Peace of Mind Organizing

True freedom

4 July 2014

It’s Independence Day here in the United States and that got me thinking about what independence means to me.

I decided to create a little graphic to declare what I think brings true freedom.

This month marks nine years since I founded Peace of Mind Organizing®. The longer I do this work, the more truth I see in this sentiment.

Photo by Paul Poli via Flickr.

A key to keeping surfaces clear

1 July 2014

If you click on the clean bureau tag to left on this blog, you’ll see that pretty much every year one of my goals is to put my clothes away properly at night and keep the top of the bureau clear.

It’s obviously been an ongoing struggle with me. But for the past month of so, I’ve been doing it successfully every day, with minimal effort. And I think I know why.

I cleared off the bureau when I did my jewelry reorganization and now only three things, my jewelry box plus two small lamps, reside there.

Before, when the bureau was cleared off, many items actually lived there so it always looked a bit junky. Add some dirty socks or tags cut off of new clothes or yesterday’s jeans and it didn’t make a gigantic difference.

But now if I’m tempted to leave something on the bureau it sticks out like a sore thumb. So I take the extra ten seconds to either put it away or toss it down the laundry chute or in the trash, which is right next to the dresser.

With the three items anchoring the space, it’s become really easy to keep this space clear. It’s clear to me that the key is limiting the items that legitimately reside on the bureau top. It’s been only a three weeks or so, but I feel very optimistic.

The same holds true for my desk in my office, which I try to clear each night. If I leave a pile of action papers on the corner of the desk (which I tend to do when I’m feeling lazy), the pile soon grows (and little action gets taken). Once that pile grows, I might start leaving small items in the middle of the desk. After a few days of this, I have to take a few minutes to put everything away except the few things that legitimately reside there.

Based on my experience with my bureau, I think it’s time for me to take a hard look at the things I store on my desk and make sure that they deserve that prime real estate. I’d be willing to bet that I can move a few things to the office-supply closet just a few steps from my desk. And that will make it easier to keep up my clear-desk habit.

Worth repeating: We all have fear

25 June 2014

I wrote this post five years ago, but it still rings true. Recently, I purchased a greeting card whose front bears this quotation from George Addair: “Everything you want is on the other side of fear.” Distinguishing between when your fear is protecting you and when it’s limiting you can be a tricky thing.

Recently my husband and I went to a family reunion held at a ski resort in Pennsylvania (it was the end of June and there was no snow). He and I rode a chair lift up to the top of the mountain to enjoy the view. I don’t ski and I’ve only been on a ski lift a handful of times. Neither of us heard the mumbling attendant’s instructions to pull the restraining bar over our heads and lock it in place in front of us. So we were riding up the mountain with nothing preventing us from falling out of the moving chair.

Now, the lift was slow and the mountain slope gentle. So we weren’t really in danger. But I Freaked Out. Oh my goodness. I tried to keep from panicking and became quite upset. I should have been reassured by the mountain bikers who were in the seat ahead of us. They weren’t restrained either (and they were holding bikes!). That didn’t help me. I sat there, gripped by fear.

We figured out about the restraining bar when we approached the top and saw a sign about raising the bar. We made sure we were restrained on the ride down. It was much more enjoyable!

My husband, Barry, with his sister, Lori. That's the chair lift in the background. It doesn't look so scary, does it?

Afterward, I realized what an unfamiliar feeling that was. I don’t put myself in a position to be afraid for my physical safety. (So it might not surprise you that I don’t ski. Or skydive. Or race fast cars.) Fear stops me from doing things I consider dangerous. And that’s fine with me.

But fear also stops me from doing other things. In working with my fabulous life coach, Shannon Wilkinson, I’ve learned that I’m driven by a craving for peace and harmony. I’m afraid to do anything that might disrupt it. That’s why I put off tasks that seem like they might be difficult or stressful (which of course makes them more stressful, usually). That’s why I’ll avoid discussions that might be contentious, even if there’s stuff that needs to be discussed.

Sometimes it’s for good—my fear of disharmony does allow me to avoid unpleasantness. But sometimes unpleasantness can’t be avoided and all my fear does is put it off. That’s rarely for the best.

The strange thing is that there are things I’m not afraid of that make other people shake in their boots. Like public speaking. Or starting a new business. Or writing for publication. And I’ll actually fly as a passenger in a glider, since that’s my husband’s hobby.

