I do believe that all good things come to us one way or another.  Tonight I checked a forum posting to find out the answer I needed to create a way to link all my social networking sites together.  Just so ya know, productivity is my game and wasting time is not.  Productivity means you spend less time doing the things that don’t make you money and more time being focused on the things that do.  I love keeping up with my friends, family, co-organizers, but if I could do this more efficiently then I most certainly will leave the “let’s see who is doing what’ phase behind and stick to the more Productive Way of Doing Things.

So today I want to present to you a great tool for your toolbox.  http://ping.fm

This little website has the capability of getting you to spend less time having to post to all the different social networking sites and more time on what’s important to you.

Now, you know you’ll have to learn the few little tricks that make it work best for you, but if I told you all of those would you remember them later when you wanted to add more to ping.fm?

Alright, go and enjoy ping.fm.  Learn as much as you can and come back to let me know how it goes!

Denise

Have you ever wondered how people who were so successful actually got there?

It seems that no matter what we are trying to accomplish we are always forgetting at least one step of it.

If this is true for you then jump on board the bus.  This is true for most every one.

So how do you get these tasks accomplished without forgetting all the steps?

A big phrase these days is Mind Mapping.

It’s been around for generations, but is just coming back into focus to help people accomplish those larger goals that need to be tasked out.

Here’s an example of how mindmapping could help you.

You’ve joined a team that is working on a sales presentation for a new product that is going to be released soon.  So you and your team are meeting and deciding on how to divvy up the tasks.  Who is responsible for each section like Advertising; Marketing; Product Development; etc.

To use mindmapping each of these categories would be a center hub of activity.  The tasks that are associated with each center are the tasks that go with these.

So the center hub of Advertising would then have arms or tasks of publications, or other forms of advertising.  Each task would then be divided down into sub tasks that are the actual productivity required in each sub task to accomplish the task.

Example:    Advertising-

Publications -

Newspaper – Wilmington Star News – Advertising contact name & number.

Magazine – Wilmington Magazine – Advertising…

Radio -

Different Radio Stations and contact information

Television -

Different Television stations and contact information

Each category will have subcategories and tasks to be accomplished.

So let’s say this is a product that you are creating from scratch.  Your mindmapping could be a method for you to identify the different methods or steps that you use to create your product.

You then have a reproducible methodology that you can also sell, not just the product you have created.

The bottom line here is that by fine tuning your process, you are not wasting time.  Your productivity increases exponentially and you achieve more in less time by knowing what it is you want to achieve and having a formula to achieve it.

To learn more about mindmapping I’d like to recommend a great teacher.  His name is Bob Jenkins and he is really a teacher.  His website http://www.askbobtheteacher.com has a great link to http://www.discoverfreemind.com.

So go to Bob’s websites, download the Free Mind mindmapping software.  Uh, yes it is FREE.  Try it out to start getting your goals accomplished faster every single day of every single month of every single year!

That’s it for today.  Have a great week ahead!

Denise

Do you feel your productivity needs a boost?  If you’re not completing tasks that are helping you reach your goals then productivity is an issue for you.  What’s behind the lack of productivity could be any number of things, but today time management is what we’re going to focus on.

Time management is really a misnomer.  There is only so much time in any given day.  So the real, the only way to rephrase time management is by saying self management.

Take a look at the distractors in your work day.    If you wake up late is your entire day ruined?  When you are at work do you take long breaks between working on different projects.  Do you have the skill and knowledge to complete the work you are working on?  Do the office cronies come in and distract you by talking about personal issues or asking you to do something at the weekend?

These are all valid distractors at work.  Think about how you would stop them from occurring.

The first one, waking up later than you should, as long as it is not a habit of being late to work should be okay if you still have time to focus in on what needs to be done.  Just remember that “the early bird gets the worm” addage.  If the boss is at work early, and he or she constantly sees that you have his or her work ethics of being there early then they may trust you more to be getting your work done and give you bigger and better projects.

Taking long breaks can break your concentration, but is at times unavoidable.  We do need to restore our energy levels.  I have been reading Life Hacker and found a neat 10 step blog entry on the Top Ten Ways to Stay Energized http://lifehacker.com/5054947/top-10-ways-to-stay-energized.

What you don’t want to do is to stand in the kitchen or at the water cooler and lose all focus.  Certainly go out to lunch instead of staying in even if you brought lunch from home.  If you can go listen to the birds, sit outside to eat and let your brain rejuvenate.  It’s when we refuse to allow our bodies and minds to rejuvenate that we start to lose our edge in whatever we’re doing.  Yes, I guess this means meditation is a good thing.

Know your stuff.  If you’re given a project, a report to write or something similar and you do not know how to get started or how to complete it and you keep putting it off how does that make you look to the boss?  The key here is to use those strategic alliances you have been building with all the networking you’ve been doing.  Call or email someone who does know how to do what you’re seeking to learn.  Is there any harm in asking?  NO!  Is there harm in not getting the project done?  YES!  So ask!

