Ring ring….

Do you take notes while you’re on the phone?  I am a voracious note taker; it’s how I remember things best.  If you’re like me, you might be drowning in little notes from voicemail, conference calls or just plain old phone conversations.  Where do you put it all?  One thing you can do is create a Phone Log.  It can be in whatever form you want.  Here’s some ideas:

Leather bound book: Get something fun like a Moleskin notebook or bound journal.  Whenever you talk with someone on the phone, write down important information like dates, names, phone numbers, conversation details, etc.  If you use this book consistently, you’ll know right where to go when you are looking for your information.

Spiral notebook: If you want quick and easy and inexpensive, a spiral notebook works fine. Same as above with writing down important information and memory joggers.  Keep it by your phone or with you if you are mobile a lot of the time.

Use your Contact Manager: If you use a PDA or laptop with a contact manager, use your Journal feature to keep paperless notes about conversations you’ve had with your contacts.  It’s a great way to track what you’ve talked about, and less paper to deal with.

Not matter what your work style or personality, a Phone Log can help you herd all those little notes and scraps of paper.  Then, when you need the information, it’s in one place.

Well, gotta go, my phone’s ringing!

Perfection, Shmerfection.

The truth is that no one is perfect in the ways we want to think.  I mean really, how interesting would life be if it was always “perfect”.  It reminds me of a commercial I saw about how nice it would be if we lived in a town called “Perfect”.  Honestly, would we really want to live there?  Perfection can be inflexible, rigid and denote an elevated expectation of the unattainable.

Is your perfectionism holding you back from moving forward?

Many of us would consider ourselves perfectionists.  This can cause a lot of grief internally as we put off doing things simply because we can’t do them perfectly.  Looking around at unfinished projects weighs weighs on your mind.   Making even small imperfect progress in anything we do is a vital step to change.  It starts us moving in the right direction, and momentum (and revived motivation) is soon to follow! 

To paraphrase author Dr. Wayne Dyer
, ‘I am making progress if I am better today than I was yesterday’.   Life (and organizing for that matter) are not perfect, but that is what makes the experience we call life an adventure!

“Rest and be thankful.”

- Inscription on stone seat in the Scottish Highlands, and title of one of William Wordsworth’s poems

F

or those of you who work at a home office, moving your home also means that you move your office.  While most people have a few files and a computer to pack up, those who work from home have to take special care of their files, computers, and furniture. Here are a few tips to help your home office move go smoothly.

Take inventory & reorganize your files.

There are plenty of things to do during a move, but it gives you an excellent opportunity to take inventory and do some reorganization of your files. Before you just dump them all into a cardboard box and forget them, look through your files and see which ones you really need. Very important documents (like mortgages, passports, licenses, etc., along with any others you absolutely cannot afford to lose) should be put in your briefcase, or a special file, that comes with you on the day of the move.

For the rest of your files, ask yourself if you really need them; many of the files you have may just be copies of documents you have on your computer, or files you no longer need. Take this opportunity to get rid of them. Shred any documents that may have sensitive personal information. You can use the shredded paper to help cushion other boxes you are packing during your move. The documents that you decide to keep, should be filed and stored in a “Banker’s Box”. Banker’s boxes are specially made for files, and will keep your documents organized and safe during the move.

What books do you really need?

If you keep a collection of reference books or journals, you may want to reconsider bringing them along. Books are heavy, and bulky, and in most cases unnecessary. Reference encyclopedias, dictionaries, journals, et cetera, are now often available for free online, and offer a much quicker and more efficient method of finding the information you need. You can donate any books you no longer need from your bookshelf, and save yourself time and resources during your move, as well as space later on.

Take care of your computer.

If you are working from home, then chances are you rely heavily on your computer. While it is unlikely that your computer will suffer any damage if properly packed, unlikely does not mean impossible. Backing up your files to a CD, DVD, or USB drive is cheap and easy. If you don’t have a recording drive, you can get a 1 gig USB drive for less than $25 at most electronics stores. When backing up your files, look for spreadsheets, text documents, and e-mail, and presentations. This is also a good opportunity to get rid of any files you no longer need, however, because backing files up is relatively inexpensive, you might want to keep all of your data.

Take a good look at the furniture.

Finally, look around your office and determine if your furniture is worth moving. Some desks and chairs can be easily taken apart, and take very little room in a moving truck. Between your desk, cabinets, chair, bookshelves, and other office furniture, you might be taking up quite a bit of room, and it may simply not be worth taking along for long distance moves. Check to see if some of these items can be easily replaced at your destination, or if it is time to invest in a new set of furniture. Consider looking through craigslist or other local papers to see if it might be better to replace the furniture at your destination, rather than bringing it with you.

About the Author:

Ricardo Gonzalez is an intern for uShip, an online marketplace where feedback rated boat transporters compete for your business. For more helpful tips, check out uShip’s page on household moving.

“We must be the change we wish to see in the world.”  - Mahatma Gandhi

Have you checked out Simpleology?  Oh boy, will you be glad you did.  As you probably know by now, I’m all about making life simple & productive.  Afterall, don’t we all deserve getting what we want?

