Greetings!
This
Welcome to the February 2014 edition of the Organized Lifestyle Magazine. This edition is about LOVING your life! This month you'll find a list of the most popular links as voted by our readers in 2013. And, just like we do every month, we'll share tips, strategies and links to practical information for a productive and organized life. Just scroll down for information and inspiration for optimizing your Home, Office, Time and Spirit.
Enjoy!
Deanne Kelleher
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HOME
This is YOUR life
This is your life - you are living it right now while you are reading this email. So, if you have a spot in your life that is depleting your energy or making you feel somewhat less than you really are, then I recommend making a change!
There is no need for 'stuff' to get the better of you and there are professionals to assist you when you feel like that is actually happening.
Ask yourself this one question: do you keep doing (or not doing) the same thing and continue to get the same results? If you answered yes, but those results aren't what you truly want, then give us a call!
Book an Organize My Space package until the end of February and save $60. This will give you two sessions (6 hours) with an Organizing Associate for only $299.
Read the kAos blog for more personal space organizing ideas or scroll through a selection of organizing articles by Style at Home magazine.
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Office
When you aren't sure about where important financial documents are located in your home or office, your brain starts to stress. That stress will increase incrementally as tax time nears. Once your taxes are done (if you submit them), you may feel one of two things: 1) Oh well, it's too late if I missed something or 2) I know I missed a receipt and when I find it I'll resubmit This is very common for those who don't have a trusted system for tracking their financial documents in a way that works for them. Read our Money and Your Mindset blog for personal and business information about money. Click here for a selection of articles specifically written about organizing and your taxes.
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Time
Enough Complaining - Get Tracking
The topic of 'time' is always a concern to people. Recently I spoke to 35 business women in Oakville, ON
and presented the kAos Group Time Management - A Business Perspective seminar to 60 people at the University of Guelph last month. So you can only imagine how much we spoke about time.
Here are a few of my thoughts about time that I hope you find helpful:
- You must know how long a task will take - especially if you can't bill for that time.
- 15 minutes 4 times a day, 6 days a week, on social media equals $15, 000/ year if you value your time at $50/hour.
- Time tracking is imperative if you think you don't have enough time.
- If you continue to tell yourself there isn't enough time your brain will start to believe it.
- Email is not a project. It's a way to process tasks and items into your calendar so you can accurately track where your time is spent.
- We get a rush from answering an email, especially when we are in the middle of an arduous task, because we think that we are being efficient by quickly responding. In truth, we just switched tasks and now our brain requires time to get back to what it was that we were really doing.
- You CAN control how you spend your time.
- Sometimes it's not easy to change the way we work with time.
- You MUST have a start time and an end time for tasks you are working on. Otherwise you'll keep working on it.
- Planning and having processes saves time.
- Creating processes takes time.
Start tracking your time today - click here to download your own weekly template.
I posted these articles in this section last month and think that, after reading my thoughts about time, you might still need some inspiration and kind thoughts to help you along.
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Spirit
Digging Deep for Happy?
It's all too common that I work with exceptional individuals who continuously struggle to say anything positive about how they work. They know they are great at what they do but it's hard for them to celebrate their talents because they are beaten down by thoughts of overwhelm and a feeling of never really getting a handle on the flow of their life.
If you know you are exceptional at the work you do, then please take a moment and pat yourself on the back. Seriously. Right now. Now try doing that a few times a day and then start to think about how you are working. Think about your paper flow when you need to act like you're the accounting department or the HR department. Look at your calendar and schedule in those blocks of time. Review your task list and, if they require time, schedule them into your calendar too.
Check out our blog www.kaosgroup.com/blog to read more about work place and living space organizing. You'll also find a whole section on time management ideas.
Demand that you treat yourself as well as you treat your clients or your team. Be kind to yourself and create processes for getting your work done and closing out your day so that you can clear your mind when you aren't working.
Most importantly, dig deep for what makes you happy. When you know what it is - a quote, a picture, whatever it is - keep it in front of you every day.
Remind yourself what you are doing well and keep working on the rest!
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Quote
"Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do."
Goethe
"It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power."
Alan Cohen
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