Making Room for Something New

I don’t think I have ever had the technique of  “getting rid of something old to make room for something new” work this quickly, ever.  And this time instead of it happening to a client it happened to me – yeah!

I’ve had tickets to the Turbine Showcase event for many weeks and was so excited about finally being able to attend this event showcasing the designs of our own very talented Lisa Drader Murphy.   My friend Leslie had volunteered to model in the fashion show and since it was her first time modeling she wanted to have a few supporters in the audience so a group of us girls got together and bought a table.

Anyway, the one thing I’m never very good it as thinking about what to wear to an event until the day of.  So, yesterday it dawned on me that I was going out to a fashion event with a bunch of fashionable people and that what I wore might be slightly more important than on other occasions.  Sure makes a girl realize how lacking her non-business wardrobe is when she goes digging and can’t really find anything to wear.

I did manage to pull together an outfit which was just perfect for the event I thought.  However, in the process of digging through my somewhat sparse closet I discovered three dresses that were several years old and decided then and there to put them in a bag to go off to charity.  I said to myself that I really did need to purchase a couple of “fancy” new dresses for other events like this that might pop up unexpectedly.  Now buying a “fancy” dress is always very stressful for me.  I’m quite sure that being 5′ 11″ tall doesn’t help the situation whatsoever.

Off to the event I went putting my need for a new dress behind me and looking forward to an evening out with the girls.  There is nothing I love more than either a great live rock band or an equally exciting fashion show.  Having been a model myself way back in the day I fell in love with fashion shows back in the 80′s and have loved them ever since.  Although as never a very good runway model I’m afraid to say - my nerves always got the best of me.

I digress. Back to the purpose of this post.  The fashions were awesome and there were many pieces that I loved and would wear.  However, there was one long dress on a very tall slim model that appeared to be calling my name.  Oh no, I couldn’t possibly, could I?

Being the smart business woman that she is, Lisa offers a “shopping party” at the end of the show.  Now I’m not usually much of an impulse buyer but I couldn’t stop thinking about that dress.  We wandered out in the racking area where all the clothes were displayed and I remember thinking that some other tall woman had probably already gotten her hands on that dress.  I’m flipping through a rack and there it is.  Dare I hold it up and see if there was even a possibility it might fit me? It certainly was long enough which is 90% of the battle normally. 

I grabbed my friend Leslie (can’t buy anything “fancy” without her fashionista eyes) and we snuck off to the washroom to try on the dress in front of the mirror.  You guessed it, a perfect fit! Check out my dress on that tall slim young model.  Do you suppose I’ll look just like her when I wear it?

That awesome dress is hanging in my closet and will be going off to Toronto with me in two weeks to the Professional Organizers in Canada Conference where I will have a chance to wear it at the Gala Awards dinner.

Just goes to show you that letting go of a few old things that are keeping you stuck in the past certainly can make room for a fabulous new thing that will help you move into the future.

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Finding a Theme for the New Year with Yoga!

What’s that, you say, someone found a theme for 2011 in yoga class? You’ve got to be kidding me. Shouldn’t that happen at a party with a few glasses of champagne?

Not necessarily.  This year I tried something totally new and went to a yoga class on New Years Day to celebrate the beginning of a new year and leave the old year behind.  I have to give big kudos to Sherry Zak of Halifax Yoga  for leading an amazing class for 50 dedicated souls and helping us speak our theme for the new year in public and then let go of the past year with a tough flow class involving lots of sweat and more than a few sore muscles!

What’s all this got to do with organizing?  A lot.  Without a theme for the year it’s hard to set goals and without goals it’s hard to achieve anything important and even more difficult to decide how to use your time to fulfill your destiny in the way you truly desire.

Each year at this time, in preparation for a new beginning,  I spend a day with my  Mastermind Group setting goals and making commitments for the next year.  This year we’ll be doing it online since we can’t get together in person.  We’re spread from Calgary to Winnipeg to Sudbury to Toronto to Halifax and we’re so greatful for the technology which allows us to meet and to ‘see ‘ each other even though we’re not all in the same city.

