My Latest Posts
Expect The Best — Prepare For The Worst
As September is “National Preparedness Month” let’s all take a few moments to take stock of just what we would do when disaster strikes.
- Do you have an emergency escape plan from home and work? Have you practiced it?
- What about a “grab-and-go” kit? Is it updated?
- If your loved ones are not with you when disaster hits, will you know they are out of harm’s way?
- How will you care for your pets?
- Do you know how to best reach each of your loved ones to see if all are safe and report that you are?
These are just a few of many things to consider when preparing for a possible disaster. Various resources can be found on the internet, but since we are particularly susceptible to wildfires in San Diego, here are two sites I highly recommend you make time to review:
http://www.readyforwildfire.org/
http://www.usfa.fema.gov/citizens/home_fire_prev/wildfire/
Be ready. It’s not a matter of if disaster will strike, but when.
Jana Hartwell, CPO®
jana4sos@gmail.com
How to Move Mountains
If you are looking at a large organizing project as if it is a big mountain, you may never get it done.
Break that mountain down into small pieces by moving one small stone at a time.
How to move the stones…
1) Make a list of what the project pieces are.
2) Include tools you will need to get the project done.
3) Are there people who can help you with one or more pieces of the project? Ask for their commitment and book the time.
4) Work in 2- to 3-hour increments; then take a break to appreciate the progress you’ve made.
5) If you encounter a stone that seems insurmountable, bring in more powerful tools (i.e., your Professional Organizer)
6) Keep working at it — do not give up!
7) Reward yourself for chipping away at the mountain until it has been completely moved
Now you can see clearly to the other side!
Jana Hartwell, CPO
Sensible Organizing Solutions
Practice Imperfection
The pursuit of excellence is gratifying and healthy. The pursuit of perfection is frustrating, neurotic, and a terrible waste of time. ~ Edwin Bliss
Applying perfection to everything you do can seriously impede your productivity – I know. This is something I battle myself. Being aware of this helps keep me from obsessing about getting all of my work to look ‘just right.’
Some things do not require your best effort. Learn to distinguish between tasks that deserve to be completed with 100% excellence and stuff that just needs to get done.
If you’re a perfectionist, learn to tolerate “good enough” in yourself and others.
Practice this in small ways, like allowing spelling mistakes in your to-do lists or being satisfied with providing a draft while having it (e.g., a letter, project proposal, etc.) fine-tuned by someone else — or vice versa.
If you tend to lose yourself in a task, try limiting how much time you’re willing to spend on it. Set a timer and challenge yourself to just get it done–or a chunk of it done.
Adopt a mantra to help you stop the madness of perfectionism like: “I like it JUST the way it is!”. This is a spiritual exercise that will help you make better judgments about how to spend your time.
Practice imperfection – get more done.
Jana Hartwell, CPO®
jana4sos@gmail.com
Focus Your Efforts
If you have been having trouble getting and staying organized, perhaps these thoughts will help.
A crucial element of effective organization is to focus your efforts on something specific.
Those who work with me know that I do my best to keep our efforts focused on decluttering and organizing one area at a time. There is good reason for this.
- It is much more effective to spend one hour organizing a small area like a shelf, an unpacked box, or an inbox than it is to spend that hour on a larger area such as an office, a kitchen, or a file cabinet.
- When you only chip away a little bit in many different areas, the impact is minimal and nothing permanent gets accomplished.
- Focusing on a specific space from top to bottom will help you end up with an organized space.
My esteemed colleague, Ellen Faye, COC®, CPO®, calls this her eye-dropper metaphor.
If you put a few drops of water here, a few drops there, and a few more drops somewhere else, you just have little puddles of water; but if you focus your resources into one specific space then you end up with something to show for your efforts. www.facebook.com/EllenFayeOrg
This month, choose one small area to focus on decluttering for 1/2 hour to 1 hour max (e.g., your purse, a linen closet, a few shelves in your laundry room, a closet floor, the inside of your car… ). Set a timer.
When you have finished, drop me an email to let me know how your mini-project went.
Jana Hartwell, CPO®
Stopping Time Bandits
Are Their Bandits in Your Office?
In any work or home office, there are many culprits lying in wait to steal from you. Many of us fall victim to them everyday.
These bad boys are everywhere and it bodes well for you to take heed. They’re called … Time Bandits!
Time Bandits come in many disguises. Here’s what they can look like:
People– that’s right, your very own co-workers, boss, spouse, children or friend — just stopping by to ask you a ‘Quick Question’ …
Email– sure, checking email all day long may give you a sense of stimulation or importance, but at what cost?
Phone– this tool is there for your convenience. So why are you constantly dropping what YOU are doing whenever IT rings?
Procrastination– it’s been referred to as ‘the ultimate thief of time.’ We all do it, to what degree do YOU do it?
Hmmmmm, on the surface, these all look so innocent don’t they? So you checked your email twice in the past 10 minutes. What’s the big deal? The big deal is that these innocent little thieves rob you of huge treasures of time.
Did you know most people experience about 50 interruptions in a typical day? Add another 50 or so to that if you have children!
And what exactly do these interruptions cost you? Experts agree that one interruption results in about 5 – 15 minutes of downtime.
Let’s see now … 50 interruptions x even a measly little 5 minutes = about 4 hours. Yikes! That means 4 hours of your day is lost to unplanned interruptions!
Okay, I know. Some interruptions are important, but how much time is lost to UNimportant interruptions? You can count on about half of that time. We lose about 2 hours a day to unimportant things … time that can never to be recovered … ever again.
So, what can you do to stop these nasty thieves from stealing your valuable time?
Work uninterrupted as much as possible. This means change the way you allow these Time Bandits into your day. Follow some self defense tips…
- If someone interrupts you, simply ask them if it can wait until you are done working on your task.
- Unless your job is to only answer email – stop checking it constantly. Schedule specific times throughout the day for email and limit the chunks of time you spend on it.
- Let voice mail pick up your calls so you can get priority work done. Then, take a scheduled break to return all of your calls at the same time.
- Quit putting things off. If it’s important for you to complete it – do it! Break large projects down into small and manageable pieces so you can pick off small parts and get them done, one bit at a time. Often, focusing on the dread of doing something takes up more time and energy than actually doing it.
With a bit of practice you can soon take control of your day rather than falling victim to Time Bandits.
And if these crooks still overpower you, call the Clutter Police…Yours Truly!
Jana Hartwell, CPO
Sensible Organizing Solutions