I love my new shiny status as Superstar!  It is a collaboration I participate in just about every month, with other organizers throughout the country. But to me it is really a shining star about collaboration in general. I love to find partners that are a great fit for what I don’t do well.  As a member of this collaboration, I am prompted monthly to submit.  The topic is already chosen, so in many ways it is just following up on a great idea. 

How do I use this collaboration process throughout my work and life?  I find having partners who give you enough information to get started on whatever the task, either with a template or not, and then move forward.  It can be when I want to give a speech, add a new aspect to my business, or even make dinner for our family.  It is always more fun when you work together!

How can collaboration help you get started, get finished or get moving on a goal?

More from this article! http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204296804577124742529431640.html

• Fire up your personal performance.
• Unleash your profit potential™.
• Discover new strategies to manage the demands of running your own business.
• Get a handle on the minutia and details that prevent you from doing the ‘heavy lifting’ to move your business to the next level.
• Quiet the ‘fear voices’ and manifest a larger vision for your company.
• Have a profitable business and time for what’s important to you!
• Live a richer, more fulfilling life
• Have powerful support systems that allow you to free up time and grow your business at the same time.
• And lots more!!  Check out the session descriptions below.

Fire Up Your Biz – Enrich Your Life was born from the 1000s of conversations that we have had with business owners just like you about what holds them back from really going where they want to go with their business.

Join us for the fun and learning!  https://war91778.infusionsoft.com/go/FireUp/EDelap

Ready Aim Organize Organize Your Life Calendar

Theresa Finnegan has designed a fold out easel, day at a glance calendar filled with different daily organizing tips.  I love this calendar because it shares something new each day and keeps organizing a daily priority. You can purchase it at www.readyaimorganize.com

A Confident Mom 2012 Weekly Household Planner

Susan Heid created this weekly planner as a complete way to organize and clean your home throughout the year.  I love this calendar because is captures all the essentials. You can purchase this planner at http://www.theconfidentmom.com/services/classes-products/household-planner-sales-page/.

Order out Of Chaos Academic Planner

Leslie Josel has created an Academic Planner for middle and high schoolers to not just record but also plan their lives.  I love this calendar because it visually represents all the dimensions for kids.  You can order this calendar at http://www.orderoochaos.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=114&Itemid=70

2. Find the best way to do your to do list. It can be paper, computer or on your phone.

3. Organize your purse with zippy cases for makeup, receipts, and other categories.

4. Organize your car by dumping the trash and papers each time you get gas. 

5. Go through your mail every day. Just for 5 minutes and triage the papers.

6. Get ready the night before with your bags by the back door.

7. Make a date with your calendar and lists for Weekly Planning, a time to review what is coming up next week, consolidate your lists, and make a plan. 

8.  Go through your make up drawer and keep what you use daily easy to access.

9.  Go through your email three times a day, making decisions, delegating and deleting.

10.  Establish a weekly meeting at work and home to communicate the week’s plan.

11.  Find partners to help you complete and work through the tough stuff, whatever that may be. 

12.  Prioritize your goals for 2012.  We can’t do it all, all the time.  Decide what is most important this year for your time and energy.

What are your 12 for 12?

When you use the coupon code “2012win”, you will receive 25% off an Annual membership! This discount is the lowest possible price Lorie offers.

Annual memberships are usually $143.40, but with this coupon code your price is 25% off, just $107, good through Monday, January 16 at midnight CDT. In other words, it costs you only $8.92/month to have unlimited access to organizing experts for personal consultations online!

The best part of all– If you are concerned whether this program is right for you, no worries, because your first two weeks are free!  You can sign up for the Annual membership with this coupon code and your card will not be charged until 2 weeks later, and you can cancel at any time. We feel great about recommending Lorie and her team, because there is no risk involved.

 For comparison:
Month-to-month Clutter Diet membership: $17.95/month ($215.40/yr)
Normal price for annual membership: $11.95/month ($143.40/yr prepaid)
Usual price PER HOUR with a professional organizer in person: $75.00+ per HOUR
YOUR PRICE: $8.92/month ($107/yr prepaid)

Get organized with these member resources:

• unlimited access, 7 days a week, to a team of Certified Professional Organizers® for personal consulting in the member area, including photo consultations,  

• easy multimedia tutorials,  
• searchable reference articles, 
• your own customized reminder system, 
• and their exclusive weekly project plans…  

…all for about the price of a box of trash bags or a package of coffee.

Click here 

http://www.clutterdiet.com/idevaffiliate/idevaffiliate.php?id=1403

Choose “ANNUAL” option, and enter the coupon code 2012win to get started with your free two weeks and lock in this very special discount price. After January 16 at midnight, annual memberships will cost $143.40.

