Good Day, Boston!

Several years ago I was in Boston for a day of sightseeing.  I loved the city and hoped to return one day.  You know what they say: be careful what you ask for: you just might get it.  I forgot to say I wanted to be there when the weather was warm!  I fly into Logan Airport on the 26th of this month.  I'm praying to the 'snow gods' to stay their hand while I am there.  Actually I am not overwhelmed by the idea of snow or cold as I grew up in Brooklyn.  It's ice that scares me.  My father could wear street shoes and fly over ice without ever slipping.  Me?  I'd take teeny tiny steps like a 90 year old and fall on my tail bone at least once a year!

I'll be teaching a three hour seminar on the 29th, Saturday morning at the Wellness Center associated with Emerson Hospital in Concord.  The first hour is devoted to the basic mechanics of 'Zen Organizing.'  I'll apply the concepts to getting your home organized. And that includes how you manage your time.  The next two hours I'll show how these very simple steps apply to office/work life organization and your finances.  If you're in the area, I hope you'll join me.  The class is $100 and will be followed by a book signing. Check with your tax preparer: this class may be a tax deductible item if you itemize.

Here's the link to the ad Emerson created:

http://events.sentinelandenterprise.com/concord-ma/events/show/161476405-get-organized-never-fear-the-zen-organizer-is-here

The day before I'll be appearing on the local Fox news channel.  And my wonderful friends at The Container Store will be providing me with 10 of my all time favorite products.  As you might imagine I am not going to schlepp these goodies back to Los Angeles.  Can you imagine my trip through security? "I'm sorry, Officer,  That's not a weapon in my pocket: it's a shelf divider!" I'll be giving them away to the folks who ask me the 10 best questions of the day!

If your organization or corporation needs a speaker, please contact me for fee and travel details.  But let's try and do it after snow season ends, shall we? By the way I'm going home to New York on March 15 to 19.  If you'd like to work with me privately, please contact me as I'll be able to give some time to clients that trip.  You know ... when I'm not slipping and sliding on the ice!

The 'Stuff' of life and the chaos it creates

I've spent more than twenty years helping people eliminate the 'excess stuff' they've accumulated. But it isn't just 'stuff' that needs to go from the physical environment. From time to time it's also people, places or jobs.

We sometimes hold onto relationships for years after they have ended. We all know one sided friendships or marriages that are dead. We witness destructive relationships that seem to go on forever. What's the old saying? 'The devil you know is better than the one you don't.' This was no doubt stated by someone who was frozen with fear. After all, what if the devil got his walking papers and a bevy of angels was invited in to stay?

There's a law of physics that states that two objects can not occupy the same space at the same time. You won't have more nurturing friends, a better love relationship or a great workplace if you don't create the space. I'm not suggesting you wake up tomorrow and do a wholesale cleaning of your life. I am suggesting you take some time to examine every aspect of your life and see if something needs to be eliminated. You may discover what needs to be done is some serious nurturing of current relationships whether they be personal or professional.

I helped a client recently who had some plants. She adored them. She simply forgot to care for them on a regular basis. She found it heartwarming to see how quickly they could bounce back with a little water. I suggested she nurture them on a regular basis so that they didn't have to come back from the brink every few weeks. There's a metaphor for life in this story. Do you nurture your relationships on a regular basis? Do you nurture yourself by creating an environment that supports you on every level? Or are you the kind of person who senses distance in your friends and rushes in with last minute invitations to dinner? Does your home get so messy you have to tidy up every few weekends?  Do you wonder why the order you created never lasts? Only long term and consistent care will create the results you want whether it's people or places.

I had to walk away from a long term friendship recently. Something happened that hurt me deeply. When I examined the relationship I realized that for several years it had been falling apart. Had we been honest we would have seen the hand writing on the wall and parted years ago. My environment 'speaks' to me in much the same way. I look around and suddenly something I treasured and loved looks old or out of place. I realize I've outgrown the item. And then I have the fun of replacing it with something that reflects who I am in this moment. If the original object is still in great condition I can compound my fun by giving it to someone else. Now even the object has a fresh start.