As I’ve written about before, sometimes decluttering can be really scary. You might be afraid of what you’ll find. Or you might even fear what you’ll do with yourself once clutter stops being a barrier to living. In our e-course, Declutter Happy Hour, Shannon (the aforementioned life coach) and I address head-on the emotions behind the clutter. If your clutter is a scary thing, it just might help.

We all have fears. We can try to live without fear by avoiding anything scary. Or we can try to recognize our fears, face them and get past them when it benefits us. Fear can stop us from doing stupid things. It can also stop us from doing smart things. For me, the key is learning to tell the difference.

Mynd makes your iPhone calendar better

20 June 2014

I’m an Apple fangirl. As I’ve written here many times, I love love love my iPhone. (I currently have a 5s). I also love using an electronic calendar. I’ve been using iCal for my calendar ever since I got my first Mac in 2008. (Before that, I used a Palm Pilot.)

I use iCal on my MacBook. (I’m currently using version that came with the OS X Lion but am planning to get a new MacBook Pro with Mavericks in the next month or so.) I was perfectly satisfied with the built-in calendar app on my iPhone and the way synched with my computer and iPad. I saw no reason to change anything.

And then my friend, Shannon, told me about Mynd. When she emailed me about it, she wrote, “I never got the point of using a calendar app besides the native one until I tried this. It’s fantastic!” As usual, Shannon is right.

Mynd is an advanced calendar app. I think of it as an overlay over iCal. It takes the information I enter on my MacBook, iPad, or iPhone (whether I enter it in Mynd or with the native calendar app) and makes it smarter and more beautiful.

When I enter an appointment on my calendar and include the location, Mynd monitors the traffic between me and the location appointment and lets me know how long it’s going to take to get there. It sends me a notification when it’s time to leave and it points out when I’m running late. As a punctuality-challenged person, I find this hugely helpful.

In addition, Mynd tells me the temperature where I am and where I’m going. It tells me what people I’m going to be seeing today (including their Linked In photo), it lists the number of reminders I’ve set for the day (and how many are overdue) and it provides a map of the location I’m going. All that is on the one beautifully tiled screen

Mynd allows me to attach Evernote notes to a meeting appointment. It pulls up the Linked In profiles of the meeting attendees and it allows me to schedule meetings from the app—reserving the time slots I’ve offered as meeting time possibilities until the meeting is actually scheduled. I’m sure it has other features I haven’t even explored yet.

Mynd is available for iOS only. You can use it with iCal, Google Calendar or whatever calendar you’re synching to iOS. It’s free and easy to set up. You can download Mynd on iTunes. For more details, check out the Mynd video or this TechHive review.

How Fitbit is keeping me active

16 June 2014

I’m a natural-born couch potato and I struggle with getting myself to get adequate exercise. I’m not someone who craves it or enjoys it, but I do appreciate that it’s important.

Last month, I took Shannon Wilkinson’s Change Artistry: Get Active group coaching program and it was hugely helpful in changing my mindset about exercise. It now feels much less like drudgery and I’m feeling very good about the exercise I’m getting.

One of the things Shannon helped me with was getting in touch with why exercise is important to me. Now that I’m over 50, I’m concerned about aging. I want to stay healthy and active for many more decades and I know that exercise now will contribute to that.

The other thing that Shannon has helped me understand about myself over the years is how important it is to to me to meet my commitments. (In the parlance of Gretchen Rubin, I’m an Upholder.) By the end of the Change Artistry class, I’d identified two very specific, measurable goals for my exercise. (And that’s where the Fitbit comes in.)

They are:

• Go to the gym three times a week
• Walk 10,000 steps a day at least three days a week

I’ve made a spreadsheet to keep track of it. I’ve been keeping my commitment to get that level of exercise and it feels great.

I don’t think I’d be where I am without Shannon’s program, but I also think my Fitbit Flex is playing a large role. Because my work is sometimes (but not always) quite active I think I overestimated my level of activity. I wear my Fitbit wristband all the time (except when I take it off to charge it every five days or so) and I was a little surprised to learn that without making extra effort I would get 6,000 to 7,000 steps in during an average day. 10,000 steps is the goal most folks have.

