Can You Live a Good Enough Life?

I am fascinated by how the concept of ‘good enough’ relates to being organized and our many attempts to be what we perceive as ‘well organized’.  What does being organized mean to you?  Most likely not the same as it does to your spouse, your best friend or your children.

What if, instead of constantly striving to be more organized, better organized or even, heaven forbid, perfectly organized we strove for ‘good enough’.  According to Sarah Hampson the author of an article entitled, The Secret to happiness? Live a ‘good enough’ life,  “. . . when you don’t expect much, when you manage the ideas of what you think your life should be, you can be pleasantly surprised – and grateful – for the good fortune that comes your way.”

Somehow this sounds like lowering expectations, reducing the standards of what is acceptable and seems to me like settling for mediocrity.  Not acceptable to someone like me who is a recovering perfectionist and still battling with doing my ‘best’ instead of striving for ‘perfect’.  So, the concept of good enough doesn’t sit well with me but I know for many of you it might be just what you need.

If your kitchen drawers are organized so that you can find what you need but you don’t have those fancy dividers that you saw in a friends kitchen that might just be good enough?  If your clothes are all hanging up but not on matching hangers is that good enough?  If your papers are all off the floor and in tidy piles on your desk where you can put your fingers on what you need that might just be good enough.  If your email inbox is down to 50 messages, instead of 500, maybe that is good enough?

I like the idea of good enough as opposed to perfectly organized as it does allow us to lower our expectations of what organized means and move towards a level of organization that is achievable.  I think this concept is especially important for those who don’t like to spend their time organizing or find it difficult to know when to stop organizing. 

What we see in magazines and on television is often not realistic and perhaps that is where some of our expectations of perfectly organized come from?  Have you ever noticed the desk in the corner of the living room on a makeover show with a computer on it but not a single cord in sight nor a stitch of paper – no matter how organized we are our space will never look like that so perhaps lowering our expectations is exactly what the doctor ordered!

Everything in life seems to come back to deciding what matters most.  As long as your home and office are organized ‘enough’ so that you can function effectively and enjoy your space, forget about what others may think and go with what works for you.  I think the summer is the perfect time to try some ‘good enough’ thinking – at least for you my dear readers even if not for me!

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Procrastination – Perfectionism or Impulsiveness?

A couple of weeks ago I travelled to Moncton to deliver a workshop on Overcoming Procrastination at the IAAP Atlantic Conference for a group of over 80 very enthusiastic women.  Wow, it was good fun and we had some interesting discussion about procrastination and why we do it.

We brought up the topic of laziness – is procrastination laziness?  Some people thought that sometimes it was laziness but most of the time not so much.  It seems to go much deeper than that in a lot of instances.

Is procrastination due to perfectionism?  In many cases it may very well be.  We often wait for the perfect conditions, saying to ourselves, “I’ll do this when …” or “I can’t do this until …”.  However, as the quote says, “Opportunities are easily lost while waiting for the perfect conditions.” (Gary Ryan Blair). 

I have this article that I cut from The Globe and Mail several months ago which I pulled out in preparing for the workshop.  It’s all about perfectionism and procrastination and how they may or may not be linked.  According to the article perhaps it is not about perfectionism even though studies show that it is.  Apparently perfectionists who procrastinate are more likely to seek help from therapists so they turn up in research numbers more often.  Gee whiz, I needed therapy for that, who knew!  If you are a perfectionist you feel worse about putting things off and therefore seek help to overcome it. 

Hmmm . . . being a recovering perfectionist myself I still think that I wait for the perfect conditions to start or finish certain things and somehow they always get done before the deadline, always.  Perhaps that’s my perfectionist standards or just the nature of the expectations of others that Professional Organizers always do everything ahead of schedule – how’s that for a little added pressure!

The article goes on to postulate that procrastination is, in fact, a result of impulsiveness.  Say what?  Impulsive people (you can tell I’m not one) live impatiently in the present moment and want everything right now.   Showing self-control or delaying gratification is difficult for impulsive people.  So, anxiety over a deadline leads directly to procrastination.  And impulsiveness, they say, causes disorganized procrastinators who are mighty distractible.  Impulsive people find it difficult to plan work ahead of time which leads to a lot of late nights just before the project deadline. 

Wow, pretty complicated stuff, don’t you think?

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Talking to Kids About Business

The last few weeks I have been volunteering for Junior Achievement Nova Scotia delivering the ‘Our Business World’ program to grade six students.  It never ceases to amaze me that kids are interested in business at such a young age.  And, wow, do they know a lot of stuff – go figure!

