Spring Organizing Technology Edition

spring organizing technology

 

Technology tools are an big asset for our day to day living. At the same time these have overtaken our lives. We have devices of all sorts, ranging from cellphones, to smart home lightbulbs, to voice activated assistants.  Our tech needs a little spring cleaning and organizing too!

 

Inventory and edit

Where the heck is the tech in your home? Go through your home and office and find what you have and where it is.  Make a list of what you use and what is required of each.  Label cords with the tech device name and use.  Now you know what’s an older version or a duplicate. Many of us have quickly accumulated older devices as new items come on the market within a three year time frame now. If you have multiple devices that perform the same solutions, think about sending the item on it’s way to someone who can use it.

 

Plan for recycling

There’s electronic recycling all around us.  It’s the right thing to do for our environment. Be sure to clear your device of all your personal information by using the general settings.   For older equipment,  write the date on your calendar of local recycling. If your device is new, you can sell it and make back some of your investment.  Cell phones can be donated to a charity of choice. CellPhones for Soldiers, or local community domestic violence shelters.

 

Choose central storage

Now that you know what you have and what’s left, it’s time to plan for storage.  Choose a central storage spot in your home for technology. Ziplock together the device and cord to store for future use.  Organize the devices by use, such as listening devices like airpods and ear buds or reading devices like nook and kindle.  A drawer in an office, the bottom drawer of your nightstand or a basket in your office cabinet are common storage spaces.

 

Set up a common charging spot

Most important is to set up a common charging spot in your home going forward.  This spot is where all devices are charged overnight for a great night’s rest.  Research proves repeatedly that keeping electronics away from your bedroom improves your rest.  Your family will benefit too. There’s no longer the chaos of lost or borrowed cords for last minute charging or where to find your device on the way out the door.

 

If you are adding a new device this spring, be proactive and get organized with your devices.  It’s one small way to be more organized this year!

 

4 Foundations for Productivity

 

4 foundations for productivity

 

Set yourself up for maximizing your productivity. There are foundational aspects that create the structure to maximize your time and prioritize the tasks.  These include tools and strategies that create a basis for doing your best work.   Here’s the 4 ways to create a foundation for exceptional productivity.

 

Capture all together

If you have post it notes, random scraps, several notebooks and a lot in your head, it’s likely you need a specific capture tool and a capture time.  A capture tool is where all your projects, tasks and ideas are recorded.  It’s tempting to keep it all in your head however it’s not effective.  Decide what’s the best, paper, digital or a hybrid, to capture these elements.

Capture time is the time you are recording.  There’s many ways that can work for you. ASAP is a great strategy, as well as at the beginning and end of the day. Capture by notes, with a voice activated device, or any means that makes this easy. A capture time once a week, with a high level of view of your work, keeps tasks from being overlooked.  I call this weekly planning time.

 

Assessing time

Determining how much time a task or project takes can be the biggest challenge to productivity. It takes practice with the same tasks as well as a knowledge of your strengths and skills.  Break your task into the simplest step and give this your best guess. Then multiply that time by three.  Time yourself as you complete the task and review your success.

 

Assign work times

Completing a project on time, whether it’s taxes or client work, is a true test of productivity. Look at how you structured your weeks, months and quarters. Be sure to schedule chunks of time to work or give yourself an entire day to complete your tasks.  Either way, you know that you can be sure to finish for your deadline.  Remember,  a task that has no time assigned on a calendar is not a task. It’s a wish!

Control the distractions after your assigned work periods.  That’s dificult and necessary.  Those distractions indicate you have lost momentum and energy.  If you find yourself scrolling through Facebook instead of working, take a break, get a drink of water or move your work time to another time of day.

 

Match work and energy

Work when you work best.  Use your lower energy time for when you do less important work. Know your chronotype to do your best work. If you are morning person, get to work on the important stuff first before checking email.  Come back around to work again after dinner if you have an energy spurt. bove all, the best foundation to productivity is rest and rejuvenation. Time away from work, time being creative and time to sit all contribute to being more effective.

 

The best foundation for productivity includes a plan.  Plan for planning time, however your plan should not be too specific and too detailed.  Your plan should be a work flow, incorporating some routines that keep your productivity high.  Complicated, hour by hour planning can be too much to accomplish.

 

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19 Ways to Organize Your Office

 

 

19 ways to organize your office

 

An organized office is the gateway to more productivity.  As in any space, the key is clear areas to work, easy access to what’s most important to use and good routines to keep your space organized.

 

Start with your desk

  1. Everyone needs a good space to work. Your “desk” may be stationary or mobile.
  • Clear what’s on your desk and put it in a box.  Add back in only the tools you use every day to the desk top.
  • Gather papers together in an “unprocessed” wall pocket near the door of your office. Drop items in there that have not been reviewed or triaged.
  • Clear your computer or device desk top by moving documents to the document folder.  Start by creating folders to house the documents.  Do this 15 minutes at a time and you will feel accomplished as your desk top looks clearer and cleaner.
  • Not enough space on your desk? Add a file cart to store papers and access these quickly.

 

Move to the desk drawers

Drawers are not to just stuff away desk top clutter.

