DrDeClutterBlog.com

You don’t need a New Year to remind you to set and take action on goals. If you’ve already gotten back into old ruts, jump back on that horse and refresh your choices once again! Keep all movement going toward the BIG PRIZE! Whatever that means to you.

“What you have to do and the way you have to do it is incredibly simple.
Whether you are willing to do it is another matter.”
~ Peter F. Drucker,
“Father Of Modern Management”

Here are the simplest 6 Steps to Get from Here to Your Ideal There for everyday projects and completions.   

1. Write a short list

When we have too many TO DOs on our plate, our brain gets overwhelmed and we do what I can “trance.” We stand and stare at it but don’t do anything to get the action going and jobs completed. Has that happened to you?  

So, write a short list of doable projects for the day.

  2. Time block your short list

If you feel overwhelmed and then look at your TO DO list and hear yourself thinking, “This will take all day! This will take forever!” you’ll never get started. You probably start feeling tired and then distract yourself by doing something else meaningless, or eat.   

Realistically time block each item on your list. Some may literally only take 5-10 minutes to do. Others may take a few hours. When your mind knows the time structure the project can be completed within, it relaxes into “doable” mode. There’s now a start and a finish to your task, making it much less stressful.

 3. Break down the big jobs

If a project is going to be 2-3 or more hours to finish, break it down into parts and each part into a smaller time block. Again, this will keep your mind from feeling overwhelmed. It’s easy to do small chunks at a time and then feel accomplished and good about yourself when they’re done too! 

4. Start!

Don’t let yourself distract yourself further by playing around with this list and time blocks! Get going on the first one and see great results quickly. 

5. Prep Tools

Some projects may need tools to get them done, for example plyers, screw drivers, nails, hammers, trash bags, trash cans, sorting boxes, bins for storage, etc. Plan this time in too and get your tools ready so that you can jump in and “stay in the room” to get the work done — not leaving to get the tools and then not coming back! 

6. KUDOS!

It feels great to check mark and cross off projects when they’re finished. Give yourself a pat on the back for each project you complete. Don’t let it go by without feeling good about yourself, especially if you live and work alone, like many people do. You need to feel good about your accomplishments, no matter how seemingly small, so that you can remember that feeling for motivation to do the next, next and next projects! 

“Winners take time to relish their work,
knowing that scaling the mountain is what makes
the view from the top so exhilarating.”
~ Denis Waitley, Corporate Trainer   

Even if your daily mountains are molehills, be a winner in your own life! 

Tomorrow we can celebrate another New Year… the Chinese New Year. February 3rd is the beginning of the lunar year. It will be the Year of the Rabbit!

The Chinese mark the occasion with parades and parties and a long list of traditions intended to bring fortune in the months ahead.

To bring your own luck into the Year of the Rabbit and months ahead, here are a few customs to observe:

 1. Sweep for success.  Clean your house from top to bottom to expel the dust and disappointments of the past year and usher in a bright future. (I think we should do this every month!)

2. Decorate with plants or flowers. These are symbolic of rebirth.

3. Dress for the occasion. Buy new clothes to wear on New Year’s Day; they represent new beginnings. Even better, get something red – it’s considered a lucky color.

4. Add luck to your menu. Have dinner tonight, on Chinese New Year’s Eve with your family, consuming fortune-boosting foods like nian gao (sweet sticky rice cakes), dumplings, and a whole fish, symbolic of progress, togetherness, and abundance. For these recipes and other traditions, visit Parade.com!  

But remember, all work  in #1 and #2 must be done by midnight tonight to usher in the New Year! So, hop to it!!

 “One can’t believe impossible things.”

“I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen.
“When I was your age I always did it for half-an-hour a day.
Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
~ Lewis Carroll,  Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

This time of the year, the beginning of a New Year, is always one that is laced with thoughts of big changes and shifting gears in our lives. Usually it’s about weight loss and exercise! But, in order to live a different life in a year from now, we need to think thoughts of change throughout the year too and then, actually do something about it!

One sure way to get out of hum-drum thinking and living is to think and believe impossible things. If people before us didn’t think impossible thoughts, we absolutely wouldn’t have all of the inventions and technology we have today.

If you have the idea, you can act on and towards its reality.

Please understand however, that if you have the idea, others have it too.

If you have the idea and don’t act on it, don’t be surprised or angry if and when you see it “on the market” and “out there.” “Hey, I thought of that!” Yes, but you, and thousands of others, didn’t “act on it!”

