Peace of Mind Organizing

Keeping a humane task list

13 May 2019

One day last week I had a long list of work- and home-related things I needed to get done. I created a list in Trello, using my Time Block board. With this board, I divide the day up into two-hour time blocks and assign tasks to accomplish in each block.

It was a very ambitious list. And I got a lot done. But by day’s end, I was disappointed. And it was all because of the expectations I’d set up for myself.

I had 31 tasks on the list. Nine remained undone. Sadly, I was dissatisfied at the end of the day because I focused on the undone tasks. That’s right—I checked off 22 tasks and I focused on the nine I didn’t check off. That’s not humane.

The problem was that I’d set myself up to fail, not succeed. I assigned a time for each of the tasks at the beginning of the day. But my days aren’t that predictable. (I bet yours aren’t either.) And by 10 am I was already behind. And I spent the day trying to catch up.

Given that I had so much to do, I think that I’d have been better served by a kanban-style board and trying to be more realistic about what I could actually accomplish in a day.

Here’s how a kanban board works: You create a three-column board—it can be in Trello or on a piece of paper or a clipboard or a white board. Write a realistic number of tasks in the left-most column, titled something along the lines of “To do.” In the center column, labeled “Doing,” you place no more than three tasks (selected from the list in the first column), which helps maintain your focus. The right-most column is labeled “Done” and the tasks you accomplished are moved there. When you’ve finished a task, you can move a new task into the Doing column. Trello is a great tool for this (that’s a board of mine pictured above). I know from experience how rewarding it is to watch the list of accomplished tasks grow while the to-do list shrinks.

I want to end my work day feeling good about what I got done, not bad about what I didn’t accomplish. I’m going to work hard to create more humane task lists!

Worth repeating: My decluttering playlist

29 April 2019

I often mention the power of setting a timer for a short period of time to gain focus and accomplish a lot. One fun way to set a timer is to create a playlist of songs that ends after a set period of time. I find that when I listen to music—particularly music curated for the task at hand—I’m more energized and more focused.

In iTunes, I have both a 15-minute playlist and a playlist called “Clean the office for 30 minutes.” The 15-minute playlist consists of the first four songs on the 30-minute playlist. At the risk of perhaps embarrassing (and dating) myself, I’ll share my 30-minute playlist:

• I’m No Angel, Gregg Allman
• It’s a New Day, will.i.am
• I Sing the Body Electric (from the Fame soundtrack), Eric Brockington
• Little Red Corvette, Prince
• Feeling Good, Michael Buble
• Fantasy, Earth Wind & Fire
• Borderline, Madonna

I’m No Angel was the song that was always played at the beginning of the aerobics class I took when I was in my twenties. It never fails to make me want to move my body so it’s a great way to kick off the playlist.

In fact, all these songs, except for It’s a New Day and Feeling Good, harken back to my twenties. They all make me feel upbeat and happy, which for me, is the perfect way to be when I’m decluttering.

How about you? Do you have songs you like to declutter by?

Photo by Juja Han on Unsplash

Ditching my unmatching socks

25 April 2019

I wear a lot of dark socks with my work uniform of exercise pants and black athletic shoes. And I was having a heck of a time with laundry because I was coming up with unmatched socks so frequently. I would put the singleton aside and hope its mate would appear. Sometimes it did, sometimes it didn’t. (I know this is familiar to you.)

Recently, I decided to put together the unmatching socks and found six black socks, all slightly different. (That’s a picture of the motley collection above.) I didn’t know where their mates were, but I decided I was sick and tired of the situation.

So I went on Amazon and I ordered a package of six matching pairs of black socks. I immediately tossed the unmatching socks and archived, so to speak, the dark socks that have matches, some of which are patterned, just in case I end up wanting a little variety. (Those socks will live for a short period of time in the guest bedroom closet; I’m promising myself I’ll let them go after a few months if I don’t wear them.)

This little task has given me so much freedom and joy! I love that I don’t have to pick out socks. And even better, I love that I don’t have to match them up! The only other socks I have are a half-dozen identical pairs of no-show athletic socks. My sock drawer is so peaceful.

How about you? Could your sock drawer use a little simplification?

KMOX interview on helping people let go

22 April 2019

In March, I was pleased to be asked by the big St. Louis talk radio station, KMOX-AM, to do an interview on helping people let go of stuff. The Marie Kondo-fueled decluttering craze prompted the story. The reporter, Megan Lynch, a KMOX news veteran, asked really thoughtful questions and the interview was a lot of fun. I was also thrilled to be recording in a big, professional studio. I talk into a microphone in my home-office podcasting studio, but it was nothing like this!

