want to organize, but to live a more full life and do stuff we enjoy. It’s way more than labeling.

What every single professional organizer and productivity consultant in NAPO will agree on is that we want our clients and potential clients (that may be you) to want something more than pretty boxes and bins. Whatever your goal is, we want to help you get it.

• We want you to be out in your garden — not doing boring filing tasks.
• We want you doing more community building—not working on a boring operations manual at work.
• We want you spending more time with your family—not worried about email piling up.

Kevin Garton, from the NEAT Company, made a point as he talked about scanning technologies. His most prized accomplishment wasn’t reducing piles of paper to bits and bytes. His most valued scan was a handwritten note from his young daughter, that he had scanned to his cloud and could re-read it anytime, anywhere he wanted.

What do you want more than your clutter, piles, and paper messes? What part of your life do you want to be spending more time on, enjoying more, and sharing more with loved ones? Are you ready to let a professional organizer show you some supportive strategies to enjoy those things more? Because the most important things in life end up not being things, but if you’re a mom (or a dad), the neuroscientist and the professional organizer didn’t have to tell you that.