DrDeClutterBlog.com

 HELP! Too many websites, newsletters, blogs and other online sites that need a user-name and password can be maddening. Ever forget one and waste a bunch of time and energy trying to remember it and keying in possibilities?

Or, maybe you have little slips of paper with your passwords and web addresses stacked up or stuck to your computer, or in a dog-eared notebook. Not the most efficient system.It really isn't your brain's job to keep track of all those. You need a "system." So, what to do? Two that I recommend are below.

In the great digital abyss that is your computer hard disk drive, do you have many, many e-file folders and documents (electronic paper), photos and clipart and more on your computer, but like most paper in most offices, can’t find them when you need them? You might ad a stack or pile of jump/flashdrives, old floppies and zip disks, CDs and DVDs too of course. RUN SCREAMING!

Lots of wasted time and energy go into the seek and find of e-files.

Set up your filing “system”

Remember, if you don’t have systems, you have piles!

1.  Think of your computer as a filing cabinet, like your paper filing cabinet.

2. Your computer’s organizational system is made up of two components: directories and files. The directories are like tabbed file folders, and the files (documents, pictures, or any other sort of data) are like the papers that you’d put in those file folders. Of course, unlike paper folders, however (this can be the bad part!) your electronic directories can hold a nearly infinite number of files.

3. Create your files. Like with paper folders and files, think broad categories first. Example: 

RECIPES (MAIN FOLDER)

      Vegies (Folder)

          Corn (Folder or Document File in alphabetical order with all other vegies)

4. Your computer will do some of your work for you, like it automatically alphabetizes folders and files for you. If you ever a folder or file to be above another but alphabetically it doesn’t work, just put the letter preceding the other letters of other folders/files that are above it, like A-Corn will put Corn above Artichokes!

5. “Labeling” is a core organizing rule. So, when you label your e-folder/file, you’re “titling” it. Make sure to put the exact words you want in the title to a) find it easily and b) if you can’t find it, you can SEARCH on your computer for it. You can use long titles, but that can be frustrating to read and for your computer to deal with if you have a lot of data on your hard-drive.

TIP: When titling or naming your file, think about how you’d tell someone else to find it for you. Make it easy. Use keywords. What keywords would you think of first? What would be the most logical? If you were searching on the Internet for the topic, what would you type? Then make sure that you include these keywords in the title.

6. Just like paper files, take time to purge, archive and remind yourself of all that’s on your computer too.

7. Include file names on your documents   The document name can be placed in the footer of a Microsoft Office Word document, for example, by using the AutoText command on the Insert menu. You can include only the document name or both the document name and the path to where the document is saved. (The latter is very helpful on a printed copy when you can’t find the document on your computer.)

8. Organize your e-mail Sometimes this means a big purge!  In email you can create folders for listservs and have your emails automatically filed as they’re delivered into your account. Also, be sure to use good subject lines in your e-mail messages — it’s much easier to find an e-mail message if it has a subject line that applies to the content of the message.

TIP: When I sent my Speaker Marketing Packet to a Meeting Planner I put their name or company name in the Subject line with my Subject information so that as I BBC to myself, I can file it in my Speaking folder immediately and not lose them. Since my client’s name is in the Subject line, I can browse the Speaking folder and find it quickly.

9. The big e-purge. A bit more on purging here. Create a scheduled time of the month or so to keep up a good habit of going through your files and deleting the ones you will not use any longer.

TIP: By using the Search feature, you can find documents by date.

TIP: Some say that if a file was last modified or created more than two years ago, delete it. I use a lot of information on my computer that’s older than that! I update and reedit forms and such and am glad I had them and didn’t have to start over from scratch! But, realistically, if you think that you might use it in the distant future, burn it onto a CD before deleting it.

WARNING: All those CD’s you’ve burned . . . can and will deteriorate someday - we don’t know when! So, it’s really best to stay active with your files and don’t keep keeping CDs and backups and such around if you really aren’t going to use them.

