Short on time? No worries. Organizing doesn’t need take hours and hours. Take five minutes to put a few things back in place or gather your important items. Do this every day for an even bigger return.
Here are five things you can do in five minutes:
1. Put books (or magazines) back on the bookshelf
2. Gather together your “must have” things for the next day: keys, mobile phone, glasses, ID badge, watch, etc.
3. Put away 5 files
4. Pack away your tech: mouse, thumb drive(s), air card, sync cables, etc.
5. Throw laundry in the washer (start immediately or later)
We’re always searching for “the secret” to solving life’s troubles. Usually, we realize that no matter the solution, we still have to put in the work to see the results we want. If we want to lose weight, we have to exercise and change our eating habits. We can try the treadmill or take up boxing. We can join Jenny Craig or just replace bad snacks with healthy ones. What works for you might not work for me. You’ve heard all this before, yes?
Well, it’s the same with tackling clutter. There are some rules of thumb, but, generally, there’s no right or wrong way to attack clutter. Whatever method you choose, you should implement a strategy that’s a good fit for your personality and learning style so that it will be easier for you to maintain in the long run.
Here’s a look at opposing ways of clearing clutter. It’s a paradoxical perspective, and depending on your personality and specific circumstances, either option might work.
Where should you start?
1. Start with the hardest thing first.
Start with the most difficult organizing project and your efforts will pay off big. That hard task will get smaller, not seem as daunting, and you’ll cross it off your list sooner. This will be a huge relief since it’s probably been sitting on that list for some time.
2. Start with the easiest thing first.
Start with the easiest task and you’ll get instant gratification! With a small, easy project, you’re likely to finish it on your first attempt AND you’ll cross it off your list immediately. That great feeling of success will motivate you to move on to the next task.
How long should you spend attacking your clutter?
3. Do a little at a time.
This is one of the best methods for reducing clutter – just do ten minutes a day. It may not sound like much, but those ten minutes can go a long way to chopping down the clutter giant. You’ll feel accomplished because you acted on your commitment to getting organized, and still have time to do the things you love to do.
4. Do a lot at a time.
Another great way to manage mountainous clutter is to devote chunks of time to your project. When you’re focused for 45-60 or more minutes, you can make a big dent and see results a lot more quickly. You know yourself best, so be sure to pick a time frame that won’t leave you feeling overwhelmed.
Who is the best person to help you? Someone you know or a professional organizer?
5. Get help from friends and family members.
Friends and family members can be very supportive and help you to physically clear an area, especially if you feed them! They are almost always guaranteed to laugh at those old pictures of you or tease you about your Cabbage Patch Doll collection.J This can make the process less tedious, and actually, they may be interested in taking a few things off your hands. After you’re done working, you can go out to celebrate all that you’ve accomplished. As long as loved ones are non-judgmental and focused, the process can go smoothly.
6. Get help from a professional organizer.
Professional organizers, particularly those who adhere to NAPO’s Code of Ethics, will be non-judgmental and will not share details of your project with others (e.g., “Jane Doe’s home office was a super hot mess! It took hours to clean up.”). They are also knowledgeable about strategies that complement your learning style and can give you a fresh, objective perspective on how to tackle that thorn in your side. Some organizers may have a network of other professionals needed for the project (e.g., bookkeeper, junk hauler, maid service, etc.) and may help by dropping off donations for you.
Will playing music be helpful or distracting?
7. Play your favorite music.
Having lively music on can help you stay motivated or help you finish your task. Have you noticed that gyms use this same method? When the spinning instructor wants you to go that extra mile, the music gets a bit more upbeat. If you put on your favorite CD, you might be able to pull of #4.
8. Work in silence.
If playing music makes you get up and dance all day instead of organizing, then you may lose a few extra pounds. That’s also the signal that music is a bit too distracting. If you’re at your best in pin-drop silence, then work sans audio – that includes turning off the TV, telephone, and e-mail notifications. You’ll get a lot more done and feel darn good about it.
The Experiment: Participants are asked to perform a complex proofreading assignment and given three deadline scenarios: (1) single deadline, three weeks away, (2) a series of interim, weekly deadlines, and (3) self-paced, interim deadlines. Participants were compensated based on the number of errors they corrected and there was a penalty for missing the deadlines.
The Results: “The way you set deadlines has a profound effect on the degree to which workers procrastinate and even on the ultimate quality of their work.”
