by Katherine Macey
How many of you have ever had a hard time setting and achieving your goals?
I have. I love dreaming about the future and coming up with things I’d love to see happen in the world and, honestly, there are lots and lots of those goals I’ve failed to accomplish. And after a while, it becomes disheartening if your vision never seems to come to fruition. So I’ve developed a new way of setting my goals. And this year, it seems to be working, so I thought I’d share the idea with you. SMART PATH goals.
I think I first learned about SMART goals more than 20 years ago when I was training for the New Zealand Women’s Canoe Polo squad. We were training for the 1st World Championships and the national association brought in a sports psychologist. Now, to an engineer (or anyone else with a logical mind like mine), a SMART goal makes a lot of sense. You get into the details of the goal and make it more easily attainable. SMART stands for:
- Specific (so you know exactly what your goal is)
- Measurable (so you know when you’ve achieved it)
- Achievable (so you can achieve it)
- Results (so you know what you are getting)
- Time based (so you know when in time it will happen)
This method for goal setting has served me well in most respect ever since then. The part I struggle with most is the achievable part. There are three aspects to the achievable aspect that I’m sharing about today.
(more…)
by Katherine Macey
I recently attended the National Association of Professional Organizers annual conference. I’m always inspired by the speakers and my fellow organizers. I want to share three particularly amazing resources I think you will love too, all regarding using a minimalist approach to life.
1) This year the opening keynote speakers were a pair of young guys, Joshua Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus, a.k.a. The Minimalists. They shared their stories of letting go of the extra things they had in their lives and the resulting happiness they experienced. You can see their TEDx talk here (https://www.youtube.com/). They continue to blog about their lives, simplifying their existence and pursuing meaningful endeavors at their blog (http://www.theminimalists.com/).
2) Another inspiring blog is Zen Habits (http://zenhabits.net/) by minimalist Leo Babauta. Zen Habits is about “finding simplicity in the daily chaos of our lives. It’s about clearing the clutter so we can focus on what’s important, create something amazing, find happiness.” Leo is a father of six who lives in San Fransisco. I have two children and can only imagine the complexity that six would bring to a life! We simplify our lives by scheduling the majority of the kids after school activities together. They both take Kung Fu, they both take piano. And other than Girl Scouts once every two weeks which only my daughter participates in, they have time to spend playing with their neighborhood friends. Almost a lost art in Los Angeles where kids seem to be scheduled every moment of every day.
3) The third resource I will mention today is the blog Becoming Minimalist (http://www.becomingminimalist.com/) by Joshua Becker. He is part of a family of four living in Arizona and has shared his story with various TV stations and has written several books to inspire you as well.
The best thing about all these writers is that what they say is simple to do. It doesn’t cost you any money, in fact, you may end up making money if you sell the things you no longer need.
How will you make more space in your life today?
What can you let go of that you no longer need?
by Katherine Macey
It doesn’t matter if my clients live in 800 square feet or 4000 square feet, during our initial interview, they invariably say, “We don’t have enough storage space.” And it feels like that. Spaces are jammed with items, items with no home are spilling out of their storage space and the situation feels overwhelming to the client. And yet, invariably, once we have sorted through the items, we discover more than enough space for the things the clients loves and uses.
Clutter accumulation can be insidious. It occurs slowly, one item at a time, over a period of weeks, months or years. And if you’re not vigilant, suddenly, your home is filled with clutter. We moved into our current abode about 18 months ago and since then, I admit, I’ve been a bit lazy about making sure things leave the house as rapidly as they enter it. The result? Since I’m a master at space management, I can pack an awful lot into a small space, but it has to go in just so, or it doesn’t fit! Our home that felt comfortable when we moved in, now feels overstuffed.
So we’re having a purging month. We’re letting go of things that could have left our home 6 months or even a year ago since we haven’t used them since then.
How about you? Will you join me in a space challenge?
Some options for space challenges:
- Challenge: let go of 1 thing per day
- Super challenge: let go of 1 thing the first day, 2 the second, 3 the third, and so on.
- Just get rid of the extra stuff! (This is my husband’s favorite option – no need to keep track or count!)
- Post progress on the Organize to Excel Facebook page – we want to see your hard work!
by Katherine Macey
Spring is traditionally a time for new beginnings. Trees have new growth, flowers blossom, and many babies are born. It’s a time of year when everything feels invigorating, it’s a time of expectation.
