Peace of Mind Organizing

A day to myself

17 August 2009

I had a glorious day yesterday in which I placed no demands on myself. After working with clients the last couple of weekends, it was great to have a Sunday to do whatever I wanted to do. (I got my home-related chores taken care of on Saturday.)

My husband, Barry, was out at the glider port much of the day. Left to my own devices, I:

• Finished reading a book (Cold Moon, by Jeffery Deaver)
• Watched I Love You, Man on DVD while knitting a few more miters for my mitered square blanket
• Took a nap
• Watched I Love You, Man again, this time listening to the commentary track (with comments from director John Hamburg and stars Paul Rudd and Jason Segal)
• Worked on the endless i-cord border of my Learn to Knit Afghan
• Started reading another book, The Mighty Queens of Freeville, by Amy Dickinson
• Watched every extra on the I Love You, Man DVD
• Watched American Idol Rewind (reliving Season Four)
• Did Wii Fit for a half hour
• Worked on needle felting a drawing of a poodle and cat (my old logo from my pet-writing business, designed by Sally Brown)
• Watched Hung
• Watched Mad Men
• Watched Entourage

I realize to some of you that I probably come across as a huge couch potato. But to me, yesterday was a heavenly day. I got to craft, watch TV, and do whatever I wanted. Sure, I have a big task list I could have worked on. Yep, my bathroom closet still needs reorganizing.

But by making no demands on myself, I became rejuventated. To me, the key here is that I did my thing yesterday with absolutely no guilt. Today, I’m rejuvenated. I’m hitting the ground running, ready to get a ton done.

When was the last time you took a day for yourself? What would you do if you had a whole day to do whatever you wanted? I encourage you to find time — even if it’s not a whole day — to do something enjoyable, free of guilt over other things you could be doing. You deserve it!

Set your DVRs - New "Hoarders" series debuts Monday

14 August 2009

I’m really excited to watch the new documentary series on A&E Television called Hoarders, which debuts on Monday at 10/9 central on A&E. My good friend, Geralin Thomas, a fabulous organizer in Cary, N.C., is one of the organizers featured on the show. In Monday’s episode, she’s seen helping Jennifer Miller, a mother of three whose husband is also a hoarder.

Geralin was on the Today Show on NBC this morning, with Jennifer, talking about the episode. I’ve been looking forward to seeing Hoarders, but after seeing this interview, I’m all the more excited. You can watch the interview for yourself and decide:

Jennifer was also on during the first hour of the Today Show, with therapist David Tolin, one of the pioneers in using cognitive behavioral therapy to help hoarders. That interview was great too.

I’m hopeful that the series, which is produced by Screaming Flea Productions will provide an insightful look into the lives of hoarders. One thing I do know: Geralin did our profession proud on the Today Show this morning!

Automating my exercise

13 August 2009

I’ve written about my infatuation with the Wii Fit I purchased in April. I built a routine of doing Wii Fit six days a week (I’d take Thursdays off) and was going strong. I was so enthusiastic about it that my friend Margaret Lukens of New Leaf + Company interviewed me about it and included me and my Wii Fit in a blog post she wrote about exercise this week.

Then I started to feel a little bored by the exercise choice, so I purchased EA Sports Active for the Wii, which takes a different approach to fitness. Where Wii Fit focuses on yoga, balance and stretching, EA Sports Active kicks your butt more and has an emphasis on aerobic activity. It uses stretch bands for strength exercises. I actually sweat while using it. I don’t like to sweat.

I’ve written here over and over about the importance of routines and making daily tasks automatic. Having a choice about which fitness program to use has thrown me for a loop. Exercise is no longer automatic; I have to think about what I want to do. In addition, the exercise break I took during my nine-day trip last month, made it really tough to get back into the swing of regular exercise.

But I’m newly motivated: my brother told me we’re going to the beach when I visit Australia at the end of the month. And I have a two-piece bathing suit. So at the very least I want to get my abs looking great.

