Peace of Mind Organizing

Getting back on task

29 October 2009

Over the past ten months I’ve written here about my love of the task-management system Autofocus. I do love it. A lot. I’ll let you click on the links and learn about it, but, in a nutshell, it involves one long, bound to-do list upon which you dump all your tasks, in no order, and work through it in a particular fashion. There’s no prioritizing, no rewriting the list.

We’ve established that I love it. But if I’m being honest, I’ll confess here that I fell off the Autofocus bandwagon for a little while.

It may have had to do with my traveling. I had it with me in Australia and I jotted down all sorts of tasks inspired by the Australian organisers’ conference I attended. Then I got busy getting ready for my trip to LA for another organizers’ conference and I stopped using my Autofocus notebook properly. I’d write things in it. But I wasn’t using the method and getting stuff done. I was concentrating on urgent tasks.

Another challenge I had was that while I was in Australia, Autofocus founder Mark Forster came out with another revision of the system, AF4. He was so enthusiastic about it that I wanted to try it. But after I did, I discovered I was less enthusiastic about it.

So earlier this week, I decided to go back to the original Autofocus system of handling my task list, which involves moving from front to back of the notebook. In order to do it properly, I have to revisit (and accomplish or dismiss) old tasks before I get to the shiny new ones.

It took me a couple of days to get all the way through the notebook. I have 58 pages of tasks, 18 of them active. (In other words, I’ve crossed off 40 pages of tasks since I started AF on January 5, 2009.) The beautiful thing about my new determination to get back on the Autofocus bandwagon is that in going through these old tasks, I got some stuff done that I’d actually forgotten about. Stuff that will be very good for me and my business (like arranging some guest blog posts). These are tasks that without Autofocus would simply have withered on the vine, I’m confident.

As November approaches and with it the holiday season plus the challenge of writing a novel in a month, I know that my newly re-energized Autofocus list will keep me on task and productive. To me, that’s what a task management system is all about.

Next week I’ll post about another bandwagon I’ve fallen off of (Wii Fit), one that I’ll be climbing back onto very soon.

Declutter Happy Hour Thanksgiving special!

28 October 2009

I can’t believe Thanksgiving is just around the corner. I love Thanksgiving. And I’m really lucky because Thanksgiving doesn’t mean work for me. We’ve had turkey on the fourth Thursday of November every year since 1988 at the home of dear friends. My husband cooks our contribution. All I have to do is show up and eat. (And contribute to conversation.)

I realize that I’m pretty unusual, though. For many people, Thanksgiving requires a certain amount of work, and not just on turkey day itself. If you’re dealing with a clutter issue, then hosting Thanksgiving dinner might mean that you do an anxiety-inducing stash-and-dash in which you gather up all your extraneous crap and stuff it into bags to hide from your guests.

But wouldn’t you rather actually clear the clutter, rather than hide it? Declutter Happy Hour, the 28-day e-course that I offer with life coach Shannon Wilkinson can help you do just that. It offers daily e-mails full of inspiration, encouragement, and challenges; weekly audios to help guide and motivate your decluttering efforts; and downloadable tipsheets.

As I mentioned, the class is 28 days long. And Thanksgiving is 28 days from tomorrow. That’s why we’re having a special. Sign up for Declutter Happy Hour today or tomorrow and you’ll get $20 off. It’s that easy.

Feel like writing a novel?

27 October 2009

National Novel Writing Month is about to start and I’m on board. NaNoWriMo is a worldwide event where people commit to writing a 50,000-word novel during the month of November. (As a point of reference, Catcher in the Rye is about 50,000 words.)

I did it back in 2004, just to see if I could. That year, I wasn’t part of the online community, because I didn’t do it until December. But this year, I’m chomping at the bit to start on November 1 like everybody else.

Why am I doing it? It’s not for that challenge, since I know I can do it. This year, I just think writing a novel sounds like fun. And if I can get a crappy first draft written in November, I’ll have something to work with.

I’ve been on a binge of reading books by Jeffery Deaver. I love his books, which have great plots, great characters and are written in a clear, non-self-conscious style. I think reading his books have made me want to write one of my own.

But why in a month? I love having a deadline like this. I love the accountability. I love that by month’s end my novel will have an end. I love having a daily writing quota and knowing I’ve achieved my goal for the day.

