Peace of Mind Organizing

Facing down my to-do list

5 December 2011

I’m just returning from a five-day trip to visit my parents. (I’m blogging from 30,000 feet in the air!) I realized as I was getting into the mindset of getting back to real life that I was afraid to look at (or even open) my to-do list.

That, my friends, is a very bad thing. If you’re afraid to look at your to-do list than you’re not going to be very productive. I actually thought about abandoning it and starting a new one.

But I faced down my fear. I realize it was a pretty mild fear, as these things go. But it reminded me of an adage that I have to tell myself on occasion, which is that the truth is the truth whether or not you know about it. It doesn’t do you any good to not look at your financial data for fear of what you’ll find, or not ask somebody an important question, for fear of what they’ll tell you. The truth is the truth.

The same goes for my to-do list. I know that I was afraid that there were going to be things on it that I had completely forgotten to do. And there was one thing. But mostly I found I was able to cross a lot of stuff off, because I had accomplished it.

Right now, I’m in a bit of a quandary about how to keep track of my tasks. I’d been using Mark Forster’s various methods. But he’s in the process of developing a new one and somehow the knowledge of that made me feel disenchanted with my current use of his Autofocus system. I’m a bit fickle that way.

So as I explore new options (the latest one is Kanbanery), I’ll post here what I find. Thankfully, December should be a little less hectic than October and November were, so I feel I’ll have time to do a little more than keep my head above water.

And the first step was facing down my to-do list a couple of hours ago.

Keeping it simple this holiday season

29 November 2011

As I’ve mentioned here before, ease is my driving force. I have this question, from Supercoach Michael Neill posted on my bulletin board:

Why is it so hard to let it be easy?

This holiday season, I’m reframing that question and what I keep asking myself is,

Is there a simpler way to do this?

Humans in general (and organizers in particular) have a natural tendency to make things complicated. But I’m convinced that simpler is better. I believe that the easy way out is superior to the complex way.

Case in point, my holiday cards.

In years past, the process of sending out holiday cards was, particularly for my business, complex. When I think about it, it makes me yearn for the days when I had that kind of time. Back in the day, I’d personalize my holiday cards for my business by printing on vellum, cutting the vellum and using glue dots to paste the vellum inside each card. Yeah, that’s not happening any more.

This year, in the spirit of keeping it simple, I’m using leftover cards from years past. (I’m not sure why I have so many cards left over.) I’m counting on people not remembering a card from a previous year. I’m going to pare down my list so that I don’t have to buy any more cards. And I’m probably only going to send business-related cards, rather than personal.

Once I made that decision, I felt free. Suddenly, I have just a few steps left (including buying stamps, which took about 30 seconds at the Postal Service website).

Yep, simple is the ticket this year. I don’t want things to be any more complex than they need to be. That feels good.

The things I learn from Twitter

21 November 2011

My three-year anniversary was on November 12. Two years ago I blogged about why I love Twitter and those reasons still stand.

One of the main things I love about Twitter, besides it being an easy way to communicate with others using @ replies, is that I learn things via Twitter that I wouldn’t have otherwise learned.

Take for example, this fun, instructional video on 25 ways to tie a scarf, which I learned about via Brandie Kajino (@bkajino), a wonderful professional organizer, one of many I follow on Twitter.

How fabulous is that? I favorited her tweet on Twitter so I’ll be able to find it next time I want some scarf tying inspiration.

I sometimes learn about breaking news on Twitter. Sometimes I read funny things from celebrities. Sometimes I just see what my friends are up to (or ranting about).

I know some people consider Twitter a time suck, but it doesn’t work that way for me. I dip in, learn what I can, laugh a little, try to share a little, and dip back out.

If you’re on Twitter and not already following me, please consider it! You can find me at www.twitter.com/janinea.

Five Decisions Away

16 November 2011

Matt Paxton is one of the extreme cleaners on A&E TV’s Hoarders TV show. I had the opportunity to assist him last summer in the taping of an episode. (I’ll be sure and post here when I know when it will air.)

I left that experience a huge Matt Paxton fan. The guy is unpretentious, straight-forward and, most of all, deeply caring. Boy does he care about his hoarding clients. And he’s also a load of fun. Here’s a photo we took that day.

Can you tell it was really hot out that day?

Matt, who is the author of the book The Secret Lives of Hoarders: True Stories of Tackling Extreme Clutter now has a weekly podcast called Five Decisions Away. I downloaded and listened to all three episodes yesterday and want to recommend it to my blog readers.

The podcast is both deep and funny. It’s also both (sometimes very) crude and insightful. I have to admit that I had to fast forward over certain parts because they were so gag-inducing (descriptions of conditions in which he and his staff have worked). But I know I’ll listen avidly to each episode as soon as it’s released. Matt’s a unique guy with an interesting perspective.

You can subscribe to the podcast via the iTunes store (it’s free) or you can listen to it on his personal blog, also called Five Decisions Away.

Check it out!

Happy blogiversary to me!

11 November 2011

Yesterday was the 5th anniversary of my blog. I can’t believe that I’ve been writing this blog for five years. In that time I’ve created 612 posts. (This is the 613th.) That’s quite a few words!

A year ago on my blog’s anniversary, I blogged about my favorite posts of each year. This year, I’ll add my favorite post of 2011 (so far). It’s:

• Interested in becoming a professional organizer? I wrote this post to help answer a frequently asked question about how to become a PO. The reason I love the post so much is that my wonderful colleagues pitched in comments to make the article even more useful. And it’s also saved me lots of time answering emails—I just point people to the post!

My blog has served me well and I’m so glad I decided to start it back in 2006, when I really didn’t know that much about blogging. I’m a former freelance writer, so the writing part of it didn’t intimidate me. When I started blogging, my intentions were to create some valuable content while helping clients and prospective clients get to know me better. Those goals haven’t really changed.

My blog has taught me discipline and the value of routines. I try hard to blog on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I don’t always manage to do all three posts each week, but most weeks I do.

Thanks to my blog, I see things through a different lens. Everything is a possible blog post and while I’m experiencing something, I’ll sometimes write (in my head) the first line of a blog post about it.

I’m proud to be a blogger and I’m really tickled that I’ve reached the five-year mark.

Some great writing on clutter

9 November 2011

Janet Barclay who is a professional-organizer-turned-virtual-assistant has an Professional Organizers Blog Carnival every month. She sets a theme and invites organizers who blog to submit blog posts on the theme.

This month, the theme is clutter. As you might imagine, Janet was inundated with submissions. I’m proud to be one of the bloggers included (I submitted my 2009 blog post called Standards of Clutter).

There’s some great reading on the list, which includes some really talented organizer-bloggers. Grab a cup of tea (or your beverage of choice), go to the blog carnival and enjoy!

When I was in Toronto last week at the Professional Organizers in Canada conference, I got to meet Janet Barclay in person for the first time. As you can see by our smiles in the photo below, we were both thrilled to meet, after years of knowing one another online!

Janet Barclay and me at the POC conference, November 2011

Creating habits and routines

7 November 2011

If you read this blog with any regularity, you know that I’m practically fanatical about the benefits of good habits and routines.

This morning I appeared on the local live TV morning program, Great Day St. Louis to talk about creating good habits and breaking bad ones. Here’s the video.

Four or five minutes is nowhere near long enough for the topic (just ask the folks who enrolled in my three-lesson Simplify101 Habits + Routines workshop), but I got to touch on some of my favorite points. I had a great time—the interviewer, Carol Daniels, is loads of fun and so welcoming.