Yet, if your space is full of clutter from past activities, you do not have the space to create, to explore, to experience those new beginnings.
So take an inventory, either on paper, on your smart phone, or just in your head. Notice which items you have that are related to activities that you no longer do, or are outdated even if for a current activity. Look for items that, if you let go of them, you wouldn’t miss.
How much space could you create if you sold/donated/recycled those items?
And what would you do with that space? Breathe, feel abundant and luxurious. Maybe you would invite friends over to enjoy the new space you have created.
How would more space change your life? Maybe you’d just be able to get dressed more easily in the morning. Maybe you’d have space to play board games with your kids. Maybe you wouldn’t do anything with the space, just enjoy it.
Imagine a whole new world without the clutter. In my home, we’re getting rid of many of old books that the kids have outgrown. We’re keeping a few as mementos, but let me be clear, my husband and I are keeping them. We enjoyed reading them to our kids, they hold those great memories and, okay, I have fantasies about reading them with grandkids someday too. Everything else is being donated to the library or recycled. Now my kids have got space for new books and toys that they can enjoy.
What are you letting go of this Spring?
by Katherine Macey
Somehow during fall and winter, you collected a few more items than you needed. Maybe it’s a primordial urge to hibernate and bring things in for comfort (can that really be necessary in Southern California?), or maybe we spend more time at home during the winter months so more things accumulate. But chances are, whatever you collected, you have things that you could let go of. It’s time for a good spring cleaning, and a good place to start is your closet.
Maybe you have winter clothes that you didn’t get around to wearing this winter. Let them go. Bring out your spring and summer clothes and decorations. Let go of anything that looks tired or you know you won’t use this year. Let spring time be that time for renewal. Allow those things that you won’t use to be returned to the general flow of things in the world. You do not need to be their keeper. Let someone else use them. Donate to a thrift store or a homeless shelter.
Give yourself more space to move, breathe and enjoy life.
I recently went through the sweaters in my drawer. Since I live in Los Angeles, I really don’t need them all that much, but I hadn’t cleared them out in a few years and since I’d been given some as gifts recently, the drawer was getting decidedly difficult to both put the sweaters away and close easily. Time to reduce the frustration and decide which sweaters to let go of. Now it’s easy to put my sweaters away and close the drawer.
Where do you get frustrated by small things? What could you do to change that small frustration?
by Katherine Macey
Have you ever wondered when you realized that taking care of the environment is a good idea? Maybe it was on a family camping trip. Maybe it was watching a nature documentary. Maybe it was at school when they taught you about recycling. At some point, taking care of the environment went from your subconscious to your conscious.
Now you may take little conscious action to take care of the environment, or you may take a lot of conscious action. You may only do what you are forced to do, like not bringing home your groceries in plastic bags anymore because your local grocery store has been mandated not to use plastic bags. You be at the other extreme, making every living decision weighted towards the best environmental outcome. But you are probably somewhere in between. And during National Green Week, thousands of school students will learn a little more about taking care of the environment and how to live more sustainably.
National Green Week (link: http://www.greeneducationfoundation.org/greenweek.html) actually runs from Feb 2 through April 25. Schools around the country choose a week within that time frame and choose a project to focus on during the week. Projects fall under one of six themes: green energy, waste reduction, green thumb, I ride green, green building or sustainable water.
So what does this have to do with business? Well, if school kids can take small steps to being more sustainable in their lives, we can find somewhere to be more sustainable in our businesses.
Even though change can be instituted in large, radical giant steps, change can also be effectively implemented in small, continuous changes. Small changes are often easier to incorporate into your daily routine.
This year our big change goal is to purchase a car with an awesome gas mileage, perhaps even an electric car – we are still researching the options.
Our small change goal is to stop collecting business cards, using our smart phone apps on the spot to collect contact information.
We would love to hear your change goals. Drop us an email, or leave a comment on our facebook page.
by Katherine Macey
Decorating for the holidays can take up a huge amount of time, money, energy, everything! Let’s get down to brass tacks so you can make it manageable, and enjoy your holiday season more.
Do what you have time for
Plan a time to put up your holiday decorations and a time to take them down. A friend of mine got out all of her Halloween decorations 3 weeks beforehand. They’ve been taking up her dining room table for more than a week now, and she’s super busy this week. Guess whether or not she’s going to get her table back this week?
If you have to decorate and you don’t have much time, be judicious about the items you put out. Choose only the ones you really love (and consider giving away the rest). Consider focusing on only a few areas of your house. For example Halloween, you might only decorate your front porch for trick-o-treater’s, no one is going to see your bathroom!