Don’t let the “lack of” anything keep you from acting on impossible ideas, especially when they keep bugging you to pay attention to them!

If we want positive change in our world, it will come from what today seems “impossible.”

If you need help fleshing out your idea and guidance, project management and accountability to get it into form and “out there”, I can help you with that. Visit my site for project development and let’s make you the first one with that great idea out there.

We all have dreams and goals and wishes. And, many of them, no matter how small or grandiose can come true. Making them your new reality has everything to do with following a formula that will get you from here to there. Here’s the formula in 3 easy steps:

     1. Decide: What do you really want?

     2. Plan of Action: Create a path of doable steps to get there.

     3. Start: Do the steps!

Easy, huh!? Then, why do so many people live day-by-day without doing these 3 Simple Steps?

#1: Because part of our very human condition is that we get distracted by so many things our amazing world has to offer. Too many choices. Our dreams get way-laid.

#2: We each have a very personal history of conditioning, a blueprint imprinted on our minds as children. We received these beliefs, fears and habits from our families and culture, society, church and school, etc. that over the years have built a wall of beliefs telling us one thing when we want something else.

#3: We don’t always know how to create our plans and to think bigger than we’ve ever thought before to get what we want. It’s like we have a mental/emotional thermostat that is preset and stops us when it hits is ceiling temperature, backing us up, safe and sound.

#4: We lack the focus to stay with our action plan and keep the persistance going when needed.

If you wanted to buff up your body, you’d hire a physical trainer and, though you’d complain and balk at times, you’d do that extra sit-up or crunch and “s-t-r-e-t-c-h” yourself into your new body that you want and have dreamed of. It takes consistant, persistent movement, risk, challenge and change. And, you can do it!

The question is not, “What if I die tomorrow?”
It is, “What if I live another 20 or 30 years the way I am?”

I’M EXCITED TO BE YOUR PERSONAL LIFE COACH AND TRAINER — STARTING TODAY

I want you to realize your dreams. As your Lifestyle Coach, I want to help you realize your ideas, decisions, dreams and desires. I want to work with you and your goals to see them through to completion.

• Stop settling for what used to work, but doesn’t now.
• Stop settling for less than you know you can be, do and have.
• Stop stopping yourself from the life you know you deserve and that will bring you great joy and use of your unique talents and abilities.

No one else is like you — ever has been and ever will be again. You have dreams and goals that are yearning to become real. I’m so excited to help you get there! Let’s get started. Click here and see the many ways I can work with you, and gather a team of resources to help you where needed.

The same holds true for any other goal you want to attain or dream you want to manifest, whether it’s a new job, write a book, become a speaker, sing on stage, get married, get single, change you hairdo! Big or small dreams are all the same… they are ours and they want to be experienced.

What do you need to realize your dreams?

• A brainstorming session?
• Ideas and resources to help you forward?
• The necessary action plan and steps to get there from here?
• A Task-Master to keep you moving on your plan?
• Help through the challenging times where big and small s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-s are required?

I’m ready to help you today and very excited to support you in realizing your unique dreams, the one’s yearning and aching in your bones for far too long.

Question: What stops you from being, doing or having what you want?

     – Money?
     – Health?
     – Others?
     – Education?

Answer: None of these.

The Number One only thing that keeps us from what we want is our beliefs and thoughts about it. Or, as I call it, “Inner Clutter.”

What do you want?

Do you believe you can be, do or have “it?”

Change your beliefs… change your life!

“Success is to be measured
not so much by the position that one has reached in life
as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.”
 ~ Booker T. Washington
1856-1915, American Leader and Educator

No matter what you desire, what you want, there will be risks involved. You will be challenged to change, to grow, to master new thoughts, ideas, skills and behaviors… you will have to declutter the “old you” identity and beliefs about who you think you are, and reorganize your thoughts to match the “new you.” 

Exercise:

Make two columns. On the left side, write a list of all the things you want to be better and/or different in your life. On the right side, write what changes in your beliefs and lifestyle, skills and routines you will have to change to get from here to there.

These will be your only obstacles! They are illusions!

You can change them! You can do it! One day, one step, one new action at a time.

