Making Time Work For You

I'm sure that you've heard the old say  "You Can't Manage Time - You Can Only Manage Yourself".  It's true - but people still think that they can manage their time without any responsibility for how they manage themselves.

Sounds complicated doesn't it. But it's really very simple. If you want to be more efficient with your time, if you want to better manage your time, if you want to really accomplish everything that you put on your calendar for the day - you have to manage yourself instead of managing the time.

What that means is that you have to be responsible for your actions or in this case - your non-actions. There are so many distractions out there today that people get very easily sidetracked numerous times throughout the day and they don't really stick to their schedule or their priorities.

For a lot of the things that we have to do there is a definite time period that it takes to accomplish the task. We can't change that. But we can change the fact that we drag that time out because we get sidetracked - whether it's by checking our email numerous times during the day instead of working on a report that is due that afternoon or by seeing something that needs to be "fixed" so we stop to "fix" it as we go from one room to another in the house - even though we are working on a project in the basement.

Sticking to a schedule and getting your work or chores done, even though you don't really want to, even though other things are calling out to you, will make you accomplish your tasks in a timely manner. Then it's done and over with. And you will feel better for having accomplished the task - even though it might feel like a hardship at the time. Plow through it - get it done - and sit back and be proud of having accomplished something.

Everything in life doesn't have to be fun. We have a lot of  "normal - daily living" things that we need to do every day or every week. Putting them off just makes our job harder.

Plan your day - plan your time - stick to your schedule - don't get sidetracked - shut the door on distractions and make time work for you.

Don't let time get away from you by outside distractions. It only drags out your day and you still will have to get things done.

It might help you if you put everything on a calendar so that you can see how much time you have left in your week. Then you can rearrange your schedule to accomplish the highest priorities first and you can track where you went off schedule and where you might want to change your priorities to better fit your life.

Time should not be managing you.....you need to control how you manage your time.

Organizational Consulting Services

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Closets - Make Them Work For You

Being organized is a lot easier when you have a properly functioning space. That means that the space is suited for what you want to put into it. Whether it's a clothes closet, kitchen cabinets or any other space - the actual space and how it's laid out makes a huge difference.

My having the space work for you and how you live, not your neighbor, you will be much happier and better able to function. For example - let's say that you are a female executive and wear mostly suits and dressier clothes. Your closet should fit your clothes. That might mean multiple hanging bars for skirts, jackets and blouses.

Your neighbor might work in a very casual atmosphere and wear only pants and sweaters.  They might need more shelving for their folded sweaters and they never wear suits so they don't need a lot of hanging room.

Unfortunately most closest only have a single hanging bar. Pretty useless when it comes to an efficient closet.

By just putting in a second hanging bar you have doubled your closet space. By adding another shelf on top you have created a more manageable shelf space where your sweaters aren't falling over (they should never be stacked 8 high - it makes it hard to get them in and out).

These are just some basic examples of how you can make some minor changes in your closets and get a lot more room and make better use of your space.

There are some great closet companies out there that can really make your closets more efficient. There are also a number of  "do it yourself" closet systems that might work for you.

By just reorganizing your closet to fit your needs and not the previous home owners you will save yourself a lot of stress and time in the morning when you are looking for that perfect outfit to wear to work. Being able to find it easily in your closet will make a world of difference in starting your day.

Happy Organizing ! 

Organizational Consulting Services

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Organizing for Seniors

Organizing is not as straight forward as people might think.  "Just get rid of stuff. Just move things around" some people would say.   Yes, that might be part of the organizing process but it does not take into account the special needs of each client.

Organizing for various age groups and people with varying degrees of capabilities requires special considerations.

As people age they might not have the strength to do the job themselves. They might get tired more easily. They might not be able to bend or lift things like people that are a lot younger. This also applies to people with varying health issues ...but for this session we want to talk about the special considerations that you might want to make when you are organizing with people that are a bit older.

If you are helping your parents or relatives that are over 60 you might want to take a step back and realize that they have different levels of energy, different ideas of what they want to let go of, different ideas on a lot of things.

As a non-professional organizer you might not think about all of the issues that they are facing but rather think about your own desire to just help them. This is a normal mistake that a lot (if not most) people make.

The first step that might help you is to just take a step back yourself and ask yourself  "how would you feel if someone came into your home and just started throwing all of your prized possessions and memories out?".  I am sure that the answer would be "not good".  So put yourself into their place, take a step back and think about them and what they want and need as you help them. Don't make this about you.

Some issues that you might have to deal with when organizing for seniors are:

Memory issues - they can't remember where they put things. Because of this they might have gotten into the habit of leaving everything out in the open (therefore causing a cluttered house) so that they can see it.

They constantly buy more and more (food or clothes.....or whatever) because they forgot they already have it.

Physical issues - they don't have the strength or stamina to clean up after themselves so they don't. Again, this is one possible cause of their cluttered home.

Mental issues - they no longer care about their home because they have lost a loved one and are depressed. Their friends are all dying and they have no social interaction.

All of the above are just some of the reasons that seniors might have more issues with clutter.

But clutter itself can also cause physical problems in that it creates a dangerous situation in their home with them tripping over the clutter and causing physical harm to themselves.

When working with seniors be sure to limit the amount of time for each organizing session. Make sure that they get plenty of breaks and snacks to keep their energy up.

So as you see.... organizing isn't just a straight forward project. It is a complex process that is different in every situation.




Organizational Consulting Services

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Being Organized - vs - Being Efficient

A lot of people think that being organized is the same as being efficient. It's not.

Being organized  - though it has many facets - is more about having things in place. Your belongs, your schedule, your life. It's about having things arranged in a certain order. It's about being able to find things in a short amount of time. It's about knowing where to find things. It's about things looking presentable, neat, orderly.