Manage the number of decorations you have
If you’re building up your decorations, it’s fun to add one or two new pieces each year. Maybe you already have plenty of decorations, but can’t resist buying just one more cute thing to put up. In that case, consider the old refrain, “Out with the old, in with the new.” That’s right, live by the following rule: let go of one thing, and bring one thing in. If you really have too many decorations, make this rule: let go of five, and bring one in!
Storing decorations
If you have no room to store holiday decorations, the solution is easy – give them away, recycle them, donate them, or sell them. If you have room to store decorations, choose clear bins to store them. You’ll be able to see the contents and keep the dust out. Put all the decorations that go in each room together. That way it’ll be faster to put them up the next year. Clearly label the outside of the bins. If you have a separate bin (or bins) for each holiday, store them in a relatively inaccessible place. After all, each holiday only comes around once a year. If you have all your decorations in one bin, keep the bin handier because you’ll be accessing it more often.
by Katherine Macey
Are you packing your ghosts and discarding your jack-o’-lantern? Then you know that Thanksgiving is right around the corner, followed by the “busy season” as people prepare for Christmas, Hanukkah, and other solstice-time celebrations. The holidays are a time of joy and celebration, but all too often, stress and sadness come with the season. Family members and friends who have passed away are remembered, and the hubbub of parties, events, and vacation days can strain anyone’s schedule. Greeting cards, family gatherings, decorating, and gift giving all take a bit of work. But a pinch of planning and a dash of restraint can lift your eyes and your heart to see the beauty of the season.
(more…)
by Katherine Macey
You know you need to follow up with your leads, but how do you keep track? If you have a corporate sales background, you will be used to using ACT or SalesForce or a similar enterprise level customer relationship management (CRM) software. And maybe when you transitioned to owning your own business, you kept the same system.
But if you’re a small operation, just you, or you and a few, solutions like ACT and SalesForce can be overly complicated and pricey.
The simplest way to manage your return calls is to schedule them in your calendar. However, this has the disadvantage that a flow of conversations cannot be captured. You might not remember what you said to the contact last time, especially if any length of time has passed since you last spoke. So not only do you need to be reminded to call leads, you need something that can track important details about the conversation.
There are many, many free or inexpensive CRM’s available for the small business owner. My favorite is Podio. Podio is free for teams 5 or fewer and only $9 per person per month over that. Podio is extremely flexible and can also double as a project management tool, and task management system. It has pre-made modules to get you started, but is also completely customizable. Their support people are also very responsive and helpful.
So what’s the best approach when it comes to choosing a CRM for your business? The best way is to start with the questions you want answered and find a system that will deliver those answers for you.
Some of the questions you may have are:
- Can I find my client’s contact information easily?
- Are all the data fields I require available or customizable?
- How does the system remind me to call leads?
- What sort of reporting does the system allow?
- Can you easily track who needs to contact whom?
- Can you easily find out where you should be focusing your efforts based on customer information?
- Does the system integrate with my accounting system/contacts/task list?
- Does the system work on all the necessary platforms (PC, Mac, iPhone, Android, etc.)
- Are the mobile apps suitable or sufficiently sophisticated to handle what I need on the road?
- Can I sync information across platforms and with integrated services?
- How easy is it for my staff to update the information?
- How do we communicate changes?
- How do we communicate tasks that need to be done?
Remember that, as with all productivity tools, your CRM system should support your teams’ productivity, not inhibit it.
If you choose to investigate Podio, and need some help setting up your system, give us a call. We can help get you going.
by Katherine Macey
Many people who struggle with paper management commit three deadly sins:
- They fail to file (or scan and shred) the paperwork they have completed any actions on, but need to keep for future reference
- They fail to prioritize and take action on their action items
- The keep items they do not need mixed in with their other paperwork
The result – they are drowning in paperwork.
This focuses on solving just one of the deadly sins – what to do with your paper action items.
As with any organizing, there is not just one way to deal with your action items. In any case, the aim of any system to deal with your action items should be simple to implement and maintain. It should capture your action items and ensure they can be processed in a timely manner.
Here are five methods for taking care of your action items.
- GTD – getting things done, defined by David Allen
- 4 quadrants – from Stephen Covey
- Tickler system
- Hotel system designed by Dolores Kaytes
- Simple priority system
Let’s look at each in turn.
(more…)
