Peace of Mind Organizing

Backing up Evernote

13 September 2018

I use Evernote many times a day. I use it to store many different kinds of information, including my genealogy research log. I love that it’s so easily searchable and so easy to use. (I blogged about how I use Evernote several years ago and my use has only grown since then.)

Lately, there have been rumblings online that Evernote might be in danger of folding. Whether those rumors are true or not (and I certainly hope they’re false), I take comfort in the fact that I can back up Evernote so that each note is an easy-to-find html file.

I learned this from one of the readers of my genealogy blog, Corbin Dodge, who offered up the step-by-step information.

Corbin wrote:

I share your concerns re: what if an app goes belly up (what nightmares are made of!).

One thing I admire about Evernote is that it is easy to backup your notes so they’re accessible even if the app goes away. To do this on Mac:

(1) select the “Notes” heading in the sidebar
(2) On mac, hold down the command key and the “A” key at the same time, which will select all notes (on PC, hold down the control key and the “A” key at the same time)
(3) On the main menu bar, click “File”, then select “Export notes…”
(4) A window will pop up. There is a drop-down box labeled “Format”. It gives you 2 options. Choose “HTML”
(5) Save*

To access the backups, click on any note in the folder. It will open in your default browser. You can backspace out the note name in the url to get the full table of contents of every note that was backed up. Not as smooth to browse as the app, but reassuring to know your notes are accessible even if Evernote goes away! It also saves the images, albeit as a separate image file

*I’ve found this folder structure works well to organize backups for my various apps:
Dropbox / Backups / Evernote / 2017-09-27 Evernote Backup

Selecting the HTML format is a safeguard in case Evernote ceases to exist. The alternate option is to save them as “Evernote XML Format (.enex)”, which is an Evernote-specific file format which saves more metadata about each note (e.g., notebooks, tags, author), so this choice could be useful if you ever need to restore lost notes into Evernote (i.e., if their sync ever messes up). The downside to .enex is that it’s not a universally-friendly file format, so it wouldn’t do you much good if Evernote ever goes kaput.

p.s., an added benefit of backing your notebooks up in HTML format is that you can easily go back and retrieve a previous version of any single note without affecting all of your Evernote notebooks (which would be the case if you didn’t select “HTML” in step 3.

You can learn about Corbin’s digital marketing business at corbin-dodge.com and read about his adventures renovating his 100+ year home at eastwoodbungalow.com. Thank you, Corbin!

Got questions about overcoming perfectionism? Ask the podcasters!

6 September 2018

As I’ve mentioned here before, I’ve started a podcast with my friend, Shannon Wilkinson, a life coach in Portland, Oregon. The podcast is called Getting to Good Enough and it’s all about overcoming perfectionism so you can do more of what you love.

We’ve started a feature, Q & A on the 5s, where each episode that ends in five will showcase questions from listeners (and our answers). We’ve set up the GTGE Hotline (413-424-GTGE) where you can call in and leave a message. We’ll address your question or comment on the air in the next Q&A on the 5s episode, using your voice from the voicemail.

Today we published Episode 15, our first Q&A on the 5s. It was really fun to hear our listeners’ voices and discuss their questions and comments. The conversations that came up this episode were about planning, prioritizing and empowering.

I want to encourage readers of this blog to listen to the podcast and submit any questions on the hotline. You can listen to or subscribe to the podcast by clicking on the appropriate link at the bottom of the website, or by searching for the podcast wherever you find the podcasts you listen to.

If you’re not a podcast listener already and are wondering what the heck I’m talking about, I describe podcasts as internet radio shows. When you subscribe to the podcast (you can also listen on your phone or computer straight from our website) new episodes will be downloaded automatically into your phone or computer (depending on where you subscribed). We publish a new episode every Thursday and the previous episodes (all 14 of them) are available for you to binge-listen right now.

Podcasts keep me company while I drive, while I’m doing laundry or cleaning up the kitchen, sometimes even when I walk Bix. There are so many great podcasts out there; mostly I listen to self-help, entertainment or news-related podcasts. In the near future, I’ll put together a blog post about the podcasts I listen to most often.

