For today’s post, I’m sending you over to millionairemummynextdoor to read about removing buts from our lives i.e all the reasons why we think we will not, should not or could not be successful. Check it out.
Archive for Organizing Strategies – Page 7
Are you visual person susceptible to the noise of many different items of different sizes and colours on a shelf?
Are you a tosser who like to “toss” items into a storage bin/basket/file/drawer?
Are you auditorily inclined? Do you find yourself talking to yourself all the way through the next year’s budget preparation complete with a “There, that’s done for a year!” when its complete?
Much the same way we have preferences in the way we process information and respond to new opportunities, we all have organizing personalities. Your organizing personality is related to your learning preferences and generally falls into the categories of visual, auditory, or kinesthetic. There are however, many other ways to organize. Some people have a tendency to organize by time.
Understanding what your personality will help you to tailor your oranizing systems and process to match your personality. A mismatch wil lead to systems which don’t get used and process which fall apart with the resulting disorganization that ensues.
To determine your personality, whatch and listen to how you organize at your desk. Do you talk out loud (auditory)? Do you like to sort your files by colour (visual)? So you like to sort by date? Do you prefer all your surfaces to be clear but don’t care about the inside of your drawers or cupboards? Do you need everthing out where you can see it (visual). Do you like to get up and file or toss things in your office (kinetic)?
The best way to keep paper from accumulating is to keep it out of the house.
When you receive the mail, get into the habit of sorting and reading the loose material right over the recycling bin. That way you can throw the unnecessary fliers, brochures and promotional items along with all the envelopes right into the bin as you sort through them and open the mail. The pile of paper will immediately decrease in size and you are left with paper that really in which you are really interested.
The weather is chilly, the snow is threatening and winter is looming in the shape of a big, grey, cold cloud. I promised last week that I would report on the success of Bob McGee’s (CHFI, Toronto) coat drive from last weekend.
Toronto has proven once again it is a city with lots of heart and closets with lightening potential. Over 10,000 coats were collected which will be distributed to children where needed. Here’s a picture of the truck loads. Way to go TO!
It seems the longer I work as a professional organizer, the less organizing is about the stuff and the more it is about stuff behind the stuff.
What is your vision for your life? What is your vision for your home? What is your vision for your favourite place in your home? Do you have a vision?
If we don’t have a clear understanding of what we desire for ourselves it is very hard to get there – sort of like that preverbial trip, not knowing where you are going and no map to get there.
Before you start your next organizing project, develop a really clear vision of what the space, room, area, corner or cupboard will look, feel, smell, sound or function like when you are done. If you are more kinetic than visual, try imagining what the space or place will feel like and how you will function in it. Likewise, if you are more auditorily inclined (listening) try describing outloud how the space will look, feel or function.
Start with a clear vision – its much easier to know when you get there.
You can’t get to sleep but you don’t want to get up. You can’t seem to concentrate at work and you have no energy to apply yourself. You are becoming less and less organized and slipping futher and further behind in your work. And the strange thing is – you’ve noticed that you don’t really care any more. In fact, you really don’t care about very much right now. Even those golf clubs which you used to keep busy every weekend, haven’t left the cupboard in months.
You may be suffering from depression. One of the key symptoms is a lack of energy and diminished interest in things that used to be important to you. With the lack of energy comes an inability to organize. Filing, sorting and especially deciding all take emotional energy. An individual suffering from depression doesn’t have the energy it takes to focus on some of these tasks and see them through to completion.
If this sounds like you, it is important that you get treatment from a physician or other health care professional. There are many different medications available for the treatment of depression. There are other treatments available as well. Don’t let depression deprive you of enjoying the beautiful life you deserve.
To review development of your goals click here.
To review measurement of your goals click here.
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
You recognize its time to increase organization in your business. You’ve been working diligently to increase your personal organization. As the paper clears and the dust settles, you realize your staff are also working in a cluttered, ineffective environment. It’s time to change the culture in the office from “No one really cares since these aren’t public offices” to “We are proud of the professional environment in which we work“. These strategies will help.