The Details: “The worst performance on both counts was turned in by the group with a single, end-of-project deadline. Their work, on average, was 12 days late, and they corrected an average of only 70 errors. The best performance was delivered by the group that was given a series of interim deadlines; their work was only 0.5 days late on average, and they caught 136 errors. The performance of the group that set its own interim deadlines fell in the middle: 6.5 days late, on average, with 104 errors caught.”
Read More:
Curbing the Procrastination Instinct · Harvard Business Review · October 2001
Small business owners are in for a treat today. We’re going a bit off topic and are excited to share the insights of Rich Brooks. Read on to learn what you need to do build your web presence.
Being a small business owner myself I spend a lot of time thinking about what makes for a successful web presence. It goes way beyond securing a domain name, finding a hosting company and putting up a website.
Whether your website is for lead generation (real estate, consulting, etc.) or e-commerce (jewelry, plumbing supplies, etc.) there are some requirements for online success:
- You need to optimize your site for the search engines. Chances are that most of your traffic will come from the search engines. You need to create content (words) that match up with the searches your prospects are Googling right now. If you’re a landscaper that means articles on “lawn care,” “curb side appeal,” and even “tips for selling your house.” You can hire a search engine marketer or invest time in learning about search engine optimization (SEO) from books, blogs and conferences.
- Your web site should be on a content management system (CMS). A CMS allows you to make all of your own updates, add new pages, upload photos and embed videos. There are a number of good platforms out there, but my personal favorite is WordPress.
- Your web site isn’t about you. Your web site is about your prospects and customers. You need to keep the focus on their problems and their concerns. If your Home Page reads like an About Us, page it’s time for a rewrite.
- Your web site needs to convert visitors into prospects. There’s no point spending money on a web site that doesn’t create more business for your company. Every page should be leading visitors down the sales funnel, whether that means filling out a contact form, signing up for an email newsletter, or clicking on a buy now button. To increase your own conversion rates, make sure that every page has a clear “call-to-action” on what’s expected from your visitor.
- You need more than a web site. These days small businesses need to be where their prospects and customers are most active. That may mean LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, or even MySpace depending on your audience. And there’s no better tool than a business blog: it will increase your search engine optimization, drive more leads and establish your credibility.
- You need to measure everything. Make sure your web developer installs Google Analytics (or some similar traffic reporting system) and shows you how to use it. This will give you insight into how much traffic you’re getting, where it’s coming from, and how visitors behave at your site. By regularly reviewing your traffic reports you can continually make improvements to your web site and Internet marketing that will build your business.
- You need to be patient. I often tell people when their site launches, “this isn’t the end…this is the beginning.” No small business web site was ever an overnight success, but every day you can make improvements that will increase your online visibility, drive more traffic to your site and convert that traffic into business.
About the Author
Rich Brooks, President/Web Developer/Blogger/Speaker/Friendly-Neighborhood-Wall-Crawler
Rich Brooks is founder and president of flyte new media, a Web design and Internet marketing firm in Portland, Maine. His monthly flyte log email newsletter and company blog focus on Web marketing topics such as search engine optimization, blogs, social media, email marketing, and building Web sites that sell. He is currently an Expert Blogger at FastCompany.com and a guest blogger at SocialMediaExaminer.com.
He is a co-founder of Social Media FTW, an organization putting on conferences and events to educate small businesses and non-profits about the power of social media marketing. He is a nationally recognized speaker on Web marketing and is the “tech guru” on Maine’s NBC affiliate’s evening news show, 207.
Connect With Rich: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook
Have you seen the recent Sony commercial featuring Justin Timberlake and his overgrown media collection? Do you have one of your own? If only organizing them were as easy as Sony makes it seem. No matter what tech tool or product you use, you still have to put the effort in.
Pick your poison: What storage option is right for you?
It doesn’t really matter if you’re a business owner with a collection of guerrilla marketing audio books, a music fan with the latest jams, a scrapbooker with thousands of photos, or a video director in the making. Everyone likes finding what they want when they want it…and, just like any other object, if your media is bursting at the seams and residing in multiple, unknown locations, then it’s more clutter that you have to deal with. Two words. Major. Pain.
The good news is that you several storage options:
Tech
- CDs
- iTunes, Windows Media Player, Roxio, Audible.com, & others
- DVDs
- External Hard Drive
- Cloud: Flickr, SnapFish, Shutterfly, Picassa, etc.
