Greetings!
Had
a fantastic start to September, got the chance to spend time with
organising guru Peter Walsh from the Oprah Show, and his own show
debuting in January. He's written several very clear books on
organising and how the bottom line is that it's not about the stuff,
it's about whats going on inside. I had the chance to meet him and work with him two years ago, was excellent to see him again.
Check out the photos on our Facebook page - see the link on the right.
Warm regards,
Karen Koedding
A Little Elf
Australia's First (and Only) Certified Professional Organiser
Live simply, laugh often, love deeply...today!
P.S. Please click on "Update Profile" at the bottom of this
newletter to change your preferences. We have a business newsletter as well.
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Mental Checklists
| Oprah had a sad story on today. Her guest had gotten caught up in all the things she had to do, plus there were some changes to her standard schedule. She was a school principal on the first day of the new school year and her husband wasn't able to drop their youngest off at day care, which was part of his standard schedule. As a result of the differences in this particular day, she tragically forgot that her sleeping baby was in the back seat of the car and left her there while she worked for the day. There is a sad ending to the story, her baby did die. This woman had woken up early, rushed around and out of the house, fit in an extra errand in the morning because she was too early for the daycare, and did not do a mental checklist.
They talked about being overwhelmed and always rushing and asked people to slow down. My clients are always rushing, and every client that ever hired A Little Elf has used the word overwhelmed in our first conversation. I worry about my clients and loved ones and the pressure they put on themselves to do everything.
My minor organising suggestion around this, and I am serious, and not making light of the story above, is to have mental checklists and use them every time.
Times to use a mental checklist:
When leaving your home
When getting in your car
When getting out of your car
When leaving someone else's home
When leaving work
When leaving an appointment
Example of a mental checklist:
When I leave home I make sure I have 4 things:
1. my phone
2. my sunglasses
3. my house & car keys
4. my purse
I repeat this list in my head every time I am about to leave the house. There are times when I get in the car and realise that I did not do my mental checklist and know instinctively that I left one of the items in the house. I also know that I've forgotten something when I get a nagging feeling. Every time I leave with that feeling, I end up turning around and going to get the item that I remember anywhere from 1-5 minutes later.
How could this have helped the woman in the story? I think the bottom line was that she was rushing and worried that she would forget things for the first day which she was already stressed about. These things were blocking her memory. Plus she had the task of the day care drop off which she never did...she was in charge of the daycare pick up. She would have had a better chance of remembering if she had loaded the car the night before with the items that she wanted to bring, or by having a list by the front door to check off. She could have added daycare dropoff to the list and brought the list with her. Maybe doing that extra errand the day before, and by slowing down... sitting in the car with her baby instead of thinking that she had to fit something else in (the extra errand), waiting for the day care to open. What a horrible story for this poor family.
Create your checklist and use it. Take a quiet 10 seconds before you
leave to do the checklist and check your gut to see if it's telling you
something. If there is something to bring with you that you don't
normally take, don't add it to your checklist, it'll confuse you, just leave it or a note
on the floor by the door.
Give yourself help by using mental checklists and writing down extra items on a paper list. And slow down, it's allowed and recommended.
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Ask Rebecca How
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A Little Elf is a proud sponsor of
'Ask Rebecca How...' and their goal setting breakfasts for professional women.
If you'd like to connect with like-minded women in Sydney CBD, arrive with a
goal and leave with an action plan, then 'Rise then Shine' breakfasts are for
you! Every 1st and 3rd Wednesday. Next one is on 15th September, 7am - 8:40am.
Rebecca will share the tools needed to help you extend your
thinking beyond the everyday goals you set at our breakfasts. We'll be
spending 20 minutes at the start of 'Rise then Shine' to help you begin
to develop your own longer term life and career plan. This is a 5-part
series, so that you can build your plan over the next few months, bring
the shorter term goals to our breakfasts and make inroads into your
overall plan! Each part builds on the last but all 5 can be explored in
isolation too, with great effect!
Simply visit the website to book your tickets. Members from $40
/ Visitors from $60.
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| About A Little Elf |  | |
It is a well known fact that disorganisation creates stress. And you carry
this stress around with you everywhere you go. We will help you to get
organized, giving you more time and energy to do the things that are important
to you and a new found freedom from chaos and stress.
A Little Elf provides
organising solutions, ideas, information, and teaches you new skills to
keep up the systems we put in place. We will help you create an organised space
that will increase your productivity and allow you to take control of your
belongings, clutter, paperwork - or whatever it may be that is stopping you
from living a full and productive life, as opposed to these things controlling
you. |
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