Cronies, friends, and family interrupting your train of thought when you’re on a roll and working as hard as you can, can destroy a thought process quicker than anything I know of.  It can stop you dead in your tracks.  Your mind will go off to Fiji with your cronie’s vacation plans or you’ll be stuck in the kitchen with the grandmother who can’t decide if your child should have soup or a sandwich for lunch.

Controlling interruptions is perhaps one of the hardest things to get past.  Previously, I’ve written that if you can, turn off the phone ringer, close your door, hang signs that you’re busy or on a deadline, but the biggest one you need to remember is self-management.  Only you can say to your co-worker, I’m busy.  When grandma calls, and you answer, say to her, I trust your judgment.  She will call less.  Your co-worker will realize he or she should be working too and the boss will see that you don’t waste time.

Well try these things out and let me know how it goes.  I’m always open for ways to help others get organized, be more productive and share them with others.

Denise

Okay, I’ve finally realized.  Saying you want to be organized does not mean you want to change your time wasting habits so you can stay organized.  I realize also that you may want to get organized for what you think may be the right reasons, but I can tell you that your reasons may not go deep enough to ensure you stay organized.

How can I say these things?  Experience.  Plain and simple I’ve worked with enough people over the last two years of home organizing to know that people do not think beyond “let’s get some help.”  You, they, or us.  It doesn’t matter what our original reasoning is when we decide that we want to do a project, there are steps that you must take to reach the end result.

One of those reasons you must define for yourself, if not for me, your organizer, is why you want to get organized.  I can tell you that if you want to get organized because your boss said you have to, or if your mom hires an organizer to help and you are rebelling against interference from your parent, that getting organized will not work for you.

You have to want being organized.

Let me say that again.

You Have to Want to Be Organized.

Without knowing that you want this for yourself any money you spend on having an organizer come to help you will be wasted.

Why?  Simply because your mind will not be paying attention to the lessons you should be learning/remembering while working with your organizer.

The next thing you need to know is What is expected of you, and what to expect from your organizer!

I can hear some of you saying, ‘well isn’t the organizer supposed to be organizing?’ or ‘I’ll have her come in, but I have too much to do to work with her.’

What is expected of you?  A dear question to my heart.  If you don’t know what involvement is required of you then you should ask.  You wouldn’t start a project at work without knowing the parameters of the job.  So why would you hire someone to help you get organized if you didn’t want to stay organized?  Obviously you wouldn’t.  However some people do.  They want the organizer to come in and basically clean up their clutter and mess and then wonder why it costs so much more than a house cleaner.

So what should be expected of you is that you are expected to pay attention to the questions the organizer is asking you about your belongings.  Pay attention to the methods she or he is using to help you make decisions about your belongings.  Even if you have to write them down.  Then make sure you ask questions yourself.

What do you expect of your organizer?  Honestly only you can answer that.  There are some guidelines though.  Check out their website and see the services they offer.  Use it as a guideline for yourself when you ask what their service will entail for you.  Every job is different and every organizer has different services they offer.

You need to decide what you want out of getting organized.  Once you have your reasons down pat, take the time to research organizers in your area and find one that you like, that can encourage you, guide you, tease you or incite you to action.  Then get busy getting organized and put into place the methods and processes that will keep you organized.

Well, enough for now.  This weekend is my 30th high school reunion and I am so looking forward to it all that I’m off to bed to rest up for the hours of fun ahead!

Organizing Tools, Knowing What Is Available

Have you ever thought if you just had the right tool, the right filing method, or the right way to do a task, then everything else would just naturally fall into place.  You would naturally find this in the most logical place, a great store or website filled with these items that can make your life easier.

This week I want to help you realize where you can go to find these tools that can make your life easier, as well as creating a place where you can read reviews of these items.

So, this week I want to tell you about a website, http://wwww. thecontainerstore.com

The Container Store is a place where you can find storage options for almost any need.

Today the keyword seems to be au naturel…or environmentally friendly.  So naturally you will be searching for items that are environmentally safe, yet fit the need you have.  Do you compromise if you can’t find what you need this minute?   Or do you continue searching until you find what you’re after?

If it were me, and I was, as so many people should be, at least environmentally conscious, then I would search this site for Earth friendly products.

With that thought in mind I recognize that many of my clients have tons of CD’s and DVD’s that they need to store.  Many of you use plastic holders you find at almost all of the stores that cater to families.  What I want to show you here, with regards to this, is a product that is earth friendly.

The Stockholm DVD box is an earth friendly paper board box that holds up to 18 DVD’s in their storage cases.

Why would I recommend one box over another?

What I’ve realized is that by not storing your DVD’s and CD’s the cases become broken, the  CD’s or DVD’s crack, get scratched or generally get lost.  So, I look at this as saving myself money.  Being Earth friendly can be expensive, but when a storage item saves you money you have to realize that the cost of not storing expensive items can cost you more than paying a little extra for items that can save your things wear and tear.

Think about what you can store easily, eliminate easily and donate easily and free up some valuable real estate in your home or office, for you to be able to walk more easily in your home or office.

That’s it for today!  I’m off to a client’s so you guys have a great day!

