Peace of Mind Organizing

Friday preview

13 April 2012

I have so much I want to blog about and, seemingly, so little time to actually sit down and write!

So today, I’d like to preview some of the blog posts that will be coming in the next few weeks.

• My extreme passion for my iPhone 4S. I blogged a month ago that I was having trouble choosing a carrier. I chose AT&T. There are so many things about it I love. And I would marry Siri, if I could. (When I asked her to marry me, she said her “end-user license agreement didn’t cover marriage.” Sigh.)

• Mark Forster’s new task-management system, called Final Version. I always experiment with Mark Forster’s new systems when they come out. This one’s intriguing.

• A few new products I’ve been using: Bento from Rubbermaid, Purse Perfector and the Glass Weekly from Three by Three.

• The really fabulous closing keynote at the NAPO conference. The talk, on balance and keeping all your balls in the air, was presented by the dynamic Dan Thurmon. Dan not delivered a great message, but did it while juggling sharp objects on a six-foot unicycle. Incredible.

• Habits and routines, naturally. I’m playing around with Daily Feats. More on that later.

Speaking of habits and routines, it’s not too late to sign up for the in-person workshop I’m giving with my friend and collaborator, Shannon Wilkinson, who is flying in from Portland to help me teach you about habits and routines. Shannon adds practical magic to the information. Through hypnotherapy and NLP, she’ll help you create habits that really stick. I’m so excited for this workshop, which will be held April 19 in Kirkwood. Details and sign up here.

Is your shredding piling up? Here's help.

10 April 2012

I hope that you have a shredder. And that you use it. Identity theft is too dangerous and rampant to mess around with.

If you’re like me, you have a shredder. And you also have a pile of papers sitting on top of the shredder waiting to be shredded.

Well, you can grab those papers and maybe clean out a file drawer or two while you’re at it and bring them to the free Shred Event on April 21 sponsored by Shred and Protect Document Services and the St. Louis chapter of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO St. Louis).

Here are the particulars:

What: One box (up to 25 pounds) of paper shredded free of charge. Additional boxes are only $5 a box. Cash and checks accepted.

When: Saturday, April 21, 2012, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Where: Shred and Protect Document Services, 1429 Strassner (Hanley Industrial Court), Brentwood, MO 63144

Who: Sponsored by Shred and Protect and NAPO St. Louis.

Why: To help people guard against identity theft and help the environment—all paper is recycled after shredding.

For more details, see NAPO St. Louis’s website.

I’ll be volunteering there in the morning. Please say hi!

Why not now?

5 April 2012

Late last year, I participated in Why Not Now?, a program created by my friend, Maryann Devine of Kindergarten Mind. WNN is all about providing motivation and support for working on that project that you’ve been putting off until you have time to do it (or other circumstances change).

From the website:

‘Why Not Now?’ is a small-group workshop that makes it possible to move from idea to Real Thing in only two weeks.

It sounds as good as it is. I participated in the November 2011 session of Why Not Now despite the fact I was traveling, had a full schedule, and had very little time to focus on my project. But I wanted to make some major changes to my service offerings and I knew that if I waited for the perfect time, I’d be waiting a long, long time.

You know what? By the end of those two weeks, the project was done. I’d figured out what I wanted to present, how I wanted to present it, and I’d actually made the changes to my website. And I’m now reaping the benefits. The accountability, structure, and support provided by Maryann and fellow WNN participants is powerful stuff. Plus, you can pick Maryann’s brain—and it’s full of marketing advice, through her years of experience in that arena. As if that weren’t enough, you get to brainstorm ideas with fellow participants on the regularly scheduled calls and share information and ideas in the Facebook group.

Do you have a project you want to get started on? A new Why Not Now? session is scheduled to start on April 16. With the help of this program, your project could be off the ground by the end of the month!

Help for procrastinators: An extra couple of days for taxes

31 March 2012

I used to procrastinate on taxes every year. April 15 would roll around and I’d file an extension. Then I’d procrastinate some more. I was known to file two extensions.

Those days are over…for the last four years, I’ve filed in February or March. Trust me, getting taxes over with is so much better than putting them off. Last year, I wrote a blog post why about the differences between my old and new ways of thinking about taxes.

But if you’re someone who puts off the inevitable, there’s a little good news. The deadline for federal taxes this year is April 17, rather than the usual date of April 15. That’s because the 15th falls on a Sunday and the 16th is a holiday in the District of Columbia and all Federal offices are closed. April 16 is Emancipation Day, which commemorates the April 16, 1862 signing by Abraham Lincoln of the Compensated Emancipation Act, which freed 3100 slaves in the District of Columbia, almost nine months before the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Now’s a good time to get started on those taxes, if you haven’t already. Maybe you won’t even need those extra two days!

Eye candy from Office Candy

28 March 2012

One of the exhibitors at last week’s NAPO conference was Office Candy, a company that distributes cut and fun office supplies. What’s not to love about that?

Office Candy is owned by two professional organizers, Laurie Noel Meek and Beth Shlater. These women love beautiful stuff and since they had a hard time finding pretty products for their clients, they decided to create a shop. I love folks who take matters into their own hands!

The result is one-stop shopping for cute things, like these Lilly Pulitzer highlighters (on sale this week).

I think they exemplify Office Candy’s tag line: Just because it’s practical, doesn’t mean it can’t be cute!

New York Times recognizes our industry

23 March 2012

I’m at the national conference of the National Association of Professional Organizers in Baltimore. I am enjoying myself so much, sinking in the knowledge and reveling in the camaraderie of my colleagues and friends. Bliss.

