Peace of Mind Organizing

A full day's work in half a day

24 December 2008

Even though I’m not going anywhere or doing much for Christmas (besides being a dinner guest), I woke up this morning thinking, “Hey it’s Christmas Eve Day. I don’t want to work.” So I decided to take a half day off.

But I still have these things I want to finish before Christmas—I want to check off some tasks on my to-do list so I don’t have to bother next week, which is my big Closure and Planning Week.

So I created a list of things I need to do before I can call it a day today. My goal is to finish them by noon or perhaps 1:00. (Noon! No mamby pamby goals.) The funny thing is that it’s really the same list I’d have made if I were planning to work the full day. But I’ve injected a little competition into the scenario, in a way. I’ve pitted work against play (for me, play will be knitting, watching movies, and working on New Year’s cards on this rainy day). The longer I’ll work, the less I’ll play. So I’d better get busy.

I feel myself kind of excited to plow through my list. And I know I’m going to have laser focus, because I want to achieve this goal. (I’m getting a good start by spending only ten minutes writing a blog post today.)

Gosh, if this works, I’m going to have to try it more often!

I think I’m truly going to take the day off tomorrow, so no blog post. If you celebrate Christmas, please allow me to wish you a Merry Christmas. If you don’t, enjoy a stress-free day off (assuming you get a day off). I’ll reconnect here on Friday.

ETA: It’s 10:52 and I’ve just crossed the last thing off my list. Time to close up shop until the 26th!

Wanna test a brand new time-management system?

23 December 2008

If you’ve read my blog for any length of time, you know that I’m a big fan of Mark Forster. The principles in his book Do It Tomorrow and Other Secrets of Time Management have been really helpful for me and I credit them with helping me get a handle on time (or at least task) management as well as procrastination.

Recently, Mark offered up a variation on the “will do list” recommended in Do It Tomorrow. I gave it a whirl and have found it to be even better. I’m delighted with this innovation.

But my level of excitement rose a big notch when Mark announced cryptically that he was working on a new system. He’s been blogging about it a bit and this reserved English gentleman seems quite excited. So of course I am. He put out a call for beta testers. My fingers flew as I rushed to his site to sign up. Testing begins on or around January 5. Can’t wait!

This morning, he emailed the beta testers asking us to spread the word. He’s looking for all sorts of people (not just Mark Forster fans) to try out the new system. He wrote, “I need a wide variety of people. It doesn’t matter whether they think they are good at time management or hopeless at it. Nor does it matter if they think they won’t have time to do it! I am just as interested in why some people don’t succeed with it as I am in why others do succeed.”

To learn a little more about the new system, go to the blog archive section of Mark’s website and click on new system to see the eight entries he’s made so far about it.

If you’re interested in getting in on this experiment, go to Mark’s website and enter your email address in the newsletter sign-up box on the right. Then click the box next to “Beta Testing” and submit.

A special time of year

22 December 2008

I know that this is a special time of year for many people because of the holidays. Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa…they all make for happy times for people who celebrate them. I certainly have nothing against any of those holidays. It’s just that in my little nuclear family (my husband, me, my two poodles and our tabby cat) we don’t celebrate any of them.

Nevertheless I love this time of year. In particular, I love the week between Christmas and New Year’s. First, that week is bookended by two days off, which is fabulous. And in between, no one really expects anyone to get anything done. Free of expectations of others, it’s time I can use any way I want. I’ve always used it as a time to get my ducks in a row. It comes right before the new year, a time ripe for goal setting, good intentions, and new beginnings.

And, as I came to realize in my Holiday Spa Day, the last week of the year is an excellent time for closure. I plan to tie up loose ends and do things like catching up on my 2008 Quickbooks data entry, which I’ve fallen woefully behind on, mostly because I don’t like doing it. Once caught up, I’m going to try to create the habit of entering data into Quickbooks (which I use for my business) at least once a week.

But I have three more days before that magical week begins. I have a little fun built in (a movie with a friend), some holiday knitting to finish, and some holiday cards to write in and send out (thankfully, they’re New Year’s cards). And I also have some fairly large things on my to-do list that I need to get done before January 1. The more time I spend on them before Christmas, the more magical my last week of the year can be because my time will truly be my own.