I took a leap of faith when I created my organizing business. I took another when I decided to write my first book. Both have developed in ways I could never have imagined. These leaps of faith have given me experiences, friends and creative fulfillment beyond my wildest imagination. I never considered that my business would take off and I'd be organizing 21 years later. Nor could I possible have dreamed that I'd one day be writing my 8th book.

What can you eliminate that may open the door to greater possibilities?

On the holiday horizon...a New You!

Newspapers, magazines and the airwaves will be filled this month with ways to save this holiday season. In “One Year to an Organized Life,” I devote the lion share of instruction in December to just these issues. In this forum, I’d like to take a peek at something else that may be on your mind: looking ahead to the New Year. It beckons to us like a blank piece of paper, inviting us to create something fresh, new, nurturing and inventive in place of our current reality.

While it’s easy to dream about a fresh start, it’s very often difficult to do the work involved to make the dream a reality. This is why most New Year’s Resolutions fail: they remain wishes rather than turning into our reality. Let’s take a look at the concrete steps we can take to change our lives for the better in the New Year. After all, if we don’t prepare for and consciously create our New Year, it will simply re-create itself as the ‘same old/same old.’ And that never leads to happiness.

If nothing stood in your way…
One of the central tenets in Zen Organizing is that the whole of any endeavor or project is overwhelming. Success is best achieved if we break a big task down into the small steps that will make it a reality. Let’s start, therefore, with a list of what you would like to achieve this coming year. Go ahead. Let your mind run wild. List everything. The most common goals include:
➢ lose weight
➢ start an exercise program
➢ stop smoking
➢ make/save more money.
What is on your list? Set a timer for 10 minutes and start dreaming.


Are you planning to win or lose?
After you have your list, place numbers next to each item so that you know your high priority items from those that can wait a bit. Not only is a long list overwhelming so is the goal of achieving everything at once. A long list doesn’t make you a high achiever; it sets you up for failure. You’ll want to consider each item in turn. Break it down into the steps that will make it a reality. The easiest example of course is losing weight. It isn’t a magic formula that will enable you to achieve success when you need to lose weight; it’s a change in eating and adding exercise to your regime. That’s obvious, right?

One step at a time…
Once you understand the steps whether they are obvious or take some time to figure out, you can set about deciding how to achieve each one in turn. For our example it would be: what diet would work best for you? Is it Jennie Craig, Weight Watchers, Nutri-system or some other program? And what exercise regime will work best with your personality and time? Do you like running, yoga, Pilates or swimming? The more thorough you are at this phase, the easier it will be to achieve your goals.

But let’s say you start your list and you are so overwhelmed by the idea of change, you get clutched and have to stop. You aren’t doomed to continue the ‘same old/same old’ routine you’d like to change. You simply have to be kind, gentle and patient with yourself. Think how proud you will be when you achieve your goal.

Push the first domino…
How can you jump-start the process? Create simple habits that move you out of your rut. Psychologists say it takes 21 consecutive days of repeating an action before it becomes a habit. Let’s look at the three major areas in our lives (home, work and finance) and consider some simple habits that can truly rock our world with permanent, positive change.

Home Habits:
• Make your bed every day.
• Hang your towels on the towel bar after a shower or bath rather than tossing them on the floor.
• Brush and floss your teeth every morning and each evening after dinner or before bed.
• Don’t leave dirty dishes in the sink or allow clean ones to languish on the drain board. Put things away!
• When you start something, complete the action: close cupboard doors and drawers. Need a sweater? Put it away when you no longer need it. You get the idea.