When I do media interviews, particularly those that are edited into a story (rather than presented live), I’m always a little trepidatious. But I was pleased how this one came out and I was really happy that the focus of the story was on the emotional side of clutter (and the emotional benefits to decluttering).

If you’re interested in listening to it, head over to KMOX’s website to give the two-and-a-half minute story.

Worth repeating: Maintaining order

11 April 2019

I wrote this post in March 2015 and the words still ring true. Maintaining order once you declutter and create a home for everything is not complicated if you can follow the tenets below.

I love doing whole-house transformations. That’s when my team and I come in and create order in every room of a client’s home. We’re working side by side with the client, decluttering and organizing in ways that work for them.

So far this year, we’ve done four really rewarding transformations. The clients are thrilled at the end of the last session. But the proof of the pudding is whether they’re able to maintain the order.

I visited a client yesterday whose home we finished at the end of January. It still looked amazing, and that made my heart sing. It got me thinking about the basic tenets behind maintaining order. It’s really not complicated. They are:

• Establishing a place for everything
• Making a habit of putting things away in their place
• Catching up quickly if backsliding occurs
• Weeding constantly
• Shopping mindfully and thinking about where a new item will be stored before buying it

If you’re able to follow those five tenets, you’ll have an orderly home. The trick is in owning no more items than you can comfortably store. When you have a number of belongings that’s appropriate to the storage space you have for them, then it’s easy to have a place for everything and put everything in its place.

In almost every one of my client organizing projects, decluttering is the first step. You can hire a professional organizer to help you declutter. Or you can do it on your own. (Here’s a short step-by-step series I wrote last year on decluttering.) Just don’t skip the all-important decluttering step when you’re creating and maintaining order!

Getting to Good Enough hits 50,000 downloads!

8 April 2019

Are you listening to Getting to Good Enough, the podcast I co-host with Shannon Wilkinson? I hope so, but if not, I encourage you to check it out. Shannon and I were beyond thrilled last Friday when we surpassed the 50,000 downloads mark. We’ve been podcasting weekly for about ten months and are so happy that people are listening!

Getting to Good Enough is all about letting go of perfectionism so you can do more of what you love. Shannon, who is a life coach, is a recovering perfectionist and I’m fortunate to be a naturally “good enough” person. In our work with our clients, we’ve both seen how perfectionism can paralyze people and sometimes hold them back. We have advice on letting go of that.

Each week we address a topic that has some relationship to perfectionism (and, believe me, it’s not hard to come up with topics because almost everything relates to perfectionism). Last week’s episode was “Getting Back on Track.” This week’s is “How Do You Relax?”.

Each episode of the podcast is roughly 30 minutes long and is completely unscripted and virtually unedited. We’re discussing some serious topics but we also crack each other up, so there’s lots of laughter. People tell us it’s like sitting at the kitchen table with us listening in on our conversation. Shannon and I have so much fun recording it.

You can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts or Stitcher. Or you can just listen to it on the website, where we post a new episode each Thursday morning at 9.

If you give it a try, I hope you enjoy!

Heading to the NAPO conference!

1 April 2019

For the 13th time, I’m getting packed for the annual conference of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals. I’ve attended every year except 2014 when there was a conflict with my nephew’s bar mitzvah. (Family first, right?)

Attending is not inexpensive. But from the very beginning, I’ve invested in the conference because of the huge dividends is pays. Here are a few of the reasons I go:

• I learn so much about organizing and about running my business from the educational sessions and from talking with colleagues
• I’ve made professional associations that have helped my business
• I get to see friends year after year (it’s like summer camp!)
• I get to make new friends and associations
• I get to room with my dear friend Geralin Thomas whom I met at my second NAPO conference in 2007. We’ve been rooming together for years and it’s always a treat.
• I get to hang out with my local chapter members in a new environment (there are more than a dozen of us going this year!)
• Attending conference makes me a better professional organizer

When you work for yourself, time away from home to attend a conference also affects your income. But, for me, attending the NAPO Conference is worth the investment (and the absence of income).

If you’re an organizer and haven’t attended, I encourage you to make plans to attend the 2020 conference. The location hasn’t yet been announced, but it’s sure to be good!