Being efficient means that thing are done in the best way possible.

Being effective means that we are doing what's best.

Time Management uses both efficiency and effectiveness. Time management is about activities while organization is about things.

You can't really manage time. You can only manage how you use it.

You can't be productive if you waste time. You can't be productive if you aren't organized. Just because you do more in a day doesn't mean that what you have accomplished is worth anything. If the quality of the work you produced is not up to par - then have you really accomplished more?  If you produced less but the quality of the work or product was better - wouldn't you really be further ahead?

It's complicated and for the best results organization, efficiency, effectiveness and time management must all work together.

Organizational Consulting Services

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Organizing Your Taxes

January is over and by now we should have most of the documents that we need to get our taxes done.

Yes, it's everyone's favorite time. Not !  Too much paperwork. Too much pressure.

So how can we make it easier?   Well, by having had an organized plan throughout the year for starters.

Most people never think about taxes and tax time until right before the tax deadline.  And that's when they get stressed out.

By thinking about your taxes throughout the year and having a place for anything that might be tax related, your actual "tax preparation time" .... the time it takes you to get all of your documents, supporting documents and anything else that you take to your accountant...ready....  you will have a much easier and less stressed time.

That said, start by just having a file for anything tax related. Put anything that comes in over the year into that file. Anything related to your home, your business (in a separate file), your savings....should all go into a file for your taxes.  That way you are not searching for it at year end.

Make a checklist of all of your saving & financial accounts and all of the documents that you need for your taxes. By doing this, when you are getting ready to take your paperwork to your accountant, you won't forget anything and won't constantly have to "think" about what you might be missing. This will save you time and stress each year.

For most people doing their taxes is not fun.  By having a system in place throughout the year you will spend less time at the beginning of the year hunting for those needed documents.

Happy Tax Preparation !

Organizational Consulting Services

www.organizationalconsultingservices.com

Start Your Year By Getting Organized

January is GET ORGANIZED month...  so start a new mantra....  "I WILL GET ORGANIZED".

You don't need to go overboard and make a lot of lists or promises that you won't keep. You don't need to go out and buy a lot of organizing products. You don't need to throw everything out of your house.

All you have to do is try!  That's all!  Just try! Take it slow. One small space at a time. One small change at a time.

One rarely worn article of clothing or one rarely played with or outgrown toy or one never read magazine.  Put it in a pile to donate. Watch the room suddenly become less cluttered and more organized. One small pile at a time.

Write down all of the things that bother you in your home or office. Then pick the thing that bothers you the most and make a real effort to try and change it. If you don't know how or can't do it by yourself....there is help available.

The key is to just start somewhere. One step at a time.

If you make the project too big you might get overwhelmed and stop before you even get started. Or you might start and then get overwhelmed when you realize that it won't get done in an hour like on T.V.

Getting organized takes time. It also looks worse once you start and get into the project. You usually have to take everything out of a room (or closet or desk....) and that makes things look a lot more cluttered than when you started. But remember..... getting organized is a process.

It will get better if you keep at it. Don't give up! GET ORGANIZED!  One step at a time.

Remember....   Less Clutter  =   Less Stress....

Organizational Consulting Services

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Clutter - Chronic Disorganization - Hoarding

Everyone has a different definition of clutter. To some people clutter is anything that is out of place.  If a coffee cup is left on the kitchen counter - it's clutter.  To other people, clutter means you can't walk through a room.  Everyone views clutter differently.

 

Just as the saying goes "one mans trash is another mans treasure. Or some people would define that person as a hoarder.  

Who's right ?

According to the dictionary, clutter is a “confused or disorganized state or collection”. 

A confused state? Yes, you can have clutter of the mind. But most people think of clutter as just “stuff”. A collection of random objects scattered all over the place. That’s a nice and simple definition. It could just be that you hadn’t bothered to pick up after yourself and have stuff everywhere. 

Then we get to a more serious and a more cluttered situation and we could end up with chronic disorganization.

Chronic Disorganization also has a definition:

• Chronic disorganization is having a past history of disorganization in which self-help efforts to change have failed
• an undermining of current quality of life due to disorganization
• the expectation of future disorganization.

This means that you have been disorganized for many years. And it has started to affect your quality of life. You can’t find things. You are constantly late because you can’t find things. You are embarrassed by your mess.

It’s a little more than just basic clutter.

A person can be organized in one area of his life but not in another. They can be organized at work but be disorganized at home. They can be organized by how they manage their time but not with how they manage their stuff.

Then we go up another level and get to “hoarding”.

What exactly is “hoarding”? According to “Frost & Hartl’s (’96) definition of clinical hoarding:

1) the acquisition of, and failure to discard, a large number of possessions that appear to be useless or of limited value

2) living spaces sufficiently cluttered so as to preclude activities for which those spaces were designated

3) significant distress of impairment in functioning caused by the hoarding

Some people have an obsessive need to acquire things. They tend to develop an emotional attachment to things that many of us would consider trash.

Family and friends of hoarders don’t always understand that “hoarding” is an “illness” and that the hoarder needs professional help. They sometimes feel that by just going in and cleaning out the house (sometimes even when the hoarder doesn’t know that they are going to do it) that everything will be “o.k.”.  Once the mess is gone, problem solved. But that can actually make it worse.

Hoarding is a complex issue. An issue that not even the mental health community can agree on. An issue that there might not be a cure for.

It’s a problem that many people won’t admit they have and one that might cost them their family or even their life.

A problem that is more common than you think.

Organizational Consulting Services

www.organizationalconsultingservices.com