We live in a fast-paced life with multiple obligations. Even the family dog has obligations. Busy entrepreneurs and working parents try to become adept at juggling multiple responsibilities. If they have “I’m the only one who can do this the way it should be done” syndrome, it’s certain to lead to burnout and a rapid transformation into Mr. or Ms. GrumpyPants.
Do the obvious (yes, bite the bullet) and consider hiring a temp or virtual assistant, getting help from a colleague or team member, or hire someone to manage a particular activity on a regular basis.
So, keep your head above water and delegate these types of tasks:
- Repetitive Activities. These tasks should be easy to explain and/or have specific written instructions. Examples: data entry, client calls, filing, check voicemail/e-mail, etc.
- “This drives me crazy!” Tasks. These are activities that turn your brain into soup or worse yet, make your blood pressure and stress level rise. For me, that’s bookkeeping. For you, that could be copywriting, web design, research, etc.
- Project Steps. Identify small and big steps and delegate by matching specific action items to skill set. Be clear about expectations and timeline.
- Learning Opportunities. Give someone a chance to shine and learn a new skill. It takes more time in the beginning to get them up to speed (remember to give them all the tools they need to be successful), but in the end, it has the potential to pay huge dividends. Why? Because it will make them AND you look good.
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Maimah Karmo is one tough cookie. She’s a 4-year breast cancer survivor and very generously gives her time to help
others facing the same disease with her work at the Tigerlily Foundation. The foundation, now in it’s fourth year, educates, supports, and advocates for women around the world affected by breast cancer. No matter the stage, she is there to help from diagnosis, through treatment, and beyond.
In addition to being Tigerlily’s president, Maimah works full time. She’s also a speaker and single mom to 7-year old, Noelle. With a full and busy lifestyle, she has found the key to successfully achieving the right work-family balance. Check out our interview to hear how she does it and to find out more about this incredible woman.
Connect with Tigerlily on Facebook
Learn more about the 2010 Tigerlily Foundation 2nd Annual Gala
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“Some people regard discipline as a chore. For me, it is a kind of order that sets me free to fly.” ~Julie Andrews
Thinking of joining the organizing industry or know someone who has a natural talent for creating order and helping others? It can be a very rewarding and satisfying career. Certified Professional Organizer®, Helene Segura, explains why she loves being an organizer.
Oh, Professional Organizing Career, How Do I Love Thee? Let me count the ways.
It’s rewarding.
I love to see and hear client reactions at the end of an appointment. The most rewarding experience I consistently have is seeing the light bulbs go off for my clients. By the end of their first session, they know what they need to do, and they know that an organized life is on the horizon. The two things I commonly hear are, “That wasn’t nearly as painful as I thought it would be,” followed by, “My life is about to get so much better.” It’s that hopeful smile at the end of each appointment or workshop that makes it all worth it.
I love a challenge.
I thrive on problem solving. I enjoy digging my way to the root of a problem and finding the easiest and most beneficial solution. It’s like an addiction almost. I crave it. I solve it. I go to cloud nine.
I love learning.
I love to research and find out about the latest in organizing products or psychological theories and approaches or what the newest great resource in San Antonio is. Every time I meet someone, I learn about a new type of personality, a new situation, a new type of business, or a new life direction. I impart a lot of knowledge to my clients, but I also learn so much from them.
I love to see lives change for the better.
I’ve witnessed:
- Families stop bickering because we’ve reached a compromise on household order
- Clients end up with more money in their pockets because they no longer had to buy duplicates or triplicates or pay late fees on bills and credit cards
- Children’s grades improve because we set up a realistic study and paper management system
- Clients develop healthy eating habits because they can find the ingredients and supplies that they need in their kitchen without a struggle
- Smiles because clients have peace in their lives
In a nutshell, I love my job because I wake up happy everyday.
My job is incredibly gratifying. I know there are many people out there who don’t truly love what they do for a living, so I realize that I am blessed to have found my calling. I love that I am able to teach people, solve problems, and bring happiness to their lives. It just doesn’t get any better than that!
About the Author
Certified Professional Organizer®, Helene Segura, is the owner of LivingOrder® San Antonio. She teaches clients how to understand their core issues causing disorganization and thereby prevent it in the future. She also conducts organizing workshops for larger groups and is a member of the trailblazing team providing expert organizing help online at The Clutter Diet. Helene writes an organizing column for ezine Concierge and has been a featured organizing expert in articles in the San Antonio Express-News, as well as on Great Day S.A. on KENS TV.
Connect With Helene: Website | Twitter
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A couple of months ago, I discovered StayFocusd Google Chrome extension. It stops you from surfing the web when you really should be working on that important project. Not to be out done, Firefox has a few add-ons that will give you – and your ability to be productive – a fighting a chance.