  • Designate uses for each drawer.  Top middle or top right drawer works best for immediate access items, such as less frequent tools or checkbooks.  Right file drawer can be set up for frequently accessed resources. Left file drawer can be your “personal” file drawer for snacks, lotions, or extra items.
  • Desk drawers can easily become cluttered. Add organizing trays to your drawers to see exactly where items go.  A pencil tray or shallow baskets help you organized these.
  • Keep the knee space clear under your desk.  It’s easy to accumulate stuff that needs to go home.  Make a point of taking home items every Friday to keep clutter away.

 

Resources and bookshelves

Think vertical and think access for your bookshelves.

  • What resources do you want to keep close and access quickly?  That’s what belongs on your bookshelves.  Your resources can be stored in attractive, consistent appearance notebooks with labels on the spine.
  • Use the top shelf for knickknacks and photos.  Your desk stays clear and you have a space to host family and memorable keepsakes and awards.
  • Remember that on organized bookshelves all books are vertical or staged in a decorative array.  An overpacked bookshelf means it’s time to cull out what is not useful.

Digital organizing

Organizing inside your computer is critical to your productivity.

  • Organizing your email by general topics. Think about the areas of your work and create subfolders in your inbox to save these. Areas might be clients, vendors, or resources. These big categories save you time filing.
  • Set specific times to work your email.  Three times a day is sufficient to work through email.  Add tasks and project to a task list to keep from cluttering your inbox.

 

Paper

The word strikes horror, fear, and overwhelming feelings. Paper work takes a plan.

  • Have a basket, wall pocket or slot for unprocessed papers.  It’s the spot where paper comes as it enters the office.  Having this spot keeps the paper in one area.
  • Be deliberate and brutal about eliminating paper.  Have a recycle and shred zone in your office.
  • A To Be Filed spot helps you keep control of paper.  This slot is a drop area to keep papers until you file.  When the basket or slot is full, it’s time to file (which should be quarterly.)
  • Paper work builds up quickly.  A weekly admin time for one hour helps you keep on top of paper.

 

Keeping organized

Keep your organizing success by keeping your office organized.

  • Each evening set a timer to remind you it’s time to close up shop.  Remember that time when a shop keeper turned the open sign to closed and took the money from the till to the safe?  That’s what we all need to end our day. Make a list of your closing activities to get items back to their slots.
  • Set time weekly to bring items back home to their original spots.
  • After your annual strategic planning or at the new year, evaluate what is in your office and if it serves your purposes this year.

Need help with your office?  Call me!

NAPO and Your Business and Career Success

NAPO and your career and business success

 

It’s exciting to lead our thriving association and get to know smart, professional colleagues in an expanding industry.  It’s thrilling to be at the front of what is a bustling industry. This has been a fantastic year as President of NAPO (National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals) and I want to share my State of NAPO address with you!

NAPO empowers and partners with us in our businesses and careers.

Let me share just one of many NAPO stories with you about our relationships.  It’s a story of us. Amanda Wiss met Eileen Bergman before conference. Many referrals were passed between the two and then there came Urban Clarity’s largest referral amounting to over $50,000.  As a gracious thanks, Amanda gave Eileen tickets to the play Hamilton. And guess the name of that client – Hamilton!

That’s the power of our relationships and our connection to NAPO.

5 Ways NAPO empowers our businesses and careers

That story speaks about one success, however there are many more.  I am speaking today about 5 of these: education, credentials, leadership, financial scaling, and work life integration.

NAPO Education

We’re education junkies and NAPO has the stuff we need.  It’s our certificates, on demand education and bundles. NAPO offers top notch education available affordably and easy access 24/7.  Our NAPO certificates are game changers. I just completed Household Manager Specialist Certificated and loved each class. As Deborah Gussoff, In Place owner says, certificates have given her more education to help her clients. NAPO Education ranks as a top member benefit.

Certification

We have the gold standard here at NAPO. It’s our certification program, the Certified Professional Organizer (CPO).  This is about credibility, education and ethics. As my friend Janice Simon, who works at M.D. Anderson says, certification gives her additional credibility inside an institution that values this.  Congrats to our over 350+ CPOs. We’re growing!

NAPO Leadership

There’s a leader in each of us.  We have opportunities to lead that include major opporutnities and micro volunteering. Our industry has passion for making a difference and these opportunities are available to each of us. As my friend and President – Elect Susie Hayman says, NAPO leadership gives her the opportunity to empower others.  Be sure you are signed up to share your strengths and talents.

Financial Success

No matter how big our financial goals are, NAPO is here to support you in meeting these.  NAPO members can scale their businesses to the size that works for them, can be a team member in a larger business, or decide on a career organizing within another arena or company.  We support financial success in supporting each other. As my friend Lisa Mark says, she and a mentee worked together on a project that included over 35 subcontractors of various forms.  Together they earned 5 figures in 6 days. That’s how we can support and work together to earn what we want.

Work Life Integration

NAPO gives us the opportunity to create balance in our work and life. That’s my NAPO success story. Each Friday I close the week off at 12 noon to start Gigi Friday. That’s when I spend the afternoon with my grandkids.  I appreciate the flexibility of my work and the opportunity to spend every Friday afternoon with my grands.

NAPO is thriving because of each of us and our partnership with NAPO.  As we move forward with our work and careers, there is no limit to what we can accomplish together.

As I end my term, I want to thank each of you for the amazing opportunity to lead our association.  It’s beyond my biggest dream to lead the smartest, most innovative, most collaborative members in our bustling association and a growing industry.