The Fitbit allows me to monitor how well I’m doing toward my goal of 10k steps. And it gives me incentive to walk a little more, if need be, to reach my goal. I’m now taking the steps, rather than the elevator. I’m coming along on evening dog walks. (I do the morning poodle stroll, my husband does the evening.) I’m seeing exercise as an opportunity to fulfill my goal, rather than just something that just tuckers me out.

The Fitbit Flex also measures my sleep quality and allows me to log calories and water consumption. I haven’t taken full advantage of the latter, but it is making me more mindful of what goes into my body (both food and water).

There’s a social component to Fitbit that doesn’t particularly appeal to me, but I could see how one easily set up a Fitbit accountability group (or a group competition).

The Fitbit is helping me keep fitness and activity top of mind. I know that in reality it’s not much more than a fancy pedometer, but after less than two months owning it, I think I’ve benefitted enough to merit the $100 expenditure. I’m now pondering buying the Fitbit Aria wifi scale, which would upload my weight to my Fitbit dashboard. That seems a bit excessive, since weight loss isn’t really part of my goal, but I am intrigued.

If Change Artistry: Get Active appeals to you, you’ll have to wait until the fall to take it again. But if you have a project you’ve been wanting to do but can’t seem to get around to it, check out Shannon’s Change Artistry: Get Started. It starts this Thursday and it will be equally great.

Improving my jewelry storage

13 June 2014

I don’t have a ton of jewelry, but I have my share. I wear earrings virtually day and on some days I also wear necklaces or bracelets. As a result, how well my jewelry is organized really has an impact on my daily life.

For years, I’ve limped along in this regard. I’ve tried lots of different jewelry boxes and sometimes had several different jewelry boxes littering the top of my dresser.

Most recently (probably two years ago), I came up on this solution, which worked pretty well for awhile.

I kept my earrings in the little four-section swivel organizer. I divided them into three categories that worked for me (colored, metal, dressy) and used the bottom section for brooches. I kept necklaces on a tree-themed jewelry stand.

That still left bracelets to be stored and they sat on the bureau in this little inappropriate tray. (The cream-colored box contains my grandmother’s pearls.)

It worked for awhile, but usability issues soon formed. I found I had trouble finding the earrings I wanted, especially in the morning when my husband was still sleeping. He’s a light sleeper and I knew that my pushing around the earrings trying to find mates was disturbing him. I also usually had trouble finding the necklace I was looking for.

I’m delighted to report that I’ve a solution that I think is going to work really well this time. I purchased three jewelry stacker boxes at the Container Store, after seeing them at a client’s house.

In the top section, I keep the earrings I wear most often, plus the brooches (which I actually don’t wear very often).

In the tray beneath that are earrings.

And in the bottom, deep section are bracelets and watches.

For the necklaces, I mounted this tie rack on the wall next to the bureau. Now the necklaces are separated (one per peg), so I can easily find them.

Before this month’s jewelry reorganization, this is how my bureau looked on a good day (this is an after picture from a post on decluttering my bureau top):

This morning, I took this photo. (I moved my grandmother’s pearls, which I rarely wear, as well as the little plastic containers of shoe- and clothing-related accessories, inside the bureau.) I’ve literally never had such a clear bureau top, and this makes me very happy!

Got a project you need help starting?

9 June 2014

Do you have an idea for a project or activity that would make you happy? Have you been dragging your feet on getting started? If so, I have great news for you!

My friend, life coach extraordinaire Shannon Wilkinson is offering the second installment in her new Change Artistry series of group coaching classes. This one is Change Artistry: Get Started. It’s a four-week class that will help you let go of any barriers you have to getting started on the thing you want to do.

I just finished Shannon’s Change Artistry: Get Active four-week coaching program. (I blogged about how excited I was about it, before it began.) It was fantastic. Shannon’s tools feel a little bit like magic, they’re so effective. During her class, I was able to shift my perspective on getting more exercise, turning it from drudgery into something I do as a favor to myself. I’ve improved my activity level and, more important, I’ve improved how I feel about exercising.

I know her Change Artistry: Get Started class is going to be equally effective. I’ve already signed up for it.

So what is it you’ve been wanting to do? Here’s your chance to stop procrastinating and get started on it—and have fun doing it.

The four-week class is $200 if you sign up by noon Pacific time on April 13 (that’s this Friday!). After that, it’s $250. Sign up here!