It doesn’t happen very often but today is the day I put in a plug for the industry. On the afternoon of the scarey night and just one week before the Canadian national association for professional organizers – Professional Organizers in Canada – starts it annual conference here in Toronto, what could be a better time?
Being disorganized can be stressful and very scarey. Maybe you or someone you know consistently pays their bills late, if at all, because they either can’t remember to pay them or can’t find the bills. Have you ever added up the late fees incurred by those last payments?
This is just one example of the cost of disorganization and there are many more. Costs can be evaluated in money, heartache and physical or emotional stress. If you or a loved one is constantly or chronically disorganized either at home or at work, you already know how painful it can be.
The good news is that there is help. Both the Canadian association Professional Organizers in Canada , or POC, and our American affiliate the National Association of Professional Organizers, or NAPO have online directories to assist you in finding an organizer in your area. In addition, the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization, or NSGCD, has resources available on its website for the public looking for information. With NSGCD you can also look up the certificates that a professional organizer may have earned if they are pursuing education with the study group. Here is a list of the certificates that I have earned.
It may be spooky out there tonight, but living your life ought to be joyful, not frightful.
Archive for October 2008
It doesn’t happen very often but today is the day I put in a plug for the industry. On the afternoon of the scarey night and just one week before the Canadian national association for professional organizers – Professional Organizers in Canada – starts it annual conference here in Toronto, what could be a better time?
Being disorganized can be stressful and very scarey. Maybe you or someone you know consistently pays their bills late, if at all, because they either can’t remember to pay them or can’t find the bills. Have you ever added up the late fees incurred by those last payments?
This is just one example of the cost of disorganization and there are many more. Costs can be evaluated in money, heartache and physical or emotional stress. If you or a loved one is constantly or chronically disorganized either at home or at work, you already know how painful it can be.
The good news is that there is help. Both the Canadian association Professional Organizers in Canada , or POC, and our American affiliate the National Association of Professional Organizers, or NAPO have online directories to assist you in finding an organizer in your area. In addition, the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization, or NSGCD, has resources available on its website for the public looking for information. With NSGCD you can also look up the certificates that a professional organizer may have earned if they are pursuing education with the study group. Here is a list of the certificates that I have earned.
It may be spooky out there tonight, but living your life ought to be joyful, not frightful.
I’ll be you thought this would be another Time Tamer, right? My apologies if I have disappointed you. As the mother of 14 and 7 year old children, the scarey experience of sugar-saturated costume-laddened monsters coming home from Hallowe’en festivities is all too familiar at our house.
The better you can feed your children before they go out Trick or Treating, the less likely they will fill up on candy and come home with bouncing-off-the-walls horrors of behaviour.
For many of us the time between return from work and Trick or Treating is very, very short. Meal time on October 31 for young families can be a horrifying experience at the best of times – who needs the costumes?
Try this: see if you can prepare as much of tomorrow’s supper as possible tonight or tomorrow morning. Have the kids set the table. Defrost the meat, casserole or whatever they will eat. If sandwiches are the best you can muster – prepare them ahead of time. For those of us north of the 49th, sandwiches and soup will at least make sure the children are fed and warm; they are thus more likely to enjoy the evening and consume less candy.
Good luck with your goblins!
To review development of your goals click here.
To review measurement of your goals click here.
Like many families, yours may have a box of ever-ready dress up clothes. You may, in fact, have already been through the box with your children in preparation for this year’s Hallowe’en costumes.
Why not take the time to clear it out and purge the clutter from the box. Grab a big bag and clear out any clothes that don’t fit, are torn too much even for dress up, haven’t seen the light of day for five years or generally don’t seem to belong there anymore. Make room for the new costume pieces added this year and those great cast-aways from your wardrobe that the kids want to keep for dress up.
The Hallowe’en gools are around the corner and third quarter is history. And then there’s this thing called the global economy and those volatility indicators.
You can’t stop the Hallowe’en loot or make time stand still. November 1 will arrive this Saturday whether or not you have been tracking progess on your strategic goals this year. Nor do you have much control over the global economic factors which will play out for better or for worse.