I’ll have a victory on a daily basis. It’s a great example of breaking a big project down into small tasks and working at it on daily. It’s a great use of Mark Forster’s concept of little and often.

When I wrote my first novel (which, incidentally, I’ve read only once), I wore a special hat and wrote in a room where I didn’t usually write. (At the time, I was a professional writer.) This time, I’m knitting a special scarf that I plan to wear when I’m working on my novel, just to put me in the mood. I intend to write early in the morning, first thing, even if it means getting up extra early. I haven’t decided where I’ll do the writing, but chances are good it’ll be at my desk.

You can expect some updates here through the month of November. If you’ve signed up for NaNoWriMo, leave me a comment or an email and let me know your registered name on the site. (I’m janinea.) I’ll make you my writing buddy!

Stop the stashing

23 October 2009

If clutter is an issue in your life, the prospect of having a dinner guest or houseguest can be panic-inducing. (Flylady calls it living in CHAOS, or Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome.)

What often happens when you’re getting ready for a guest is that you gather up all the clutter, stuff it into a box or bag and stash it away. It’s a temporary fix—it allows you to get the house company-ready quickly. But it actually can make matters worse, because everything is jumbled together (valuable documents comingling with junk) and you eventually have to go through it. And until you do, you just feel bad about it and a little bit scared of what you’ll find in there.

I can’t tell you how many of these bags and boxes of stuff I’ve helped clients go through, sometimes years later. Much of the stuff is thrown away but there’s usually a gem or two lurking in there.

There’s another way. My Declutter Happy Hour partner, Shannon Wilkinson and I have teamed up again to create a short audio, Quick Clutter Fix, that takes you through a seven-step process to whip your room into shape without stashing.

In the first half of this eight-minute audio, I walk you through the steps. In the second, Shannon takes you through a motivating meditation to rev up your engines to get started. And we’ve written down the seven steps and put them in a pdf so you can refer to them later.

Did I mention that Quick Clutter Fix is free? Please hop on over and check it out.

Standards of clutter

21 October 2009

Since I specialize in working with chronically disorganized people, I’ve seen a lot of clutter. I’ve worked in homes so full of stuff they were uninhabitable (literally).

But I’ve also been hired to do consultations for people for whom there was no visible clutter, at least at first glance. Yet those folks made the effort to schedule an appointment and paid me to advise them on how to deal with stuff that was bothering them. To my eye, it was small, easily addressable stuff. But to them it was a problem. (I always have to remind myself never to trivialize someone’s problem.)

It just goes to show you that clutter is in the eye of a beholder. I’m fond of saying that clutter isn’t a problem unless it’s a problem. Some people like having a little clutter around. Personally, I feel a little itchy when I walk into homes where literally everything’s in place. To me, that’s sterile, not comfortable. But if I were someone who desired such a home, then a pile of papers on the desk that won’t go away is clutter. Heck, a single sheet of paper that didn’t have a home would feel like clutter.

If you live alone, then your standard of clutter is your business. If you’re functioning well and the clutter doesn’t bother you, then it’s not a problem. (I define being cluttered as having more stuff than will fit in the storage spaces available.)

When you live with others, particularly with people with differing standards of clutter, it gets difficult. And that’s when compromise has to come into play. Sometimes the solution is to have private spaces within a home that don’t get messed with. So a neat person can have a pristine space without it being cluttered up by the spouse. And a messy person can mess up a room all he or she wants without being nagged about it.

My own standards of clutter are fairly relaxed. Compared to some of my chronically disorganized clients, my home is quite pristine. But I don’t mind if a few things don’t get put away, when it’s just my husband and me at home. When I’m expecting guests, however, I up the ante. Back in August I hosted a social event for members of the St. Louis chapter of the National Association of Professional Organizers. In anticipating that event, I had a little melt down as I worried how the other organizers might judge me for my less-than-perfect home. (I was being irrational, since of course I know that these great POs are not judgmental…but my being the president of the chapter made me feel like perhaps my standards should be higher.) Right after that event, I blogged about the experience at the fabulous website, Unclutterer.