This morning, as I was walking around doing my morning stuff, I heard myself say something that was apparently going through my unconscious mind. “This is a special week,” I said out loud, in a whisper. I’m going to do my best to make it so.

My Valiant effort at knitting a great sweater

19 December 2008

As I’ve posted here before, I’m been working on knitting a sweater designed by fabulous UK knits designer Kim Hargreaves. It’s called Valiant. What I may not have mentioned is that my record of success in knitting sweaters is pretty absymal. I’ve been successful with vests and shells, but the addition of sleeves seems to throw a wrench in the works. So I’m absolutely delighted to report that I’ve finished Valiant. And it’s a viable sweater!

Now, it’s not as big as I was expecting. I think I’m having an issue with knitting too tightly. I did knit a couple of gauge swatches and used one size smaller needles as a result. I’m thinking that was a mistake.

So it’s not a big, bulky sweater. And it’s more of a turtleneck than a cowl. But it’s very pretty nonetheless.

Behold.

This sweater's really all about the neck.

And here's the neck. Such a prettty pattern!

In other knitting news, there’s been a huge improvement in my felted knitting basket (the one I blogged about a couple of weeks ago). I loved the bag, but it was floppy, unable to stand up on its own. Unless it was chock full of stuff, it more or less melted into a blue, orange and brown puddle. I didn’t know how to fix that. Enter my amazing friend, Bobbi. She’s an incredible seamstress and is very creative. She has a fabulous etsy shop (there’s still time to buy Christmas presents from her!) that you need to check out.

Bobbi and I belong to a craft club, a group of women who get together once a month. We sit there and do our own craft thing while enjoying one another’s company. There’s food involved. And often wine. The club met on Sunday and I brought my bag to show off (and to transport my current knitting project, another felted bag). Bobbi and I brainstormed solutions for my problem. And she turned them into a reality. Within a matter of days.

She took needlepoint canvas (which is made of plastic mesh, not canvas) and created what she calls an armature (I love that) to give the bag some structure. She was coming over for some hot chocolate and a chat anyway, so she brought me a selection of fabrics from which to choose. And she also brought her sewing machine. So awesome.

I picked out some fabulous fabric, she sewed it together, put it around the armature and sewed it all into the bag. I’m thrilled to bits at the transformation. Here’s the new and improved bag.

This bag now stands up on its own.

I love the lining!

Now go check out Bobbi’s etsy shop!

Reflections on holiday cards

18 December 2008

As I posted in November, holiday cards are a big project for me. I do two sets: business and personal. Last year I only managed to get the business ones out. (And the sky didn’t fall.) This year, I’m bound and determined to do both this year. I’ll send out two hundred or so, in total.

Last night I finished writing in my business-related holiday cards. They’ll go in the mail today. I send them to clients and to colleagues. I take real pleasure in both giving and receiving holiday cards.

I’d like to encourage you to consider cards an opportunity, not an obligation. For me, it’s an opportunity to reconnect with folks I might not have seen in awhile. And to express my appreciation for having them in my lives. If I didn’t see it that way, if I sent the cards just because I thought I should, that’s a whole different ball game. That’s just stress. Stress—particularly holiday stress—isn’t good. (Come to think of it, this concept applies to holiday gifts as well.)

This weekend, I’ll work on the cards for friends and family. I know I’m going to enjoy reconnecting with people, especially since I didn’t do it last year. Because, like everyone else, we’re trying to economize in my family, I’m reusing cards left over from several years ago (when Snapfish mistakenly sent us twice as many customized cards as we ordered). I’m using Forever stamps I bought back before the last postage increase. So really, all it’s costing out of this month’s budget is my time.

I consider it time well spend. And I actually consider it enjoyable because of my view of it as an opportunity. If you don’t share that view—if it’s a chore hanging over your head—I encourage you to let it go. If I’m on your holiday card list and I don’t receive one, I promise not to hold it against you. Feel free to reconnect with folks via email. Or a new year’s card. Or, gosh, a phone call.

