Peace of Mind Organizing

Spreading the gospel of bingo

22 August 2011

I wrote almost a month ago about how much I love the concept of using a bingo card to motivate me to do tasks that are important to do regularly but don’t have deadlines.

When I asked to do a segment on Great Day St. Louis, a morning talk show on the St. Louis CBS affiliate, I proposed doing it on bingo. That interview took place this morning and I had so much fun!

Here’s the video:

I was inspired to make my bingo board by a blog post from Jacquelyn Kittredge of e-bakery social media. Since then, I’ve been so enthusiastic about the concept that I’ve been trying to get everyone I know to try it. (And if was the subject of my August newsletter.)

In the video, that’s my actual bingo board on the magnetic bulletin board. I made the other two for the purposes of the TV segment. I was inspired to do the file-folder-style bingo board by Shannon Wilkinson of Perception Studios, who created a similar one. The foam-core bingo board was inspired by Margaret Lukens of New Leaf and Company who used foam core and Post-Its® for hers. The interviewer, Carol Daniel, liked the foam-core one so much that she asked me if she could take it home and use it with her son! (I said yes.)

One other thing I have to share is my secret weapon for looking my best on TV. I turned to my friend Geralin Thomas to advise me on what to wear on the air. She told me exactly what to wear and, since I’m not stupid, I followed her instructions to the letter. I feel so fortunate to have such a tv savvy and generous friend!

It's okay to let go of routines occasionally

19 August 2011

I’m a huge believer in the power of routines. I try to stick to the ones I’ve established religiously, since I find that sometimes it’s challenging to jump back on the bandwagon once a routine has been disrupted.

That said, I think it’s fine to mindfully not do something in a routine when circumstances dictate it. For example, I’ve been keeping up my streak of clearing my inbox (down to zero) every work day. I can probably count the number of times I haven’t done this one hand since I started the routine in January. That’s because it’s easy to maintain and very valuable.

But yesterday I was working out of the house for ten hours and once I got home I had a two hour strategic planning meeting. My mind was numb by the end of it. I probably could have handled my email, but I just wanted to get out of the office and talk to my family.

So I told myself that it was okay to walk away from the computer with 11 emails in my inbox. No harm done. I’ll catch up this evening or tomorrow.

Similarly, I was going to give myself a pass on blogging this morning, because I’m still under the gun and have to be out of the house early. (I try to blog Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.) But it occurred to me that the message of mindfully skipping routines might be beneficial to readers, so I decided to take a few minutes and write this.

If you’re going to mindfully disrupt your routine, I’d encourage you to equally mindfully get right back on it as soon as you can. Routines have the power to automate and simplify your life. Let them help you. But don’t let them burden you.

P.S. I’m giving a talk on habits and routines at the Thomas Dunn Memorials on September 28. Click on the Events tab above for more info.

Need some help with time management?

17 August 2011

Harold L. Taylor

If you live in or near St. Louis, there’s a great opportunity to learn about time management from one of the world’s experts. The St. Louis chapter of the National Association of Professional Organizers is bringing renowned time-management expert, Harold L. Taylor to St. Louis to give a public workshop.

Back in May, I blogged about how excited I am about this. I’ve been an admirer of Harold Taylor’s for twenty years.

The workshop, which is called Time Management Strategies That Will Make Your Life Easier, will be held at the Brentwood Community Center on Friday, September 23 from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm. You can read details about the workshop on NAPO St. Louis website. (Scroll to the bottom of the page.)

Here’s the best part: you can register for the half-day workshop at the early-bird rate of only $49. That’s an amazing value. To get that rate, you need to register for the event by September 1.

I’ll be there, with bells on. I hope to see you there too!

Sometimes you just need company

15 August 2011

Some people just can’t organize alone. For those folks, sorting, weeding and organizing are activities that require company. I see it all the time with my clients. No matter how motivated or well-intentioned they are, they just don’t continue the work between my visits. It’s not that they’re lazy. They just can’t bring themselves to do it. But when I’m there, they’re focused and diligent and we get a lot done.

It’s not that I have some magical motivational power. It’s just that they can’t do it alone. In her groundbreaking book, Conquering Chronic Disorganization, Judith Kolberg identified this phenomenon and called what I’m doing in this situation “body doubling.” Body doubles maintain a quiet presence that enables the client to go through her stuff. It’s powerful work.

You don’t have to hire a professional organizer to get this kind of help, though I would argue that a PO who is good at body doubling is well worth her fee. But you do need someone who is non-judgmental and has a quiet presence. You don’t want your body double to be telling you what to do, offering unsolicited advice, chatting with you to fill the silence or moving constantly. You want someone who facilitates your focus by staying calm and quiet and enables your work by quietly doing whatever small tasks you need.

I personally love body doubling and really value the clients who value it. Sometimes I finish a session where I physically did very little and the client turns to me and says “I couldn’t do it without you.” I love those moments.

Unclutterer guest post on routines

12 August 2011

I make no secret of the fact that I love Unclutterer.com. It’s a smart, informative blog on living simply and I read it regularly. The editor, Erin Doland, does an amazing job with keeping the daily content fresh.

That’s why I’m so thrilled to have written a guest post that appeared there yesterday. Called Routines can make even the most unsavory tasks easy, it’s about my daily poop-scooping routine. As I’ve mentioned here before, tying backyard and litter-box clean up to my dog’s daily walks has revolutionized how I deal with my pets’ waste. And I had to tell the world beyond my blog.

If you’re not already a regular reader of Unclutterer, I urge you to become one!

Listen in to some conversations with some smart folks

10 August 2011

At the risk of sounding unhumble, I’ll tell you that I’m one of the smart folks you can listen to.

My friend, Maryann Devine of smarts and culture has put together an audio series, called Summer House, in which she has a conversation with someone who has something to share, as though she were sitting on the porch of her (fictitious) summer house chatting with them.

I was thrilled to be asked to be part of the series. I’m the third interview, so far. I personally know the first two guests, Shannon Wilkinson of Perception Studios, my life coach and Declutter Happy Hour partner, and Jacquelyn Kittredge of e-bakery, a social media consultant for small businesses. Shannon and Jacquelyn are smart cookies!

The interviews are fantastic. Maryann did a great job of preparing some great questions to guide some informative conversations.

You can download the existing interviews, for free, by going to the Summer House page and sign up to be notified about future interviews as well.

Thirty-One giveaway winner

9 August 2011

Last week, I reviewed the Organizing Utility Tote from Thirty-One, which was given to me by Thirty-One Independent Consultant Jessica Wright.

Thank you to everyone who commented and entered the drawing for a $25 gift certificate to Thirty-One, courtesy of Jessica.

On Saturday, I numbered the entries and used the Random Number Generator to select a winner.

The winner signed her/his name as Misfit. Here’s the comment:

Thanks again to everyone who entered. Even if you didn’t win the $25 gift certificate, please do take a look at the Thirty-One catalog, available online. The pricing is quite affordable! And for the month of August, everything is 15 percent off.

Please visit the blog again for future giveaways!