The program focuses on 4 modules:

1. Organization – we discuss the skills needed to start a business, all the resources you have to consider and the various types of businesses in Canada.
2. Management – we talk about the role of management in a business, the decisions a manager has to make and we focus on how to hire employees and what we need to consider.
3. Production – in this lesson we actually produce pens and discuss productivity.  Students learn about various methods of production and have fun testing unit production versus assembly line production.
4. Marketing – students learn about the imporance of marketing a product most importantly pricing and advertising. We discuss advertising strategies and students create their commercial to sell the pens manufactured during the production lesson.

Every time I think about this amazing program I wish someone had come to my grade six class to talk to me about starting a business.  Perhaps I wouldn’t have waited so late in life!  And, the other thing I think about is how little I really knew about starting a business back in 2002 when Get Organized! Professional Services was only a dream!

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Is Email Overload Turning You Into a Hamster?

Yup, here I am yet again ranting about email productivity, or lack thererof!

I’m reading this great book about email entitled The Hamster Revolution. Though I’ve studied this subject a lot, I like the creative approach to explaining what email overload can do to us – it can turn us all into tiny hamsters running on a hamster wheel 7 days a week trying to keep up.

The book really brings home two keys to managing email before it manages you.

1. Reduce Email Volume
2. Improve Email Quality

The authors explain three key questions to ask yourself as you work on reducing email volume.  The idea being that if  you send less email you will receive less email. 

• Is Your Email Needed? Does my busy recipient truly need this email to do his or her job? “Send we-mail instead of me-mail“, the authors suggest.  Don’t you love it!
• Is Email the Appropriate Communication Tool? Email is company property and is stored forever and can be reviewed or forwarded at anytime anywhere.
• Is Your Message Targeted? Is your message being sent to the right people in the right way? Decrease your use of Reply All, CC and Distribution Lists.

Improving email quality has two components.  Write really good subject lines and sculpt the body of the message.

• Good subject lines are absolutely crucial to clear, easy and quick communication via email.  The book suggests putting 1 of 5 action words in every subject line: Action, Info, Request, Confirmed, and Delivery. And then writing a good descriptive title describing the project or using specific dates, times & places when referring to the topic at hand.
• The authors suggest sculpting the body of your email using a method called A-B-C.  A if for Action Summary, then B for Background and finally C for Close.  The Action Summary is a sentence that describes a specific action, purpose or key point.  The Background is the body of your message.  Try using bullet points, numbering and keep it short and to the point.  The Close is the place to include a nice comment, describe next steps, and include your automatic signature.

These are all concepts that I teach in each and every Take Control of Email workshop I do and in my Email Organizing Basics on-line web session.  However, clarifying them in this way seems to make the concepts easier to remember. Thanks Hamster Guys!

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So Many Conferences to Attend!

Well, it seems that Conference season has kicked into high gear yet again this fall.   As usual I have had the good fortune of being booked by several associations to present workshops at their conferences and be a part of their professional development weeks which is always good fun.   I so enjoy being a small part of a much bigger educational opportunity and admire companies and associations who are true learning organizations.

The exciting news this week is that I get to go to my own professional development conference where I’ll be in the audience instead of in front of the room (for the most part).  Professional Organizers in Canada has been hosting their annual conference since 2000.  So exciting to be attending the 10th annual conference and this year we’re in Montreal - yeah! 

Not only will I be continuing my education as an organizer by attending sessions such as ‘Online Tools for Maximum Productivity’, ‘The Impact of Technology on Time Management’ (with time management guru Harold Taylor), and ‘Do I E-Shred This?’ but I will also hear two great keynote speakers.  In addition, I’ve got several one-on-one meetings scheduled with specific people I want to learn more from and I’m sitting on the ‘Ask a Senior Organizer’ panel.  There’s nothing like being grilled by other organizers about your business – yikes!

I know what you’re thinking, three days with a group of over 100 other organizers, you’ve got to be kidding me.  Believe it or not we’re not all Type A personalities (although I think the majority are) and we’re not all suffering from mild OCD (at least I don’t think we are?).  Many of our members have transformed their own lives from chaos to order and are now able to teach others how to do it.

I have to admit I’m glad to be picking up a few more CE credits for my certification, but I have to say that my favourite part of the conference is always seeing my organizing friends from across the country and meeting new friends.  I do love to socialize and being a ‘solopreneur’ can be tough at times. There’s nothing like sharing business ideas and challenges with a group of your peers who really get it.

Speaking of sharing with peers who really get it, upon my return from Montreal I’m heading to the Centre for Women in Business Conference the next week.   This time I’ll be learning about growing my business and sharing with women from all walks of life for one day. 

