It’s official...well I think it’s official. I’ll be an exhibitor at the next Biz Link event coming up on September 27th. I have never done a trade show before but I am excited. This is an opportunty to announce to the world… well the Biz Linc attendees, that Organizers don’t just do closets. I’ll be promoting my own personal niche, helping individuals with Attention Deficit Disorder in their work environments. More importantly I’ll be promoting that I work with people on the job, in any job. Due to all the media attention, I think individuals get stuck thinking we only do homes. But there is so much more we offer. So jot this date down on your calendars. It will be at the Greater Richmond Convention Center, 403 N. 3rd Street, downtown. Pop by my exhibit and see me. And if you have any suggestions on what my booth should look like, what I should do for take aways, etc. post me a comment. I would love to know what the people want.

Watching the today show this morning they mentioned the Vocation Vacation. It’s an opportunity to try out a dream job over a two or three day period. What an opportunity! It is very common for my clients to call on me because they want to make some big changes in their lives. Sometimes that change is a new job that is more fullfilling and enjoyable. This is a great resource for anyone who wants to try something new. Even if you have no intentions of leaving your job. You can find out more about it at http://www.vocationvacations.com/. You can learn what it’s like to make wine, to be an animal therapist, a comedian and much more. 

Since I started as an organizer over two years ago I have worked with many individuals who have Attention Deficit Disorder. For each of them I recommend the use of a timer. But every time, without fail, the suggestion goes in one ear and out the other. In all the time I have been in business, only one of my clients agreed to use a timer and he loves it. And not only does he love it, his coworkers love it too. It keeps him on task and it helps everyone else around him help him to stay on task.

I recently had another client ask me about getting a timer. I was so excited she asked me without me mentioning it. I asked her what prompted her to ask. She said it all became clear when she was cooking a pie. She set her timer to go off when the pie was done. She went upstairs to tidy up while the pie was baking. When the timer went off, she realized it had been 40 minutes. She never would have realized that without the help of the timer.

For those of you out there who think a timer is a waste of time, I assure you, it isn’t. Especially if you have Attention Deficit Disorder. The timer does not need to be set every-time you start a task or end a task. In fact it is somewhat the opposite. Instead, set the timer for a set period of time. I recommend 15 minutes. Let the timer run until 15 minutes is up. Then ask yourself, “Am I doing what I am supposed to be doing?” If so, great, keep working. If not, get back to the task you should be doing. Hit the button on your timer again and let it run again for 15 minutes. Do this all day, or just at work. Whenever you need it.

This method does a few things. It keeps you from being distracted for too long. Which tends to happen when you have Attention Deficit Disorder or have a difficult time focusing. It also teaches you to gauge your time better. You’ll learn that certain tasks may take a lot longer than you thought. Or they may take a lot less time than you thought. The timer also becomes a tool for interrupting others. Sometimes you may be stuck talking to someone who chats a lot and feel guilty interrupting them. The timer does it for you. The conversation is interrupted giving you a chance for a clean getaway.

I recommend a certain timer for this purpose. You can find it at SurLaTable on their website http://www.surlatable.com/product/cdn+digital+timer+on+a+rope.do?search=basic&keyword=timers&sortby=shortdesc&asc=true&page=1. I recommend this particular timer for a few reasons. The first is it has a lock on it so you will never lose your time if you bump it while wearing it. It also has a great long string so you can wear it around your neck, or it has a clip so you can clip it to your pants or shirt. Or it has a magnet so you can stick it to any magnetic surface. This can be very useful depending on where you use it. However, I always recommend wearing it so you never forget to use it. Also, the clip is nice so you can wear it without anyone seeing it. It also has an easy big round button to reset it. So when the timer goes off, you hit the reset button twice and your back in action.