This goes with my philosophy - BURN YOUR HOUSE DOWN!, and so in this case BURN YOUR E-FILES DOWN! If your computer crashed (burned down) and you lost all your information, what 20% would you miss. Then, back it up.

10. Backup technology. Backup on CDs or interior/exterior second hard-drives, or online for free or fee.

11. Last ditch effort. Like using a box to archive files into that you don’t know if you need them or are too tired to deal with! . . .  create a directory titled “Old Documents” and put all of your old files, just as they are, in that directory. Then, plan the time to go back and as you review them or use those old files, save each of them to its place in your shiny-organized-electronic filing cabinet!

Is the “recession” just in our heads?

Yes and no.

Yes, there are crashes and losses and closings and such everywhere.

No, not everyone is experiencing this. Many businesses are booming, not busting, unless “busting” means a good thing, as in “bursting at the seams!” Brand new companies are opening now because of the shift in economics, what is needed and what is important.

The bottomline in all of life is that we are responsible and accountable for our thoughts about our situation and to shift them to work for us instead of against us . . . no matter what is happening “out there” or what the media is saying.

During the Great Depression and Stock Market Crash of the late ’20s, there were millionaires made and increases gained, but that’s not where the media and news stories focused.

“In describing today’s accelerating changes,
the media fire blips of unrelated information at us.
Experts bury us under mountains of narrowly specialized monographs.
Popular forecasters present lists of unrelated trends,
without any model to show us their interconnections
or the forces likely to reverse them.
As a result, change itself comes to be seen as anarchic,
even lunatic.”
~ Alvin Toffler

Where would you rather “focus?”

Here is a list of 10 Ways to Recession Proof Your Thinking:

1. Remember that you are a magnet. You are a massive energy magnet, drawing to you what you believe and think is true. What are you magnetically attracting to you? What do you want to attract to you?

This means, stop focusing on (magnetizing to you) what isn’t working, what others say is bad and sharing the same.

“Where your attention goes, energy flows.”
If you keep giving your attention and
focus to the negative and lack, you’ll get more of it.

2. Just as in “the best of times” bring your best self to your daily life and business. Be present and happy. Engage in your day, relationships, conversations, future goals and focus and choices from a place, space and mindset of growth, expansion, abundance and profit/prosperity.

3. Be grateful for your life right now. Don’t wait for “someday when” it gets better, when the economy changes, when the Stock Market goes up and stays up, when the media says it’s okay to breathe and play again, when . . . .  Live now. Enjoy now. This is it, right now! All we have is now.

“Where your attention goes, energy flows.”
If you keep giving your attention and
focus to the negative and lack, you’ll get more of it.

4. What to do you want? Keep your focus and attention on what you WANT, not what you DON’T WANT. What you DON’T WANT is FEAR based. Fear creates myriad reasons to give up, lose focus and lose your path to your best opportunities and outcomes. Decide on your desired results and stick with them.

Do this: Ask yourself, “What and how would I be thinking and acting ‘if’ everything was okay in the world?” Then, go be and do that. The more you think and live from this expanded-big-picture outlook, you’ll draw (magnetize) to you more of the same. You want to be pleasantly surprised! 

5. You want the best service and interaction from others, anytime and anywhere, right? Then . . . keep delivering the best service and attention to your clients, customers, family — and to yourself. Don’t pull back or pull in. Stay open and expansive.

6. Get creative! The “good times” can often dull our senses to our best and deepest creativity. “Hard times” and change can often be the best motivator for new inventions and creative bursts of genius.

7. Be the master of your “story.” If you consider what humans are, we are all just great story-tellers. That’s all we really do all day, all life long — we tell stories. So, you become the master of your story. Whatever you want it to be from right now on, you decide, develop it, tell and live it. Let your experience create a new, deeper and wider story of a stronger and happier you.