I think I’m going to be all ‘conferenced’ out by that time and ready to get back to work on my business and working with my clients equipped with all the tools to provide even better service than ever.

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Adult Learning – So Many Styles?

This past week I spent an amazing morning with a group of women who meet regularly to share ideas on how we can be better at our work as trainers working with adults.

One of our group members did a presentation for us on Adult Learning.  So, here’s the fascinating part of some of the research she did for us.  When you search online for ‘adult learning styles’,  you come up with many models.  Here are a few:

• Adventurous Learner/Social Learner/Practical Learner/Conceptual Learner
• Visual/Auditory/Tactile
• Accomodative Learning Style/Diverging Learning Style/Convergent Learning Style/Assimilating Learning Style
• Abstract Perceivers/Concrete Perceivers/Reflective Processors/Active Processors
• Step-by-Step/Social/Curious/Creative
• Feeling/Doing/Watching/Thinking
• Auditory/Tactile/Visual/Verbal

All I have to say is, now I’m more confused than ever!  No wonder teaching adults is perceived as such a challenge.  Although we all thought that these models apply to children just as much as adults, perhaps we just don’t have time in the classroom to recognize and teach to all of these styles?

Anyway, now that I’m no more clear than I was before, one thing I am more clear on is the importance of having time to reflect in a training session or workshop.   I am actually practicing reflection as I write this blog.  In an attempt to assimilate what I learned and how I can put it into practice I am writing and talking about what I learned.  However, not all of us are able to reflect about new information in this way.  Some of us need to ‘feel’ or ‘see’ what we have learned. 

During a training session we might benefit from closing our eyes and imagining a picture of what we are learning.  Some of us more creative types might like to act out what we have learned or sing about it. 

As a trainer, the important part of any session is to give participants time to reflect on the information.  I was told at one time that we should stop every 20 mins. and have a quick reflection before moving forward.  The challenge with this is that if you have a limited amount of time and are trying to cover enough subject matter to actually teach something constructive you don’t always have the luxury of doing so.

One thing I have started to do differently over the years is to include much less content in my workshops and give everyone in the session a little time to discuss and digest what we are covering as well as trying to always be aware that we all learn differently and need to be given the chance to do so in our own way.  So, the next time I see someone doodling in a workshop, I will know that they are using that as a technique to reflect on what they are learning.

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Continuing Education – When Is It Too Much?

Last Friday we had a meeting of the Nova Scotia Chapter of  Professional Organizers in Canada (POC), our first one since June.  We had a number of guests at our meeting who were new to the business or thinking about getting into the business.

Anyway, we got into a long discussion about being qualified, which courses to take, how many designations, if any,  one should have and so on.  Not an easy question to answer so it turns out.  People will often ask me how I got into this business and sometimes I do get the direct question from a fellow business person, “So what makes you qualified to be a Professional Organizer?”  Of course, since I received my Certified Professional Organizer® designation I think I have a good answer for that.  However, in my mind it’s not as much about the exam and book knowledge as it is about the eight years experience.

Some members of our group were adamant that we should have as many designations as we can and be constantly taking courses and upgrading our skills.  Some of our potential members were on the opposite end of the scale where they are not interested in taking any courses, they just want to start organizing.  The latter scares me just a little, I must say.  Without some foundational priniciples for organizing and an understanding of the unique challenges our clients face I don’t think we can provide the best possible service.

But where is the cut off?  How many courses should a person take?  Where is the trade off between book learning and actual experience? I can only speak for myself.  I have to take 15 hours of continuing education every year to maintain my certification so I’m always on the hunt for the latest discovery around productivity or the newest time management technique to help my clients manage their time more effectively. 

In addition, I do love to read a good organizing book now and again.  My weakness, however, is looking a pretty organizing products – I admit it, I’m a junkie!  We all know how many gorgeous things you can find on the internet – I just love to check out all the pretty products even though half of them I can’t even get in Canada, darn it. 

There I go again, off topic.  Well kind of off topic.  Knowing about the newest and prettiest organizing products is part of the service I provide so in a sense is part of my continuing education and it’s fun too boot! 

As a business owner I think there is a happy compromise in there somewhere.  We all need to keep on top of what is going on in our industry but we also need to earn a living.  I suspect if we narrow our focus and get really good at a few things, educate ourselves on an ongoing basis, and learn by doing, we’ll provide the best service we can to our customers. 

I’m not sure that immersing ourselves in studying and attending conferences and putting more letters behind our name is always the best way.  Unless, as one of my clients always reminds me, you’re building bridges and then I would be inclined to advise all those engineers out there to take lots of bridge-building courses

Toodles.

