by The Organizer Lady dot com on December 12, 2009
Decluttering your mind is like decluttering your home. You throw out what you don’t want and keep what you need. By taking control of your life you can make better decisions and focus on the things that matter the most. Here are 7 tips to declutter your mind and to help improve your quality of life.
1. Many people are list makers because it helps them not only remember what to do, but it helps them to prioritize. A brain dump of what’s stored in your head onto a notebook will help to declutter your mind and you will have a lot less thought juggling. Write down your thoughts and feelings as it can be therapeutic.
2. Deal with problems as they arise. If there are problems with people, take a few days to gather your thoughts. You don’t want to act in haste. Don’t put it off with excuses. The longer you leave the problem, the more stressed you feel as it will be a constant reminder and if it’s a recurring problem with a person, it can escalate and become worse.
Holding grudges takes a lot of energy. Instead forgive and give yourself peace of mind.
3. Surround yourself with positive people as they have a lot of positive energy.
4. Organize your life by adding and omitting items on your list, delegating home responsibilities and planning ahead. Set a schedule for yourself. Unexpected situations will happen, but at least you can look at your list and decide what to do next.
Your home should be clutter free too. A cluttered home depletes your energy and clogs your mind. The more you look at the mess, the more stressed you become and the idea of cleaning the clutter is overwhelming, but once you start organizing and eliminating you’ll feel better even when you’ve tackled a small area.
5. Learning to say no is important. Don’t take on more than you can handle or clutter your mind with unnecessary thoughts.
6. Some people don’t like to ask for help because they think it’s a sign of weakness, but it’s not true. Talking it out and sharing your thoughts with a friend about a situation can help you look at things in a different perspective instead of rehashing your own thoughts in your head.
7. Taking a break is another important task to do and many people don’t take advantage of it because they feel like it’s a time waster. Take frequent breaks of 15 – 20 minutes between your work schedule to refresh and re-energize your mind. A longer break like going on holidays is a great way to rejuvenate, re-evaluate and declutter your mind to focus on other things that are also important in life.
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by The Organizer Lady dot com on October 23, 2009
Get Organized: The 1 To 31 Organizing System
The 1 To 31 Organizing System – The 1 To 31 Organizing System
Do you find yourself falling behind on paying bills? Are you frustrated with the piles on your desk or kitchen counter? Have you ever misplaced something important and couldn’t find it?
Now it’s time to do away with that pile of papers forever! This easy-to-use organizing system will work wonders for any entrepreneur, executive, or stay-at-home Mom. It’s the perfect way to create a home for your important papers, schedules, and notes to yourself – while solving your “being on time” worries.
The 4-step system is incredibly easy.
Step 1 - record all of your special occasions (birthdays, anniversaries, etc.) on the perpetual calendar.
Step 2 - keep track of appointments on the monthly calendar sheets, and place any time-sensitive items (bills to pay, event tickets, cards to send) in that month’s calendar pocket.
Step 3 - write down any notes, reminders, or to-do lists on the numbered 1-31 pages provided for that day of the month.
Step 4 - store any important reference papers in the accordion files.
Then zip up your binder and you can take the whole system with you wherever you go – never be without the information you need to organize your life again!
Best of all, you get several valuable bonuses – including a “Clearing The Clutter” CD, $350 in gift certificates for free personal and professional services, and unlimited phone time with author to help maximize your results with this system.
The full kit includes:
A sturdy zippered binder with a handle
6 accordion files to hold all your important papers
Storage for 20 business cards
Pockets for office supplies, pens, calculator, etc.
A perpetual calendar of special occasions
1 to 31 tabbed pages for each day of the month
Jan-Dec tabbed monthly calendar pages
Clearing the Clutter Audio CD
$350 in gift certificates and bonuses
by The Organizer Lady dot com on August 14, 2009
(ARA) – With more people than ever before flocking to social networks and loading their computers with digital media, many are recognizing the need to get their digital clutter under control. This year, the trend is to organize your digital world, which as most of us know, can be a huge mess.
According to a recent survey conducted by Microsoft, 60 percent of those polled say their online lives sometimes feel more disorganized than their physical lives.
Crystal Hornsby, a construction project engineer from Vancouver, Wash., is feeling the need to get digitally organized this year. “I have two mobile phones, two e-mail accounts, hundreds of digital pictures, separate online calendars for work and home, and I’m an active Twitter, MySpace and Facebook user,” she says.
Hornsby’s experience is far from unique. According to a Pew Internet & American Life Project study from Dec. 2008, the share of adult Internet users who have a profile on at least one social networking site has more than quadrupled in the past four years from 8 percent to 35 percent.
Lorie Marrero, certified professional organizer, author and founder of ClutterDiet.com, thinks there’s still hope for people like Crystal who feel overwhelmed by their online lives and the idea of organizing it all.
“Our kids, jobs and shrinking budgets give us plenty to juggle in our offline lives. Now, with so many people using various online services, it’s no wonder that many are overwhelmed at the prospect of getting digitally organized too,” she says. “Although it can be daunting, it’s a necessary step toward gaining the extra free time we crave, and finally feeling in control of our lives — both on and offline.”
To get even the most scattered computer user started on the road to freedom from digital clutter, Marrero recommends five easy tips that can help make your digital life seem more manageable:
1. Organize Your Online Activities
Have too many social networking and online accounts to keep track of? Consolidate online activities in one place with Windows Live. Partnerships with popular sites — including Facebook, Twitter and Flickr — allow you to aggregate activities from these third-party sites — such as digital photos, tweets and status updates — into your Windows Live ‘What’s New’ feed, so you can easily share content with the people in your network from one site.
2. Unclutter Your Desktop
Treat your desktop as you would the top of your actual desk and keep only active files and shortcuts there for convenience. Use your My Documents folders for more lasting storage. Clean off unnecessary shortcuts that clutter the screen.
3. Get Your Files in Order
After you get your desktop sparkling clean, take a look through your folders. Can you consolidate? Are there old files you can remove, or drafts that are no longer relevant? Remember, your time is valuable and storage space is plentiful, so archiving to a folder or external storage space is usually a better use of time than wading through lots of old documents.
4. Time for Your Inbox to Drop a Few Pounds
Do you really need those attachments in an e-mail? Save your large files to an online storage drive like Windows Live SkyDrive, which offers 25 GB of free storage. Easily upload videos, photos and files, and share them with whomever you’d like — without overloading their inboxes.
5. Optimize Your Computer’s Performance
For greater efficiency and to avoid the heartache of technical problems, remember to update and run important utilities like spyware and virus scans and defragment your hard drive periodically.
“After a week or two of following these five simple tips, you may find that you have a bit more time to finally go for that run, or play outside with the kids,” says Marrero. “I tell my clients that the key is to ensure that your computer and online services work for you as productivity tools, instead of creating more clutter and hassle in your life.”
Courtesy of ARAcontent
