The Home Office Organizer

On Thursdays I share a quote that I hope will inspire, make you think or just make you smile. Here is this week’s quote.  Merlin Mann of 43 Folders gives a talk at Google about managing email (and suggests some great options they could explore).  Enjoy!

Here’s the latest version of my favorite links. Enjoy!

Web Worker Daily gives some great tips on using a whiteboard. One of them is for brainstorming, and I admit I do this and then put it the finished project into a Powerpoint slide.

Levenger has a great article about organizing a home office. They have some good tips about multi-use home offices if you are just setting up your office.

My Design Secrets is a developing directory of decorating sources. I read about it in my local paper, and had to share. Great place to get ideas if you are remodeling, rearranging or redesigning soon.

Zenhabits’ article about “editing” your workspace. I especially love the “quick not about productivity. It’s pretty much how I feel about productivity: it’s not that we have to do more and more and more… it’s that when we are more effective with our time and get our work done, we can spend time doing other things we love.

43 Folders: “Inbox Zero” Email can rule your life, and recently I heard someone call it the bane of our existence.  What we need is a system, and some fierce, ninja-like tactics to get the stuff under control.  That, and not checking the inbox every 10 minutes.  ;)  (Check out Merlin’s talk at Google, very good stuff!)

On Thursdays I share a quote that I hope will inspire, make you think or just make you smile. Here is this week’s quote:

“Not what we have, but what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance.”
- John petit-senn

(photo by Savannah Grandfather, on flickr)

Feng Shui (Krista likes to call it “Mishee-Mushu”) & Organization, they work well together! We had Gwynne Warner of 10K Blessings Feng Shui. We had a good ol’ time! Here’s a few notes from the show:

• Desks: keep them big, with room for opportunities! Gwynne made it pretty clear that making space for breathing and success is so important. Krista and I were so proud of our big desks! (Does this count for
• List and then take care of your “drags”: make a list of things that are dragging you down, physically, emotionally or little projects around your office or home. Then, pull out your calendar and mark down a time to take care of them. Love that!

** Update: Gwynne was kind enough to send this great list about good Feng Shui in the home office.

Desks:

• Newly purchased so you don’t inherit predecessor chi
• Wooden (no glass)
• Must have main desk to return to if work have mobile office
• Shapes: square or rectangular desk for accomplishing tasks; circular desk for creative needs
• Receptionist desk curved at front
• Desk must be large enough (not too big, not too small)
• A full front panel

Chairs:

• Newly purchased so you don’t inherit predecessor chi
• Solid-backed
• Goes at least to your shoulders

We also talked about a great book about Feng Shui by Karen Kingston: Clear Your Clutter With Feng Shui

Join us next time with Melissa Michaels, The Style Coach and the woman behind the curtain at The Inspired Room!

Are you a creative person? Do you have more ideas than you can handle? What do you do with them all?

I was watching Donny Deutsch’s “The Big Idea” this evening. LOVE that show! He had a really interesting panel tonight on creativity. There was a link to a Creativity Inventory to determine how creative you are.  I took the inventory, and scored an 89 out of 100.

I’m the type of person that has a zillion ideas running around in my head.  So many, that it’s a challenge to keep up and make sure I capture the good ones in some way.  So, I’ve worked out ways to keep track of ideas and inspiration as they come along:

• Capture them at bedtime.  I’m a night person, and if I don’t get horizontal before a certain time at night, but brain turns on.  Sleep then evades me for quite a while.  So, I keep a small notebook at my bedside to write down the good stuff, and other random thoughts that pop up in my brain.  This calms my fears that I won’t remember stuff in the morning.
• “Morning pages”.  I use a large journal and write three pages first thing in the morning.  I keep it at my bedside so I can roll over and grab it.  It’s a great way to clear out my head in a stream of consciousness kind of way.  I’ve discovered and processed some really interesting stuff this way!
• Travelling journal.  I have a small notebook I keep with me at all times.  It has a specific section in it for “Ideas”.  Whenever something strikes me, I write it down (of course, if I’m driving I pull over to do this).  I also use this same notebook for meeting notes (with people, organizations, lectures, whatever).  Sometimes I get a brilliant idea in the middle of something, so I write it down!
• Record it.  I have a small recorder on my smartphone so I can capture ideas if I somehow don’t have paper and pen.
• Put them on the calendar!  Ideas are great, but if they are just captured and never implemented, they don’t do much good.  So, I take the ones I feel strongly about and put them on a long or short term Project or Task list.  Dates will get the stuff in motion.  (One of the ideas I captured a year ago became my new talk show, The O-Myth!)

