Getting organized is usually at the top of everyone’s

New Year’s resolution list in January.

…and goes by the wayside in February.

You cannot get organized if you do not have a plan.  In conjunction with your personal planner, I have just released Organize for 2010 . This planner is for your organization projects!

Cool, I know… This planner lays out your organizing projects by month and and by theme.  It gives you a place to make notes and set due dates.  Best of all it’s simple to use and encourages rewarding yourself when you have accomplished the monthly projects!

You can order your electronic copy now for only $10.00.

The first 20 people who order will also receive an instructional video that I have recorded to show you how to use the Organize for 2010 planner.

January is National GO (get Organized) Month. I have declared each Friday in January to be Fantastic Fridays! We all need to be encouraged with our New Year resolutions. If one of your goals for the New Year is to simplify, pare down, or get more organized then this is the blog for you. For the 5 Fantastic Fridays of January, I will post an article here with a video for you.

You know the saying, “Can’t see the forest for the trees”. This is a challenge because we can get so hyper focused. We want to get organized or be more productive but we are stuck in our regular “mode” and can’t see a solution. So we trudge along, just putting out fires, only dealing with the urgent. We need to look at the bigger picture and then break our tasks (or projects) into the small, manageable chunks. We need to become more proactive rather than reactive.

But how can we do this? How do we get enough clarity to see the big picture? There are a few solutions to try:

1. Take yourself out of the environment and create a vision for how you would like to be organized or how you would like to handle the project at hand. If you cannot create this vision then start a list of what you know you do NOT want and then turn that information into the positive. Work on the vision until you feel that it contains everything that you desire.
2. Get a body double. Don’t worry, I’m not talking about cloning here. A body double is a term used by professional organizers to describe a person who can be your sounding board. That outside objectivity can help you to see your project in a whole new light. They can ask questions that spark a shift in your perspective or help you gain clarity.
3. Hire a professional. A professional organizer is trained to see the whole scope of the project. We have experience in project management. This relates to your space as well as your tasks. Just as a personal trainer helps you to exercise and tone your body, an organizer helps you discover the right plan for your organizing projects and tasks. We will also work with you to transfer skills so that you can manage future projects on your own.

If you need some help to “see the forest”, I’d love to hear from you. Post a comment here or email me at info@organizedhabits.com.

As a small business entrepreneur, I was blogging back in 2005. Then after a somewhat diligent attempt, I dropped the project all together. NOW, however, blogging is more of a lifestyle than an obligation so I am happy to revive the old blog in an effort to change the world… Lofty goal, I know, I just want the world to purge, recycle, and get organized! In the era of materialism and consumerism, we have gotten out of control with our personal property.
The older folks are said to be collectors of tons of stuff because they lived through the Depression when times were hard, and the next meal was hard to come by. The next generations, learned by example, and began to take it to the next level. More is better, more is an indicator of wealth. So we collected collections, started shopping online and at big box stores, working longer and harder and, alas, now we have STUFF everywhere! The stuff in our lives makes things more complicated, stresses us out, and steals the joy from our lives.
There is hope for the future. I want to be part of the solution by providing ideas and tips to help Americans reduce what they have. We have taken years to accumulate the collections and clutter so now we must focus on eliminated the superfluous one step at a time. I hope you come back often for small nuggets of organizing knowledge to help enhance your life through the elimination of the stuff.