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Organizing Systems for Small Business

Last week I facilitated a workshop for a group of new small business owners.  It never ceases to amaze me how many organizing systems you need to have when you run your own business.

Here are a few we came up with.  I’m pretty sure there are still some things we have forgotten?

• Customer Contacts
• Action Items
• Calendar System – electronic or paper (or both-yikes)?
• Financial Records including filing for HST
• Propects/Sales Cycle
• Managing Electronic Documents
• Inventory
• Time Tracking
• Online Passwords
• Managing Email
• Vehicle Mileage and related expenses

And then, on top of all that, you have to figure out how to manage your time effectively.  In a workshop a few years ago I learned a formula for managing time in the busy world of an entrepreneur.  I have since adjusted it to fit my needs and the reality of how the lives of most of my small business clients actually should work.  My overall discovery is that we have to try to minimize the time we spend on administration, while still taking care of all the details, and maximize the time we spend on activities that either allow us to earn money or have the potential to help increase our revenues.

And then there’s planning time, one thing many of us do not spend enough time on.  As small business owners we should be spending the equivalent of 1/2 a day per week just planning.  This is really as simple as ensuring we are ready for the upcoming week with our clients and ensuring that we are moving along any business projects such as updating our website.  If we don’t plan for those business projects they just never seem to get done.  All of our time can be eaten up looking for clients, talking to clients and following up with clients.  And, if you’re like me, procrastinating by checking email and browsing the internet.

Alright already, I’m going to do my planning for the week right now before I start searching the internet for some pretty organizing products for a client!

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To Change or Not to Change?

How we help our clients change was a hot topic at the dining table today.  I spent several hours with five good friends and fellow coaches, consultants and trainers this afternoon and the topic of how we each work with our clients, our methods, and our beliefs around how we may or may not succeed in helping them change was certainly a well debated one.

This has me thinking about a fascinating tool I discovered in a book entitled “It’s Hard to Make a Difference When You Can’t Find Your Keys” by Marilyn Paul.  She has created a ‘Seven-Step Change Cycle’ specifically related to organizing.

Here are the 7 steps:

1. Establish Your Purpose
2. Create Your Vision
3. Take Stock of Current Reality
4. Choose Support
5. Design Systems & Solutions
6. Take Effective Action
7. Go Deeper to Keep Going

When I discovered this map, I realized that all of these steps are exactly what I do when working with a client.  It occurs to me that you can certainly understand the cycle and how it could help guide you through any organizing project.  However, I still wonder if answering  questions like:

• “What will I see”
• “What organizing systems will work for me?”
• “What are the specific steps I plan to take . . .?”
• “How can I change my thinking?” 

is difficult when you are completely overwhelmed by mental or physical clutter.  I believe that having the support of a professional organizer and/or a coach is one of the key components in building a support team to help you achieve long term change.  That person should be a good fit for your personality, have the credentials and experience to work with you effectively,  and be able to support you in a positive way while holding you accountable  for your actions and choices.

One thing we all agreed on is that before any individual or organization hires anyone in a consulting or coaching role they have to be willing and ready for change.  Allowing individuals to flourish within a changing environment requires trust and the freedom to make choices that are best for both the individual and the organization.

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Webinar Technology – Oh My, What to Do?

One of my projects for this year is to do some research on possible technology for delivering webinars as well as working with clients from a distance.

Now we all know that Skype works well for one-on-one communication. We just need to each have a Skype account and we’re rolling.  Pretty simple all round.  However, what I’m looking for are several capabilities:

1. One-on-one communication
2. Producing short video clips for my website
3. Video conferencing with several business associates from across the country 
4. Offer webinars to a worldwide audience

So far I have discovered several options that are worth investigating.  Tokbox (www.tokbox.com), Camtasia Studio (www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp), COMF5 (www.comf5.com), GoToMeeting/GoToWebinar (www.gotomeeting.com). 

I’m quite sure there are dozens more, but a girl’s gotta draw the line in the sand somewhere.  The next step is figuring out how much all of this is going to cost me.  Of course, like most small business owners, costs are always a concern so I’m looking for the most affordable option.  If it’s not affordable, it makes no sense from a profit perspective, does it?  At this point I really have no idea how often I’m going to be using each of the items I’ve identified so buying a package at this point is a bit tricky.  I’m tempted to start small and go from there.

Anyway, kiddies, if I don’t procrastinate too much, I’ll get back to you on what I decide to do over the next few months.  If anyone out there has any advice they’d like to offer, please join the conversation.

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