Peace of Mind Organizing

The power of planning

7 April 2014

I’m leaving today for Independence, Missouri, to do research at the Midwest Genealogy Center, part of the Mid-Continent Public Library. I’ve been doing almost all of my genealogy research at home on my computer and I’ve decided it’s time to branch out and look for documents not available on the internet.

Here’s a photo of the building. It looks nice!

I blogged on Organize Your Family History about how I planned to prepare for this trip to make the best of my time there.

Sometimes, despite my best intentions, I don’t actually do much advance planning for a trip, but this time I did it right. I took the time to figure out what it is I hoped to find at the library so I wouldn’t waste time on site trying to figure that out.

That pre-planning has created so much peace of mind! There are still some questions about how exactly I’ll go about finding what I want, but coming in armed with questions I want answered makes me feel so good.

If I hadn’t done this planning, I know I’d spend the 3.5-hour drive worrying about how things were going to go, afraid that I wouldn’t make good use of my time. Instead, I get to enjoy the anticipation of hitting the ground running when I get there late this afternoon.

Of course, my planning has extended to finding a hotel in close proximity to the library, where I’ll be comfortable, and researching nearby restaurants.

In many aspects of life, a few hours spent planning can reap so many dividends in terms of time—and anxiety—saved. Sometimes I feel like I’m moving too fast to do proper preparations, but when I do take the time to plan, I’m always glad I did.

Tracing my roots: Why I love genealogy research

5 April 2014

Like millions of others around the world, I love doing family history research. Sometimes friends will ask what is it about genealogy that turns me on so much. I think it boils down to this:

• It gives me a personal connection to history
• I get to play detective
• It presents an organizing challenge (and I love an organizing challenge!)
• It connects me with other people
• It gives me a new way to help others

I’ve always been fascinated by history and enjoy reading non-fiction history books. I also adore historical fiction. When I’m doing genealogy research and can put one of my ancestors into an historical context it makes it all the more thrilling. Discovering that one of my ancestors (Benjamin Franklin Igleheart) was paid to fight in the Civil War as a substitute for a person of means who was drafted—and learning that fact from digital images of the handwritten Civil Records—prompted me to learn more about how people in that war were able to buy their way out of service. Fascinating. And, thanks to my genealogy research, personal.

I love being an internet sleuth. Searching for specific bits of information is so much fun. Finding it is even more fun. I love the small victories I get doing genealogy research. And, of course, with that comes the disappointments and frustrations of not finding the information I’m searching for. They go hand in hand. But hope springs eternal.

It’s so easy to get overwhelmed by genealogy information, particularly when it’s flowing freely. And that’s where being organized comes in. I need to have organized and accessible paper and electronic files. And I’ve found that having a research plan, so I know what to look for, and having a research log, so that I don’t duplicate effort, is really helpful. I use Evernote to help me keep track of the research I’ve done, as well as next steps.

I love the organizing aspects of genealogy so much that I started a blog, Organize Your Family History to keep me focused and to help other people tackle their genealogy-related organizing challenges. It’s been rewarding—genealogist enthusiasts are such a generous group of people.

A side benefit of my blog is that it has made it very easy for me to connect with relatives I did not previously know. I was absolutely thrilled in 2012 to be contacted by my mother’s first cousin, Jerry Brown, because he found my blog when he was searching for information on a common ancestor. Jerry then introduced me, via email, to a number of cousins and I had the pleasure last year of meeting some cousins (and my grandfather’s 99-year-old sister). I wrote about that little journey in a blog post called Genealogy = connections. This year I’ll attend a family reunion—something I’ve never experienced in my family.

Here’s another side benefit: Because of the connections I’ve made, I’m able to share stories and updates with my octogenarian parents. It’s fun to be able to tell them about some of the documents I’ve uncovered and that I’ve connected with people they remember from their childhood. It’s given us lots of topics of conversation.

I’ve found that my passion for genealogy has found its way into my business as well. Many of my clients have an interest in genealogy and appreciate that I am enthusiastic about some of their inherited items and photos and that I understand their connection to them.

