Category: - Welcome to Clutter Mastermind Organizing Services

Show me an example My title page contents

Tornado Watch is in Effect

2/28/2011

Does that strike fear into you when you hear it? Even though I live in western North Carolina and believe it to be a relatively safe spot considering no place is TOTALLY safe, I have an emergency grab and go bag that I update frequently ... just in case. The area where I live is not prone to earthquakes, floods, fires, tornadoes or hurricanes generally speaking ... but you never know. I just feel better being prepared.

Have you taken the time to gather all of your important personal information in one place? Have you thought about what you would do if you were told to evacuate with a 15 minute notice? What's most important to you besides people and pets? Photos? Computer? Electronic gadgets? Do you have cash? Gas in your car? Family emergency notification plan in place?

I firmly believe that the time to think about disaster preparation is BEFORE it is staring you in the face. I help my clients organize important information and think through possibilities ...

Do you have a plan in place? Do you need my help?

Choose 5

2/24/2011

In numerology, the number 5 signifies action … restlessness … and change. Therefore, 5 is a perfect number to make dynamic progress on your goals. If you have chosen your number one priority and so far this year you been limping along, make an agreement with yourself that starting today, you will accomplish 5 tasks related to your top priority every day. They don’t have to take hours of your time: baby steps work as long as you are making forward progress. Work related: thank someone … write something in your blog … call someone … create something … post an update on facebook or twitter … do some research … work up an ad campaign … send out your newsletter … work on your website … listen to a teleseminar … set up a system to handle routine tasks … delegate. Personal growth related: meditate … exercise … work up a meal plan … go for a walk … read a book … declutter 5 items … the possibilities are endless. Choose 5, get creative and GET MOVING! There’s no telling what you will achieve …

Compartmentalization and Batching as Time Management Tools

2/20/2011

When we are overwhelmed with everything we have to do, we need to be able to compartmentalize.   If you know what your goals are, you have a choice each day to decide what is most important to you right now. Decide on the top 3 things to do and take action, even if it is only baby steps. By the end of the week you will have accomplished 21 “important” tasks. This signals to your subconscious that you are serious about accomplishing your goals because you have prioritized and decided on what’s most important to you. You have a new choice every day which goal you work on, so the others are not forgotten. It simply helps you to focus on what’s most important TODAY and eliminate distractions.

Batching is helpful because putting similar chores together increases your productivity; you build momentum and get on a roll so everything flows more smoothly.

1.       Errands: choose one day a week to do errands … map out the most efficient route

2.       Phone calls: return calls at a time convenient for you

3.       Cooking: prepare multiple meals on weekends … freeze portions and reheat the rest during the week

4.       E-mail: only check your e-mail a few times a day … let people know not to expect an instant response

5.       Bills:   note on your calendar when they are due or use a tickler file … pay them once or twice a month

6.       Paperwork: schedule weekly time to do all your filing at one time

7.       Social media / blogging:   spend time writing several blogs at one time and use www.hootsuite.com to schedule automatic publishing to Twitter and Facebook at specific times

8.       Templates: use templates for repeated tasks so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel each time

What are some tasks you do that would be streamlined by using this procedure?

Eliminate Distractions … Be Consistent Toward Completion

2/16/2011

We are all overloaded with information that comes to us from every direction on a regular basis, and we feel like we will never catch up. We have so many interests that we subscribe to lists or read magazines, etc so we don’t miss out on the latest and greatest. We need to learn to be selective in what we bring into our reality because sometimes the real trick isn’t to learn more but to apply what you already know. There’s always going to be more information out there, but you can’t manufacture more time.

"There's a difference between interest and commitment. When you're interested in doing something, you do it only when it's convenient. When you're committed to something, you accept no excuses; only results." – Unknown

Be realistic: let go of impossible expectations. We can’t do it all. Live your life but schedule time for reading based on your own internal clock. Are you more receptive right before bed so your brain can work on new ideas during sleep, or first thing in the morning? Look for pockets of time while waiting for appointments or picking up your kids: always have something to read available to pass the time.

Distractions will happen so we need to develop self-discipline in order to focus on our priorities. Granted … we all need to relax … have fun … take a break now and then to clear our heads. But when I look back, completing a task always gave me a great sense of pride knowing I had done my best and all the hard work was worth it.

