Spring "Organizing"

Is there a difference between Spring Cleaning and Spring Organizing?
You betcha...
Company is coming, so you scramble around and gather up all the crap in your living room toss it into a laundry basket and throw it in your hall closet, and hope no one wants to hang up their coat, then quickly run the vacuum cleaner and dust and inch of dust off the bookcase? (or similar scenario?)

The living room looks great. It sure looks picked up, it sure looks clean.
Your company marvels at what a clean house you have, my how organized you are. Just how do you do it all?

So, now that the company is gone, and thankfully weren't wearing coats, you go back to reality, and..
A) Actually pull the basket out of the closet and put things away where they go!
Or.... the most likely scenario might be:
B) Take the basket out and endlessly move the crap around from room to room for several weeks or months.
C) Leave it in the closet, and just keep pilin' on... it's spring, and you don't need a coat for at least 8 more months!
D) Forget it is there completely, and spend hours looking for something you had "gathered" that is now buried in the closet, long forgotten, and you are majorly stress out looking for it! (or have had to buy another)
E) In the back of your mind, you know it's there, and it eats at you, and even though it's a source of embarrasment, you just don't want to deal with it.

"Stashing" junk is NOT a solution, and should not be confused with being organized. Being organized means you can find what you want, when you want it. Sure, Spring is a great time to vacuum, dust, wash windows, wipe walls and get the stale air out of the house. But it's also a great time to Spring Organize. This Spring, don't just open the windows- open the drawers, closets and other areas of your home or office you've ignored all Winter!

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

In an office setting, clutter and disorganization obviously can lead us to easily lose important papers, and messages. But the most important thing that you can lose, in the words of Aretha Franklin is "Respect". Your desk and office is a reflection of you! So, what does your office tell people about you? If you think that it is saying "I am busy and have many important papers". Consider that what it is also possibly SCREAMING is "you are out of control, can't handle the job, are ineffective, are incompetent and you don't care" Although this may be far from true, it is the message you are sending. Is perception reality for you? If so, you can decide to change the message your office is sending to your co-workers, clients and boss to "I can prioritize, I can multi-task, I am in control, and mostly - I CARE".

No Time Like The Present!

This Tuesday (3/4) is National Do Something Day!
Is there something in your life you have been procrastinating about?
I know I have.. my taxes! We often put off doing things, even things that are important to us because we think it is either too hard, too overwhelming, we don't know where to start, we don't have everything we need, we are afraid of the outcome, and then there is always something we would RATHER be doing.

Sound familiar? Well, I am afraid of the outcome of my taxes... and I also am not sure I have everything I need. But I also know they are NOT going to go away if I ignore them. So I will take my own advise and take that first step this Tuesday... I will do something to get started on my taxes. I will set two specific goals. Contact a tax preparer and warn them I am coming :), and run reports from Quick Books.

I am reminded of the song from "Santa's New Year".. where Kris Kringle is telling the Winter Warlock to put one foot in front of the other...
"Put one foot in front of the other....And soon you’ll be walking cross the floor- Put one foot in front of the other....And soon you’ll be walking out the door.
You never will get where you’re going, If you never get up on your feet
Come on, there’s a good tail wind blowing, A fast walking man is hard to beat.
If you want to change your direction, If your time of life is at hand.
Well don’t be the rule be the exception, A good way to start is to stand.
If I want to change the reflection, I see in the mirror each morn
You mean that it's just my election, To vote for a chance to be reborn.
Put one foot in front of the other.. come on, sing it - you know the words!

This lyrics to the song really great if we apply it to ourselves in our efforts to to make changes, learn new things, or tackle something we are procrastinating about. As I mentioned in my previous post; it helps to break things down into simple steps — to take things slow and to encourage those “baby steps” that we all take when trying new things.

If you need to START something - and don't know where or how to start, contact me and together we will put one foot in front of the other.