Ask the organiser - how do you stay focussed?

My biggest struggle is to keep focused. I start one thing and go to another. Plus the phone and computer waste a lot of my time.

Thanks for your input.
Mary Coalson

Here's my answer

Mary, you are not alone! In fact, I also naturally have a problem staying focussed and yet this is my top productivity tip so I have a few tricks I use which I'm happy to share with you:

1. Eat the frog
I choose only a few things to do every day but I make sure they're important tasks that will move me toward my goals. And here's the important part, I do nothing else til those tasks are done. And then I reward myself.

Some days (like weekends) it's as simple as laundry, cooking and getting us set up for the week ahead and on the weekdays it could be working on an important work project.

I'm hosting a Big Juicy Goals teleseminar tomorrow so one of my big things tomorrow will be preparation for that teleseminar.

2. Remove distractions
Different things distract different sorts of people. I'm not too bothered by the phone because I simply turn mine to silent and check messages and voicemail when I feel like it (once or twice a day, when those Eat the Frog tasks are complete :))

Email, however, is a big problem for me. I'm insanely curious so I have to close down Outlook and have nothing else open on my computer except the task at hand.

3. Use a timer
No need to get fancy; a simple kitchen timer will do. When I'm at work, I can't really use a kitchen timer (because then they'll know I'm weird, instead of just suspecting :)) so I use the timer on my cell phone.

Set the timer for a realistic time but not so long that you can't concentrate. I like to work in 3 X 15-minute blocks and then I take a break unless I'm so close to finishing that I might as well work one extra block of time.

Over to you, dear readers - how do you stay focussed?

Introducing our guest blogger for the office makeover

I'm so excited.

I had many, many great entries to the office organising makeover that made my job really, really hard but I finally selected Anne Alagna at Confessions are good for the soul.

Anne is working through my 7 easy steps to organise your office MP3 and ebook system and she'll be posting here once a week until she's done. I'm putting no pressure on her :)


To give you a taste of Anne's blogging style, go over and read this post where she showed us how she creatively organised her kitchen, which she says is her favourite room in the house.

Mine is, of course, the office. All that yummy paper, computer and email organising :)

Don't forget to come back every Tuesday to read Anne's office organising post.

P.S. If paper is your downfall, there's a free Clear the Paper Clutter book for you in my Organise Your Life Success Pack, over there on the sidebar ----->>>

Friday Decluttering...a day late!

Oh my word. Do you know what no internet does to me???? Makes me crazy.

We've been on holiday for the last week and thank God I delegated email to my virtual assistant just in case because there was absolutely NO SIGNAL up there.

There was one shopping centre with free wifi but after waiting for 20 minutes in the HEAT for the guy to show me how to connect to it (my laptop wasn't showing that little icon and I'm a technophobe as you know), I left, still not knowing, because he was still busy with a customer. Grrr!

Of course that means I couldn't blog yesterday so here we go, a day late :)


Remember we're decluttering and organising in our KITCHENS this month and this week, we're decluttering mugs and glasses.

This is your challenge to throw out any chipped or surplus mugs or glasses that you can't use anywhere else.

(if you don't want to post on the theme, go right ahead and post on whatever you felt like decluttering, or just show us how you store your mugs and glasses :)

Since I wasn't home, I'll show you some boxy t-shirts I unearthed and decluttered before our holiday.

Why do we think that unflattering clothes will hide our unsightly bits?!



Now tell me, did you declutter any mugs or glasses?

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Have a look at the Organise your Home e-course and get your entire home organised in just 12 weeks.

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Now for this week's challenge

Please link to the post on your blog where you show off your pictures and talk about what you decluttered. If you don't have a blog, tell me in the comments about ANYTHING you decluttered this week.

It can be anything - physical, electronic, mental clutter or even the need to be a certain way. Like perfectionism! :)

What did you declutter this week?

Favourite organising tool #14 - mesh bags

These two mesh bags have a very important job in my life.

They help to keep my handbag organised. One has my makeup and the other has the medication I'm taking at the moment and my sweetener.


The pink one came in a set of three (for only R12,99 [$1,30] at Sheet Street - I know, crazy!) and I use the biggest of those to keep all my smaller bits and pieces organised when the handbag I'm using is just one big open cavern.

I can't STAND scratching around looking for things. So all I have to do is haul the mesh bag out, get my wallet or car keys, and I'm good to go.

Why do I like these mesh bags to organise?

• I can categorise
• When I'm transferring items between handbags, I can quickly decide if I need it with me or not
• It's see-through and I have a sincere love for any clear storage tools

Do you use smaller bags to organise your handbag? What other uses can you think of for mesh bags?


Check out the other favourite organising tools posts here

Ask the organiser - tell me your favourite online calendar?

I still haven't got myself a planner and I am still in the process of organising my stuff (schedules, tasks etc) but since i can't seem to find a decent planner I'm opting to go electronic. I can't use my outlook cause it's very slow and i use just my gmail for the emails.

Do you have any suggestions on how I can organise my schedules electronically other than outlook?

Thanks!

--
Ella Pelayo
Virtual Assistant
www.epvirtualassistant.wordpress.com

Here's my answer:


Hi Ella

I am no good with electronic tools because I’m a paper gal ;) but I do use Outlook for my time-based appointments.

