Peace of Mind Organizing

My blog's 8th birthday

10 November 2014

On November 10, 2006 I posted my first blog post. Today, I’m posting my 992nd.

Eight years of blogging feels like something to be proud of. I started the blog at the advice of my web designer, Nora Brown. Originally, my purpose was to allow my clients to get to know me before hiring me. (Since I’m not born organized, I didn’t want them expecting a super-organized perfectionist to arrive at their door.)

This blog has paid huge dividends. I do think it has served its original purpose (and continues to do so), but it has been useful in so many other ways:

• It helps keep my website high in search rankings
• It establishes my expertise
• It allows me to view the world through the eyes of a blogger—I’m constantly looking at situations and wondering how I can turn them into something helpful for my blog readers.
• It’s made me more reflective
• It’s sparked relationships with companies, like Rubbermaid, SentrySafe and the dear departed Springpad.
• It’s helped potential clients understand that I’m a person who keeps commitments and is good at creating habits.

These are just some of the reasons I blog. In 2012, I added started a second blog, Organize Your Family History and now I try to blog twice a week at each of them. (I just switched up my schedule a little bit recently and will be planning to post here on Mondays and Thursdays and at OYFH Tuesdays and Fridays.)

The world of blogging is not what it was last eight years ago. Back then, social media had little impact. In 2006, Facebook was open only to college students, and Twitter was four months old. LinkedIn had just started including public profiles. Pinterest and Instagram were years from starting. Social media sites have since changed the fabric of the landscape immensely. People don’t get as much information from blogs as they did eight years ago. But I keep blogging and I keep benefitting. I can’t even imagine what it would take for me to give up my blogs.

It may sound weird, but my blogs feel like friends to me. I love giving them the attention they deserve and they give so much back to me in return.

I am so grateful to Nora for suggesting I start this blog back in 2006. I look forward to blog post #1000!

Making your keys easy to identify

6 November 2014

In the September of 2013, I spent a little time trying to get a handle on the mass of unidentified keys I had floating around my house.

I blogged about it then and I created some solutions that have worked pretty well for me.

One thing I didn’t cover in that blog post is my affinity for using to color to help me easily identify the keys I keep on my main key chain. At one point, I had a copy of a key made and selected a special key whose top was covered with a hard blue plastic adhered to the key. But the hard plastic broke off. So I painted it with blue nail polish instead, with fairly unsatisfactory results.

I also put a green patterned key cap on my main back-door key, which has worked out well, but I have to rely on my memory to know which key it is. That’s not too big a deal, but it does require a little bit of thought.

So I was delighted when the folks at label-label® approached me and asked if they could send me a sample of their all-in-one key cap to review.

Label-label key caps combine my love of color coding with my love for labels. You adhere a label to the key, then fit the key cap over it. There’s a window cut out in the key cap to reveal the label.

Simple in its brilliance, right? Here’s a picture of two of my keys on my main key ring, which have been label-labeled.

The label-label key cap kit comes with appropriately sized pre-printed labels as well as a set of blank labels that you can write on before sticking them on the key. They labels are laminated and I found the instructions a little confusing for peeling off first the backing the laminated topper and then the backing of the label itself. Once I got the hang of it, though, it was easy. And the lamination has held up well.

It occurred to me that I could probably use a laminated label from my Brother P-Touch label maker to more easily (and neatly) create a key label. I haven’t had the chance to try it yet.

The pack I was sent came with eight caps, each a different color. One nice little feature of the key cap is the little nubbin at the hole end of the key. If you put the nubbin so that it’s on the top when your key is in the keyhole, you don’t have to worry about putting your key in upside down. That’s particularly helpful when the lighting is dim.

If you all the keys look alike, this might be a great solution for you. They’re making me very happy. It’s the little things, right?

Embracing imperfection

3 November 2014

As I wrote on Friday, I’m writing a novel this month. This is my third novel. I do it for the fun of the challenge.

When I was writing my 1700 words this morning, I found myself doubting the quality of my work. Was this plot stupid? Was the writing sophisticated enough? Is this a waste of time? Then I realized it didn’t matter. What’s important here is that I meet my goal and write 50,000 words in 30 days. The quality of the words is neither here nor there.

That got me thinking about how liberating it is to embrace imperfection. When you let go of the how great the outcome will be, you can really make some progress. If I were trying to write the Great American Novel and finish with something I could hand off to a reader without further editing, I’d never get the darned thing done. Especially not in a single month. And, truly, I’m not interested in spending more than month writing fiction. I have a life to live and a business to run simultaneously.

As it is, I’ll end the month with a first draft that I can polish up later, if I so desire. And I’ll have met my goal. And, as I know from past experience, it’ll feel great.

The beauty of imperfectionism applies to much more than speedy novel writing. So many of my organizing clients are perfectionists. They want to find the best way to organize their homes. Or the best possible charities to receive their discards. Or the perfect way to store their belongings.

But when you pursue perfection, it can be hard to complete a project. Or even start one. Letting go of perfect allows you to get started and make progress. If you tend to be a perfectionist and it’s holding you back, I suggest you just do something toward your goal. Anything.

I love the expression “Don’t let perfect get in the way of done.” That’s true in organizing projects, in novel writing, and in life. A life lived imperfectly is better than a life lived waiting for the perfect time to do something.

This month as I make progress toward completing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days, I’m definitely embracing imperfection. And I’m going to try to apply that philosophy to other areas of my life.

Worth repeating: Feel like writing a novel?

