On Saturday, I attended the 2010 Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference for Professional Organizers (MARCPO).  It was a great day with fabulous food and content-packed sessions, several of which were motivating and inspiring. Some of the key messages from this year’s conference: Be positive. Avoid perfection. You CAN be happy and successful.

I loved the opening keynote address, Ten Things Everyone Should Know to Be Happy and Successful, by Caroline Adams Miller. There were so many things she said that just made sense…some we’ve all probably heard before, but they were great reminders.

≡ Go outside your comfort zone every day. You may not like it, but helps you grow and flourish.

≡ To accomplish goals, you must start FIRST with the happy face.

≡ When you set mediocre goals, you feel mediocre.

≡ Nurture your friendships.

≡ People who pretend to be happy achieve the same results as people who actually are happy.

≡ When the brain is happy, you learn better.

≡ YOU are charge of your happiness level.

≡ Live life like you have grass stains on your pants…have fun!

≡ Stop focusing on what’s wrong.

≡ Success equals happiness.

≡ Prime your environment. You’re impacted by everything so must carefully choose what you accept in your life.

Caroline also mentioned that we don’t have to live in a perfect world to be happy. This goes hand in hand with seeing the good in ourselves and others. If you focus on the negative, then that’s what you’ll get. Put a positive spin on your life and pretty soon you’ll end up with a nice bucket of happiness. A little success + a little success + a little success still = happiness! Who says that all your successes have to be grand and ginormous?! Can you tell I was super motivated after this opening session? A good dose of inspiration was a great way to kick off the day.

Check out Caroline’s book: Creating Your Best Life: The Ultimate Life List Guide

We ended our day with Dorothy Breininger of A&E’s Hoarders. Her presentation, What Do Your Conversations Say About YOU?, focused on being mindful about the types of conversations we engage in every day. What are you talking about with the people you connect with on daily basis? Are you driving your success by talking about positive things that fuel your passions and connect to your personal values? Are you always talking about the recession? Job loss? Illness? The BP oil spill? Divorce? Someone you can’t stand (if yes, scroll up to read Caroline’s reminders)?

If you answered yes, to those final few questions, perhaps it’s time to change what you talk about and consider making your conversation more global. Think outside yourself and see how you can start having a more positive impact on those around you. Thinking of volunteering and donating your time to your favorite non-profit?  Start talking about that. Are you helping to prepare meals for your elderly neighbor? Start talking about that. Imagine if people started sharing and joining in your POWERFUL conversations…

Dorothy’s presentation was fun and upbeat, and, just like Caroline, she doesn’t believe in perfection. She proved it, too…whenever she was finished with a page of her notes, she threw it on the floor and exclaimed: “I avoid perfection at all costs!” Watch our interview below to hear more from Dorothy about her avoidance of perfection.

Check out Dorothy’s Book: Time Efficiency Makeover: Own Your Time and Your Life by Conquering Procrastination