When it comes to cards, be kind to yourself. Make it an enjoyable ritual or let it go. But don’t do it just because you feel you should. In my opinion, “should” has no business making its way on to our to-do lists.

Spa Day report: Simultaneously calming and energizing

17 December 2008

As I mentioned on Friday, I eagerly anticipated the Extra Special Holiday Spa Day at Inspired Home Office, which I participated in on Saturday. I thought I’d report on this very cool experience.

There were six participants, in addition to the leaders, Jen Hofmann and Havi Brooks. We were scattered around the continent, from Vancouver, B.C. to southern Florida. We gathered on the phone via teleconference line and made introductions and talked about what we were hoping to get out of our time together. The Spa Day was scheduled for 5 hours. About half of that was on the phone, the other half off-line working on projects. Jen remained on the line in case there were questions. So we could just pick up the phone, call the teleconference line, and she’d be there. Cool.

Jen led us through a process to identify the first project we wanted to work on in the hour or so allotted. She encouraged us to think about the holidays/end of year as a time of completion. In selecting our projects, she said, we should keep in mind the value of finishing up things this year and starting afresh in the new year. I think that’s brilliant.

So I (along with everyone else) silently figured out what I wanted to work on. I wanted it to be something that I could accomplish in the hour. I wanted it to reduce my stress. And I wanted it to represent completion. I lighted on exactly the right project: I would get rid of clutter that accumulated as a result of my creating a second home office. This is stuff that was taken out of the room that was transformed and not put back in there. Instead, it was pushed aside in the back of an adjacent room. I’d be actively avoiding dealing with it since (gulp) July. I walk past it every day.

So once I identified that as the perfect project that fit all my criteria, I was raring to go. I’ve never been so excited about an organizing project in my own home. As I listened to Jen finish up, I was chomping at the bit to get started. When we hung up, I practically ran to the area in question. Can you imagine?

And I finished it in the hour! It actually involved my husband’s help carrying something heavy to the basement, so I’m particularly proud I finished it in an hour.

We reconvened on the phone, talked about what we’d done and how it felt. Personally, I didn’t have any emotional issues surrounding this particular clutter, but other people were dealing with some issues and the group environment was so supportive and helpful. Havi took us through a relaxation exercise, and we set the goal for the next hour. I worked on making my desk area less distracting and plowed through the inbox I’d been ignoring for a weak. It was a peaceful and productive experience, that second hour. Darkness was falling as 5:00 approached and I was feeling very good about my day.

Lessons learned? There were several.

• Instead of walking by clutter spots thinking, “I need to get to that,” just get to it! It probably will take less time and effort than you think.

• A group, particularly one headed by compassionate and skilled leaders, can be powerfully motivating.

• Think about decluttering as an opportunity to reduce stress, rather than just a chore. It’s true and it’s really helpful.

• Focus on completion at the end of the year. It’s nice to tie up loose ends.

• Everyone can use a little help and support. I know full well how to declutter. I help people with it all the time. But by participating in the Spa Day, I benefited tremendous support, motivation, and even a little self discovery. I heartily endorse it!

Thanks, Jen and Havi and all the participants, for making this such a great afternoon.

Peace of Mind Organizing on the newsstand

16 December 2008

…if you’re in St. Louis, that is. I was interviewed for an article on organizing for St. Louis Woman magazine. I think it’s a good article. (I hope I don’t come across as a Scrooge.) Also interviewed for the article was my fellow NAPO St. Louis member, Jodi Granok, who gives some terrific advice.

On another publicity front, I just became aware that The Bark magazine is carrying one of the recipes from my dog-treat cookbook, You Bake ‘em Dog Biscuits Cookbook, on their website. I’m always happy to be associated with The Bark—it’s the coolest dog magazine around. (It’s been called “The New Yorker of dog magazines.”) I was proud to write for them back when I was pet writing. I have this vague recollection of their reprinting the recipe back in 2005, when the book came out, and apparently it’s still on their website. So in case you’re interested in making red and green Christmas cookies for your pooch, here’s the recipe.