My blog & I

If you've come to my blog to get the latest information about the work I do, the clients I serve or the hottest topic of the day, week or month, well it might not be posted on here at this time.

The reason is that I'm very fortunate to have a very busy professional organizing business. And rather than hiring someone else to write my blog, which might never happen in my lifetime (never say never), I decided that I need a bit of a hiatus from this wonderful blog to continue to serve my clients needs to my fullest capacity & mine (to get a good night sleep).

If something inspires me to write, well write I will. Until then, if your checking my website out & seeing if I'm the kind of organizer that will suit your specific needs and you wind up at my blog, understand that there are only so many hours in a day & what kind of organizer would I be if I spent all my time blogging & not serving my clients needs???

You can now safely go back to my website, check out my contacts page & go from there. If you have a specific question about my services, I'll look forward to receiving an email from you.

Until then, happy blogging...

Do just a little bit.

This afternoon, I received a call from a potential client that had physical and cognitive challenges from a brain injury. She said she was really overwhelmed with paperwork. She explained that she didn't think that she had the funds to afford my services, even after I offered to give her a reduced rate to assess her needs and get her started with some simple strategies.

I was driving when she called, so I pulled over and proceeded to have an in-depth conversation with her. I was able to ascertain that she was auto-paying many of her bills, which was really helping her manage some of her mail. But she still received a large amount of mail that was really causing her anxiety. She loved her catalogs, but she hated the management of all that paper.

I suggested that instead of looking at all of the piles of paperwork strewn around her apartment, how about if she just focused on a small area of the dining room table, just a 1' x 1' space. What if she just concentrated on attacking that small space, and processing the papers just in that area. She loved that idea. She said that it made her feel more in control of just that small doable space. She could work on that space and then have a feeling of accomplishment for taking care of one area at a time.

She had mentioned in our conversation that music helped her stay on task as she was working. So, I suggested that she put on her favorite music, which could help her to stay on task and motivated to complete the area she agreed to work on. I also asked her to email me after she accomplished her task and let me know how it went. What worked and what didn't.

A few hours later she emailed me that she was able to clear off an even larger area then we agreed upon. She was really elated and said that she was looking forward to working some more on the dining room table tomorrow. She would use the same technique of just doing a little bit at a time. Slow and steady won the race, just as the tortoise.

Managing Emails

My clients are always asking me for strategies on managing emails. This info is from a new article in ADDITUDE magazine and is a simple guideline:

Limit Messages

The fewer email messages that come in, the fewer you have to deal with.

• Set e-mail software filters for messages you want to receive, but don’t need to read right away. They will automatically be archived or moved to a folder you designate. To set up a filter in Outlook, choose “Rules and Alerts” from the Tools menu; in Gmail, click “settings” (at the upper right of your screen), then the “filters” tab.

• Mark unwanted e-mails as spam. Future messages from the sender will go to your junk-mail folder.

• Use an e-mail-filtering program to limit access to your inbox. These programs, such as ChoiceMail, automatically approve e-mails from only the senders you know and trust. Unapproved senders will be blocked.

Manage The Messages You Receive

• Resist opening e-mails first thing in the morning.

• Don’t allow others to set your agenda. Set a schedule to attend to e-mail -- a half-hour before lunch and a half-hour before you leave for the day.

• Turn off the e-mail notification function. Having attention called to each new message is a distraction that ADD adults don’t need.

• Limit follow-up e-mails. Create a subject line that lets the recipient know exactly what your message is about.

• Respond to any e-mail that requires a brief response as soon as you open it. Don't put it off to re-read later.

• Mark e-mails that require an action. You’ll be able to quickly find the action items later on.

• Empty your inbox every day. Old e-mails that require no immediate action distract you from more important e-mails that require your attention.

Creating Your Family Launch Pad

Create a "launch pad" in your home. This is the place (hook, cubby hole, container or decorative basket on top of a piece of furniture) by the door that holds our important out-the-door items. This area is maintained on a daily basis; not a drop zone for just anything coming in the door. This area is for items that must be staged for leaving with us each morning or put away as we walk in the door each evening. This is not a drop zone, but an active area.

If you need additional visual support; directions about what to take out the door or bring in with you upon entering, use a 4 x 6 brightly colored Post-It^® to list the five or six important items going out each morning and coming in each evening. You can also list where your put away items need to be stored until you have successfully created your put-away habit.

All family members are responsible for keeping their "launch pad" area organized and ready for use. Smaller children always need their parents help with this process. But by creating this out-the-door routine, family members can be assured that they will walk out the door with what they need and not have to run all over the house collecting items that need to leave with them each morning.

Time Management-Living at Warp Speed

Time management guru Harold Taylor says even though technology has sped up our lives, the basic tenets of time management have not changed. Any time savers we had with technology were offset by “increases in complexity, choices, interruptions, expectations, stress, delays and errors,” he said. “Our bodies are not designed to live at warp speed and we’ve created this hazardous lifestyle.”