Your first week takes you through Lorie’s 7-Day Quickstart [use your affiliate link here] program, a week of focused guidance to help you choose a project, plan it out, and get it DONE! Then you get an additional 7 days of full access and support at no charge before your special discount price is applied.

FTC Disclosure: Occasionally in this newsletter we may have links to other companies’ products which provide us with a commission if you purchase from our link. We want you to know that we feature only products here that we absolutely believe in and getting a commission on them is just a smart bonus if we happen to have a link available to us… We are at all times looking out for what is best for our readers and our reputation. Thank you!

Join Ellen Delap CPO® in February 2012 for Professional-Organizer.com’s  Clutter Support Group. This membership based group is the starting point for your journey in transforming your life, helping you define, establish and maintain an uncluttered lifestyle. 

Professional-Organizer.com’s Clutter Support Group is a four week, 1 ½ hour program where members support each other every week.  Members will work on individual projects, read along in the book The Other Side Of Organized, and discuss organizing solutions.  Fee is $100 for the sessions, book and related materials.  Register by January 25.  There is a limited membership.  For information and to register, call 281.360.3928 or visit www.professional-organizer.com.

• Discover your unique strengths and how these contribute to your happiness and resilience
• Learn your organizing style
• Enjoy sessions on wellness, photography, and fashion
• Relax and rejuvenate at the spa, walking the beach and reflecting
• Share and bond with engaging and energized women

Register Now:
Event: Take Back Your Life … By the Sea
Date: January 27-29, 2012
Location: San Luis Resort, 5222 Seawall Blvd, Galveston TX »
Cost: $295.00
Includes: Fees include all workshop materials as well as breakfast and lunch Saturday, and breakfast Sunday.
Hotel Fees: $139 per night, single or double occupancy

REGISTER EARLY »
via email or call 281-360-3928

Registration deadline January 10, 2012

Join the UH SBDC as they team up with the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) to bring you an exciting and informative session on the latest ideas and solutions for organizing your business.  NAPO is a group of over 4,000 professional organizers dedicated to helping individuals and businesses bring order and efficiency to their lives. January is national GO – Get Organized month so make plans now to attend.  You will receive strategies for email productivity, must-have guidelines for organizing your business finances, and secrets for organizing and preparing your desk and workspace for immediate impact.

NAPO speakers include:

Holly Uverity, CPO®, Office Organizers – The Entrepreneur’s Organizer™

Ellen R. Delap, CPO®, Professional-Organizer.com

Gayle Goddard, The Clutter Fairy

Breakfast included.

Working with paper if you are ADD/ADHD, hone in on your strengths and personalize your systems and routines.  Start by facing the fear, overwhelm and hatred (yes, a powerful emotion) about paper.   It is an evil monster, an anchor, and the enemy. But  now that we have vented, we are ready.   Paper may never be easy, but something we can work through.

Be brutal about what to keep and what to toss.  Often we are keeping way to much!  Using these resources, as well as asking your accountant,  you will keep less and work with less paper.

http://www.oprah.com/home/The-ABCs-of-Important-Papers

http://www.realsimple.com/home-organizing/5-steps-to-simpler-record-keeping-10000000688976/index.html

Keep paper from even coming in your home. Drop paper at the gas station when you are filling up. Shred paper by having a baby shredder in the kitchen.  Say no to receipts for gas.

It is very important to create “slots” to drop your paper. 

• Everyone needs a command center with easy access.   Here is where papers that need action start.  If you need to have a basket just to hold paper until “processed,” it can sit where you normally drop the paper.  In the command center are the actions you need to do.  Label the slots with what you call these items. Action, Pay, File are all required here.  But in addition you might have Pending, one for each of your kids and your partner, Receipts, and Contacts. 
• Next step is to create your files, which are the papers you will reference in the next year.  First decide what to keep and how long.  Don’t get overwhelmed, thinking about how much you have back logged on paper here.  Just work in 15 minute segments with a timer.  Everyone can do this for 15 minutes!  Start with general categories, like Auto/Home, Finance and Personal.  Keeping categories general makes it simple to file and simpler filing means more filing! 
• Add an archive section for required papers. This includes your taxes, legal documents, and other long term papers. You may need to add a section for investments that are getting to be a very large volume.
• Keep your important documents like birth certificates, marriage certificates, divorce decrees, wills and related papers in a safe or safe deposit box.  You will always know where these are.

Sounds like a big project? Get help each step of the way with a professional organizer, trusted friend or reliable assistant in turning your paper  into a workable system. It is worth the work to create what works for you!