I’ve started offering the service of helping clients go through their inherited items (my Heirloom Explorer package) and I have also started offering genealogy organizing services through Organize Your Family History.

Genealogy is a fantastic pastime and I’m so glad I have the time these days to actually spend time with it. If you’ve ever been tempted to give it a try, I urge you to go for it! (You can read this blog post, which I wrote for my friend Geralin Thomas’s blog, to figure out how to get started.)

When is an organizer like a dentist?

31 March 2014

I had my teeth cleaned today, something I don’t really enjoy. But I do it faithfully every six months. And that’s because I know the pain and fright of slacking off on going to the dentist and then having to go because something’s gone awry in my mouth. For a number of years, when I was younger, I let my fear of the dentist get in the way of my getting regular checkups. Then a tooth broke and I had to face the music. After a root canal and a nasty surgical procedure called “crown lengthening” (I don’t wish that on anyone), all was well again. And, believe me, I haven’t missed an appointment since.

As I was sitting in the dental chair today, I thought about how putting off going to the dentist is a bit like putting off decluttering or organizing your home. If you’re dealing with an overabundance of items, clutter just builds up until it becomes overwhelming. Calling in an organizer for help can be scary and embarrassing (though I try hard to put to rest any fear or embarrassment my clients might feel). I know from experience that letting plaque build up on your teeth can make the prospect of going to the dentist scary and embarrassing too.

But once you declutter and find a place for everything, all you have to do is maintain. Just like brushing and flossing daily, if you put things away every day, then all you need is a bit of a spruce up every six months or so.

Because I brush and floss daily, my semi-annual dental visits are merely mildly unpleasant (because I don’t like having my teeth scraped). But they’re nothing to be afraid of. As a reformed dental phobic, I find this to be revelatory.

So if you’re looking for a reason to get started organizing your home, perhaps you can think of it in terms of preventive maintenance, like going to the dentist every six months. Don’t wait until your tooth breaks (or your house starts falling apart) to reach out for help!

Photo by Steve Snodgrass via Flickr

The best organizing system

28 March 2014

Clients will often ask me, “What’s the best way to organize [fill in the blank]?” Oh, how I wish I had an easy-to-implement answer to that question. Because the real answer is this:

The best organizing system is the one that works for you.

That is, it’s a system that works with the way you think, that’s easy for you to maintain, and that has the possibility of becoming second nature to you.

And the trouble with that is that the best organizing system for me, or for your best friend, may not be the best organizing system for you.

Most of my clients have tried implementing many systems by the time they call me in for help. I know I tried many, many systems over the years. And I still switch things up occasionally.

So when a client asks me that question, all I can do is make suggestions, see which ones make her eyes light up or her head nod, and then try implementing those. And then we tweak and sometimes completely overhaul until we come up with system that works. At least for the moment.

Because here’s the other thing: Organizing systems need to change when your life changes. And life is always changing.

So there’s no such thing as the best organizing system. Don’t even try to find it. Instead focus on finding a great system that works for you at this particular stage of your life or business.

Worth repeating: Finding time to do the things you love

24 March 2014

I wrote this post in July of 2012 and it still rings true. When the fun or rewarding parts of life become just aspirations, rather than reality, we miss out. The special project that I referred to at the end of this post was my blog, Organize Your Family History that I debuted that summer. It has provided lots of motivation for me to pursue my genealogy research!

For more than ten years, I’ve been interested in doing family history research. I would dip my toe in the water every now and then, but would get overwhelmed and withdraw it. Mostly, I just didn’t feel I had the time to do it properly. So I didn’t do it at all.

Mind you, I didn’t have a lot of time. I’ve been pretty darn busy building my business and fulfilling some pretty major volunteer duties. But now those volunteer commitments are over and I’m under less pressure. So when my scheduled lightened up, guess what I turned to? Yes, the family history research.

I’m enjoying my research so much that I’m kicking myself for not finding time earlier. It’s one those things (like decluttering) that you feel you need a giant block of time to do, so you never do it. (Because, really, who has a giant block of time?) But it’s just not true. You can make progress in little chunks of time.