Taylor said we also have “mental multi-tasking,” where we are doing one thing and thinking of another. Other hazards of speedy lifestyles include:

Work/Life Balance. The blur between the division of work and life

Lost productivity. As the saying goes, haste does make waste. The average office worker loses 2.1 hours a day from interruptions. Taylor points out that this is 25% of the typical workday.

Stress. Surprise! It’s on the increase. Are you really surprised? Toss in ADD, info mania, clutter, and the never-ending to-do list, and you really have a stress party.

Lack of sleep. Sleep deprivation causes more accidents than drunk driving, Taylor said. The average night’s sleep is 6.9 hours a night, and Americans usually get 90 minutes less sleep a night than we did a century ago.

Obesity. One-third of Americans are clinically obese, and it’s caused by a lack of sleep and exercise and fast food.

Family Relationships. Wireless items, such as the trusty Blackberry, intrude on family time and can affect relationships.

Lack of Creativity. We have lost creativity because we don’t have time for it. As Taylor says, you can’t outsource creativity.

E-mail and PDA’s have increased the speed of our lives, and e-mail is a constant stream of interruptions into our daily projects, Taylor said. In fact, 4 percent of people admit to reading e-mails while in the bathroom. I’m certain a much higher number of people admit to talking on their cell phones while in the bathroom – a major pet peeve of mine. As you can see, we feel we have to be connected to the world at all times, but people should be able to go to the bathroom without the use of wireless devices.

People have a difficult time letting go of work while at home, and the statistics show that. Fifty-one percent of people keep in contact with the office while on vacation, and 15 percent describe themselves as being e-mail addicted. “Work is no longer a place you go to,” Taylor said. “It’s a state of mind. The blackberry is the cost of someone’s soul to be available at all hours for work.” Since office layouts, cubicle farms, and electronic communications make people too accessible, quiet hours are quickly becoming a thing of the past.

Taylor offered some suggestions to help slow down our speedy lives:

Have meaningful goals. If you have no goals, then you have no priorities. Use SMART Goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, and Relevant and have a Time frame.

Planning. It’s important. The average American spends 40 minutes playing with their kids and four hours on shopping, according to Taylor. Schedule more time than you need for a task to account for the interruptions.

Prioritizing. Using the Stephen Covey quadrant helps you decide what’s important and urgent.

Life Balance. Blend work and personal life in a way that satisfies you and your family, Taylor said.

Slow Internal Time. “Time flies when you’re not having fun either,” he said. “Wherever you are, be there.” He also suggests adding variety to your life by going to different places and trying new things.

Don’t multi-task. Studies show that productivity actually decreases by 20 to 40 percent each time you “task switch.” Focusing on one task at a time is better.

Exercise Your Body and Mind. Regular exercisers reduce their risk for Alzheimer’s. “We are outliving our minds,” Taylor said. 

Snooze More. Get plenty of sleep. Turn off the TV, slow things down earlier, trim the nightly to-do list, and get some sleep.

 

For more information on Harold Taylor’s time management strategies, visit: http://www.taylorintime.com.

Spring Clean Your Medicine Cabinet

Spring Clean Your Medicine Cabinets

Out with the old and in with the new

By Sarah Aguirre, About.com

With the beginning of spring comes the end of winter’s flu, cold, and cough medicines. At the same time spring means sun, insects, and lots of outdoor activities. It’s a great time to add a few necessary components to ensure that you have the right supplies for spring’s medicinal needs. De-cluttering this one tiny section of your home will get rid of dangerous and outdated items, while getting you ready for spring.

What To Throw Away:

• Expired medicines lose their effectiveness and in some instances can become dangerous. Check expiration dates thoroughly.

• Nearly empty bottles create clutter and may not even have enough medicine left for a full dose.

• Improperly stored items can partially evaporate, leaving them more concentrated and dangerous. Get rid of items that were not sealed or stored properly.

• Duplicates of items that are not used often only create clutter. If you do want to keep duplicates, move them out of the medicine cabinet and into a larger area to store. Try a large bathroom cabinet, or your pantry.

• Old prescriptions or partially used prescriptions should not be saved.

Check with your physician if you have questions about saving prescriptions.                                    

What To Add:

• Sunscreen with the right amount of SPF protection.

• Aloe Vera to treat burns.

• Insect Repellant to keep spring’s bugs at bay.

• Insect bite relief for when they bite you anyway.

• Heating and cooling packs for sprains and strains during outdoor fun.

• Allergy medications for allergy sufferers.

• Updated First Aid Kit including band-aids, antiseptic wash, and ointment for spring scrapes.

Take the time to free up your medicine cabinet for the items your family will need this spring.