- Thumb Drive(s)
- Digital Scrapbook
Non-Tech
- Photo or Archival Box
- Traditional Album or Scrapbook
- Other Boxes: Shoe, Cigar, Jewelry, etc. (last resort, maybe? J)
Like the digital option? Do it yourself or let someone else take care of it.
I mentioned that you have options. Well, now you have sub-options. You can digitize your photos yourself or let ScanMyPhotos.com or DigMyPics do it for you. If you need to scan slides or negatives or want to transfer VHS tapes to DVDs, they both do that, too.
Rule of Thumb: Categorize AND Label, Label, Label.
The other good news is that once you have retrieval system that works for you, it will be easy to maintain. To give yourself a fighting chance of finding what you want quickly, do these two things:
1. Categorize. Your categories will vary based on your personal or business activities.
Personal. Like to take pictures/videos when you’re on vacation? Ok, that may be a silly question…but, if the answer is yes, you may want to keep all your vacation photos together. Other categories could be family reunions, anniversaries, graduations, etc. You can also categorize photos (and other media) by specific individuals (e.g., your children).
Business. Business owners may have categories like training, annual meetings, marketing, before and after pictures, etc.
2. Label. To differentiate between specific events in a category, you’ll need to add a label with the title, location, and date…or whatever will help jog your memory.
- Hawaii | May 15, 1997
- May 2002 | Orlando, FL
- Annual Meeting | Boston, MA | February 2009
- Annual Meetings | 2010-2011
- Doe, Jane | XYZ Project | July 2015
- Disco | Various Artists | 1975
Ok, time to enjoy the video.
Check out the Sony commercial and make up your mind to get control of your media. Btw, if I’ve left your favorite option off the list, tell me about it and I’ll add it.
Donating items that you no longer need or want can be very rewarding. You get a less cluttered space and someone else gets something they need. Before you go on give-away campaign, be sure that you follow these simple rules of thumb.
1. Give the good stuff. On the surface, it may sound counterintuitive, afterall, you want to keep the good stuff, right? Remember, it’s only good if it’s useful to you. So, be sure to only donate something that functions as intended (read: not broken). This also means giving clothing that is clean and CDs that are not scratched. A couple questions to ask yourself before donating would be: ”Would I buy this exactly as it is?” or “Would I be offended if I received this as a gift?”
2. Give the good stuff with all the parts. Wouldn’t it be great to get that gently used, really fabulous thing that you’ve always wanted? Not so much if the power cord for the really fabulous thing is missing. If you can’t find all the parts, you may want to consider recycling.
3. Give the good stuff with all the parts without your marks. This means that if your name is on it, you’ll have to remove it. When in doubt, refer to the questions in #1.
Back in February 2010, I discovered the art of Michael Johansson. He was quite clever with how he organized every day things.
My most recent find (thanks to Alltop) is the work of Jacqueline Rush Lee who makes sculptures from used books. Some of you may cringe at that thought, but it sounds like a better option than having books packed away in a box, never to be seen again.
“As an artist I am inspired by the materials, colors and forms that I find in my everyday environment. I am particularly drawn to objects that record physical processes or bear the imperfections and scars of life.” ~Jacqueline Rush Lee
“I am interested in how these recycled books come with their own histories of use and meaning and how they serve as potent vehicles of expression. With the idea of working with them as my canvas or building block, I transform the books into sculptures that explore and redefine the book as familiar object, medium, and archetypal form.” ~Jacqueline Rush Lee
“Ms. Bourne [University of Wisconsin Eau Claire scholar], monitored the lives of 10 women living in the U.S. Northeast from morning until night for a full work week. She found that although the women were generally passionate about their jobs and talked about the freedom of setting their own hours, they also struggled to shut work off…work ruled their lives…[they] arranged their schedules to accommodate work, prepare to return to work, or work leisurely during supposed free time…truly flexible work arrangements are a myth that is leaving female entrepreneurs conflicted and distressed.”
Read more:
Flexible office means women’s work is never done · FinancialPost.com · 8.9.10
What’s it like to jump from a steady 9-5 to entrepreneurship? Today’s guest blogger, Nakeva Corothers, explains her journey to full time business owner.
When I say the word entrepreneur, the names of people like Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet or Colleen Payne-Nabors come to mind. I have a contact list of friends and local connections that are working on their own clock. I come from a family that has entrepreneurial spirit and yet our name is not known in many households.
Over the last few years, I have spent time finding the niche that works best for me, to bring something of value to others, and call it my own. The interesting challenges along the way have always been that I worked a typical 9 to 5 job, building a company for someone else with no real sense of community and team as it should be in corporate America. The time presented itself to go from Cubicle 9.5 to Entrepreneur 24.7 and start building on my ideas full time, and put my style and goals front and center.
