Peace of Mind Organizing

Great tips on hiring an organizer

20 January 2009

Over at Unclutterer today, my pal Geralin Thomas of Metropolitan Organizing in Cary, N.C., has a terrific blog post on how to hire a professional organizer. It includes fifteen questions to ask a prospective organizer, as well as qualifications to look for.

I would only add that during the initial phone call with the prospective organizer, pay attention to your physical and emotional reaction to the person. Organizing (especially in your home) can be a really intimate experience; in a sense you’re baring your soul. Try to select an organizer you feel a connection with and one who puts you at ease.

Great job, Geralin!

Come to my free organizing workshop!

16 January 2009

I’ll be giving a workshop here in St. Louis on decluttering. It’s free and open to the public. If you’re in St. Louis, I’d love to see you there!

Here are the particulars:

Declutter your life: How to create breathing space in your home

At this free workshop, you’ll learn the principles to help you declutter your home and create lasting order. The workshop will cover the following:

• What to ask yourself when trying to decide whether to keep something
• How long to keep certain items
• What to do with stuff you want to let go of
• How to avoid common pitfalls
• How to keep disorder from creeping back in

The workshop will be held on Wednesday, February 4, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Commerce Bank’s Kirkwood Branch.

Registration is required. To sign up for this event, please visit the new events page on my website.

Little and often

15 January 2009

We organizers like to talk about breaking big projects down into small steps in order to make them feel less overwhelming. That’s solid advice.

A little phrase that’s been going through my head a lot lately is “little and often,” something Mark Forster writes about in his books and something that’s really come to the forefront of my mind as I work with his Autofocus task-management system. Little and often simply means working on a project a little bit at a time, frequently (or at least regularly).

I think some of us—including me, particularly in the past—feel like we have to have a large chunk of time available to work on a large project before we can get started. Trouble is, that large chunk of time rarely becomes available. But if we apply the principle of little and often, we can chip away at the project bit by bit and get it done.

It can also be applied to routine tasks. If you wash what few dirty dishes you have every single day, you’re applying the principle of little and often. And you never have a big pile of dirty dishes to contend with. If you let them pile up until you have a whole sink (or dishwasher) full, it feels likes more work. And it’s more stressful to look at all those dirty dishes.

I raved about Autofocus last week. I’m even more enthusiastic now then I was then. A big part of the system (and I encourage you to go to Mark’s website system and sign up to become a beta tester so you can receive full instructions) is that you can cross an item off your list if you do just a tiny part of it. If you don’t finish it, you add it to the end of the list. This means that you’re getting started and often getting started is half the battle.

Next time you’re feeling overwhelmed by a project, think of my new mantra, “little and often” and just do something. Then after awhile do more. If you keep repeating this you’ll get the project done. And, trust, me, it will be relatively painless.

Free bonus with newsletter

13 January 2009

I publish a free newsletter that comes out on the 15th of every month. I’m working on the next issue now. In the past week, I’ve added a bonus for those who subscribe to the newsletter. It’s a short pdf I’ve written on handling your mail, called How to Fall In Love with the Mail Carrier All Over Again.

Click this link to subscribe to my newsletter and you’ll be sent a link to the pdf. If you’re already a subscriber, the link to the pdf will be included in the next newsletter (which you’ll receive in your email box on January 15).

Each newsletter has a feature article, a tip, an offer, and some bit of news. I’d love to add you to my subscriber base!

Need some comfort, courage and calm these days?

12 January 2009

While the new year always feels ripe with possibilities for me, I have to admit that the advent of 2009 is a little scarier than usual. I have great hopes for a turnaround in our economy, but I know that for many people (including me, sometimes) the economic situation makes taking action—or even feeling good—a little difficult and scary.

That’s why I was so impressed when Jen Louden decided to put on her Comfort Queen’s 2009 Virtual Retreat, a four-day event (January 16 to 19) designed to give participants comfort, strength and courage in these tough times. She’s brought together ten self-help specialists to lead sessions on a variety of issues people are dealing with these days.

Registration opens today and the first 100 registrations will receive a bonus small-group call with Jen and a chance to win $4200 worth of free coaching with her. That’s a cool prize.