Go check out my guest post at Simpleology: “Simply Organized: Seven Tips to Boost Workspace Productivity”.  Be sure to check out the rest of their site too!

“It is impossible for a man to begin to learn what he thinks he knows.”
- Epictetus

Peter Walsh

(Love his books?  Check out the contest below to win one!)

Krista and I had the pleasure of talking with Peter Walsh of Peter Walsh Designs and a regular on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Here’s the Pearls of Wisdom from the show today:

Quote: “Make room daily for your own time and space, so that you are able to open your door generously to others.”  (LOVE that!)

Peter was an exchange student (Rotary Youth Exchange), as I was!  Living in another country really does give you a different, objective point of view about other cultures. Did you know that the United States has the lowest per capita of issued passports?  Ack!  There’s a big ol’ world out there… go and see it!

Making your bed: Peter would rather put really sharp objects into his nasal cavity than not make his bed.  Your made bed anchors your room, and says to your children that you respect your room and space.  A made bed creates a sense of calm and focus,  when you walk into that space.  Don’t you feel better climbing into a made bed after a long tiring day?  (Think about this: hotels make their beds, so I’m thinking they agree *wink*)

Cooking: Peter and I see eye-to-eye on the cooking thing - nothing is better than taking out some stress in the kitchen.  Will we see the recipe he mentioned?  Look for it soon on my food blog HERE.

“Organized” comes from the same origin as the word “organic”: Natural, whole, complete, human, one…. get the picture?

More stuff doesn’t make you happier.  Hmmm…. have we heard this before?  We chatted about how much people get into debt (5 figures and upward) and what do we get for it?  A house full of junk.

The O Myth this time: “If you don’t use it within one year, toss it out.”   There are exceptions, so CHILL if you have a tux or gown that you only wear every other year. 

Peter mentioned his newsletter, which you can find HERE.

Quote of the day: “The things you have in your home should be beautiful and useful.  What you have in your home should be honored and respected.”

How to find Peter: peterwalshdesign.com

Listen to the show here:  Peter Walsh on The O Myth

And now, for our contest…..

What we’re giving away:  Three books by Peter Walsh:  How to Organize (Just About) Everything
, Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat? and It’s All Too Much

How you can win: Enter a comment below about this tidbit from Oprah.com:

Commit to 10 minutes a day. Start small and start today with the Trash Bag Tango. “Everyone in the house gets two trash bags. Fill one with trash and one with stuff that’s going to [charity] or garage sale. … Do that for 10 minutes a day,” he says. “It doesn’t matter how big or how small the bag is, it’s just small steps.”  (from oprah.com)

Krista is getting extra organizing products out of her garage, and I’m going to work on my “cup” board.

You turn.  :)  What going to do with your 10 minutes?

Contest ends: Dec. 4, 2008 (Be sure to tell use which book you’d like and leave your email so we can contact you if you win.)

** Join us next time on The O Myth: Dec. 5th at 10am PST **

This week on The O Myth: Peter Walsh! You know him, right?  He’s a regular on The Oprah Winfrey Show, and currently working on her “Clean Out Your Messy House Tour”.  He’s a little in-your-face and yet with such a strong conviction for what he does, you can see it in his eyes!  Krista and I had the honor of meeting Peter at the NAPO Conference this year (see the pic below, and read Krista’s story…hee hee…).  He was our keynote speaker, and WOW was he fantastic!  (It turns out he and I were both Rotary Exchange Students!)

Peter will be joining us to talk about getting your stuff in order, and specifically our O Myth, “If you don’t use it within a year, toss it out”.  What’s he going to say?  Join us tomorrow, Nov. 14 at 10am PST on The O Myth to find out!  And if you have a burning question for him, be sure to leave it in the comments below.

“Never explain–your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyway. ”
- Elbert Hubbard

The inbox is NOT a task list.

Oh sure, I know for some people that works well.  But not for me, maybe not for you either.  Here’s some things that can happen if you use your inbox as a task list:

• Emails get missed (like really important ones, from important people)
• Overload: Ever tried to look at Gmail with all the flags and feel like you were drowning?
• “Action” items never actually get done
• Labels look like a patchwork quilt

So, here’s what I did.

1. Put the inbox and task list in separate corners. I separated them back out (I use Remember The Milk), and have a task list and an inbox.  They are related, because…
2. Emails are for backup.  Just like an Action Paper Management system or Tickler File, emails can be things that need to get done.  Think of them as backup materials.
3. Deleted emails after responding.  I picked up this handy little tip from my interview with Peter Shankman.  I’m not a librarian, and I don’t want to have to manage a huge list of dead emails.
4. Create tasks from email interactions.  Such as: “enter Jim’s info into contact manager” or “submit See Jane Work order”.  Keep the email in an @action label (or file), and delete when task is finished.
5. Filter, filter and filter again.  There’s lots of white noise that happens in the Inbox, so filter those babies out.  Less time manually filtering email = more time to do what actually matters.

For a little more reading on managing email, check out this ZenHabits article, “Email Zen”.

Do you use your inbox as a task list?  Why or why not?

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