We need to learn to stick to one project and finish it before starting another. As you work, keep a pad of paper and pen nearby. When you think of something that distracts you, write it down so you won’t forget it and then go back to what you were doing. List ideas by topic and then prioritize the topics … sometimes an idea needs to percolate and by the time you get around to working on the idea it is no longer relevant.

Think about all the great ideas you have heard about … how many of them are a part of your routine or just wishful thinking? No matter how great the idea is, we can’t do them all. A great idea has no value to us unless it is implemented. Be realistic … prioritize … be selective … eliminate distraction … be committed and consistently stick to it … bask in the joy of completion. Your life reveals itself through your choices. Once we develop self-discipline and master the basics, we are free to create our expansive lives.

Routines Revisited: Do a brain dump and stop the overwhelm!

2/10/2011

February is National Time Management Month.   To make your life flow more easily, I can’t emphasize enough how important systems and routines are so that the mundane parts of your life simply become established habits. This frees up your mind and heart for your creative passions and where the real juiciness of your life resides.

Keep it simple. I encourage clients to do a brain dump and write down everything they want in their routine and then pare it down from there. When they first come to me they have usually tried to establish routines before and then totally ignore the routine because it is so overwhelming. We all know there are not enough hours in the day to realistically do everything we are told to do by either our parents, peers or the media. Then we feel guilty because we are not “good enough.” We assume everyone else has it figured out and we are lacking in some way. This is simply not true. We all have different priorities in our lives and can’t rely on outside sources to tell us how to live our ideal life: only we know how to do that. Trust yourself and your intuition.

Don’t judge yourself: make a promise to yourself that you will implement these changes in a loving way. Give yourself some leeway: plan for double the amount of time you think a task will take, than you can be happy and surprised when it takes less time than you thought. Chunk it down into doable baby steps. This way we get our subconscious on board with us and instead of sabotaging us because we have failed so many times before and it doesn’t take us seriously, our subconscious sees steady progress and rockets us to our goals.

Use a calendar. Teach everyone in your household to check it regularly. Have that as part of your routine if you regularly forget to look at it.

Take some time in the next few days to make a simple routine for yourself. Trust me when I say: you’ll be glad you did. Only when you have established those basic habits, you can choose to add a few more things … one step at a time.

Checklists from a Systemologist

2/3/2011

I’ve always been a “systemologist” which for me translates into creating checklists to improve efficiency. My philosophy is why re-invent the wheel? Whenever I start a new process that will be repeated on a regular basis, I create a checklist with all pertinent steps so I don’t have to remember them in the future. It becomes automatic, and as I continue to do the process I tweak my checklist if I see a faster way to do it. It’s not about getting more done: it is about doing boring, repetitive tasks faster so I can get to the fun part of my life. I have found that when I don’t use a checklist, I can become distracted and forget a step which ends up taking more time because I might have to go back and re-do something.

·         I have a daily routine checklist for things I do every day to make my life run more smoothly.

·         I use a calendar which is “supreme law” … items listed on the calendar take priority over everything else which really helps avoid conflicts and over scheduling of appointments.

·         I use an online calendar called cozi which will send me text messages to my phone as reminders of appointments and recurring weekly, monthly, or quarterly events that might have slipped through the cracks otherwise.

Take a moment to think about where you could use a checklist to improve the quality of your life. It could be a “get out the door on time” checklist of things you need to take with you when you leave the house each day, or a grocery checklist of staple items you need every week … wherever you have a frustration about “forgetting” things might be a good place to start. Please feel free to share your solutions with me because we all become so creative when shown a new way of thinking.

Re-Commit to Your New Daily Habits and Routines

1/30/2011

But first, take a few minutes today to look at your loose ends from 2010: did you finish them all yet or are they still in your mind, nagging at you? Take a suggestion from Nike and JUST DO IT! Otherwise they will just weigh down the New Year’s passion, motivation and excitement you felt a few weeks ago. Re-focus … don’t go on a guilt trip here. Remember WHY you wanted the goals you set. Putting new habits in place is worth it. If you haven’t already done so, find an accountability partner. This alone will help you in enormous ways.

I heard this suggestion and perhaps it will work for you.   Make a list of 6 items that need to be done and then roll the dice: let lady luck determine what you will do if you are procrastinating <as you complete an item, you can add another item to the list until all your loose ends are done>.   Simple, quick and effective!