I had the chance to speak on the phone with Jen about why she decided to put on this virtual retreat and what she hopes people will get out of it.

Jen said that she realized that she herself was afraid and that fear was blocking her from progress. She started learning about fear and talking with friends about it and decided to offer something to help other people deal with fear. She wanted a multi-dimensional approach, so sought the help of other experts. “I really want to create a recalibration,” she said, explaining that she hopes that the learning perspectives gained on the retreat will be a way for our bodies and our spirit to reset and bring our minds along.

Jen hopes that the participants will feel calm, confidence and contentment in their bodies during the retreat. She wants them to experience well being, even if their situation feels dire. Her other goal is for participants to gain some specific tools for dealing with whatever issue come up, once the retreat is over.

I think it sounds fantastic and I’m eagerly looking forward to it.

Topics to be covered in the retreat include:

• Overcoming Money Fears (Steve Chandler)
• Emergency Calming Techniques & Dissolving Procrastination (Havi Brooks)
• How to Create a Life Purpose (Laura Berman Fortang)
• Overcoming Emotional Eating (Geneen Roth)
• Re-energizing Your Career and Getting Into Action (Barbara Sher)
• Conquering Fear, Gaining Peace (Susan Piver)
• Emotional Healing (Dr. Judith Orloff)
• Doing Great Work and Making Lasting Impact (Michael Bungay Stanier)
• The Comfort of Your Innate Wellbeing (Michael Neill)

In between these talks, Jen will lead mini-sessions designed to help participants maximize the retreat experience.

The cost for this four-day retreat is only $88. If you have that to spare, I encourage you to register for the 2009 Virtual Retreat. Even if you’re not available to listen to the calls live, you’ll have access to recordings of them, as well as printed support material.

Autofocus

10 January 2009

As I mentioned last month, time-management guru Mark Forster has developed a brand-new task management system. It’s called Autofocus.

Beta testing began on Monday. I was going to write a review of it today, but I’m finding that my experience with it is deepening on the daily basis, so I’m going to hold off on any kind of in-depth review.

In the meantime, I want to say this. I love Autofocus. As much as I loved Mark’s Do It Tomorrow and Other Secrets of Time Management for task management, this is even better. So far, it’s allowed me to be ultra productive, without stress, and I’m even having fun with it. It’s like magic.

If you want to learn about this system and get in on the beta testing, there’s a link at the top of Mark’s website. In the discussion forum on his website there are lively discussions among the beta testers. Sign up and try it, and if you’re curious about the system, I encourage you to check out those discussions.

When I originally posted this note, I included an explanation of the system. But a kind autofocuser pointed out that weren’t supposed to pass explain the system, rather let people sign up so they get the exact instructions. So I’ve revised this post. Please do sign up, try it out, and let Mark know what you think!

Things that are making me smile (and laugh!) today

8 January 2009

There are several things that I’ve seen or that I’m anticipating that are making me smile (some are making me laugh) today, so I thought I’d share. Because, really, who can’t use a smile?

I’ve signed up for the 2009 Virtual Retreat, presented by Jen Louden, aka The Comfort Queen. I’ve followed Jen’s work for several years now and am one of her followers on Twitter. (Her Twitter name is jenlouden.) The theme of the virtual retreat is Finding Calm, Confidence and Contentment in these Uncertain Times. How cool is that? I jumped at the chance to sign up for this four-day series of talks via the telephone from a variety of fabulous experts. For under $100, I get to tap into the knowledge of some great people (including Michael Neill, Steve Chandler and Havi Brooks).

I was on Craigslist yesterday and happened on this Cat Found! ad in the Best of Craigslist area (which is always good for a laugh). I’ve been chuckling over it ever since. Seriously, check it out. It made me laugh so hard I had tears running down my face.

I came across this Playing for Change: Peace through Music video of Stand by Me on YouTube again recently. It fills my heart and makes me smile. I blogged about Playing for Change last October.

And speaking of YouTube, I stumbled on this video of a sneezing panda while looking to show a friend the sneezing monkey on David Letterman. Anyway, this panda video made us laugh, hard. Since 28 million people have already viewed it, you may have, too, but here it is.

I’m hoping that by reading this, you’ve had the chance to smile or maybe even belly laugh. Have a great day!