Archive for June, 2010

I think the issue of disorganization can make a 2 year-old of the most reasonable of adults. I’ve seen it many a time. We get what I call the “I don’t wanna”s. I don’t wanna go through my thousands of email. I don’t wanna go through my mail, my inbox, my voice mail etc. You know the song and you probably know the dance.

I may not have a full-proof solution, magic bullet to this problem. I do have a suggestion though. It’s called, “being reasonable.” Every now and then we just have to be a bit more reasonable about the situation we are facing. Yes, there are some productivity tools out there that can help. Some fancy, some old-school techniques too. What beats them all out every time is being reasonable. Moving an inch or two in the direction of what you know will work.

Because you do know. You may not wanna. But you know.

Thank you!

It is Friday…no one does much organizing on Fridays…that has been my experience. So I tend to do my personal organizing and go to the Farmer’s Market in Venice, do some running around…kindof get it all together. Friday maybe looks a little more like Saturday.  I’m in the garden, cooking, puttering around at a leisurely pace. I’m grateful for my life here in Venice, for this career which I love and for sharing what I do with you. If you are reading this and if you have read any of this blog I want to thank you for your time and for participating! None of this would be possible without your input and interest. So tell me your thoughts if you have a chance…what do you want to know more about? What do you struggle with? What are you having success with? I want to hear your stories! Until then have a great weekend and I’ll see you all back here on Monday…

The Big One

Backlog is the list that just never dies. It is just the running log of things that come to mind that you have to do…there is no particular order, no priority, no category. Stephen Covey likes to say “important but not urgent.” That is really, ehm, important. It is empowering. If we are clearing choosing to spend our time on things we find important then we will be less likely to get sidetracked by minutiae.

The problem is that we tend to not choose. Which is a different conversation. For the purposes of this conversation let’s assume you are going to choose from this important list. And more importantly, you will use it to pull from for you daily 5 priority list.

Always there is the issue of where and how to keep the list. There are  complicated ways of keeping these backlog lists. I’ve tinkered with David Allen’s way…even had some clients try it. It made me want to shoot myself. Sorry David. The point of being organized is not to spend all day on our systems and tickler files…but to actually get our stuff done. Simply.

Backlog. List. On index card or paper. Or Evernote. (Or some awesome way you have of keeping lists that I would love for you to tell me.)

Now do some of that stuff that’s on there.

My Sticky Note List

Yesterday I did a video about the daily priority list – that daily list of the 5 most important things you must, absolutely-must-do-today-no-matter-what. That doesn’t sound like so much fun to me. It probably didn’t to you either. (unless you make sure one of the 5 is fun! I’m glad you did!) I hate to be the one to break the news to you,  but sometimes we have to do things that aren’t fun.

The good news is there are things we get to do that are lots and lots of fun. Even lists. The “category” lists I spoke of yesterday are, well, in that category of things we get to do that are fun. For me at least. Because I love making lists of fun things to do. And typically that is what these lists are about. For example, lists of books you may want to read, music you want to listen to, bands you want to see when they come to town, places you’d like to visit,  what you want to be when you grow up, kinds of dogs you may want to purchase, and…the list goes on.

So much fun to be had, so many lists to be made. Where on earth are we going to house so much information? Evernote.com seems to be the front runner for this category.  You can put in photos you find online, photos you take with your phone, voice recordings, web pages, pdfs, notes….it is like a sticky note on steroids! My love for this program, free program I might add, is in its full bloom. I still have yet to see a wart let a lone a mere blemish. If you are in love with some other such program or system please do tell! Options are good…but we all know how we felt about first love…ahh. I may never leave my Evernote.

You can have your lists with you at all times and who wouldn’t want that? When you are at the bookstore the list in the file at home does you no good. When you are at Home Depot that file of gardening information you’ve been adding to for years is useless.

The smartphones all have list funtionality but to be able to marry a list with a photo or just to throw in a pdf…just makes it so much more likely that you’ll use the thing. I think we get hung up sometimes because the information we receive that we’d like to remember comes in so many formats and medias.  With Evernote you’ll have all of that information with you on your phone, tagged for easy retrieval, no matter where it came from.  See…I told you that making lists would be fun! (at least easy!)

Better have a few extra hammers...just in case.

Do you keep things just in case you’ll need them or know that you’ll have what you need just in time for when you need it?  Martha Beck, a very accomplished life coach, wrote an article in Oprah magazine awhile back about this concept and it stuck with me.  It is at the core of organizing.  I think it is difficult to let go of things if you have that “just in case” philosophy.