Block time-wasting sites with LeechBlock
Like StayFocusd, this add-on lets you capture more productivity minutes by blocking specific sites (up to 6) that suck your time. Decide how long you need to block a certain site or use the “lockdown” feature to immediately block a website when you realize you need to get back to work. LeechBlock also lets you track how much time you spend browsing the net. Learn more.
Track how you spend your time online with RescueTime
Think you’re getting things done in an efficient way? Just a few minutes on Facebook and Twitter, right? Put your money where your mouth is and get the stats to back that up with RescueTime. It’s there lurking and monitoring how long you stay on a page and tracks the movement of your mouse and keyboard. How does it know if you’re being productive? Simply assign a productivity score to your most frequently visited websites and you’ll get a lovely graph that details your activities on the web. Learn more.
Stick to your time block with Simple Timer
If you like to work in 30-60 blocks of time, Simple Timer will come in handy. It will help you to stay on task for a specified time frame and let you know when you’re free to move on to something else, like lunch or an important phone call. It’s both a clock and a timer that can be configured to count up from zero or down from any time. When time is up, you’ll get a visual (pop up) or audio alert and you can view the event log of all your completed activities. Learn More.
Dear Readers,
I regret to inform you that I will no longer be posting to Deb’s most wonderful OTR Blog. While I would love to continue, ironically, I just don’t have the “time.” I don’t have the time in the sense that I find myself scouring the web for more relative items to post than really being able to add value from a personal standpoint.
While I constantly strive to improve my time management skills with technology as the aid, I’m not doing anything terribly different than what I have been doing all along. As for time management and tech posts, I could probably do no more than you could with Google.
I want to sincerely thank Deb for giving me the opportunity to be a contributing author. I hope that what I have submitted you’ve found useful.
Wishing all of you the best.
Sincerely,
Doug
Sometimes we can make organizing more difficult than it needs to be. We search for hours on end for the perfect solution when a very good one is right under our nose. Oftentimes, we already have the things we need to help us clear up our clutter and we just need to get a little creative.
Here’s a good – and simple – example of how you can creatively manage paper clutter…
This very lovely wine rack lives in a home office. The owner of this rack loves a good bottle of wine, but has found a new use for the rack. As a landscape designer, he accumulates a few plans over time, and the ones he’s currently working on are stored in the rack until he’s finished with them.
It works well because he has enough space to keep track of his current plans. Now, if only he found a way to label them…
Btw, this method may work well for rolls of wrapping paper, newsprint, and just about any type of rolled paper…but probably not paper towels.
Paper never seems to go away, does it? We get it in the mail, from work, from the doctor’s office, and the vet’s office, too. You know who especially gets a lot of paper? Kids. If you have more than one child, that’s a lot of paper. If you don’t have a dedicated space to collect and process paper, it can be a nightmare to find what you want when you want it.
You can try to control this problem by getting a file cabinet or desktop filing system. If you tend to keep your papers in a pile or want to see them out on your desk, the traditional filing methods may not work for you. Not to worry, though, because Pendaflex has created a system for pilers: organizer tray with divider tabs, binder label clips, and view folders with write-on tabs.
See below for my review* of these products and let me know if you’ve tried any of them. I’d love to hear how it worked for you.
1. Pilesmart® Desktop Organizer Tray With Divider Tabs
What I Like
• Color. I know it seems trivial, but color is very important. If you don’t like the color, you’re likely to not use it. The
organizer tray is clear, so what’s not to love? Besides, you get lots of color with the labeled dividers. You can assign a color to a different sets of piles.
So, you might choose red for “OMG, if I don’t act on this right now, the world will come to an end!” or lime green for “Woo hoo! This is gonna be a great vacation!” Of course, you won’t be able to fit all those words on your labels, so you may want to shorten to “Urgent” and “Vacation.” =)
• Function. The tray is sturdy and has non-slip feet to keep it firmly on your desk. This really helps to keep all your papers from flying about the place. The base is also slightly slanted so your files sit nicely against the back corner of the tray. Your papers really won’t have an excuse to go off somewhere. The dividers also have write-on tabs on two sides which means that you can easily categorize and see your projects.
• Depth. The tray is deep enough to house lots of files but not so deep that you can have one very large continuous pile. This means that you’ll have to be picky about which files will live in the tray, otherwise, they will spill out.
What Would Have Made it Perfect
• Divider Colors. I really like the colors of the dividers but it would be nice if they a clear option, just like (or similar to) the organizer tray. For some people the colors may be distracting and the colors of the binder clips may be enough for them.
• Connecting Trays & Portability. I’m working on a couple of large projects right now and it would be nice if the organizer trays could interlock with each other. This would create a wider system so I could not only pile papers according to the various stages of a project, but also move two connected trays together to a different room (or bigger table). Any wider than two trays would be a bit cumbersome, don’t you think?