In preparation for our planning session, I spent the rest of New Years day going through and getting rid of a huge pile of paper in my office (more to do tomorrow), giving away some odds and ends from the storage closet (while I was putting away the Christmas decorations), and clearing extra books from my bookcase. 

Whew, that feels good . . . it really does!  Now I’m truly ready to rock and roll into 2011 and can’t wait to come up with the plan for how I’m going to achieve my goals and fulfill my dreams for ‘freedom’ in the coming year.  You should try it – go ahead . . . get organized!   For the record, ‘getting organized’ was listed as the #4 new year’s resolution for 2011.

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Preparing Your Business for 2011

At this time of year I always start to get into what I like to call ‘Clean Up and Get Organized for the New Year’ mode in my business.  Somehow, I always look forward to this process. For me it involves several steps which many of you may find it helpful to consider.

1. Purging Paper & Electronic Information - like many of you I accumulate a lot of paper and electronic information throughout the year, some of which I never use. There’s no better feeling than going through all the paper files and shredding a bunch, going through my ‘My Documents’ folder and either archiving or deleting a bunch of files and finally going through all my email folders from this year and either archiving or deleting a bunch of that information.  Somehow this process always seems to shift the energy around a bit and make room for new and exciting projects each new year.
2. Getting Ready for Canada Revenue - I have to say that all of us small business owners certainly do have to be well organized on the financial records side of our business in case our friends at CRA come calling.  I firmly believe that if I’m well organized and keep good records there is less likelihood that will happen but if it does I’ll be well prepared. I can pull any piece of   information they may require on a moment’s notice including invoices, expense receipts, HST returns, my calendar with all appointments,  monthly financial statements and the all important Automobile Mileage Log (to purchase yours go to http://www.janetheorganizer.com/productsforsale_automileagelog.html)  for the past 7 years.  The two things that they love to audit us home-based businesses for are ‘office-use-of-home’ expenses and ‘vehicle expenses’, so be sure to have those records in tip top shape and easily accessible.  In addition, HST audits are quite common so being able to produce your records in a timely fashion can make this process almost painless.
3. Creating A New Budget - I always like to challenge myself to ‘stretch goals’ on the revenue side and then see how little I can get away with spending on the expense side while still growing the business.  This year I’m thinking about a few new budget items such as a Smartphone (yeah, yeah, I know I’m so behind on that one), a part-time Personal Assistant (too exciting), and maybe even my dream of a Training Video.  Having a monthly budget and reviewing it twice per month is one of the key success factors to any business, large or small.
4. Annual Planning - in addition to creating a new budget, I schedule a yearly annual planning session for 1 or 2 days with my mastermind group(s) to brainstorm ideas for the next year or so.  This will involve both my personal and professional life and is a chance for some free thinking with no limitations.  A chance to review outstanding projects and think of new ones.  A chance to dream big and share those dreams with others.  And finally the time to put it all in writing, decide my priorities for the next year, and make a committment to others in my mastermind group to work on those priorities or, if I don’t, to have a good reason for changing them.

Whew, aren’t you exhausted just thinking about all this? Now we all have to go and book time in our calendar over the holiday season to get working on #1 to #3.  In my business #4 will be happening in two phases, one in January and the other in March.  However, you may decide to do something completely different like attend a workshop or hire someone to help you through the process.  Remember the adage, “Poor Prior Planning leads to P… Poor Performance”.

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Procrastination and Clutter

I’ll let the reporter from Metro take this one.  Here’s a link to today’s article ‘Procrastination has its place in cleaning post-Christmas clutter’

Rosalie Maggio, author of The Art of Organizing Anything, says, “So don’t deal with it. Take Santa and the lights down, stuff things under the bed and make your house livable. Then forget about it until February.”

This approach could lead to overwhelm I would think. Imagine if you just kept procrastinating and shoving things where you couldn’t see them?  What would happen?  Would it work for you?  Or would you get to the point where every nook and cranny is full and then the clutter is so voluminous that you have no idea where to start? Or maybe you simply wouldn’t be able to find anything anymore – yikes!