It will cause you to hold on to every newspaper and magazine article you’ve ever pulled about fitness even though you can access almost anything you need to know online. It will cause you to hold onto clothes that are too big for you when you have lost weight – just in case you gain it again. Or…hold on to clothing that has been too small for a long time – just in case you lose the weight.

It isn’t about having or not having the information you want (articles) or being an optimist or pessimist (will you lose the weight? or will you gain it?). I am asking you to think about the goal of the goal of keeping something. In terms of information you want the most up to date information and for that matter – clothing!

If you want fitness information isn’t it better to get it from 2010 rather than from 2000? Or pants from 2010 rather than from 2000? If you gain or lose weight it is almost never in the same way…or place….that is a whole different article. Book even. I digress.

Point is that if you trust that you will have what you need when you need it then it becomes easier to let go of the clutter. Trust you will have the information and the items you need when you need them. Guess it is time to get rid of those packing boxes that are in the bathtub just in case I decided to move. Sigh.

I went to a play tonight and from the first line I could tell something was not right. This was not art imitating life. At least not real, breathing, changing lives. Everything was perfectly in order. It was perfectly orchestrated, the face, scrunched up, in just the right look of “concern” at just the exact right moment of a vulnerable reveal. The mouth agog, arms akimbo in shock at a backstabbing remark.

But is that what we really do in life when someone is open with us or on the other hand, rude to us? People “act” or respond in all sorts of ways…sometimes we are at a loss when someone is truly vulnerable with us and we become utterly at a loss for any reaction. We shut down. Or in the face (ha) of rudeness we may find we are filled with mirth or sadness.

I’m just trying to point out that these were easy choices made by the actors or directors and they fell flat because they felt exactly like that – too easy, too ordered.  This can happen with organizing as well. A house that is in 100% perfect order feels creepy. Something is not “right.” The life is sucked right out of the atmosphere and there is no room to actually move about and live in the space. We want order, we want to be able to find the essentials…we want to live, and breathe. Ahhh. That’s better. I have no idea what will happen next. It’s a surprise.

It’s late and I’m exhausted. But that is not the interesting part. The interesting part is that I’m still writing this blog. I committed to writing everyday no matter what and that commitment has taken on a life of its own. Now I just do it – no matter what time it is (and for better or worse quality…I’m aware of that but for now I’m working on consistency. One thing at a time!). That is the great thing about commitments.

You do what you are supposed to do no matter how you feel in the moment or what else comes up. Committing to a schedule is the same. I know that there are three times each week when I’ll be in the gym no matter what. There are other things I’d like to do in addition but at least those are in stone – no matter how I feel. These commitments carry you along with their own current and pay back to you in results time and again. Not immediately – over time you see the results of your consistent efforts. You just have to get the commitments in place – the ones that make sense for you, that will pay off in the right way, that carry you to the ocean you want to swim in.

Two teddy bears rescued from the trash (by an adult). Photo by Nina Toessinger

I was working with a new client today who has twins. I wonder why she needs an organizer? Ha! Her girls are 7 and when we started in on their room they were excited to help. The thing that I found remarkable was that it was so easy for them to decide what to keep and what to get rid of.  Actually, this is not unusual. (Though my client assured me it is not always that easy!)  My clients who have kids find that their kids have no problem letting go when it is time. They immediately knew which teddy bear they loved, which pair of pajamas, which dress…and which ones they were over. There was very little deliberation.  Sure there are those few tattered stuffed animals they cling to and that is ok. I’m not at war with sentimentality. But they are very clear about those things that are dear to them, there are few – and the clutter at large that can go.

When do we lose the ability to make decisions in the moment? Even when it came to the idea of gifts: “Uncle Dave gave that ballerina bunny to us – but I hate it – it goes.” They understood that their room was theirs and if they didn’t like something then they didn’t have to keep it. I would love to hear your feedback on this. Do you know when you started having trouble making decisions about what stays and what goes? When the clutter started to pile up in your life? What makes it hard to make those decision?

Maybe it is because I’m on this cleanse but I started to think that getting behind on paperwork and other tasks that make up an organized life is like getting behind on digestion. We get backed up. Don’t worry, I’m not going to get too graphic here. But, I will say that the bloated, constipated feeling that people with bad digestion have is not entirely different from that bloated and overwhelmed feeling disorganized people have. Getting backed up is uncomfortable. No matter where it is happening. Good news is there are solutions to poor digestion and clutter. Good habits are usually at the root of both.