If you need help staying focused and on-task to get from here to there… I can help you. I will work with you one-on-one by phone as your Focused Life Coach to help you stay on track to your prize! Click here to find out more.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

As a professional organizer, January is an exciting month for me! I love organizing and because getting organized is one of the top New Year’s resolutions people make year after year, I’m all about supporting you to do that! Jump in today with vim and vigor!

Here are just a few tips to get you started (see the rest of my blog articles for tons more!) 

1. We use only 20% of our stuff 80% of the time.  So, start letting go of more of the 80% you never use and will never use.

2.  Everything needs to “live” somewhere in your home.

3.  Everything then needs to have a “home” in your home, or it is “homeless” and gets lost! A “home” is a place where you always put it when you’re finished and can find it when you need it. And, where other’s can find it too when you tell them where it is.

4.  Ask yourself the following questions to determine what you should keep and what you can let go of, toss or donate, etc:

  • Do I like it? Do I love it? Does it love me back? Does it bring me joy?
  • Do I need it?
  • Will I use it? How will I use it?
  • Do I have something like it already? Do I need another?
  • Do I have room for it?
  • Where will it live? Where will its “home” be?

A GOOD WAY TO THINK ABOUT HOW TO ORGANIZE

My book title, Burn Your House Down is going to give this one away . . . but, think about what you would want if you had to evacuate your house with only two hours to gather your things. This exercise will really help you identify what is important to you and what is just taking up space.

Jump into January with your organizing cap on! Enjoy your home and help it to love you back.

I think in terms of the day’s resolutions, not the year’s. 
~ Henry Moore

Get out your colored pens and pencils and make your first or your fiftieth end-of-year gratitude list!

Never done one before? Great time to start!

It’s just too easy to let another year slide by and forget all of the good that has come into our lives, and all the good that we’ve done. Making daily gratitude lists are a good place to review and find the nuggets that you want to include.

This is a great exercise in remembering all the good in life, in your life, and even better, to take this good feeling into your new next year!

Make the time to sit and reflect over 2011 and be grateful, thankful, appreciative and kindhearted to yourself and your life experiences.

The good you get out of this will also be very helpful as you decide who you want to be for the next 365 days!

My audiences (and really, about anyone I meet!), hear me share a few nuggets of wisdom (okay, lots of nuggets!), but the nugget that is near and dear to my heart and that is a core issue for so many people, especially women, is …

“If your family wasn’t your family, would they be your friends?”

NO!!!! (Run screaming!)

Staying focused on your life, decisions and choices takes courage and strength with family, but especially during the holidays.

Blessed are they who have functional families who live, work and play in harmony. If you have this kind of family, bravo! You may want to read on for the rest of your friends!

I am not insulting anyone. It’s just a fact that many of us, in every generation, grow up in families where we have little or nothing in common with these people called “family” with whom we are suppose to freely love and share our time, plans and joy.

Many of these people we don’t really know, or like, don’t want to talk to, are needy, act like helpless victims, are trouble, etc. AND… it’s our job to love them anyway. What a Catch-22, eh? Sometimes we love them best at an arms length, sometimes a couple of states or countries away-length! It’s also our job to protect our hearts, time and sanity while caring about them and loving them as much as we can.

Taking care of yourself is imperative when around family who are hard to be around. You will have to say “no” sometimes and maybe more often than you have been. They will not like it! They will not like you! My gem of an answer to this is, “Oh, well!” (You really have to hear my say it in person to appreciate it fully!!)

If you find yourself griping and complaining and “venting” more often than not about “them”… it’s time to re-evaluate who you are in your relationship with “them.” You also must remember that we teach people how to treat us! There is some “retraining” necessary to change what is happening.

A long-time friend called last night and needed a “reality check” and to vent. Her parents are going to the hospital yet again and asking her to “take care of them” on the trip and afterwards, “again.” My friend, I’ll call her Joy (!) has a sibling who lives just down the block who will not take any part in helping out. Her excuse is that she has a job and kids and can’t leave. Joy is self-employed, her parents don’t see her “job” as serious and that she can take off anytime and care for them. She also has plans for travel and business trips on her calendar which she’d have to cancel and lose, as she did once already, if she says “yes.” Guilting, tears, whining and martyrdom ensued.

Joy was headed for trance-ville – confused, angry, stressed and overwhelmed. She called knowing that she’d get my standard permission line and gems of guidance:

1. YOU HAVE PERMISSION to say NO.

2. Life is very short.

3. Their story is their story, not yours.

4. And… your story is your story, no one else’s. 

Every time you are asked to do something for others, making their crises-du-jour more important than yours, and you jump and lose yourself to take care of them, I call that being “user-friendly.” You need to weigh the events and situations each time of course, but jumping unconsciously over and over again will surely keep you off any solid path for your best life.

