http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogList.asp?sort=organizer&schedule=108 I will be giving information and tips about home-office and small business office organizing. My tips will focus on a variety of systems for paper management and file set-up as well as other organizing issues I see my clients dealing with. Sun, 8 Nov 2009 14:45:16 EST en-us http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2703 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2703 Sun, 8 Nov 2009 13:30:00 EST Clutter is postponed decisions. That statement is a trademark of Barbara Hemphill, founder of the Productivity Institute. Every time you pick up a piece of paper and lay it back down without taking some action, you are postponing the decision to take action. Why do we do this and what can be done to stop it? Here are my thoughts. The main reason we don't make a decision about what to do with the paper is that we don't know what action to take. Or better yet, we may know the action, ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2691 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2691 Sun, 1 Nov 2009 13:30:00 EST v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);} Normal 0 false false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2680 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2680 Sun, 25 Oct 2009 13:30:00 EST Can you believe that 2009 is almost over? Just two months left. How did that happen? It happened while I was working on my new branding, taking an intensive, ten-week online course to become a certified productive environment specialist, networking like crazy, going to Canada for a vacation, and having my great nieces and nephew spend the night to watch the movie, ET . But before the last two months fly by, it is important to get a few things for 2010. Many people are ordering their ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2634 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2634 Sun, 11 Oct 2009 13:30:00 EST I have walked into many offices and seen post-it notes all over the place. Granted, they are a wonderful way to capture short pieces of information, but they add to visual clutter. I will admit that I have had a few (that number depends on your perception of a few) post-it notes stuck to my computer monitor, desk shelf, printer, etc. I have vowed to de-clutter my office of all post-it notes hanging around. Here is how I have done that. I bought a small notebook that was divided into ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2632 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2632 Tue, 6 Oct 2009 17:31:37 EST I am sure that you, like me, have created many different kinds of organizing systems throughout your life. But how many of them do you still use today? I know that many of my original ones have been tossed aside for one reason or another. I really am not sure what made me give them up. Since I have become a productive environment specialist, I have learned that there are four questions you need to ask yourself either after you create a system or to evaluate an existing one. Those four ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2610 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2610 Sun, 27 Sep 2009 13:30:00 EST Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2596 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2596 Sun, 20 Sep 2009 13:30:00 EST I am now in week #9 of the training, one more week to go. I have learned a valuable tool for assessing how productive someone is in their work environment. The tool is The Productive Environment Scorecard. It is a series of 15 questions to score from 1 to 10. Once the questions are answered, the scorecard is given to the Productive Environment Specialist (that's me). A free 30-minute phone consultation is available to the prospective client. The answers to the questions will help the ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2574 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2574 Sun, 13 Sep 2009 13:30:00 EST It's like someone turned off the summer switch and turned on the fall switch. It was cooler this morning when I let the dog out. I could turn off the air conditioning and open the windows. Ah! fresh air. As you begin the fall season of work, give yourself a productivity checkup. How productive are you in your work environment? Do you waste time looking for papers you need? Do you have a systematic method for purging papers? Do you waste time looking for phone numbers and other contact ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2508 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2508 Sun, 16 Aug 2009 13:30:00 EST I am in the fourth week of a ten-week training course through the Paper Tiger Institute to be certified as a productive environment specialist. I will be focusing on small companies, helping them to create a productive work environment. I will be licensed to sell products and services developed by Barbara Hemphill with the Paper Tiger Institute. I am now able to offer her seminar, The Art of Wastebasketry , to my clients. Some of the products I will be selling are her books, Taming the Paper ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2486 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2486 Sun, 9 Aug 2009 13:30:00 EST I was working with a client in her home office. We were surveying what we had already accomplished and deciding what to do next when I picked up an object from the top shelf of her bookcase. I said, "What are you going to do with this?" She looked at me and smiled, knowing that her answer was important to our organizing tasks. She said, "I really like the colors, they are so bright and cheery." "But do you use it?" I asked. I knew the answer before she did. That conversation prompted me to show ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2473 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2473 Sun, 2 Aug 2009 13:30:00 EST Have you ever made a new year's resolution to get organized? Have you ever felt that if you just got organized, your life would be better? Well, it would. So why do you procrastinate about something that will make your life easier, more productive, and less stressful? People procrastinate for a variety of reasons. Julie Morgenstern, in her book Organizing From the Inside Out, says that there can be three categories for those reasons: technical errors, external realities, and ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2464 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2464 Sun, 26 Jul 2009 13:30:00 EST The words clutter and de-clutter weren't in my vocabulary six years ago. As with other things in our culture, TV often leads the way in what Americans focus on. The shows, "Mission Organization" and "Clean Sweep" have brought these two words into our living rooms and beyond. It occurred to me recently that my mind was becoming cluttered. Because I am a professional organizer, that bothered me. Even though I have not yet succumbed to the plethora of technology gadgets that are ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2454 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2454 Sun, 19 Jul 2009 13:30:00 EST The average employee today has about thirty-seven hours of unfinished work on his/her desk at any one time. The average American will spend one year searching through desk clutter for misplaced objects. It costs $120 in labor to track down a misplaced document or $250 in labor to recreate it. In a recession it is important to get organized to save time and money. I have seen my clients suffer from the effects of disorganization. Some of those effects are: ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2417 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2417 Sun, 12 Jul 2009 13:30:00 EST The longer I help clients organize, the more I see that staying organized is not just about setting up a dynamic system, but it is about changing behaviors. I can set up the most wonderful system for a client, but if they don't work it, they will not see the desired results. I often encounter clients who have tried in vain to keep themselves organized. Usually that is when they hire me. My approach, after a few years of organizing, has changed. I now focus on the client's behavior in ...