“People grow through experience
if they meet life honestly and courageously.
This is how character is built.”
~ Eleanor Roosevelt

8. Stay “on purpose.” If you’re a business person, stay focused on “How am I going to deliver the best products and services everyday, at a good price and be happy and remarkable doing it?” This is what you want from others, right? Whatever you give, you recieve back.

9. Stick to your plan and transform it as necessary. Life changes constantly, sometimes in little waves, sometimes in massive hurricane crash and burns. That’s life! So, what’s your plan? Take time to revisit, create anew - or for the first time - your plan.

10. This too shall pass. If you look over life, yours and all of history, everything goes in cycles and shifts. That IS normal. So, choose again to engage and flow with life with more ease, less resistance; more joy, less fear; more fun, less “ain’t it awful.”

“The dogmas of the quiet past
are inadequate to the stormy present.
The occasion is piled high with difficulty,
and we must rise with the occasion.
As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew.”
~ Abraham Lincoln

Tightening our belts. Spending less. Skirting some purchases and waiting until later. These “wait and see” decisions are hard on small stores and independent brick and mortars for sure. Many have a already closed and others are sweating it out week to week without the customers support.

We all know that this recession, depression, or whatever it is and for however longs affects everyone negatively if we don’t consciously make some changes over which we DO have control.

SOLUTION? Meet The 3/50 Project!  Flyer and more.

This flyer empowers and challenges your customers to take action by giving them a feasible way they can contribute in their own community. It’s a brilliant marketing piece that I think you’ll agree you can use in your store right away.

And, this small change is no $mall change we’re talking about!

This project is built on the premise, that if only 50% of the employed U.S. population spent at total of $50 a month in independent shops . . . together we would be generating a revenue for our country of nearly $43 billion in revenue annually.

And, we all benefit when we support the small businesses that are an intrinsic part of our communities. Join the movement and find more information on how you can be a part of helping us help ourselves at The 3/50 Project website.

FOUNDER AND FLYER: The 3/50 Project Founder, Cinda Baxter has a wonderful flyer that you can distribute to your customers promoting how and why they should (continue to) shop locally. They are also in the process of partnering with the Chicago Market to create window clings about the project. To request one for your store, visit their website and register as a supporter.

I’m getting my $50 out right now! See you downtown!

Thank you Cinda for your brilliant idea! Follow Cinda on twitter too, of course!

http://twitter.com/cindabaxter

REVIEW / BOOK: Priestess Entrepreneur

Cindy Morris did a great job telling her story of how self-employment really works -  the pitfalls and great stuff. I hardly read a book cover to cover, but I couldn’t put this one down! Priestess Entrepreneur reads like silk. Cindy is a storyteller extraordinaire. Personable, real, authentic, professional, successful – she’s been through the real trenches and came back up to teach and laugh about it.

It’s a self-employment, entrepreneur story told with distinction and dedication to loving and honoring what you do and who you are. It’s a positive, clean and focused storyline of business. Refreshing to say the least!

In an age where Online Business seems to overshadow brick and mortar businesses, this curb-side storyteller takes the reader by the hand and step-by-step, authentic and animated, story-by-story, richly and kindly teaches invaluable lessons for the woman entrepreneur in ways that are memorable, impactful and humorous.

I know plenty of women business owners who would have profited from this book over the years, cutting short their learning and emotional trauma curves. Every woman in business should read Priestess Entrepreneur.

(C) 2008 Kim Wolinski, MSW
 

Landfill here we come! Just one container of 65 never opened products gone bad.

I have organized the offices, storage units and homes of many reps and distributors for companies that sell makeup, household goods, health and wellness products and items, etc. What is sadly apparent is that when we get overwhelmed, busy and/or stop paying attention to the details, things get lost, piled and stored in ways that are not used in a timely manner — in the case of products that are good only for certain campaigns or sales periods.

SOLUTION: These items can certainly be donated to shelters, charities and thrift. That’s a good thing.