31 October 2014

I published the post below on October 29, 2009, when I was about to start my second novel as part of National Novel Writing Month. I did complete that novel in a month (and have yet to read it again). I also wrote one in 2004. Since my first two were five years apart, and five years has elapsed since the second one, I decided to go for it again. I have my spreadsheet ready and I’ve been thinking about plot points. On Saturday, November 1, I’ll write my first 1667 words (or more).

Intrigued? Check out NaNoWriMo founder Chris Baty’s book No Plot? No Problem. for inspiration. It’s what got me started on this wacky path.

National Novel Writing Month is about to start and I’m on board. NaNoWriMo is a worldwide event where people commit to writing a 50,000-word novel during the month of November. (As a point of reference, Catcher in the Rye is about 50,000 words.)

I did it back in 2004, just to see if I could. That year, I wasn’t part of the online community, because I didn’t do it until December. But this year, I’m chomping at the bit to start on November 1 like everybody else.

Why am I doing it? It’s not for that challenge, since I know I can do it. This year, I just think writing a novel sounds like fun. And if I can get a crappy first draft written in November, I’ll have something to work with.

I’ve been on a binge of reading books by Jeffery Deaver. I love his books, which have great plots, great characters and are written in a clear, non-self-conscious style. I think reading his books have made me want to write one of my own.

But why in a month? I love having a deadline like this. I love the accountability. I love that by month’s end my novel will have an end. I love having a daily writing quota and knowing I’ve achieved my goal for the day.

I’ll have a victory on a daily basis. It’s a great example of breaking a big project down into small tasks and working at it on daily. It’s a great use of Mark Forster’s concept of little and often.

When I wrote my first novel (which, incidentally, I’ve read only once), I wore a special hat and wrote in a room where I didn’t usually write. (At the time, I was a professional writer.) This time, I’m knitting a special scarf that I plan to wear when I’m working on my novel, just to put me in the mood. I intend to write early in the morning, first thing, even if it means getting up extra early. I haven’t decided where I’ll do the writing, but chances are good it’ll be at my desk.

You can expect some updates here through the month of November. If you’ve signed up for NaNoWriMo, leave me a comment or an email and let me know your registered name on the site. (I’m janinea.) I’ll make you my writing buddy!

Clever DIY divider for your hanging files

27 October 2014

I’m a big believer in dividing files into categories. While some folks like to file folders all together in a straight A to Z formation, I prefer to put like things together. So business files are separate from personal files, for example. Depending on the number of files you have, you might have separate categories for Health, Financial, Hobbies, etc.

When possible, I recommend using the file drawers as natural dividers, one category per drawer. But when that’s not possible, you have to figure out a way to divide the file cabinet into categories. One way is to use color. I’m not a gigantic fan of color coding files, because it means you have to have a large supply of different colored files on hand. (If you want to color code, I suggest letting the file folder label supply the color.)

Recently, I worked with a clever client, Pam Caruso, who set up her filing system between our visits. When she opened the drawer, I was wowed to see clearly delineated categories using colored hanging file folders to divide the categories.

She gave me permission to snap and share a photo:

She used a YouTube video as the starting point and then enhanced it by adding labels to the spine of the file divider. In a lateral file cabinet in another part of the house, she used this method to create a half dozen easily identifiable categories per drawer. Fantastic.

Here’s that video so you can try it yourself:

Revisiting personal kanban

24 October 2014

Back in 2010, I discovered personal kanban , a system of visual task management that I used for awhile. In a nutshell, I divided a large whiteboard into three sections, Backlog, Doing, and Done. Then I’d use Post-It® notes to write down individual tasks and move them through the process.

It worked nicely for me for a few months, but the lack of portability was problematic and my tasks outgrew the Backlog section. So I switched to something else.

Since then, I’ve starting using electronic task management. At the moment I’m using TeuxDeux. (See my recent post, Getting back to basics with task management for more info on that).

Last week, I started to feel a little overwhelmed by the things I needed to get done. When that happens, I tend to avoid looking at my task list, which is obviously counterproductive.

So I decided to do a short-term, small-scale implementation of personal kanban. I took a clear clipboard from my office-supply closet and used purple Scotch Expressions Tape to divide it into three sections. I then wrote the tasks I needed to accomplish on small Post-Its (one per Post-It). I tried to keep just one task in the doing column. Before I knew it, i was moving plenty of tasks to the right-hand Done column.

Here’s a photo of the board.

I’ve become rededicated to the idea of selecting three or four tasks each night to focus on the next day. And I’m also selecting my blog post topic each night and putting it on the kanban clipboard for the next morning. Having these tasks on the clipboard allows me to easily focus on them, adding more from my TeuxDeux list as the tasks move there way to the Done section.

I see this as sort of a back up measure for the days I’m feeling overwhelmed or unable to focus on my larger task list. The fact that it’s in my face (rather than tucked away on my phone or in another tab on my browser) is very helpful right now.

I’m a fan of switching up task-management techniques when they start getting stale. Right now, this is working nicely for me!

SentrySafe giveaway winners!

20 October 2014

My giveaway for a fireproof Alarm Safe and a fireproof Guardian Storage Box from SentrySafe ended last night, and, as promised, I am announcing the winners today.

I put all the entries into a spreadsheet, assigned a number to each, and used the Random Number Generator to select the winners.

First prize went to Peg Sharp and second prize to Debbie Gerardi.

Congratulations to the winners, and thank you to all who entered! I hope that the review and giveaway caused you to think about what you would store in a protected environment. Even if you didn’t win, perhaps it will prompt you to make sure you’re keeping your important items safe from disaster.