LOGBOOK
Wild March winds inspire me to clean out. I need a certain ferocious energy to decisively de-clutter. When I feel it rise up, I shift my plans to take full advantage of it. The process is both internal and external as open space not only leaves me feeling calm and grounded, but also brings sharper focus. I know what my priorities are and I stop worrying about what is lurking in the piles on my desk and floor. Here's to space and focus in your life.
Deb
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RESUPPLY
Peter Walsh discusses various types of clutter that stop people from living their lives. 2 minutesHe also shares insights on how to de-clutter and become better organized. 3 minutes
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Scouting?
For more information,
to engage us in a dialogue about courageous leadership, and/or to schedule a free 30-minute, sample, coaching-session,
click here to email us.
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 Reading the waters
Clutter can weigh heavily on us as the dis-order starts to reduce our clarity and productivity. Piles that started out with a semblance of meaning become a disarray of information that can no longer serve us. How do you deal with all the information and paper coming at you? Is disorder interfering with your momentum and peace of mind? We asked a few leaders we know for their insights.
Lavon Bartel, former Dean of University of Maine Cooperative Extension, would set aside time at the beginning or end of the day to sort email and papers with the aim of touching them only once, though she didn't always succeed in this. "You have to get good at throwing things out. What I didn't throw out I sorted into three piles: things that needed my attention in the next day or two; within a week; and when I got to it. However, I when I went back to the last pile in a week or two, I could usually throw most of it out. The goal is to develop just enough organization so that when you need to find something, you can or else it causes stress." Lavon is reading the book, A Perfect Mess: the Hidden Benefits of Disorder and says that while American and corporate culture puts a high value on clean desks, they may not be that important. On the other hand, spending time fretting about not having a clean desk does no one any good.
Elaine Cale, Executive Director of the Washington County Children's Program, deals with a lot of paper. She recommends being prepared to handle and organize what regularly comes across your desk (e.g. putting it in a file or binder). While she finds scheduling time to do this on a regular basis difficult, however, the resulting feeling of knowing where things are and knowing what you are doing the next day, rather than being scattered, makes it well worth it.
How do you address the mounting chaos in your office? What strategies or tips do you have? We welcome your insights and experience. |
Steering the Course
Professional development to support your leadership:
LEADERSHIP
SUSTAINABILITY: How
sustainable are you as a leader?
Are
you thriving? Are competing demands pulling you in too many
directions? Are you out of balance? Is your position as a leader one that
keeps you isolated from peers who could offer valuable perspectives? Come
to this free, 90-minute session, Thursday, April 28th, from 3:30-5, with
other leaders from the community to explore these critical issues, engage in
lively dialogue, and come away with some personalized strategies for your
leadership sustainability. Carol Carriuolo will facilitate this
interactive session.
This
session is open to anyone who identifies themselves as a leader, is an
executive director, a board chair, a manager, or a community leader. If there
is interest, the possibility of an ongoing group will be discussed.
RSVP
required. Space is limited. Reply today to reserve a place. Where:
Downtown Lewiston, location will be sent with your confirmation
Who:
any leader interested in exploring this topic STRENGTHENING YOUR SKILLS AS A BOARD CHAIR: Board chair consultation groups. Board chairs are volunteers with significant responsibility for the oversight, stewardship, and planning for the sustainability of their nonprofit. Meet with other board chairs in a facilitated and confidential forum to expand your knowledge about your role, build a toolkit of resources to maximize your effectiveness, and discuss issues of relevance. Each session will use a combination of best practice presentation, discussion, peer consultations and case study inquiry. Sign up now and take your board leadership to the next level. 4 sessions, 2-hours per session, meets monthly. Forward this newsletter to your board chair. Register now.
Cost: $250 - a $150 deposit will reserve a place for you.
Bangor: 4-6PM, Tuesdays, April 13, May 11, June 1, June 29 SHIFTING THE BALANCE. Often our professional lives require our attention to be diffused in so many directions that our personal and professional goals get put to the side. It is easy to get out of balance. We are offering facilitated groups (4-6 participants) to focus on shifting into better balance. Over the course of five two-hour sessions, participants will identify and commit to taking actions that are critically important to them, but are continuously overlooked. The first four meetings will occur every other week for two hours. The fifth and final session will be scheduled a month later for check-in, peer support, accountability, and tune-ups. Is there something that you have been wanting to move forward in your life? Are you looking to re-adjust for more balance? This group is open to anyone in any role who is interested; it will start after 4 individuals have registered. We will collaborate on setting dates that work for everyone. Fee: $250. Location: teleconference, Augusta, and Portland. Contact Carol with your interest/questions or to register. PADDLING THE RAPIDS FOR EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS IN THE LEWISTON AREA, a new group is forming. It's format and design will reflect the expressed needs of the participants. Are you interested? |
Guidebook
Clutter has become a new buzzword attracting the attention of network television. There are now shows and reality tv focused on clutter to the extreme - aka, hoarding. A brief search uncovered numerous books that may offer insights. Here are few that caught our attention: A Perfect Mess: the Hidden Benefits of Disorder - How crowded closets, cluttered offices and on-the-fly planning make the world a better place by Eric Abrahamson and David H. Freedman. A Perfect Mess shatters the myths and misunderstandings about messiness and disorder that have led to an often pointless, counterproductive and demoralizing bias toward neatness and organization in our society. Drawing on examples from business, parenting, cooking, the war on terrorism, retail stores and even the meteoric career of Arnold Schwarzenegger, A Perfect Mess demonstrates that moderately messy systems use resources more efficiently, spur creativity, yield better solutions and are harder to break than neat ones. Clutter busting: Letting Go of What's Holding You Back by Brooks Palmer See the true nature of clutter, and become aware of what is serving you in your life and what isn't. This book tells you how to let go of the clutter in your life so you can enjoy it to its fullest right now. In it, Brooks shares engaging and instructive tales from the Clutter Busting front lines so you can be encouraged by how others were able to let go of their clutter.
Enough Already!: Clearing Mental Clutter to Become the Best You by Peter Walsh addresses the crazy imbalance and stress caused by clutter. Does it seem like everything is moving so fast these days you can barely keep up? Do you sometimes feel that your life is spinning out of control? Most of us are so overwhelmed by the stuff in our daily lives -- work, bills, family commitments, demands from our kids' schools -- that we rush from person to person and place to place. For many of us, life feels completely out of balance because we give one area of our lives too much attention and the other areas nowhere near enough. Tools and tips for tackling clutter. |
Navigation Tool
Is your email in-box
overflowing?
Here is one tip that may
help you keep all those juicy and interesting e-newsletters that you subscribe
to organized and off to the side until you can get to them:
Put 'filters' or 'rules'
to work for your sanity. You can
set them up to organize emails into folders as they are being
downloaded - before they even get to your in-box. Name as many folders
as you need that will work intuitively for you at a glance. Filters will remove them
from the in-box and allow you to view only the emails that may require a more immediate response. Then when you have a minute you can go
to the specific folder to read the newsletters. Each mail program is slightly different - go to the "help"
menu in your mail program to find the steps to put filters to work for
you. This will easily de-clutter
your in-box!
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