The Wii Fit really helped my abs. So I think between now and my departure in two weeks, I’m going to focus on Wii Fit, 30 minutes a day, except Thursdays. Maybe I’ll throw in EA Sports Active as a bonus some days (though that doesn’t feel very likely).

It’s been an interesting lesson to me that variety can actually be detrimental when it comes to creating routines. I’m hopeful that by eliminating variety for these next two weeks, I’ll get some good exercise accomplished. When I return from Australia, I’ll figure out how to get back into the swing of it again.

We all have fear

11 August 2009

Recently my husband and I went to a family reunion held at a ski resort in Pennsylvania (it was the end of June and there was no snow). He and I rode a chair lift up to the top of the mountain to enjoy the view. I don’t ski and I’ve only been on a ski lift a handful of times. Neither of us heard the mumbling attendant’s instructions to pull the restraining bar over our heads and lock it in place in front of us. So we were riding up the mountain with nothing preventing us from falling out of the moving chair.

Now, the lift was slow and the mountain slope gentle. So we weren’t really in danger. But I Freaked Out. Oh my goodness. I tried to keep from panicking and became quite upset. I should have been reassured by the mountain bikers who were in the seat ahead of us. They weren’t restrained either (and they were holding bikes!). That didn’t help me. I sat there, gripped by fear.

We figured out about the restraining bar when we approached the top and saw a sign about raising the bar. We made sure we were restrained on the ride down. It was much more enjoyable!

My husband, Barry, with his sister, Lori. That's the chair lift in the background. It doesn't look so scary, does it?

Afterward, I realized what an unfamiliar feeling that was. I don’t put myself in a position to be afraid for my physical safety. (So it might not surprise you that I don’t ski. Or skydive. Or race fast cars.) Fear stops me from doing things I consider dangerous. And that’s fine with me.

But fear also stops me from doing other things. In working with my fabulous life coach, Shannon Wilkinson, I’ve learned that I’m driven by a craving for peace and harmony. I’m afraid to do anything that might disrupt it. That’s why I put off tasks that seem like they might be difficult or stressful (which of course makes them more stressful, usually). That’s why I’ll avoid discussions that might be contentious, even if there’s stuff that needs to be discussed.

Sometimes it’s for good—my fear of disharmony does allow me to avoid unpleasantness. But sometimes unpleasantness can’t be avoided and all my fear does is put it off. That’s rarely for the best.

The strange thing is that there are things I’m not afraid of that make other people shake in their boots. Like public speaking. Or starting a new business. Or writing for publication. And I’ll actually fly as a passenger in a glider, since that’s my husband’s hobby.

As I’ve written about before, sometimes decluttering can be really scary. You might be afraid of what you’ll find. Or you might even fear what you’ll do with yourself once clutter stops being a barrier to living. In our e-course, Declutter Happy Hour, Shannon (the aforementioned life coach) and I address head-on the emotions behind the clutter. If your clutter is a scary thing, it just might help.

We all have fears. We can try to live without fear by avoiding anything scary. Or we can try to recognize our fears, face them and get past them when it benefits us. Fear can stop us from doing stupid things. It can also stop us from doing smart things. For me, the key is learning to tell the difference.

Back to school organizing (featuring Peter Walsh and a giveaway!)

7 August 2009

I’m not a parent, so the phrase “back to school” hasn’t meant a lot to me since I was actually in school, a long time ago. But I realize for a lot of parents, the beginning of the school year brings along mixed emotions, including worries about getting/keeping kids organized with their school day and school work.

Yesterday I was one of 200 bloggers who watched a webcast on this very topic from super organizer Peter Walsh, accompanied by a couple of bloggers: middle-school teacher Heather Wolpert-Gawron and stay-at-home-mom of three Ana Picazo. There were also two school-age children, Keaton and Megan participating.

In the lively, 40-minute webcast (which you can watch yourself here) Walsh and his team discussed tips and strategies for helping kids be organized both at home and at school. The takeaway message was one that applies to adults as well. To help students be successful, establish limits and routines.