Work Habits:
• Try and relieve stress with simple actions: drink more water (8 eight oz. glasses a day is ideal); meditate for a mere five minutes to clear your mind or introduce exercise into your regime. Five minutes will get the ball rolling. You can walk to work, do some yoga in your seat or climb the stairs for a few flights. What’s available to you? If you don’t exercise at all, start small.
• Limit your time at the social media sites. Set the timer on your cell phone or watch for 10 minutes. No one really needs to know the nitty-gritty details of your day. Start recording the broad strokes. Do you really care if Aunt Zelda is ‘at the bus stop’ or your fiancé has just ordered a latte at Starbucks? If the answer is ‘yes,’ you might consider some new priorities! Social media sites are great and I myself have a presence at Facebook and Twitter. But I am careful not to fritter time away. I use the sites to my advantage. Are you? Or might it be said the sites are using you?
• Just as you did at home, return items to their proper place. You will be able to file your expense report more easily, for example, if the receipts are always placed in the appropriate folder.
By the way, if you don’t have a working file system, take some time between Christmas and the New Year to set one up. It’s an invaluable aid all year long. And if you do have one, don’t forget it will be in need of a quick tune up as we prepare to move into a New Year.

Finance Habits
ALWAYS note your expenses in your check register immediately. Check and debit card expenses can add up. Overdraft fees are a waste of your money.

Are you reading all of the magazines, periodicals and newspapers you subscribe to? Or is it time to catch these publications on line? Don’t forget to recycle these publications when you are done whether that’s the blue can or your local assisted care living facility or hospital.

Keep paper money in denomination order, all facing forward. You’ll save time whenever you make a purchase by not having to sift through crumpled bills at the bottom of your purse or pocket. This simple action also expresses your respect for your money. Try and live on a weekly allowance: when it’s gone, it’s gone. You will tighten the purse strings in short order. Debit cards, credit cards and checks can feel like ‘magical’ sources of money we either don’t have or shouldn’t touch.

In conclusion…
Rome was not built in a day. Neither will you be able to change your life overnight. Small, positive steps forward, however, create tremendous momentum. They also influence those with whom you work and live. Why not be a silent mentor to your family, friends and co-workers this year just by adopting some simple, straight forward positive steps. You’ll be touching other lives at the exact moment you are busy transforming your own.

The Fourth of July: more than a day for hot dogs and fire works

Are you holding on to something that drags you down?

Perhaps you delight in 'saving the day' and carry every object known to man in your purse or brief case? Whether it's a flashlight or a nail file, you take care of the requests of friends and strangers. It's breaking your back but the moment of rescue makes you feel too important to change.

Or maybe you refuse to toss anything out of your environment because 'someday' you might need it? This usually hides behind the pseudo mantra: 'I'm not a person who wastes things.' 'If you wait long enough everything comes back into style.' 'The minute I toss something, I need it!' Do these sound like the things you say as you move about your impacted space?

Sometimes what we hold on to are the pains of the past like the time your second grade teacher humiliated you in front of your class mates. Or maybe it's the last relationship that haunts you. He or she 'did you wrong' and you can't move forward because you cared so deeply.

Take a few minutes before this wonderful holiday and see if you are keeping yourself a prisoner. Are you hiding behind words that deflect responsibility? Whatever happened to you is in the past. It can't be re-done. It can serve as a wise teacher.

Declare your personal freedom this holiday.

Set new goals and intentions. Let them float into the night sky with the fireworks display in your neighborhood or on the TV. Embrace your ability to start over.

Blessings,
Regina

Multi-tasking: Friend or Foe

Very few subjects in the world of organizing are such hot button issues as 'multi- tasking.' However it certainly has its devotees! While I never like to waste time, I am not a fan. Let me explain.

If you are in a doctor's waiting room, why sit idle? This is a great time to get caught up on your paper work or even better give yourself an opportunity to start that novel you have been longing to read. If dinner is in the oven, why not toss in a load of laundry to fill the time before dinner is served? Maybe you can set the table while the food cooks and the laundry spins! These are examples of getting things done.

But if you are in the habit of working on the computer, talking on the phone and writing all at the same time, I have to ask how you feel at the end of the day? Exhausted, depleted and weary would be the responses I would expect. The first set of activities were each getting your full focus even though they seemed to be happening at the same time. The second set will fry your nerves as you direct your attention in multiple areas at once. Or at least attempt to...