But you do have control over tracking your progress on your business or personal goals. The good news is that if you haven’t started yet, you still have eight weeks to get your tracking systems in place. That bad news is that without concrete information about your progress in 2008, it will be pretty hard to set realistic goals for 2009.
Where are you at?
Do you have hot files in your office?
Hot files are the ones that either you are working on everyday because of their importance or contain the key To Do items because of their relevance.
Often when a hot file system has not been set up, people tend to keep the key files out on their desk. Eventually a whole bunch of files are on their desk and a few get moved to the credenza. Then there are a whole bunch on the credenza and a few get moved to the floor… you get the picture. You may be looking at that phenomena in your own office or that of your key director/manager. Try this strategy:
- Pick a separate colour file folder for your hot files. Pick a hot one that will grab your attention.
- Clear out of the things in/on and around your desk the key projects on which you are focussing.
- Find either a desk top file vertical file holder or pick one of the side drawers of your desk and empty it out.
- Put the files in the coloured folders and label them accordingly then file them in the spot you have chosen.
- This is the new home of your hot files and you will find them there, in prime real estate, each time you need them.
I first published this tip 11 months ago. As I see more and more pre-Hallowe’en evidence of the holiday season blasting forward about as fast as the stock market is falling downward, I decided it wasn’t too early to republish. This 2nd edition focuses on the simplification of the consumable gift and less expensive options.
Once again, let’s redefine the word consumable. The Encarta Dictionary defines consumable goods as “goods that have to be bought regularly because they wear out or are used up, such as food and clothing”. For the purposes of gift-giving, I have defined the word as follows:
A consumable gift is one which by its inherent nature has a best before date or natural expiry date, wears out or is used up and permits the recipient an opportunity to enjoy for a limited time and then dispose of, without guilt.
If this is a definition that appeals to you for individuals on your gift list, here are some suggestions to get your shopping started.
- Baskets of food, home made preserves, including perhaps candles and some decorative paper napkins related to a a personal interest or characteristic of the recipient e.g. gardener!
- A tribute donation to a charity which is already supported by the recipient or otherwise meaningful to them e.g. The Toronto Humane Society, The Cancer Society.
- A sponsorship donation to a charity which has designed annual sponsorship or gift campaigns e.g. The Toronto Zoo has set up an animal adoption program. In the adoption package you receive a picture and information about your animal. World Vision has a gift catalogue from which you can pick an item that can be supported by your donation e.g. 2 rabbits to a family ($35), a harvest pack for 4 families ($35), a backpack with school supplies for a child ($25), help a family start a business ($100) or fill up a whole stable ($1200). My daughter (13) and son (6) love this catalogue and had fun doing the “shopping” for me for their cousins in Hong Kong and Italy, some neighbours and friends.
- Gift certificates especially for a clothing store or movie passes. These gifts are great for the teenagers on your list. How about IKEA so your niece can redecorate her room? A manicure for your workaholic sister? Then book the appointment and enjoy together!
- Candles, decorative paper napkins, coffee
- Prepackage the dry ingredients for your favourite muffin recipe in a jar and include the recipe on the label.
- Offer to babysit your sister’s children for a day so that she and her husband can take a day out together.
- A music lesson for someone who always wanted to play the ______(you fill in the instrument).
You get the idea. Now let your imagination have some fun and enjoy the shopping experience knowing that you are helping to keep clutter at bay in someone else’s life.
If you suffer from ADD you may be all to well aware of the dangers of hyperfocus when you get into a project. Four hours after starting, you pull your head out of the project to find that your family will be home for dinner in 5 minutes and you were planning to shop for groceries before the end of the day. Meanwhile, the project at hand is spread across the dining room table. Sound familiar?
Consider keeping a time tamer alarm close at hand for these situations. Set the alarm for 45 minutes to an hour. When the alarm goes off, get up from where you are working, walk around, get a drink to stay hydrated. After 5 minutes or so return to the task at hand and reassess the degree of focus you have given based on your objectives for the time you have to work.
Remember to reset the alarm before you return to work.
Are you a procrastinator? Are you overwhelmed with the tasks at hand and would rather just avoid them?
Here is an excellent, short discussion around procrastination at the office and what to do about it:
http://www.lifeorganizers.com/office/procrastination-at-work.htm