Examples of routines include emptying the backpack every day. Or setting out clothes the night before, to make mornings easier. Examples of limits include establishing a storage area for a category of belongings (like toys) and helping the child understand that if the storage area is full, nothing new can be added until something is taken away. Walsh encouraged parents to include kids in the donation process, so they can understand about giving to people in need.

Another nugget was the suggestion from teacher Wolpert-Gawron to give teachers supplies, not an apple or “#1 Teacher” mug when you feel like giving a gift. Teachers often have to purchase supplies for their classroom out of their own pocket (to the tune of an average $1200, according to Walsh), so a gift of supplies would be much appreciated.

The blogcast was sponsored by Office Max which carries Walsh’s IN PLACE SYSTEM of office products. They also carry a fun line of kid-centric school supplies, called Schoolio Von Hoolio. They’re available only in stores, but it’s worth it to venture because they’re offering great back to school savings in the OfficeMax stores right now.

Here’s the giveaway

Since I was an invited participant in the blogcast, OfficeMax sent me a box full of the Schoolio Von Hoolio products. And now I want to pass them on to you.

Here’s a photo of the actual goodies:

The box the giveaway winner will receive will contain the items pictured above:

• 7-pocket expanding file
• Owl and cupcake rigid binder
• Purple heart flexible binder
• Hot pink drawstring bag
• Purple heart composition notebook
• Owl and cupcake composition notebook
• Owl and cupcake spiral notebook
• Owl clipboard and mini notebook
• Cupcake two-pocket folder
• Pencil box and pencil set

To enter, just leave a comment below. For an extra entry, tweet about the giveaway on Twitter (in addition to your comment). Please be sure to put @janinea in the tweet so I’ll see it. The winner will be selected at random at noon CDT in the US on Tuesday, August 11.

ETA: We have a winner! Using the Random Integer Generator, Diane Wilkinson of Pacific City, Oregon, was selected. The box of goodies is on the way to you now, Diane. Thanks for all the entries and the tweets. I hope to be doing another giveaway soon.

Organizing to go Down Under

6 August 2009

I am so excited. Three weeks from today I fly to Brisbane, Australia. While I’m there, I’ll be attending the Australasian Association of Professional Organisers annual conference. I’m one of the presenters at the two-day conference. I’ll be speaking about using the internet to work with clients all over the world.

When I found out that the AAPO meeting was in Brisbane, I jumped at the chance to attend. My brother, his wife and two children live there. And I’ve yet to see them in their natural habitat. Oh, and I’ll get to meet their mini labradoodle, Dakoda.

So now I’m busy thinking about things like power adapters for my laptop, and what I’m going to do to amuse myself for something like 18 hours on airplanes. On its website, Qantas says that knitting needles are prohibited on their airplanes, which is a huge disappointment. But I’ll take my knitting, even if it’s packed in my luggage. I’m going to find out whether there are any knitting groups I might drop in on while I’m there. And maybe I’ll visit a yarn store or two.

Everyone warns me (like I wouldn’t know) that it’s winter there. It’ll actually be more like early spring. I’ll be leaving sweltering St. Louis in August and can look forward to temps in the 70s. That sounds heavenly. Brisbane has a temperate climate.

If you’ve traveled to Australia and have any tips for me, or if you’re planning to attend the AAPO conference, please leave a comment!

Brand-new, revised instructions for Autofocus

4 August 2009

I’ve written in some detail about time-management guru Mark Forster’s task-management system, Autofocus. I’m a giant fan.

He invented the system in late 2008 and debuted it in January 2009. I was one of the beta testers. Then, at the end of June, he issued instructions for a revised system (he called it Autofocus 2) that’s really quite different in key ways from the original.

Last week, Mark issued a completely new set of instructions calling this newest version the Revised Autofocus System, which actually incorporates both Autofocus 1 and 2.

I’ve been using it and liking it and plan to write a longer post about it after I’ve had more experience with it.

In the meantime, you can read the new instructions. If you try it, I’d love to hear what you think. I think it’s a tremendous task-management system that I’ve found very freeing.