Then again, on the positive side perhaps it will lead to more business for Professional Organizers?

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Waiting for a New Year

Every year between Christmas and the New Year I get the urge to go through everything in my home and my office and get rid of anything that I no longer use or that is no longer meaningful to me. 

During that process I begin to look ahead and decide what I want to focus on for the next year.  I don’t know about you but the purging is the easy part, figuring out how I want to spend my time and what I want to pursue is the hard part.

Last year it appears that I was a bit overly ambitous.  As I look at the neatly typed, multi-colored paper I created last January there appear to be 5 focus activities and 7 focus areas that are all supposed to relate back to my annual theme.

Whatever I do decide to focus on in 2010, I guarantee the lists will be much shorter.  I’m thinking 3 focus activities and 3 to 5 related focus areas and a shorter annual theme.

Getting my life for the next year down to those few things isn’t easy for me.  So many ideas, so little time.

I have booked a trip to Toronto to spend a couple of days with a few other Professional Organizers for our first annual retreat.  After a 1/2 day at the spa, we hope to actually spend the next day helping each other figure out what to focus on in 2010. Can’t wait!

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Declutter Before the New Year!

I’m starting to think about the projects I will be working on over the holiday season to get myself ready for the new year.  As I unwind (with a treatment at the spa on December 23rd), and enjoy the company of friends and family, my thoughts turn to plans for 2010.

Every year between Christmas and the New Year, I go through all the paper files in my office, throw away what I don’t need and remind myself of the information I do have that I had forgotten about.  I also take a look through each of the main folders in My Documents and in my e-mail folders again looking for files I can delete and those that need to be moved to the appropriate folder.

During the holiday season try taking the time to dig through all the drawers and cabinets in your office, clear you computer files, clean house,  and take control of your environment.  Have fun and you’ll be well prepared for 2010.

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Home Office Design and Organizing Part 1

This if the first of a three-part series on designing and organizing your home office.

Let’s talk about everyone’s worst nightmare – paper, paper, paper – where does it all come from and what to do with it?  For most of the busy professionals I work with this is the most challenging part of keeping their home organized.  Can you relate?

Piles of paper going up the stairs and down the stairs . . . information on vacation plans still piled high on the dining room table along with unopened mail, bills waiting to be paid . . . and then there are the magazines.  Let me count the ways that I love my decorating magazines!  How difficult it is when the pile gets so high that it starts to fall over and I have to purge.

Aaah yes, purge, that nasty word.  Call it as you will – edit, cull, delete – it all means the same thing – before you can design and set up a functional home office, you’re best to get rid of all the excess. 

Keep your long-term vision in mind as you slog through the piles of paper, the mounds of old discs and stacks of newsletters that you mean to read one day.

Where do I begin, you ask?  Well, that depends, I answer.  If you are looking for instant gratification to keep you motivated, the best place to begin is with the visible surfaces. If you are not as worried about keeping motivated, you may decide to start with your filing cabinet if it is stuffed to the brim and can’t possibly hold another piece of paper.

Take one box, file or pile at a time and start with each piece of paper or item and ask yourself the following questions:

1. How old is this – is it recent enough to be useful?
2. Does this require action?
3. Can I really identify a specific use for it?
4. Is it difficult to obtain this again if ‘someday I might need it’
5. When was the last time I used this?
6. Are there tax or legal reasons why I must keep this?
7. If you still feel that knot in your stomach – ask yourself: What is the worst possible thing that will happen if I toss this?

 As you set aside your daily organizing time also be aware that you will need 10 or 15 minutes every day to deal with incoming.  Follow a system by separating items into ‘Action’ or ‘File’ or send them straight to the file known as the recycling bin!

 As you open mail, discard the envelope immediately and place the item either in an action folder or file away in your new filing system.  Designate a place for unread magazines and newsletters such as an attractive basket or magazine box. 

 I wish you good luck and much purging and look forward to the next phase, which is designing and setting up your home office space.

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