What is it like going from that employee to entrepreneur? The first thing I learned is time management, communication, and marketing ideas are now my friends, and not that thing I do when I have time. It is completely liberating. To make things work in my favor and not get caught up in so many details or give way to fear, I focus on what I have right in front of me which starts with the brand of my name. I was already communicating with people who could use my services of photography, PR, and social media; however, associating these assets to my name in the local community is now a different value. I’m now free to make calls, return emails, answer questions, and arrange business lunch meetings because my time and my calendar are my own. If I have that midnight brainchild idea spark up a fire, I can act on it and lay the ground work immediately rather than jot down a few notes and hope I remember the fire by Saturday afternoon when I “have time.”
The tools I use to manage my time and reflect on getting things done are now 100% viable to a daily and weekly routine that doesn’t require a manager’s approval or disapproval. I know where my time goes and its easier to make adjustments for what was productive versus what didn’t work in a given week. Time spent on social media sites is now more calculated and insightful. Connections made with new followers and friends is now about both business and fun with a touch of learning. Going from the 9 to 5 job and working for myself is a pressure relief and a daily life lesson!
Of course, its no walk in the park when you think of the taxes, forms to start your business as an LLC or just a sole proprietor, finding insurance, healthcare, business plans, and all the new things that are now “all on you;” there is no HR department. There are so many ways to get things done that are also attached to so many fees, prices, and payments for a small business owner it almost makes you want to run back to the safety of the cow herd cubicle!
How do I get through this? I have a network of friends in social media and locally that I contact to say what I’m doing and get their real life experience and opinions. I mix online time with offline time and realize that networking events now promote business and establish new contacts. Networking is not just to meet with friends or get out of the house. I have learned more in the last few weeks than I have learned in the last ten years just from the people in my social network. Being your own boss has the potential you give to it and is not directly dependent on what someone else chooses for you to build.
The entrepreneur life is 24/7 where you succeed and fail based on your own actions. I like knowing that there is no one over my shoulder to poke at me when I’m down or feed me a list of what they think is the path to success. As a new entrepreneur I look forward to every day building on ideas, serving people, growing a network of believers, and dishing out my own actions toward an end that brightens my vision on life.
About The Author
Nakeva Corothers, Photographer/Social Media PR
A magnetic personality and artistic state of being, Nakeva Corothers is the creator of Nightlife PR, a website covering DC events with a focus on the nonprofit and charity scene. Nakeva Photography is her business in lifestyle, commercial and social media photography. With a niche in building new media strategies through PR, social media and photography, Nakeva has developed her technical skills with social awareness that resonate success as an entrepreneur. Visit her website NakevaPhotography.com or contact her at 240.489.2865
Get Social With Nakeva: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Blog | E-Mail
BumpTop (recently acquired by Google) created a 3D desktop application that lets you organize your e-documents and files. Visually, it looks like a typical office desk with piles of paper, and technically gives you the ability to mimic real life actions like shoving papers to the side of your desk. You can “scrunch” them to create a neat pile that you can flip through as if you were flipping the pages of a magazine or a book. “Double tapping” allows you to organize them in a more structured, linear way. All of this is done without the use of a mouse. You just need your fingers.
It’s quite robust in many other ways and claims to help the user be more efficient. One cool feature is that when you plug in your USB thumb drive, it shows up on your desktop. Simply drag and drop files that you want to copy to the USB drive. You can also open all the files on the USB drive as a pile. Want to update you Facebook profile photo? That’s easy, too. Just select the photo and drag it to the FB icon on your desktop. Use a similar process when you want to attach files to e-mail.
On the surface, it sounds amazing! …and looks really cool, too. But, I wonder how much of a memory suck this overlay might be for your PC…and since it looks and feels like your real life desk, will it also take on the cluttered look when you don’t keep up with it?
Unfortunately, I won’t be able to have a go at it because it’s no longer available since becoming member of the Google family. Maybe Google will re-launch it at some point in the future or turn it into something more useful. You can still take a look at some of the functions, though, by checking out the YouTube video below.
If you’ve used it, leave a comment. I’d love to hear what you think.
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- The Zone of Zero Productivity (jonoscript.wordpress.com)
- AJ’s Blog – Desktop Zen – Reducing Visual Clutter on your Desktop (avesh.com)
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