In your own organizing journey, if you can get your home to the point where your own standard of clutter is met, and then create routines so that you keep your house at that comfortable level, then you’re a success, in my opinion. It doesn’t matter if that standard is different from what your mother (or mother-in-law) might approve of. As long as everyone in your home is comfortable and you’re functioning well, then you’re in good shape. Try not to impose other people’s standards of clutter on your home.

My speaking whirlwind

16 October 2009

I’ve been fortunate to be invited to speak a lot lately. I gave two versions of my “Declutter Your Life” talk, one on Tuesday night at the Buder Branch of the St. Louis Public Library (check out the library’s snazzy new website) and one this morning for the Thomas Dunn Memorials Adult Education Program. It is such a pleasure to get to know the audiences a little bit and find out what people are interested in learning about when it comes to organizing.

I’ve even had the chance to interact this week with a few people who attended Tuesday’s library talk. I’m digging this speaking thing!

So it’s good that I have more speaking opportunities lined up, isn’t it? I’m speaking to a group of artists through the St. Louis Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts on Monday and doing another library talk (on organizing for disaster and on favorite organizing products), this time at the Carpenter branch, on Tuesday. It’s a whirlwind!

If you have a group who might like someone to talk about decluttering or organizing, take a look at the Speaking page on my website to learn about some of the groups I’ve spoken to. I’d love to lengthen the list!

If you're into Internet marketing, here's a gold mine

14 October 2009

I love exploring the possibilities of the Internet. It opens up so many possibilities, in terms of working with clients all over the place (the topic of the presentation I gave at the Australasian Association of Professional Organisers conference last month), working with organizers anywhere, finding great deals, and basically broadening my horizons. If you’re reading this, you’re probably into the Internet too.

About a year ago, my friend Shannon Wilkinson turned me onto Naomi Dunford, a marketing guru for people (like me) with little tiny businesses. Her business is aptly named Ittybiz. I buy most all of Naomi’s products. I belong to her membership group, the Speakeasy, so I have access to four terrific telecalls a week. I’ve been mentioned on her amazing blog. I’ve even had the privilege of having a personal consult with her. She’s opened my eyes to the possibilities the Internet offers to small business people.

Through Naomi, I learned of Dave Navarro another Internet marketing expert and a co-author with Naomi of an e-book about launching products. Dave has introduced a product that I’m really excited about. It’s the gold mine I refer to in the title of this post.

Dave is interviewing a dozen Internet marketing bigwigs and selling the audio recordings of those hour-long interviews in a product called The 2009 More Buyers Mastermind. He’ll also be offering written transcrips, workbooks, and follow-up Q&As for each of the interviews.

The lineup of Internet superstars Dave is interviewing includes:

• Chris Garrett – How to Go From Zero to Authority in Your Niche
• Mark Silver – How to Sell Big Without Selling Out
• Pam Slim – How to Build Your Business When You Have a Day Job
• Laura Roeder – How to Get Into the Social Media Fast Lane
• Michael Martine – How to Tightly Focus Your Blog and Bring In More Customers
• Charlie Gilkey – How to Erase the Stress of Running Your Business
• Naomi Dunford (yay!) – Emergency Marketing: How to Get Big in a Hurry
• Christine O’Kelly – How to Get Paid what You’re Worth (and Not a Penny Less)
• Clay Collins – How to Discover Instantly Profitable Markets
• Sonia Simone – How to Get Your Audience to Fall In Love with You
• Chris Gullebeau – How to Raise Up a Small Army of Loyal Fans
• Brian Clark – How to Build a Six-Figure Information Product Platform

As I’m writing this (on Wednesday afternoon), eight of the interviews are completed and available for download. The rest will be finished this week, with the transcripts, workbook, and Q&A to follow in the coming weeks.

The price for this gold mine of information, through the end of the week, is just $97. It doubles after October 16. If you’re at all into this topic, I think it’s a bargain at $198, but $97 is incredible.

I’m lucky because I’m an auditory learner, so these recordings are exactly what I like. But the transcripts and workbooks should appeal to the visual and kinesthetic learners as well.

Click on The 2009 More Buyers Mastermind to go to the sales page to read more and sign up. And just so you know, if you use this link, I get a commission.

I’ve downloaded the first eight interviews, loaded them onto my iPod Touch and can’t wait to listen to them!