If you are suddenly angry with me and feel I am making you wrong or trying to take something away from you that works, don't fret. I'm simply sharing what works for me, my readers and my clients. Give it a try. Examine how you multi-task and, most importantly, how you feel when you are done. It's fun to experiment with different ways of thinking, doing and being, isn't it?

I am a long time practitioner of yoga, both the physical postures and the ancient philosophy that the postures are a part of. I am writing this post on Wednesday, June 24th. In just two days I'll be leaving for the second of four yoga retreats I am honored to enjoy each year. I will write again next week with the renewed sense of peace being on a mountain top always brings to my Soul. I hope your week is productive and your weekend brings you a time of renewal. It's summer after all, you deserve a break.

My system of organizing, by the way, is called 'Zen Organizing" and is expressed in all (soon to be seven) of my books. The new 'One Year to...' series best captures this system. I invite you to read more about it. If the home is your area of challenge "One Year to an Organized Life" is for you. If you languish is a sea of chaos at work, you will enjoy "One Year to an Organized Work Life." Late this year "One Year to an Organized Financial Life" will be out. We're all concerned about our finances, aren't we? And yet so few of us receive an adequate education in this area. My new book is written with Russell Wild, a financial planner who makes the arcane world of finance accessible. I know you will enjoy it as much as I did writing it with Russ!

What have you got to lose by embracing 'Zen Organizing' except perhaps tension and turbulence? What you'll gain is peace, calm and oh yes, productivity.

Search the past to enjoy the present!

December 10, 2008

I have noticed that the current financial crisis is causing everyone to think more sensibly and creatively about how to celebrate the holiday season. In the glory days of excess, most people had no idea what the holiday cost them until the credit card bills started rolling in. Today the air waves and the newspapers are filled with creative ways to save and still participate. With a wealth of creative gift giving and holiday party ideas out there, my thoughts today turn to holidays past. What about you?

Do you find that no matter how 'flush with bucks' you are at this time of year, there is a feeling of lack deep in your Soul? Why not take a few minutes (a nice hot bath would be the ideal place) to think about the celebrations of your childhood. Were they always happy? Did your mother decorate the house to excess? Did your dad complain all month about the money being spent? Or was it your Uncle Bert who ruined everything with his wicked tongue on Christmas Eve? I had a dear friend whose mother meant well but her caustic tongue cut everyone to shreds on Christmas Day. Whether it was in the distant past or resides in the present, is there something about the season that makes you sad?

When I ask people to check the past for clues, some think I am suggesting they assume guilt over the current set of circumstances. This is never my intention. Guilt, fear and shame have no place in zen organizing. What surrounds us are the effects or results of causes we have set in motion. If we understand where we have been wounded or how we made less than great choices, we are empowering ourselves to set new causes in motion...and this will lead to a new set of physical, mental and emotional results. As one of my favorite teachers once said: 'There are no victims, only volunteers.'

This blog applies to our lives whether at work or at home. As you become acquainted with what I call 'zen organizing,' you will see that the basics apply to everything. What changes are the items we deal with...today we are concerned with how we celebrate this busy, beautiful time of year. Tomorrow you might turn your attention to your files and the next day be concerned with how your kitchen cupboards are arranged. We will apply the same tools to all of our physical challenges. And in zen organizing the first step is a nod to the past.

At the end of "One Year to an Organized Life," I tell the story of my best friend who, in the darkest hour of my life, showed me how to apply my organizing techniques to the battle against cancer that was before me. I can never repay her. What I try to do in my work is 'pay it forard.' What worked in my life will work for you! It's now 6 1/2 years since the diagnosis. A survivor at the time said to me: 'Right now you feel like cancer is doing things to you. One day you will see that it's doing things through you and for you.' No kidding!

My wish for you this evening is that you free yourself from the sorrows of the past. Today is a gift. It's rich and beautiful no matter what challenges you face. Let's do it together. I've got your hand. Are you ready to try?