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D.E.C.I.D.E.™ to be Organized! by Lisa Montanaro

Achieve Results at Home, at Work, and in Life!

The purpose of the DECIDE™ to be Organized blog is to motivate, inspire and empower success-minded individuals and busy professionals to achieve results at home, at work, and in life. The blog is a great clearing-house for me to share ideas, tips, information, expertise, and musings as I draw upon my experience as an organizer, business & life coach, and speaker (as well as my background as an attorney!). Hopefully, it will prove to be a valuable source of information to you, along with a little entertainment at times. So sit back, relax, get a cup of coffee (or tea!) and come along for the ride.

Latest Posts:


Stop the Madness: Get Off of Junk Mail Lists! A large percentage of my clients face paper clutter challenges. Despite visions of a paperless society when the computer was invented, we are still inundated with paper at home and at work. One of the biggest culprits is "junk mail" — those credit card solicitations, catalogs, circulars, and the like that you don't want or need, but that still keep coming. Experts estimate that the average person receives 41 pounds of junk mail per year. How to stop the madness? Here are some great resources for helping you whittle down the amount of junk mail that comes into your home or office in the first place. Read more... posted on: 11/18/2009 1:30:00 PM by Lisa Montanaro category: General Organizing Tips

Want to Avoid Getting Sidetracked? Own Your Interruptions! Imagine you are on a roll, engrossed in a project, in the "flow." All of a sudden, the phone rings, an e-mail alarm goes off, a colleague is standing in your doorway, a fax is coming over the machine, etc. Ah, interruptions. If you didn't define all of those as an interruption, think again. Experts estimate that the average American is interrupted 73 times per day. Some people find this number to be high, others find it extremely low. It depends on what your definition of an interruption is. My definition is anything that you didn't want to, or expect to, happen at that time. I equate an interruption to a weed in my garden – if it doesn't belong there, or if I don't want it there, it is a weed. Same with an... Read more... posted on: 11/11/2009 1:30:00 PM by Lisa Montanaro category: General Organizing Tips

How to Survive the Daily E-Mail Attack For most people these days, keeping up with the daily onslaught of email is a major challenge. In fact, experts estimate that e-mail has added an extra 1.23 hours to the average person's workday (E-Writing: 21st Century Tools for Effective Communication by Diana Booher; Managing Your E-Mail by Christina Cavanagh). If you multiply 1.23 hours by 5 days for 52 weeks, the average person is spending 320 hours per year of extra time handling e-mail. Wow! That is a lot of time spent on email. And experts estimate that the time lost to email has caused workers to shave time elsewhere, causing a productivity crunch. According to The Wall Street Journal, the average U.S. worker spends up to... Read more... posted on: 11/4/2009 1:30:00 PM by Lisa Montanaro category: General Organizing Tips

To-Do Lists: You Gotta Keep 'em Separated To-do lists. Just the name of them sounds exhausting. They have become the thorn in many of my client's side. Whether they are written in long form on paper, or maintained electronically on a computer or handheld device, they cause much stress. And here's one reason why. Most people unknowingly combine their master to-do list and daily to-do list together. This one act causes the list to become lengthy and overwhelming, which in turn almost guarantees failure. The person with this massive all-in-one to-do list will either abort the list altogether, or try desperately to get tasks done, all the while feeling inadequate and like a failure due to his or her inability to accomplish the items... Read more... posted on: 10/28/2009 1:30:00 PM by Lisa Montanaro category: General Organizing Tips

Donate Your Cast-Off Clothing to Worthy Charities "I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver." ~ Maya Angelou This time of year, many people are switching their clothes to prepare for the new season. Most people do not have enough room in their everyday closet for two seasons' worth of clothes. So the big switch begins! Out with the summer clothes here in the Northeast and in with the fall/winter ones. Transition times are perfect for donating. As you put away and take out each article of clothing, think about whether it fits, is a great style for you, needs tailoring, etc. If you decide to donate, there are many worthy charities and organizations ready and able to take those clothes off of your hands and get them into the hands of those who need them. Here are some choices: The Help Kenya Project This is a Westchester County, NY based charity that focuses on helping the children of Kenya. They collect donations of used computers, books, clothing, sports equipment, and other supplies and ship them to Kenyan schools and libraries. In return, they ask that the recipients plant trees to combat deforestation and provide children with a place to rest and play out of the sun. It's incredible how valuable these donations are to a Kenyan child. This is a charity that truly leaves a lasting impact. Vietnam Veterans of America ... Read more... posted on: 10/21/2009 1:30:00 PM by Lisa Montanaro category: General Organizing Tips