I would say gmail because I’ve heard such a lot of good things about it.

For tasks, there are a number of things I’ve played around with like http://simplegtd.com http://tadalist.com and http://rememberthemilk.com

For scheduling I still recommend Outlook but sync it to your phone too so it reminds you of appointments and then, I like to also print out the page for very busy days so I don’t forget anything.

Please help Ella and share your favourite online calendar.

(I'm particularly interested in hearing from Janet, Suzanne and Beth.)

Let's declutter our kitchens this month

We're decluttering and organising in our KITCHENS for the month of Jan and this week, we're decluttering Tupperware. Let's also include old margerine and similar containers that you've been saving just in case you one day have a shortage :)

(if you don't want to post on the theme, go right ahead and post on whatever you felt like decluttering :)

As you know, I declutter very regularly so I only had one sad container to declutter (I won't even bother posting a picture - it's that sad :))

Now tell me, how much Tupperware did you declutter?

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Have a look at the Organise your Home e-course and get your entire home organised in just 12 weeks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now for this week's challenge

Please link to the post on your blog where you show off your pictures and talk about what you decluttered. If you don't have a blog, tell me in the comments about ANYTHING you decluttered this week.

It can be anything - physical, electronic, mental clutter or even the need to be a certain way. Like perfectionism! :)

What did you declutter this week?

Do you share this goal with most people?

I've just been browsing 43 things. There are 99212 people who put "get organised" as a goal and 99764 that put "get organized" as a goal.

WOW!

I have heard before that "get organised" is one of the top 10 goals most people set every year.

I don't believe that getting organised happens instantaneously. You can get the principles instantly but it takes a while to build the habits to stay organised.

It's one thing to organise a space and another thing altogether to keep that space organised.

In fact, clients often say to me, "I can get my _________ organised but a week later, it looks like a tornado hit" :)

That's why I put together a simple, step-by-step system to get your home organised in just 12 weeks.

If this is something on your to-do list this year, then I want you to have that peace that being organised brings.

Read more about Organise your Home here



7 easy steps to organise your office here

and Organise your business here

Here's to an organised 2009!

Organising and storing my jewellery...and when it doesn't quite work

I don't have a lot of jewellery. My thing is watches!

So I really just use a couple of hooks on the inside of my wardrobe door. The problem happens when I just keep throwing necklaces onto the hooks and eventually, it drives me crazy.

Like this - now I know it doesn't look that bad but that's because a hook fell off and I put those necklaces on some of the other hooks.


What did I do? I

• removed everything from the door
• decluttered stuff I never wear
  
• separated them into categories - earrings, pink and white set (only pink stuff I have), work necklaces, bracelets and weekend necklaces
• decided where to put new hooks (somewhat limited by the shelves when you close the door)
• hung everything up again, this time in an organised fashion
  

Voila!

P.S. So they're not the prettiest pictures in the world but they are organised - just keeping it real :)

New format Friday Declutter Challenge for 2009

This is the last challenge for 2008. Wow!

I'm so proud of you, even if you only participated a couple of times.

I've been thinking about doing this challenge a little differently next year.

How about we have a "theme for the week" every week? It will be something small and manageable....what do you think?

(if you don't want to post on the theme, go right ahead :) It's mainly to help those who want more direction and guidance with their organising efforts)

So, some housekeeping...

We're decluttering and organising in our KITCHENS for the month of Jan

2 Jan - Tupperware in the kitchen
9 Jan - Mugs and glasses
16 Jan - Plates & bowls
23 Jan - Cutlery and utensils
30 Jan - Baking pans and cooking stuff

Get your entire home organised in 2009.

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This is what I decluttered this week - some old pyjamas I've outgrown :) - too much of these and these.

This is a great week to declutter some items, especially if you received new __________ for Christmas.

Why hang onto those old __________ ?

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Now for this week's challenge

Please link to the post on your blog where you show off your pictures or talk about what you decluttered this week. If you don't have a blog, tell me in the comments about ANYTHING you decluttered this week.

It can be anything - physical, electronic, mental clutter or even the need to be a certain way. Like perfectionism! :)

What did you declutter this week?



P.S.

Last chance to enter the disorganised office contest

So far I have 4 serious entrants to the competition and other "should I, shouldn't I?" emails.

This is just a courtesy reminder that the disorganised office contest closes at 12PM EST today.

Get your entries in!

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Okay, here's the deal
I'm looking for someone who could use my 7 easy steps to organise your office MP3 and ebook pack.

I will donate a copy to someone free of charge and in exchange, you will guest blog (one post a week for about 4 - 6 weeks, depends how quickly you work through it) as you work through the system and organise your office.

The system covers organising your actual office space, desk, email, computer, etc. so you should have a more organised office than you had when you started :)

It doesn't matter if one or two of your areas are already reasonably under control because even REALLY organised people have used just one or two tips and seen BIG results

This is how you enter

Send me an email to marcia AT organiseyourbusiness.com or leave a comment telling me

if you work at home, work full-time, etc.

which areas of your office need the most help

if you have your own blog (this is not a requirement)

why you want to do this

Entries close at midnight EST tonight (24 Dec).

I'll let the winner know sometime over the weekend and everybody else will get another gift for being brave enough to step up :)