Denise

One of the biggest failures I’ve seen in business or government civil service is that people who have a hard time delegating (or releasing the reins) have that problem due to not knowing their people’s strengths and weaknesses followed by their own weaknesses in following up to make sure the job(s) are done correctly.

So as a business owner know your strengths and weaknesses first. Then, as you work with people already on staff, make note of their strengths and weaknesses. Pair up people accordingly when doing team work. Eventually, as people learn to rely upon one another the productivity of the group/team will increase due to an increase in trust.

Your own strengths and weaknesses will reveal how likely you are to delegate. The reality is that you can not do all the work yourself, no matter how hard you try. So learn where your weaknesses are, your dislikes and then hire someone who can fill those weaknesses with their strengths.

Take these little tips. Sit down and write them out. Make a list and check it twice. It’s Christmastime and if you have time to do everything you are surely blessed.
That’s it for this update!

Denise
denise@progressiveorganizingsolutions.com

Over several months I talked about goal setting and getting things done.  This morning I was watching Discovery Health where the topic was on Adult Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.  The discussion was led by a panel of three doctors who spoke on the topic of adults with this disorder and two or three symptoms that I see in quite a few of my clients.

I am not an expert on ADD or ADHD and please do not think that I know everything about this.  However, what these doctors were saying is that adults, like children  I assume, have these symptoms and have trouble in their lives because of them.

The symptoms I remember from this show that I am faced with almost on a weekly basis with adult clients are Disorganization and Time Management.

The next thing I heard from them was that there are times where the symptoms of ADHD/ADD are being confused with symptoms of depression.

The doctors were saying that these two inabilities to follow through cause adults with ADHD a lot of problems in their daily lives.

They also discussed the methods that have been being tested to help adults with their ADHD symptoms.  And because I am definitely not a doctor and not into spelling,even phonetically the medical names of medicines I will not even think of trying that one here.

There has been, however, a new medicine that is in trials for the adult with ADHD.  This medicine, according to the doctors, has several problems.  These problems stem from it not being compatible with people who have high blood pressure or heart disease.

So, my point in relaying this information is really rather a simple one.  I know that people who have ADHD and ADD have the symptoms listed above.  I would like to think that there is some natural way that those symptoms can be alleviated. I pray that one day the pharmaceutical companies would find the missing link here and fill it in for all those who suffer from the disease.

As for being disorganized, no matter how many books you read, or tapes you listen to everyone says just about the same thing.  It is not reading the material, or listening to it that is going to help unless you put the principles into practice.  If you continue to be disorganized then your solution is not simple enough to follow on a regular basis.

Easy, simple solutions require one consistent behavior when someone is disorganized.  That behavior is called a habit of performance.   You may set a goal of putting into practice one principle from a book on organization or one method that has helped others to retrain your mind to comply with being organized.

Habits are the basis of being organized.  Whether that habit is to always hang your keys in a key box next to the door, or to put your mail in a basket where everyone knows every day where the mail is, the bottom line is it is a HABIT.

Talk to your doctor if you exhibit signs (not just the symptoms above) of ADD, or ADHD.  Take the time to know the symptoms before you go to the doctor.  Be armed with information, write down your questions, and take a notepad with you to write down the answers the doctor gives you.  You pay your doctor to be there for you.  If they don’t fulfill your needs then seek out one who does.

No solution will work if you give up on doing it.  If you do not schedule it into your day.  If you do not follow through.  If you do not continue to attempt to try then the solution you put into place will not work for you.

Well, that’s it for today.  I hope that this blog gave you something to think about.  I am available to listen to your needs or comments on being organized and having ADD/ADHD.  As I said I’ve worked with numerous clients who struggle with the symptoms above.

Have a wonderful week!

Denise

http://www.progressiveorganizingsolutions.com

Have you ever thought you’re just not thinking clearly?  You spilled the coffee on the counter, buttoned your shirt incorrectly or  some other somewhat silly occurrence that irritated you for a moment, but then you just went on with your day?

I’d like you to think for a moment.  Yes, consider the possibility that your brain needs proper rest to rejuvenate.  Your body runs on having enough energy to complete complex tasks.

So, if you get enough rest, somewhere between 6 and 10 hours of sleep how much better your thought processes would be.  How would you feel?  Just think about it.

I know, that if I get at least 6 hours of sleep a night I feel better, have more energy and lots more brain p0wer than if I only get 4 hours of sleep.  I also know that if I wake up from a restless sleep then I might as well stay home and go back to sleep, because it is more than likely that I will be worthless at work.  Tossing and turning all night long is definitely an energy drainer for me.

Since I started sleeping on a Nikken magnetic mattress I sleep phenomenally well.  I used to wake up all the time, tossing and turning, and the worst part of all is that I went probably years without dreaming.  We all know that dreams are only initiated when we are in REM sleep.  So how did I think I was resting (you know, full blown sleep) if I wasn’t dreaming?

If you want more information on how you can get better rest at night (or day) please call me.  (910) 620-6413.  I know I can show the testimonials to you and you can start getting more rest!

For now, enjoy your day!

Denise