The New York Times took notice of our conference, too. Angela Wallace, NAPO national president was interviewed this week and the Q&A, entitled Keeping the Clutter Busters in Line with her appeared in yesterday’s edition. Here’s my favorite quote from the story:

In a secular culture, clutter may be the closest thing we have to original sin. Following this metaphor, the organizer is both clergy and personal savior.

The story is not only great publicity for NAPO and the professional organizing industry, but it provides a nice insight into how we work. If you’re not a professional organizer and are curious about us, give it a read!

ETA: Four days after the New York Times article, the Wall Street Journal published an article on digital hoarding. The article quoted my friends Kathy Trezise, president of the Institute for Challenging Disorganization and ICD’s past president, Kit Anderson.

A very special opportunity

19 March 2012

I’m really excited to be offering a special in-person workshop with my friend and Declutter Happy Hour partner, the fabulous life coach Shannon Wilkinson.

If you crave…

a simpler life,

lasting ease,

the freedom to do what you really want,

please join us for the three-hour workshop:

Create Freedom and Ease with Habits and Routines

With great routines in place, you get stuff done, often without even thinking about it. When you take care of things automatically, you’re free to focus your time and attention on what really matters.

Imagine if you could stop nagging yourself, beating yourself up for lacking willpower or trying to remember tasks that keep falling through the cracks.

It’s all really possible.

During the Create Freedom and Ease with Habits and Routines workshop, you’ll learn the three keys of habit creation and how to transform habits into simple, automatic routines. Plus you’ll easily let go of any resistance you might have (resistance you might not even know about) and uncover inspiration so you can create habits and routines that stick.

At the workshop, you’ll:

• explore the difference between habits and routines and how they can help you
• learn the three keys of habit creation
• overcome any internal resistance you might have to habits and routines
• gain helpful tools to create great habits
• discover which habits and routines will create ease and freedom for you
• get personalized help in creating habits and routines just right for you
• learn what to do when you backslide, despite your best efforts

The support doesn’t end there.

After the three-hour, in-person workshop, you’ll receive emailed tips and helpful reminders over the course of three weeks to support your new habits and routines. You’ll also be invited to a live call where you can get your questions answered and move through any stuck places you’ve encountered with your new habits and routines.

All this included with the price of the workshop!

jump to the details

Is Create Freedom and Ease with Habits and Routines for you?

Have you found yourself in any of these situations:

• Scrambling to get out of the house on time
• Wanting to exercise more, but not finding the time (or the motivation)
• Wishing there weren’t so many piles around the house
• Putting off unpleasant tasks

If so, you’ll want to be there! Even if you can’t yet imagine how habits and routines can help with these and many other common and not-so-common troubles, we’ll guide you every step of the way.

Who Are We?

Hi, we’re life coach Shannon Wilkinson and professional organizer Janine Adams. We’ve co-taught several courses, including Declutter Happy Hour, and together bring more than 15 years experience helping clients live their dreams.

Janine, a certified professional organizer, teaches habits and routines every day with her clients. She also created and teaches the online workshop, “Simplify Your Life with Habits + Routines” for the popular website Simplify101.com.

Shannon, a certified life coach, helps her Perception Studios clients make shifts in beliefs and perceptions, especially unconscious ones, using humanistic neuro-linguistic psychology and hypnosis. Making life and behavior changes this way is easy, really sticks and helps new habits and routines feel natural, inspired and fun.

Because Janine lives in St. Louis and Shannon lives in Portland this is a unique opportunity to learn from them together, in person.

Praise for Shannon & Janine’s collaboration, Declutter Happy Hour:

Declutter Happy Hour was extremely helpful. The dynamic duo of Janine Adams, with her practical advice, and Shannon Wilkinson, who delves into the emotional issues of clutter, and the 30 minute decluttering sessions were fantastic. Thanks for your help.

Cathy Barash – Des Moines, Iowa

Workshop Details

Date: Thursday, April 19, 2012
Time: 9:30 am to 12:30 pm
Location: Commerce Bank, Kirkwood Branch, 300 North Kirkwood Rd., St. Louis, MO 63122

What’s included:

• Three-hour interactive, personal workshop with experts Janine Adams and Shannon Wilkinson
• A series of helpful reminders and inspiring tips via email for three weeks after the live workshop
• A one-hour live follow-up teleconference where you can get your questions answered and get coached with your routines and habits

All this for $85

Want to add in private, individual coaching?

Shannon is offering a 15% savings to workshop participants for coaching sessions the afternoon of the 19th. These in-person, one-hour sessions are available on a first-come first-served basis. Once those spaces are gone, participants may receive the special rate for a phone coaching session at a later date.

You can use your session for coaching on habits and routines, or another issue.

Single private sessions with Shannon are regularly $185. As a workshop participant, you’ll get a 15% discount, and pay just $160. Get the workshop and a session with Shannon

All this for $245

Questions?

I’m a little embarrassed about my situation, will I have to share it with everyone?

Of course not, there will be time for participants to share, but you never have to if you don’t want to. You just might discover that you aren’t the only person dealing with your situation too!

How does the follow-up call work?

You’ll receive a phone number and passcode that will allow you into the conference call. Before the call, we’ll send you an email asking you to send in any questions you have or where you could use some coaching with your habits and routines. We’ll be answering these first and then we’ll take questions and do coaching live with any remaining time. All workshop participants will receive an MP3 recording of the call.

 

Attend the Workshop for $85

Get the workshop and a session with Shannon
for $245