Please check out Getting to Good Enough and let us know what you think!

Worth repeating (once again): Why I'm a professional organizer

30 August 2018

I originally wrote this post on why I became a professional organizer in 2013. Five years later, it still rings true. I will add that one other thing that keeps me going as a PO is the opportunity to help my fellow organizers hone their skills and earn income by working on my teams. I feel so fortunate to still enjoy my work after 13 years in business. If you’ve ever wondered what a PO gets out of her work—which to some people looks decidedly unglamorous—read on.

Often when I meet folks who learn what I do for a living, they’re keen on learning how I became a professional organizer. I explain the training I took and how I went about starting my business. (That’s all detailed in my blog post, Are you interested in becoming a professional organizer?)

But seldom am I asked why I became a PO, rather than how. I thought I’d spend a little time today exploring that question.

In my observation, there are two sorts of folks who become professional organizers:

• Those who do it because organizing comes so naturally to them. Being organized is like breathing. It’s their passion. So why not make a living doing it?

• Those who enter the field because of their own struggles in getting and staying organized. They’ve spent a lifetime seeking solutions for themselves and want to share those solutions with others.

I fall into that second camp. As I’ve mentioned over and over, I’m a naturally messy person. I’m pretty organized in my space and I’m definitely organized inside my head, but I’m a bit messy and unruly. I sought solutions for my time management and clutter issues throughout my life and I learned a lot. I felt it was time to start sharing.

When I first contemplated starting my business, I was a freelance writer. I’d been writing about pets for ten years and had written hundreds of articles on various aspects of pet care. I’d had seven books published (most of which are no longer available) and contributed to several others. I was working on my last book, an ill-fated venture called Jane Goodall’s Return to Gombe co-written with the famed primatologist. The process of that book about killed me (and was never published) and I knew that in order to get through writing that manuscript I had to know it was going to be my last book. So I started looking for other things to do.

As I considered becoming a PO, I thought of several very important things that being a professional organizer would offer that being a freelance writer was not delivering:

• The ability to help people directly and tangibly
• Respect for my expertise (I was being very disrespected during the whole Goodall book experience)
• Payment at the time of service

That was very appealing and a big part of why I became a PO. But why do I keep doing it, now that I’m in my eighth fourteenth year of business?

Those initial three reasons did prove to be powerful rewarding. In addition, here are some other things I’ve found to be very rewarding:

• I get to help people transform their lives.
• I help people feel better about themselves as I normalize (and empathize with) their messy behaviors.
• I can help my clients go from striving (and failing) to be perfectly organized to reveling in being organized enough.
• I get to effect vast, fast change for my St. Louis clients by bringing in a team of organizers.

Being a professional organizer is life-changing work for me. And its results can be life changing for my clients. It is easily the most rewarding work I’ve done in a career that’s spanned more than three decades. And as long as it continues to be this rewarding, I’ll keep doing it.

NAPO's Stand Out podcast

23 August 2018

I love podcasts. They keep me company when I’m driving and when I’m doing laundry and other tasks. If you like podcasts too, I hope you’ve checked out my podcast (with life coach Shannon Wilkinson), Getting to Good Enough.

If you’re reading this blog, you may very well be a professional organizer or perhaps an aspiring organizer. That’s why I want you to know about Stand Out the podcast from the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals (NAPO). Stand Out is produced for professional organizers, but its content would be useful to all sorts of small business owners.

Host (and professional organizer) Sarah Karakaian does a great job interviewing guests for each episode. (There are new episodes twice a month.) I just listened to Episode 15: Living Fearlessly with Rachel Henken, transformative coach and author of Living Fearlessly. I find myself going back to it in my mind. In it, she talks about being effortlessly productive and how being overly focused on what you need to do stresses you out and causes you to get less done. That is a notion worth pondering.

I’m also a big fan of Episode 1, in which my friend Geralin Thomas, an organizer and coach to organizers, was interviewed. It’s entertaining and full of wisdom.

I encourage you to check out Stand Out, especially if you’re a professional organizer or aspiring organizer. If you’re a lover of podcasts, I think you might find it interesting.