You may not realize it but the piles in front of you may be filled with emotion. And perhaps that is why you are avoiding them. I have been in several sessions with clients that have broken down in tears simply because I am forcing them to face their piles. They begin to realize the amount of work they have to do and what they have been avoiding. The feeling of overwhelm is so strong, they become filled fear. Others have said they just down right feel embarrased that they can’t face the piles on their own. If you can relate, I am here to tell you that you are not alone. Something as small and defensless as a pile of paper can truly be holding you back. And the bigger the piles get, the more you avoid them.

The emotion my clients feel usually surprises them. Upon hiring me they did not consider the feelings they would feel while decluttering their space. Unfortunately it does come with the territory. My job is to put my clients in motion and keep them in motion. The reality is you may not realize you are frozen or you may in some way be enjoying the state you are currently in. It’s important to remember it may be the emotions you are avoiding, or you may be fearful of moving forward. It may not necessarily be the clutter itself. 

If you are disorganized or know someone who is, this information from shrm.org may motivate you at work.

Workers Grind Teeth Over Rambling Meetings

Meetings that are disorganized strike more of an “ouch point” with workers than meetings that start late or consist of attendees who straggle in, according to a new monthly study examining Americans’ tolerance thresholds for common scenarios in their personal and professional lives.

“Everyone has a pet peeve about even the smallest of tasks that have to be carried out on a daily basis,” Jeff Resnick, president of Opinion Research USA, said in a press release. “In the world of business, the Ouch Point series helps organizations identify these issues and rectify them for their key stakeholders.”

Top 10 meeting ouch points are:

• Disorganized, rambling meetings, cited by 27 percent of respondents.

• People who interrupt peers and try to dominate a meeting, 17 percent.

• Cell phone interruptions, 16 percent.

• People who fall asleep in meetings, 9 percent.

• Lack of bathroom breaks, 8 percent.

• Long meetings with no refreshments, 6 percent.

• People arriving late or leaving early, 5 percent.

• People who check their hand-held devices during meetings, 5 percent.

• Meetings that start late, 4 percent.

• No minutes of the meeting outcome, 4 percent.

“Structured business meetings with a closely followed agenda are often the most productive, particularly when attention spans can be short,” Resnick noted. “Our first Ouch Point survey indicates that a disorganized meeting is a disengaged meeting that will rarely result in the desired outcomes.”

It has come to my attention lately that several individuals I know don’t keep a daily schedule. In many cases these individuals are business owners or are contractors. I want to take this opportunity to emphasize the importance of a schedule.

My guess is if you are not keeping a schedule it is for one of two reasons. 1. You think having a schedule means you are limiting yourself, but I promise you the opposite is true. 2. You simply aren’t sure of the best way to keep a schedule. I am not going to tell you that keeping a schedule is easy. In fact, not everything I have in my schedule is always completed. I have my moments when I just don’t feel like doing what I set out to do.  However it does remind me that I have a goal and that I have to bump it forward to another day. Your schedule is not only a means to planning today, it is also a means to planning tomorrow, the rest of the week, and the upcoming month. Without a schedule you are simply floating through your days, weeks, months and taking on whatever comes. Not to mention you are also relying on your memory, which I do NOT recommend.

So if there is one thing I want you to take away from this entry it’s this… buy a day planner NOW. Or if you are computer savvy use Outlook, iCal, or Lotus Notes. Use your calendar to write down everything you are going to do tomorrow. And I mean everything, phone calls, errands, meetings, anything that will take you more than 10 minutes.  There is no right way or wrong way and you don’t have to do everything you write in your schedule. I am willing to bet, however, that you will be more likely to get things done simply because you wrote it in your calendar.

Recently I took a teleclass about the pros and cons of storage units. Then a friend sent me this article. The statistics are pretty interesting. Are we simply living in smaller spaces? Or are we addicted to stuff?

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/08/garden/08storage.html

We are bombarded daily with thousands of decisions. It has become extremely difficult for us to manage clutter, maintain a low stress level and work reasonable hours. So what is one to do? There is no magic answer. However, perhaps this article will give you some ideas. Read on efficiency wannabe’s.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17522665/site/newsweek/