I am proud of myself because I committed to doing the time management grid for the month and I did it. It gave me a realistic view on how I spend my time. I tweaked it each week so there was more balance and now I can re-set my routines for the year so I make time daily to reach my goals. Without seeing the truth, I could have continued fooling myself and gotten to the end of 2011 with fewer accomplishments and more regrets. So, I am giving myself a pat on the back because I truly am making daily progress toward my goals.

Do you need to re-commit to your routines and focus? Just Do It!! Re-prioritize your choices with a quick check in … things can change even in a month since time is compressing.   Focus on the end result … and visualize how you will feel about yourself when you have accomplished it!

"Don't let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use."   Earl Nightingale 1921-1989, Author

Menu Planning in Retrospect

1/28/2011

I don’t know about you, but even though I know I should plan my menus in advance each week this seems to be an area where I procrastinate. This would be efficient in so many ways: using what’s in the fridge to reduce waste, saving time by going to the grocery store less often, saving gas, not hearing every day “what’s for dinner?” and going out to eat because I don’t want to think about what to make for dinner after a long day.

I can streamline every other area of my life, but for some reason knowing what I should do here and actually doing it is hard for me. I think it’s because I really want a cook who plans and shops and cooks scrumptious and healthy meals for me so I don’t have to think about it. At least that’s my fantasy and I’m sticking to it! So I decided to cut myself some slack and voila a thought came to me that was doable: instead of planning ahead, plan in retrospect. Why not write down what I eat each day for a month and then use that information to plan for next month? At least I would have something I could work with. This way I could look in the fridge each week before shopping and plan menus based on what needs to be used before it goes bad. Less time wasted … less food wasted … this might just work! How do you deal with the daily “what’s for dinner” issue?

More DSO Tips for January

1/26/2011

Please add these to your January DSO Tips <see posts from 1/12/11 and 1/19/11>

26. Take responsibility for your attitude … laugh and have fun today
27. Change air conditioning filters … quarterly
28. Do breast self-exam … on the same day each month
29. Have a sit-down dinner with no distractions … turn phone and electronics off
30. Turn your mattress
31. Take de-cluttered items to Goodwill

I hope these have been helpful to you. Whether you choose to do some or all of them, at least it can give you ideas so some things don't slip through the cracks. As I work further on this concept, I hope it will provide some more rhythm in my life as well. What do you do on a regular basis at a certain time every month? I would love your input! All of the January tips are on one page in my facebook fan page: Clutter Mastermind Organizing Services

Routines Provide the Rhythm in Your Life

1/24/2011

We all need structure in our lives but have a tendency to rebel against it. We need to develop routines that become automatic habits so we no longer have to think about them. The key is to figure out how we want to “be” in our lives and then figure out the most effective ways to “do” that. If you add baby steps that turn into habits this will help you accomplish your goals with less effort because it becomes your new way of “being.”

I have found that if I have a schedule with specific times to do things I will rebel. When I work with the concepts of “morning”, “afternoon”, “evening” it works better for me ... with no actual times attached. It allows more flexibility and being able to go with the flow if interruptions occur, rather than throwing me totally off track. If you need more structure, then you can break it down even further by adding things like “work” or “family” or “chores,” etc. You don’t need to add things you already automatically do like take a shower or brush your teeth. It works best for me when I list things here that help my day run more smoothly that I sometimes forget to do, or new habits I want to establish. This is my basic daily routine; weekend routines may be slightly different and you might want to set up another one for weekends, or you can always give yourself a couple of days off and just totally go with the flow. Depending on the weekend, I back up my computer, clean out my inbox if not already done, work on projects, marathon movie watching with my daughter, go for a hike, play games, visit friends … whatever is fun and works in your lives.

Morning Routine   <sets the tone for the day>   <drink water>

            Self: meditate … mind movie / visualization … grooming … exercise … check calendar

            Household: basic chores … projects

            Work: writing … reading … calls … meetings … marketing … email … paperwork

Afternoon Routine   <drink water>

            Work:   whatever didn’t get done in morning

            Household:    errands … cook dinner

            Family: talk … share your day

Evening Routine    <drink water>

            Family:   play … create … plan for tomorrow

            Household:    basic chores … projects … hot spots

            Self: read … gratitude journal … meditate … check calendar

This is just a guide: set up your own routines based on how you want to “be” in your life and the habits you want to establish to make your life run more smoothly.