Introducing Amy Hubbard, my first employee

20 August 2018

Amy with Bix, my poodle

For ten years now, I’ve been leading organizing teams to create swift and dramatic change. Until this month, my teams have always been made up of independent contractors, fantastic organizers who have their own businesses (and insurance). They are all members of the St. Louis chapter of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals (NAPO-St. Louis).

This month, I took what feels like a big step and hired my first employee, Amy Hubbard. Amy will be working with me as an organizer. She’ll be a team member, a team leader, and also work one-on-one with clients. She’ll be working part-time for me, because she also works as a freelance makeup artist. Amy is a natural-born organizer with a beautiful aesthetic and has a lovely, calm demeanor. She’s terrific.

The process of hiring my first employee was a bit stressful. There were a lot of bureaucratic hoops to jump through. I needed to come up with a different pay scale (the pricing for clients remains unchanged). And I had to write up policies and operations because I’m not permitted, by law, to tell independent contractors how to do their work. There were lots of things to think about.

So why did I go through the trouble? Primarily because I wanted Amy on my team. She is an experienced and talented organizer. (She’s worked for other organizing companies in St. Louis and elsewhere.) And she is not interested in owning her own business, so I couldn’t hire her as a contractor. I’d been toying with the idea of hiring employees for years now. Amy gave me a big reason to take the plunge.

Since she’s an employee, I’m able to train Amy about how I like organizing done. It feels like the first step in a process of building a more cohesive company. And now that I’ve gone through the red tape of hiring one employee, it will be easier for me to hire more employees. I may hire organizers or hire employees in other roles.

This feels like a big shift to me, but the change should not have a big impact on my clients’ experience. I’ll continue to use wonderful independent contractors on my teams. We’ll still do excellent work. But Amy will, I hope, be a consistent member of my teams.

If you’re a current client (or a future one!), I look forward to your meeting Amy. This feels like a big milestone for Peace of Mind Organizing® and I’m looking forward to seeing where it leads!

Worth repeating: Working with a professional organizer

16 August 2018

Back in 2011, I wrote a blog post aimed at helping those of you who might be interested in working with a professional organizer make the most out of the experience. I asked other professional organizers to comment, which made the post even more valuable. I re-read it the other day and thought it would be worth running again. To get the maximum benefit, go back to the original post and read those comments.

If you’re reading an organizing blog, chances are pretty good that you fall into one of three camps:

• You’re a professional organizer (or an aspiring one)
• You’d like to work with a professional organizer
• You’re a fairly organized DIYer looking for ideas

This post is for those of you who fall into the second category. If you’d like to work with a professional organizer, I’d love to provide you with some advice to optimize that experience, should it come to pass.

Choosing an organizer

• Check out your choices thoroughly. You can find professional organizers at the website of National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals and the Institute for Challenging Disorganization. If you’re in St. Louis, you can go to the NAPO-St. Louis website to see all the chapter members. (If you’re not in St. Louis, you can check here to see a list of NAPO chapters and their websites.) Choose some local organizers and read websites, look at testimonials and before and after pictures. Call any organizers you’re interested in who don’t have websites.
• Ask around. If you know folks who have worked with organizers, quiz them on their experience
• Know what you’re looking for. Do you want an organizer who tells you what to do (some people do)? Or one who involves you in the process of coming up with solutions?
• Trust your gut. If an organizer’s website or telephone manner resonates with you, that’s a good reason to pick her (or him).
• Don’t bargain shop. This is a field where fees are usually commensurate with training and experience. If you’re challenged by chronic disorganization, for example, you’d be wise to select an organizer with training and experience in working with chronically disorganized clients. And you may well pay more for that.