However, in many cases I have watched hundreds of dollars of product go into the trash as they were out-dated, rancid, are hard as a rock or “gone bad” from sitting on the shelf or lost box past time, or heat and cold had ruined them.

SOLUTION: Get organized. Stay organized! Ask for help to do both!

My clients have all felt terrible about this waste, of products as well as their income.

If this is an issue for you, don’t order one more truck or box load of anything, until you take the time — even if it takes a week! — to get organized; to know your inventory and get on top of it again.

As fuel prices have increased, so has the use of coupon redemption.  Coupons have always been an easy way to save money on things you buy anyway, or items that are new and worth trying.

Two recent studies by Scarborough Research and Simmons/Experian Research show that coupon redemption is on the rise at both the grocery store and online. It is now estimated that almost 1/3 of all consumers are using coupons at the grocery store, up from 25% just a year ago.

The use of Internet coupon redemption has also increased a whopping 83% since 2005.

Nearly half of those “Coupon Clickers” are between the ages of 22 and 44 according to Simmons/Experian Research.  “This new generation of shoppers is discovering coupons on the web, and printing coupons is becoming a regular part of a consumer’s shopping routine.”

SURVEY REWARDS ARE UP: The report further says that 70% of Coupon Clickers would provide their email address, first and last name and answer survey questions for a $2 coupon.

If you’re in business, take advantage of what is happening anyway!Put a coupon on your website, in your e-newsletters, inside the grocery or shopping bags, at the end of a service, or other ways.

For more research stats, click here.

If  you’re a caregiver, a “Mother Teresa” wannabe, codependent, 

or just plain “user-friendly”, this quotes for you! 

(I have to be reminded of it often.)

“Stick to three concepts:  

You can’t help everyone.  

You can’t change everything.  

Not everyone is going to love you.  

If you do, you’ll get more done.” 

~ Roberta Vasko Kraus, Center for Creative Leadership

Would you go through withdraw if you had to be without your technogadget for an hour or more in a meeting?

Silicon Valley employees and others around the country are . . . and that’s a good thing!

Multi-tasking with an “on” cell phone, computer, etc. in your hands is not productive. I’m not sure how anyone thinks it ever was!

Our brains can only effectively focus and process up to two things at a time. When your brain is bothered with bings and flashes and “watch me, I’m the most important thing right now” videos and emails - that may not even matter - your mind shuts out other more important - at the moment - experiences and functions . . . like listening, seeing, thinking, understanding, decision making and remembering. All in all, it shuts down productivity. These are all essential life-skills that are not being learned and honed by a generation or two. Not good.

Google, Yahoo and Apple are joining in. STEP AWAY FROM YOUR TECH-DISTRACTION.

And, I really appreciate this one, laptops are not allowed in some classrooms at USC’s law school! They have to use, are you ready? Paper and pens! Yes, they actually have to write their notes, think and talk to one another to make more effective decisions. Excellent!

I see this as the tech-bubble bursting in all the right ways. Like anything else, use your tech-toys and gadgets for their best use, but not as a way to not be human. Don’t let them use you! They will win. 

See the news report here in its entirety. Click here.

See the news report - video here. 

©2008 Kim Wolinski, MSW “Dr. DeClutter”  Stress, Change and Organizational Skills Expert   www.DrDeClutter.com

Editors and publishers are free to reprint blog articles as long as it is reprinted in its entirety and the signature line remains intact.

Do you use business cards? Do they cost a bit too much?

I have had put on and up so many “hats and shingles” in my business life that ordering business cards from a printer every time I needed new ones just never made sense. I found an online company that lets me create them myself and for a fraction of the price of a printer — I can get them in bulk and fast, as often as I like.

This also includes brochures, note pads, rubber stamps and lots of other office and personal use products. Be creative, have fun!

Click here and make your own!

Do you have great referrals to products that are cost-effective and professional? Please share!