1. Set the Standard Yourself
As head of the organization, directorate or department, your leadership sets the tone. If your office is a pile of disorganized papers, you give your staff the impression you don’t care what the place looks like. Why should they? I know, I know. You can find anything you want in the office right? Are you sure? How long will it take you? And if you don’t show up tomorrow is that the way you want your leadership role remembered? To increase organization in your business requires increased organization for yourself. Get help if you need it and struggle to manage the space, time or stuff.
2. Walk the Talk
Start talking about professional presentation and image at meetings. Add it to performance appraisals to make staff accountable. In order to increase organization in your business, you will have to set the standard across your business practices. The top of your desk is only one place. Staying on time for, during and at meetings speaks volumes about how your expect your staff to perform.
3. Make it easy
Ensure that every staff member has immediate access to a blue box for recycling; right beside their desk in place of a garbage can wouldn’t be tool close.
4. Give staff the Tools
Ensure that every staff has the tools they need to be organized in their work space. Do they have reasonable access to appropriate filing space? Do they have a desk that works? Is there a book shelf or alternative for holding company policy manuals or obligatory preventative maintenance reports? If you aren’t sure what is missing or why an employee is so disorganized, consider having a professional organizer conduct an assessment of the work space in question. There may be more complex organizational issues that the employee is struggling with.
5. Make Organizing a Habit
Schedule a semi-annual clear out day. The rules for the time are simple. Everyone participates in a clear out of their work space on this day. No other meetings or activities are booked. Order lunch for the gang. To increase organization in your business requires routine and practice.
A client recently expressed the following frustration:
“I have too many casual-use dishes, and they are taking up a lot of space in my cupboards. But I can’t bear to part with any of them. One set (of about eight) was given to me by my late mother and includes a set of casserole dishes, mugs, coffee pot, salt and pepper shakers, butter dish with cover, and so on. These are my favourite, but they’re not microwave safe. The second set (of four) was given to me by my daughters when they were younger, one of the first gifts they bought for me with their own money. They’re pretty, and I like the shape of the bowls, but some have broken so now there aren’t enough. And they don’t go with anything else I have. The third set are plain white, which is practical because I can use them to supplement my good china. All three sets came with cups and saucers, which I never use and would give away, but I don’t like to separate them from the rest of the set. Do you have any suggestions for how to reclaim space in my cupboards?“
This is a classic expression of the frustration we all experience when objects pile up and emotional ties prevent us from letting them go. Here are some suggestions that might help you in this situation:
- If you like the objects, get them out of hiding and use them.
- Consider that your mother probably did not expect you to keep the dishes forever and would be very sad that you were experiencing so much stress over them. Who would she suggest that you give them to or what would she have liked you to do when you were finished with them?
- Move the dishes out of the cupboard and lay them out in a different room. Taking items out of context often helps the sorting/separating process by changing perspective.
- Play the strangers, acquaintances, friends game. Which of the dishes are friends and which are strangers? Send the strangers away.
- The emotional attachment in this case is not likely to the dishes, which are at the end of the day, just dishes you are not using. The attachment is to your mother and your daughters. Rather than keeping a cupboard full of dishes, pick one or two which serve as a representation of the love you have for them and send the rest away.
- Often by giving items which hold a strong emotional memory to someone or someplace of significance to us, the emotional attachment to the object can be diminished by the emotional experience of the giving. Are your daughters setting up their own homes yet? Could they use the dishes? Do you know a single mother who is struggling to make ends meet? Would she enjoy some lovely dishes? You get the picture.
- Take a picture! Get a friend or family member to take a picture of you using the dishes and with the entire set. In the case of the dishes your daughters gave you, have them in the picture too. You can now save the picture to remind you of the dishes and to elicit the same feelings of love for your family members without keeping all the objects.
