Words of Encouragement!

Hello again,

I'm writing this series from my heart to yours!  As a successful executive in a home business, I want to share what has made me a success so that you can adapt what I've done and make it work for you!  I was thinking of writing this seventh post in my series on Women Fulfilling their Potential as I was preparing to teach kickboxing tonight.  And I just wanted to say that I really think that it is so important for us to take time to rejuvenate and re-energize by taking care of ourselves.  But that is a topic for a later post, tonight we'll cover organization made simple!

Organization is such a great vehicle to save time.  Granted, you must invest time up front in order to become time-efficient and organized; however, the time saved is so much greater than the time invested that it is well worth it!!  In FACT, not only do we save time, we also save money when our possessions are organized.  It reminds me a little of time management and budgeting - They ALL bring a great FREEDOM!!

Organization broken into simple steps looks like this:

1  Everything has a home, and it must be stored there.  If it doesn't have a home, it cannot stay in mine! 

2  In order to stay neat, messes can't be allowed to stay messes!   They must be contained, so put things in containers.  The first thing that comes to mind is LEGOS!!  Wow, how many legos do three little boys need??  I don't know but surely we have hit whatever that upper limit is!!

3.  Things that are alike all go together because it makes sense, and so that searching is confined to one location.  Think of the grocery store:  What if they didn't organize by like items?  In fact sometimes I wonder who thought to put the pimientos over by the canned fruit at our grocery store!  I would have put them by the olives!  But truly, if they just put things in randomly it would be so frustrating to find everything on our list.  AND what about when they change the store around, don't you WISH they would just leave it so you know where everything is -- it saves so much TIME!!  It is exactly the same at home.

4.  Labeling is a great time saver.  Even if your items are in clear containers, labeling the front helps to keep you from digging in a container or drawer looking for stuff. 

I use simple storage solutions for things, and with the labeling on the front of the plastic drawers and containers all of the readers in the house know exactly where things go!  For the non-readers, I have drawn pictures of the things that they are in charge of putting away. 

One of the keys to successful organizing is making it easy for EVERYONE in the house to follow your lead - that is why labeling is so so important. 

NOW, this is all fine and good, but where do I BEGIN???  Great question!! 

Which is the room or area that causes you the most mental anguish??  Start there!  One thing at a time!  AND one project at a time is the best way to do it - NO multitasking.  There was a recent study that showed that multi-tasking actually cut productivity by 50% in some cases!!  Jumping from one thing to another without finishing the first causes more mess and less organization!

BUT, what do I do with ALL this STUFF? 

Well, the best advice I ever received about organizing my stuff is this:  If you don't LOVE it (really really love it) or HAVE to have it, then get rid of it.  So, if you are holding onto stuff just because you received it as a gift, or it's from a friend, or when you graduated, etc, etc, etc then it is just creating CLUTTER for you.  Be MERCILESS!  But, what if I regret giving it away, or throwing it away?  If you just aren't sure you can part with it, put it in a tote and put it up somewhere - in the garage or the attic or in a closet....if you don't miss it over the next six months or year, then you won't miss it if you give it away. 

When you get rid of all that clutter then it frees you to see what sort of a beautiful and peaceful place you can make of your home.

Thanks for stopping in!  If you would like to see the other posts in a series of 10 about Fulfilling Your Potential, they are in my journal at my post - Stop by and Say HI!  It would be great to hear from you!

Have a great day!

Steph

Hello!

I'm thrilled to share today's thoughts!!  Because life is all about choices, it is a great idea to have understand how to make decision-making work well for us!!  Seriously, how many questions do you, as a mom, answer every day?  How many choices do you make for yourself and your family every single hour of every day?  What is for supper, can I play computer games, do I REALLY have to go to bed?  So, today let's decipher some of the things that work against us, and things that work for us as, we make our daily decisions.

First, when it is so important to gather ALL of the details, and to find out how others feel about things before you are able to make any decision, that could be called Analysis Paralysis!!  Waiting to have every single detail sometimes means that you have already unwittingly made a decision.  INACTION will cause a series of events to unfold JUST AS IF you had indeed made a decision.  This is deciding by default...not a great way to make decisions that will ultimately have an impact on your life and on those around you! 

Think for a minute:  What have you been stuck making a decision about?  Why?  Are you paralyzed by gathering information???  It is common for women to feel such a need, to have all details before committing to a decision.  AND honestly, it can be a debilitating weakness in us!!  Have you ever researched for an appliance?  Don't you want to know how every single one stacks up against every other one?  I might have that refrigerator for the next 25 years!  I want to make sure it is the exact one that I want.  With the internet I could research refrigerators until next year!!

THE 80% decision is the answer to that.  You cannot know the future, so you can never have 100% of the pertinent information when making decisions.  NOW, am I suggesting to throw all caution to the wind, and make decisions based on the very little fact and just what you are feeling?  ABSOLUTELY NOT!!  When you have 80% of the information, that is enough to call it an informed decision.  It will get you beyond being stuck in limbo, making decisions by default!  

One more idea to throw into your 80% decision is this:  The REGRET factor...which direction will my decision take me?  Will I regret that course of action?  Will that cause regrets for my family?  The regret factor will help you in evaluating your 80% so that you can make the very best choices.  It will not guarantee that every decision will be perfect, but at least you will be living life on purpose, and not sitting back and allowing life to just happen!! 

Tomorrow we'll explore FUN and FREEDOM!  Will you decide to join me?  I hope so!

Thanks again for stopping by!  Feel free to come to my profile page if you would like to see posts from days 1-7 in a series Reaching Your Full Potential - they are all in my journal.  Stop in and say Hi! while you're there!  I would love to hear from you!

Have a Great Day!

Steph

...in order to enjoy times with our children, I feel it is VITAL that we have some time away from them also, without guilt.  Motherhood is undeniably a life-changing event - such a miracle - we will forever be changed; yet, it is so important that I not lose my own identity.  If I am all-consumed with my children and their needs, I quickly lose track of who I am and who I would like to be...

If you would like to read today's journal, or all of them, feel free to stop by my profile page!  I'd love to hear from you! 

Have a great day!
Steph