With genealogy, talking with older relatives is really helpful. So it’s the kind of hobby that’s really beneficial to work on sooner, rather than later. I’m visiting my parents soon, armed with all sorts of questions. I kind of wish I’d asked them ten years ago when my parents memories’ were probably better.

So here’s my point: If you have a something you’ve been waiting to find time to do, stop waiting. Just get started. Maybe all you have is a spare hour, rather than a full day available. That’s okay. Use it. Maybe you’ll have another hour tomorrow. And you can use that. Just getting started can be the hardest part. And it feels so good to get started!

By the way, I’m discovering all sorts of interesting things about my family history and I’m working on a special project surrounding that, which I will discuss here soon.

Adding structure to an unstructured day

21 March 2014

The other day I found myself with a work day with no appointments in it all. Nothing to structure the day into chunks. I had a task list, but I found the lack of structure made it a little hard for me to focus on what I needed to get done.

I find it easier when I have phone appointments or other commitments to put brackets around time slots and give me tiny deadlines throughout the day.

So I decided to create my own structure. Here’s how I did it. I wrote down the top five things I wanted to get done. One of those things I called Power Hour. I took a look at my task list and marked those small admin items that had been piling up and decided I’d try to get seven of them done during a Power Hour. (I created a tag called Power Hour in Springpad so I could easily group together these tasks on my Ninja Task Manager notebook.)

On a piece of paper, I wrote down five two-hour time slots and slotted in four of the major tasks categories. I doubled up a little, actually—I put “work out” and “blog” in one time slot, for instance.

Here’s a photo of that piece of paper.

Doing that created some structure, with a little urgency built in. It’s amazing to me what a difference that made in my productivity. It allowed me to focus on the task at hand. It helped me keep an eye on the clock and gauge my progress. And I did get a whole lot done!

True confession: I didn’t everything done. As you can see in the illustration, I didn’t manage to do any of the financial work (either Quickbooks or Turbo Tax) that I’d set out to do. The lesson here is to schedule the important stuff in the first part of the day.

Next time you feel like you’re floating around an unstructured day, perhaps you can create a little structure for it!

Springpad launches Notebook Store

17 March 2014

I’ve been using the free website and app Springpad for a few months now and if you’ve been reading my blog you know that I’m quite a fan. It’s helped me eliminate random notes and scraps of paper and, for the first time, I’m using an electronic task list successfully.

Springpad is now making itself even easier to love. They’ve launched a new Notebook Store (think Apple app store, except right now all the notebooks are free!), full of custom notebooks, most of which were created with experts. These custom notebooks make Springpad even more useful and, perhaps, easier to get started in.

My two custom notebooks, The Habit Maker and the Family History Organizer, which were launched in January are part of the new Notebook Store. (Just click on the links.)

In addition, there are another four dozen or so other custom notebooks, organized into the following categories:

• Home and Living
• Cooking and Food
• Tasks and Productivity
• Travel
• Family and Parenting

One notebook I’m really excited to tell you about is Command Central On-The-Go, created by my friend Aby Garvey, of simplify 101. It’s a fabulous, portable command center, where you can keep track of errands, shopping lists, notes (like room measurements and paint colors) and events, like gift lists. It also has a section with links to great resources available through simplify 101.

I had an epic shopping trip the other day that took me to five different stores, each with a different shopping list. I used the Command Central On-The-Go notebook on my phone to keep me on track. It was fantastic.

To me, the Notebook Store helps answer the question: What’s the difference between Springpad and Evernote? While Springpad does a great job of capturing information, the custom notebooks take it to another level.

I can’t wait to explore more of the custom notebooks as time allows. But let me share with you which notebooks in my account are getting the most use:

• The Ninja Task Manager
• Family History Organizer
• My Books
• Command Central On-The-Go
• Blog Post Ideas
• My Movies

I use Springpad each and every day. The fact that I have one place to store all this information and that it’s readily available to me on all devices (even when I’m not connected to the Internet) makes Springpad an incredibly useful resource for me. If you haven’t tried it yet, the Notebook Store is a great place to start.