Most importantly, make sure that you do have a positive and honest support group of friends, and/or professional group who can help you get to the core of YOUR needs and necessities around your family so that you don’t lose yourself and another couple of years and opportunities for happiness and well-being.

So, I must bring it up now… the holidays are here! Run screaming!!! 

I really do want you to have the best experience this year, which means you’ll need the best armour, solutions, tools and keys with which to deal the most effectively with YOUR family and the trancing we call Holidays.

I strongly recommend you order my ebook HOLIDAY STRESS BE GONE! The Complete Self-Help Guide on How to Change Your Holiday Experiences for GOOD! , you will find it in my online store . You’ll find several other ebooks and my book Letting Go With All Your Might there too, dealing with family and situations where you have not learned healthy boundaries but are ready to be more courageous and strong for the rest of your life.

If your family wasn’t your family, would they be your friends?

Happy Holidays, from me to you.

Kim

There is a long used adage, “We don’t plan to fail, we fail to plan.” When it comes to organizing, we need a plan!

This article is a direct spinoff from an organizing job I did recently. Jan and Tom (not their names) hired me to help them get their garage cleared out in order to get their two cars in before the snow flies. They also gave me the “tour of the castle” and we discussed what and how they could declutter, get more systems in place and reorganize areas that were a bit cluttery.

By the time we were done with the garage – sorting through everything in the middle stacks and piles to go to donation, trash or stay and put away – Jan and Tom started talking about all the many other projects that had to now be done.

I suggested that to make it all sane and doable, keeping them both on the same page, that they get out a notebook and make a PLAN. (Planning like this also keeps couples from getting into heated discussions and fights over jobs and clutter not dealt with. They both have THE PLAN in front of them on which to take action.)

You can do this too. If you have multiple areas of your home and life that are out of control or need work to get up to speed for your enjoyment, do this.

1. Get out a piece of paper and draw a table on it – 2 columns and 6-7 rows, giving you 12-14 blocks.
2. Each block in the table is for a project.
3. Write down every project that needs to be done, one to a block.
4. Write down for each, in each block, if you will need help or extra tools or anything to get the job done, including systems, like tubs or containers.
5. Now, this is the great part! Write an amount of time it will take to do each project in its block.
 
This is great, as now you can move past overwhelm and procrastination into the doing phase.
 
If you can see that it will take 1/2 hour to clear out some magazines and paper piles, you can figure out quickly when you have that 1/2 hour and do it. Cross it off!
 
If you can see that it will take 3 hours to declutter a section of your garage, then plan ahead for that as it’s a bit longer.
 
If you have children you can now plan ahead for each project for when they are in school, or plan for a babysitter.
 
You can also figure out easily which jobs need help from others or systems and can plan ahead to get those in line and ready for your project time.
 
Thank you Jan and Tom for a great morning of organizing, and your lovely post organizing email.
“Woo hoo! Thanks so much for all your help Saturday. It was a great learning experience and we accomplished a LOT!  Looks like we’ll be able to get the cars in later this week when Tom’s niece comes to pick up the couch and we do one last run to donate. Thanks for getting us on the right track before the snow flies!”
So, don’t fail to plan. Get a plan, man!

According to Face Your Fears Today.com, today is “National Face Your Fears Day”, the day to confront and overcome the fears that hold you back. Wish I’d had more notice!!

- Who would you be without your story (of things not being what you want)?

- Who would you be with a new story (of what you really want)?!

Don’t wait for New Year’s to set new goals. Do it now! And take the action to get going on them!

Top 10 Fears
The exact rankings change slightly from year to year, but for the most part, these fears have been the same for a long time. This list, from a Gallup Poll, February 18-21, 2001, is of America’s most common fears. Are yours here?

1. Snakes – 51%

2. Speaking in public – 40% (I don’t have this one! Whew!)

3. Heights – 36%

4. Being closed in a small space – 34%

5. Spiders and insects – 27%

6. Needles and getting shots – 21%

7. Mice – 20%

8. Flying on a plane – 18%

9. Dogs – 11%

10. Thunder and lightening – 11%

11. Crowds – 11%

12. Going to the doctor – 9%