Working with an organizer

• Resist the temptation to clean up for your organizer. If your home is messy, you may feel embarrassed. Try to set that aside so that the organizer can see the natural state of your home in order to help you best. Mess and piles can provide clues.
• Be honest. Try not to anticipate what the organizer wants to hear. Instead, just answer all questions honestly, even if you’re a little embarrassed. Your organizer can help you best if you’re honest in everything you tell her.
• Be realistic. How long have you been dealing with disorder in your life? Probably quite some time. Unfortunately, organizers don’t have magic wands, so we can’t fix things instantly. Recognize that this is a process that might take awhile.
• Be prepared to learn new behaviors. If you’re dealing with a lot of clutter, the first step might be decluttering. But after that, you’re more than likely going to need to change your habits and create new routines to ensure that the clutter doesn’t come back. If you don’t change your behavior, the order that you and your organizer create might be temporary.
• Do your homework. If you and your organizer agree that you’ll do homework, try to accomplish it. If you don’t it’s usually not a big deal. But being honest and realistic about the prospect of what you can accomplish between appointments can help your organizer better plan the next session.
• Trust your gut (again). If you’re not clicking with your organizer, don’t be afraid to talk with her about it. This is intimate work and it’s essential that you have a trusting relationship and work well together. If you don’t feel it’s working with the organizer, perhaps the two of you can come up with a solution. If no solution is in sight, perhaps you can ask her for a referral.
• Keep your appointments. If you book an appointment with an organizer, try to keep that commitment. She’s set aside time for you and scheduled around that appointment. Last-minute cancellations can be costly for the organizer. And they’re costly for you, too, since you can’t get help if you don’t keep appointments.
• Expect backsliding. Most clients experience some backsliding, when life gets in the way and newly learned behaviors fall by the wayside. If you backslide, it doesn’t mean you’ve failed or your organizer isn’t effective. It just means you need to renew your efforts. Or perhaps tweak our systems.
• Be brave. It can be scary to let someone into your house for the first time in ages. It can also be scary to admit to your organizer that you haven’t done your homework or that you’ve not been able to maintain the order you created together. But organizers, by and large, are compassionate and non-judgmental people. Getting past the fear can help put you on the path to an orderly life.

When you hire a professional organizer, you’re making a time and financial commitment to getting organized. Often, you’re making an emotional commitment as well. That can be very powerful!

Do you have anything to add? I’d love to hear from POs or people who have worked with POs who would like to add to this list.

Modeling imperfection

13 August 2018

Tomorrow evening, I’m having a dozen or so fellow professional organizers to my home. Our chapter of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals (NAPO-St. Louis) has social events every other month and they’re typically hosted by members in their homes. I volunteered for to host this month’s social. This is third one I’ve hosted since 2009.

Back in 2009, I had a semi-major freak out prior to the social. I was worried because my home was nowhere near model-home perfect. As I’ve explained here countless times, I’m a naturally messy person and my house is not perfectly kept.

At the time, my wise friend Margaret Lukens encouraged me to let go of that anxiety and “model imperfection” for the other organizers. The notion made me breathe a big sigh of relief and it took away a lot of the tension I’d built up around the event. I turned the whole thing into a post for the amazing blog Unclutterer. (Here’s that post, which they called Uncluttering is not a competition.)

I re-read the Unclutterer post this morning as I created my list of tasks to do to get the house ready for tomorrow night. (I have a client tomorrow, so everything has to be done today.) Two things came to mind as I read it: (1) After an additional nine years as a professional organizer, my house is a lot more presentable than it was then—we’ve even renovated the kitchen. (2) No one’s judging me. Organizers are non-judgmental people; otherwise we could never succeed in our businesses.

There are a few things I’m going to do that will allow me to let this be easy:

• I’m going to serve exactly what I served last time. When I hosted the organizers in 2015, a friend and colleague told me what to serve. Happily, I took note of what I bought at Trader Joe’s and the supermarket and I’m going to buy exactly the same thing. Why reinvent the wheel?
• I’m accepting help. My friend and team member Terry Capehart of Organization in Bloom offered to come early and help. I said yes.
• I’m letting go of worries that people will care about the many imperfections in my home. Chances are they won’t even notice, especially with my standard poodle, Bix, doing his best to distract them.

In Episode 8: You Be You of our podcast, Getting to Good Enough my co-host Shannon Wilkinson and I talk about how it’s our own standards that count (not those of other people) and how comparing yourself to others isn’t helpful. As I prepare my house for tomorrow’s guests, I’m going to keep that in mind.

Photo by Amy Shamblen on Unsplash.