That’s how I capture my ideas and inspiration.  How about you?

If you’d like to take the Creativity Inventory, here’s the link:

It’s not too late to enter our contest!

The O-Myth Contest: Share an organization tip or an “O-Myth” and you can win a whoMi wall family calendar. Leave your comment below, along with your email to be entered in the contest.

Winners will be announced tomorrow on our show, June 20th!  You have until 8:30am PST to enter, so don’t miss out!

Tomorrow, June 20th, The O-Myth welcomes Gwynne Warner of 10K Blessings Feng Shui.  Gwynne is a Feng Shui Consultant and all around fun gal!  We’re going to be discussing the O-Myth:  “A place for everything, and everything in its place”.

Join us tomorrow, June 20th at 10am (PST) on The O-Myth on BlogTalkRadio!

On Thursdays I share a quote that I hope will inspire, make you think or just make you smile. Here is this week’s quote:

“He who does not get fun and enjoyment out of every day… needs to reorganize his life.”
-George M. Adams

(photo by Joyseph on flickr)

On Thursdays I share a quote that I hope will inspire, make you think or just make you smile. Here is this week’s quote:

“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler.”
- Albert Einstein

(photo by Sarah Jane, on flickr)

The O-Myth Contest: Share a tip or an “O-Myth” and you can win a whoMi wall family calendar. Leave your comment below, along with your email to be entered in the contest.

Winners will be announced on our next show, June 20th!

Today on The O-Myth:

Today Krista Colvin and I had our first O-Myth BlogTalkRadio show! We were happy to have Ronnie Noize, The Marketing Coach joining us to talk about how there’s just never enough time in the day. Ever felt that way? Here’s a few things Ronnie shared with us today:

• Use systems to make life easier: Routines and tracking systems will go a long way to making life easier.
• Systems make sure things get done: Ever gone through your day and wondered what the heck you accomplished? Too many of us live life unconsciously and don’t get to the things we want or need to do. Using routines and systems help you go about your day with purpose!
• Email doesn’t have to rule your life: This was especially insightful. Ronnie shared with us that she doesn’t read every email she gets. Some people will use email to get too familiar or ask for things they wouldn’t otherwise. She heavily screens her email, and not all of them are opened (some are just flat out deleted). Very interesting, and caused me to think…

If you couldn’t make it live, you can listen to the audio here.

Don’t want to miss the next show? Scroll down on the home page, and subscribe with an RSS Reader or with iTunes. You can also have a reminder sent to your email or cell phone!

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Don’t forget to enter The O-Myth Contest: Share a tip or an “O-Myth” below to win the whoMi calendar. You can also check out the other entries on Krista’s blog. Good luck to everyone who enters!

Begins Friday, June 6th at 10am PST on Blog Talk Radio!

Yes, it’s true, I’m hittin’ the internet airwaves with my lovely co-host, Krista Colvin. The show is all about “Overcoming Organization Overwhelm”. We’re a little kooky and love to have a good time, but we also are ready to give you tips and inspiration you can use. We also have a fabulous group of guests lined up, so be sure to check out the schedule link below. In case you want a little taste of what the show will be like, here’s a sneak peak into our zany, fun and off-the-cuff style. To view the latest schedule, listen in on the show, bookmark it, get reminders about the show’s air dates and time or download audios of the show (coming soon) check out the show’s main page here:

The O Myth: it’s all about helping you overcome organization overwhelm and having fun doing it! We’re going to have a great time, so see you there!