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.

That’s the tagline of this blog. What does it mean for you? Life is a busy place and it seems that as technology speeds up, so do we. On our “hamster wheels”, that is– running and running yet staying in the same place. We are trying to keep pace with everything that we are responsible for, interested in, and planning for in the future. How do you keep up with everything? There are as many techniques and tips for this as there are blogs on the web. What matters is what works for you.

The first step for making room for life is to identify what is important to you. Let’s look at a few questions to know where our focus should be:

• What makes you happy? What motivates you?
• Who is your life shared with? Who impacts your life?
• Where are you in the journey of life? Where do you want to be?
• Why do you get up in the morning?
• When was the last time you felt in control of your life, instead of your life running you?
• How has you life changed over that past two to five years?

I found a blog recently, Personal Growth Map, that I think speaks to Making Room for Life. The writer, Haider, talks about balance. Not just work/life balance; he identifies that there are seven areas of our life that require our attention. They are:

1. Spiritual
2. Physical
3. Social
4. Intellectual
5. Psychological
6. Professional
7. Recreational

It is obvious that some of these areas require more time than others but inevitably in order to be balanced we must be constantly improving ourselves in every area. With that in mind, I will endeavor to search out and provide a few techniques for each area. These techniques will be discussed over the next few weeks.

Keep in mind that all the techniques revealed here are not meant to solve all the issues in your need for balance, rather these will hopefully be fuel for motivating you. Allowing you to create room in your life to make changes for the better. To help you simplify the complicated and to give you room to be inspired to reach your goals.

I have started to listen to Making It All Work, by David Allen. Yes, I said listen as I downloaded the audiobook. It’s a great way to “get things done” (hehe), no really I can listen as I drive. I am already well into chapter 2 and here are the first nuggets I have harvested:

• GTD (Getting Things Done – the methodology) is not just about email and filing solutions, it has underlying principles that you can use in all areas of your life.
• GTD is not a system, but a systematic approach. Therefore you can adapt it to your “system”.
• Before beginning to organize something, you must capture and then clarify. David Allen recommends starting with what he calls a “reality inventory”.
• Change often evokes stress. Are you confident that you can deal with change?
• GTD works for everyone. As we all desire more freedom, not more work.

David Allen – Making It All Work

David Allen is well known for Getting Things Done- his best selling productivity book that has helped millions. He has now published another book called Making It All Work. It is the new success building tool kit for 2009! Click the link above to hear David Allen give an interview about this amazing new book!

Talks about:

• what’s on your mind: the bottlenecks and the holding tank
• being responsible to manage what’s going on in your head
• being addicted to stress
• the need for mental intelligence
• 5 things you need to do to get control
• 6 horizons of focus

Stay tuned in the coming weeks as I deliver tidbits from Making It All Work!

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.

Well, I haven’t posted in a few days (make that over a week now).

I have just had carpul tunnel release surgery on my left hand. Thank goodness I’m right handed, right? Wrong! I need this left hand to type on the computer and do all the organizing that I do! If you could see how many mistakes I’m making just typing this, you… well you wouldn’t be able to read it! So to keep it short here are just a few quick tips:

1. Use a business card holder in your purse or tote bag to hold all those java punch cards, discount cards, and gift cards you have to use up.
2. If you have a place where you store your gift bags and wrapping paper, why not add a pair of scissors and tape? When it’s time to wrap, it’s all right there and saves you time.
3. Don’t let flyers with upcoming events clutter your life. Write the information in your day planner, calendar, or pda as soon as you get it and get rid of the paper!
4. Have a few “kitchen only” cleaning rags. Write “kitchen” on them with permanent marker so your loved ones don’t use it on the car or the toilet.
5. Store your seasonal clothing in your suitcases… they’re empty and taking up space, right?
6. Use towel hooks in the bathroom instead of towel bars, the towels will be hung up more often because it’s quick and easy.