2. PileSmart® Binder Label Clips
What I Like
• Coordinating Color. By now, you shouldn’t be surprised that color is one of the features I look for in any product. I
really love that the colors on the binder clips coordinate with the dividers.
• Function. One of the basic rules of organizing is to keep like items together. Doing this helps you to be more efficient and find exactly what you need when you need it. The binder clips are great for labeling AND keeping related documents in a pile together.
What Would Have Made it Perfect
- Flexibility. If you want to add different colors to your binder clips, you can’t. Wouldn’t it be great if you could interchange or replace the tabs on the binder clips? …just pop them off and put a different one on?
3. PileSmart® View Folders With Write-on Tabs
What I Like
• Color, Look, & Feel. The awesome colors coordinate well with the binder clips and dividers. This is a great way to encourage keeping like items
together. The folders are also lightweight and clear so you can what’s inside.
• Long Tabs. Long tabs make it easier to use longer file names and just about any label will fit. You can write on the labels provided or use a label maker if your handwriting is hard to read. Otherwise, break out the Sharpies!
• Function. The folder is sealed on the bottom and right sides and open on the top and left side. A small flap on the left keeps everything inside (only if you don’t overstuff it! …put in up to 75 sheets of paper) and allows for easy access/closure. You can also use the folders with a traditional (non-piling) systems. Just drop it in your hanging file folder.
• Spill Factor. Though I wouldn’t recommend that you dunk it in water, if a little spill happens, these poly folders will clean up quickly and easily (compared to regular paper folders).
What Would Have Made it Perfect
• Non-slip Surface. Though described as having a texture that piles from slipping, I didn’t find that to be the case.
Disclosure: This is sponsored content which means that I was compensated by GetButtonedUp.com for doing this review. What was my prize? A $20 Target gift card. Remember, we don’t give positive reviews for anything we do not believe in. Our content was not edited or directed in any way by Pendaflex, Esselete, or Get Buttoned Up.
“Americans spend nearly a quarter of their time online on social networking sites and blogs, up from 15.8 percent just a year ago (43 percent increase) according to new research released today from The Nielsen Company. The research revealed that Americans spend a third their online time (36 percent) communicating and networking across social networks, blogs, personal email and instant messaging.”
Read More:
What Americans Do Online: Social Media & Games Dominate Activity · Nielsen Wire · 8.2.10
Professional Organizer, Jacki Hollywood Brown, talks about how she got started with equestrian organizing and what it’s like to specialize in this area.
I’ve been riding nearly 30 years now, mostly for pleasure, but I did do some competing in my younger days so it was natural for me to incorporate equestrian organizing into my business.
Actually, it was organizing the stables that got me into the professional organizing business in the first place. I saw someinefficiencies at the stable where I was taking riding lessons and I introduced a few low cost solutions to make everyone’s life easier — adding wheels to a heavy box full of winter blankets, adding a few baskets and labels here and there, etc. One day the owner said to me, “You’ve got such good ideas, too bad you couldn’t make a business out of this!” The very same day I saw a full-time professional organizer on an American talk show and I’ve never looked back.
Organizing an equestrian centre is similar to organizing other businesses. There is filing paperwork and tax remittance and because in some cases it can be treated as a farming operation, certain taxation benefits can be applied. It is advantageous to work with bookkeepers and accountants who are familiar with farming taxation regulations.
In addition to the normal “business” books, the stables should be keeping accurate and up-to-date horse health records. This information is extremely important for the veterinary care and may be of value in the sale of the horse. Because horses eat almost constantly (and, therefore, poop almost constantly) the bulk of the work around the stables involves feeding the horses and cleaning their stalls. Before systems are implemented to streamline processes, it is important to know the daily routine of the horses (Do they spend some or all of their time outside? Do they have special dietary requirements?).
The equipment present in the stables depends on the type of equestrian business. A breeding stable has different storage needs that a stable with carriage horses. Equipment made of leather (saddles) and fabric (blankets) must be kept clean and dry so it does not rot or get infested by bugs. Safety is the first priority when organizing in the barn. Feed rooms must be easily accessible by people while keeping out the horses should they escape from their stalls (and they often do). Fire escape routes must be large and kept clear at all times.
Organizing a stable can be hard work – moving heavy bales of hay in the hot summer or rearranging a storage shed in the cold winter – but it is worth it just to spend more time with a beast as gentle and noble as the horse.
Equestrian Resources
- United States Equestrian Federation
- Canadian Equestrian Federation
- Canadian Pony Club
- United States Pony Club
About the Author
Jacki Hollywood Brown, is the owner of J-organize, a professional organizing company in Canada. She has been an avid equestrienne for the past 30 years. She keeps up-to-date on stable management by taking courses and learning about new equipment and technologies. She achieved by B level with the Canadian Pony Club in 1987 and is currently working through the Canadian Equestrian Federation Rider Level testing.
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