Drowning in Paper Clutter? Grab a RAFT & Sail to an Organized Shore! Paper. It should be a benign part of our lives. It means no harm, really. But somehow, when it piles up and has a paper party with its friends, it becomes dreaded clutter! What to do? Grab a RAFT and sail to an organized shore! (Okay, technically, it should be RAFTS, plural, but that just didn't work well in a sentence, so allow me some leeway.) Sort your mail daily – use the RAFTS method: Recycle – Junk mail that is not confidential. Act – Bills to pay, invitations to RSVP to, forms to fill out, etc. File – Vital documents that must be kept long term (only 20% of paper needs to be... Read more... posted on: 10/14/2009 1:30:00 PM by Lisa Montanaro category: General Organizing Tips

Attempting to Get Organized? Take it 'Bird by Bird' One of the best books on writing – and life itself for that matter – is Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. Among the pearls of wisdom she offers in her funny, witty style, is to take baby steps. Apparently, when she was a child, her brother was facing writer's block as he attempted to write a book report on various species of birds. He was overwhelmed, realizing there was so much to do, and didn't know where to start. Her father advised her then 10-year-old brother to, "Just take it bird by bird." Wiser words were never spoken, and not just about overcoming writer's block. The same can be said of how to get organized. One of the biggest obstacles that people face when attempting to 'get organized' is... Read more... posted on: 10/7/2009 1:30:00 PM by Lisa Montanaro category: General Organizing Tips

What's In Your Memory Box? Creating an Organized Home for Your Prized Possessions "Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery When conducting an organizing presentation or teleclass, I often mention the idea of creating a Memory Box for each family member. Many participants share that the Memory Box tip is their favorite, and one they cannot wait to act on. (See, for example, this blog post by June Bisel of BusinessCardContacts.com). A Memory... Read more... posted on: 9/30/2009 1:30:00 PM by Lisa Montanaro category: General Organizing Tips

Want to Get Organized? Take a Page Out of Harry Potter I am a big fan of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books. I have read all seven of them, and each time a new movie version premieres, I make it a point to re-read that book before seeing the accompanying movie. Therefore, at this time, I am re-reading the sixth book in the series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which is currently showing in theaters. In Half-Blood Prince, the sixth-year students at Hogwarts are taking lessons in apparition. Apparition is a magical form of teleportation, through which a witch or wizard can disappear ("disapparate") from one location and reappear ("apparate") in another. During the lessons, the instructor outlines the 3 D's of apparition: Destination, Determination,... Read more... posted on: 9/23/2009 1:30:00 PM by Lisa Montanaro category: General Organizing Tips

When Organizing, Trust Your Instincts! I was working with a client recently to organize her home papers. We were purging papers that were no longer needed, and sorting the keepers into categories so that we could put them into files for future retrieval. So far, so good. My client confided that she considers herself organized at work, and actually likes a fairly clutter-free environment. She shared that at home, however, she has a really hard time dealing with paper. This is not uncommon. Some clients can maintain organizing systems at work, and not at home, while others can keep it together at home, but things fall apart at work. There are many reasons for this organizing disparity, and I assumed that as I worked with this client, the reasons would surface. And... Read more... posted on: 9/16/2009 1:30:00 PM by Lisa Montanaro category: General Organizing Tips

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About Lisa:

Lisa Montanaro is the owner of LM Organizing Solutions, LLC, a professional services firm offering organizing, business and life coaching, and motivational speaking to individuals and organizations. Lisa is a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) and its Golden Circle, reserved for organizers that have been in business for 5 years or more. Lisa is also an inaugural Certified Professional Organizer© (CPO), an achievement that only a small percentage of organizing experts have achieved.

LMOS empowers people and organizations to DECIDE™ to be Organized, a unique 6-step organizing process created by Lisa, based on her many years of experience organizing and coaching clients. Through the implementation of the DECIDE™ approach, clients create systems designed to achieve results at home, at work, and in life. What sets Lisa apart from others in her field is her varied background and keen intuition. Professional organizing, coaching, and speaking allow Lisa to combine her lifelong passion for creating order with her skills gained as a lawyer, educator, mediator, and performer. Considered by her clients to be an "intellectual organizer and problem-solver," Lisa is skillful at asking questions in a non-judgmental manner that help people and organizations find the answers to create a system tailored to their individual needs.

In addition to her hands-on work with clients, Lisa is a skilled motivational speaker. Lisa is a member of the National Speakers Association (NSA), the premiere organization for professional speakers. Her presentations at national conferences, local forums, and in numerous workplace settings are informative, interactive, and entertaining. Lisa has been interviewed by radio hosts, and is a frequent guest expert for national teleclasses and webinars. Indeed, Lisa was ranked the number 1 speaker of the 2008 NAPO Conference by attendees, sharing the spotlight with such notable speakers as Peter Walsh of TLC's Clean Sweep and the Oprah Winfrey Show, and Hellen Buttigieg of Neat.

Lisa's Website:

www.LMOrganizingSolutions.com