Friday, December 7, 2012

New Year's Resolutions?


I'm getting ready to set my New Year's goals. I don't call them resolutions because to resolve is something which emphasizes me, and the strength of my commitment. They tend to break down. A goal, however, exists by itself once it is set. When my drive gets weaker, the goal remains the same until I get back to it with stronger drive.

So I set my goals. Each year I have done this. My kids have done it, too. After we set our goals, we try to make them permanent and prominent. Once we wrote them on material, colored them in with fabric paint and made them into throw pillows for the bed. I remember one of my daughter's was, "Get a horse." This one made me nervous because we could not afford the horse, the rent of the stall or the food a horse eats. But that was her goal. She did not understand the problems. It is amazing how we reach our goals if we really make them seriously. That year she did not get a horse, but she kept her goal. The next year she was reading the classified ads under "Horses" and saw an ad for free miniature horses. All you had to do was pay for the ad. The farm was in our area. So we zoomed over there, paid for the ad, and got our horse, Wild Thing. Since she is a miniature, we can keep her in our backyard  and she doesn't eat a whole lot. Goal Accomplished! But my daughter never would have gotten the horse if she had not had "Get a horse" as a serious goal which she consistently pursued even when it seemed impossible.


So set your goal. Visualize your goal. If it is to have a beautiful house, dream about the house in detail. See the pieces of furniture and the play of shadows on the gleaming surfaces. See the colors you love and the way you will bring the colors into your house.

Set your goal. Make it definite. Write it down. Put it in a prominent place. Dream about it. And this time next year you will be surprised!


Warmly,
THE ORGANIZER LADY® 

Sandra Felton
Founder, Messies Anonymous

Sunday, November 25, 2012

A Lesson from the Magic Kingdom

My husband and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary at Disney World. For those of you who have not been, Disney World is not just for kids. We had a marvelous time and I recommend it to anyone as a second honeymoon. But that is not the point of this post.

Disney World is a super clean place. Each year there are 17 million visitors through the gates of the Magic Kingdom and it always looks fresh, new and clean. How do they do it? I was a witness to one such event. They never let even a little mess start. If a mess starts, it doesn't stay long. 

Perhaps the worst time for mess is just after the parade. Thousands of people line Main Street with popcorn, ice cream cones, hot dogs in wrappers, etc. When the parade is over the street is jumbled with clutter - for a minute. Immediately after the parade, young men appear with noisy street vacuums, vacuuming the gutter. In 10 minutes time the street is pristine clean again.

I first thought that the roar of the vacuum was an intrusion on the fun of the Magic Kingdom. And indeed, it was. but so was the trash. So Disney World had a choice, 10 minutes of noise or the rest of the day of clutter. They chose to vacuum.

I find I am often faced with those kinds of choices. Shall I vacuum and disturb the children's TV or studies? Shall I clear the coffee table of cups and plates and disturb for a minute the visit with a friend? I think I have learned the answer to that at Disney World. The answer is to take a few minutes to restore order.

This is the way with housekeeping. If the house has an aura of neatness, hopefully no one wants to be the first to break the mood. If a little clutter comes, more clutter is soon to follow because the aura is already broken.

This is why it is so important not to let messes get started.


Warmly,
THE ORGANIZER LADY®, Sandra Felton

Founder, Messies Anonymous

Monday, November 19, 2012

Garden Principle of Time Use

I am not a gardener. I really don't understand why you can't have weeds among the veggies. Are weeds really that bad? I guess so. I'll take the word of those who know that they are.

What I really don't understand about gardening is the principle of thinning out crowded plants. Frankly, as a Messie, I tend to feel that more is better. So what if the plants are a little crowded! I can hardly bring myself to pull up those healthy plants just because there are too many. If five plants are nice, fifty are better. Right? WRONG!

The truth is that if there are too many plants crowded together, all the plants will suffer and keeping more plants will actually reduce the production of good plants at harvest.

This is the way it is with life too. When we crowd too much into our lives, have too many activities back to back, the activities become sickly. The quality of each activity becomes poorer. How can we raise the quality of our activities? One way is by cutting out many of them, thinning them out, so to speak. Then the activities we have left will be healthier and more satisfying to us. Remember, we also need time for quietness and reflection between our activities just as plants need space between each one in order to grow.

So don't crowd the garden of your life. You may have to weed out some of those perfectly healthy activities for the sake of the quality of your life. One of the activities which will improve in quality as a result, of course, is the housekeeping.  It won't be squeezed to death by all those other activities. So, if you are the treasurer of the garden club, have pottery and exercise classes, help out an elderly friend who needs to be taken places, plant a garden, and make all of your own Christmas presents - STOP! Stand back and look at your schedule. No wonder your house doesn't get done and you feel like you're on a treadmill.

Start thinning out some of those healthy, good activities which are crowding each other so much that life itself is less, not more, satisfying.  Remember, crowding doesn't work for your garden and it won't work for your life either.


Warmly,
THE ORGANIZER LADY®, Sandra Felton

Founder, Messies Anonymous

Thursday, November 8, 2012

YES, DO DREAM!

"If we are no longer dreaming, we are no longer planning"

It is important that we keep on dreaming about how good it will be when our house is the way we want it.

Dream about how beautiful the house will be when you come back to it from a time away. Dream about how it will be so orderly that you will know where everything is. Dream how it will be neat so that visitors can drop in any time without your being embarrassed. Dream about all of the work being caught up so that you can do all of those creative things without guilt about leaving housework undone.

Studies have shown that those who achieve goals are frequently daydreamers. They do not use daydreaming as a substitute for work but as a help to setting goals and inspiring themselves to accomplish their goals.

Don't let the dreams you have for your house fade and don't be satisfied until the dreams become reality.


Warmly,
THE ORGANIZER LADY®, Sandra Felton

Founder, Messies Anonymous

Monday, October 22, 2012

You Are Allowed to Miss the Corners

As I write this I am sitting in a hospital lobby. Don't worry nobody is sick; I am just waiting for the restaurant to open for breakfast.

To my right a woman is cleaning the glass doors, spraying glass cleaner and wiping them clean. She is conscientiously looking for spots on both sides going back and forth to check where she might have missed some oily fingerprint. Sitting where I am sitting I can see what she can't...which, if you look carefully have been generally neglected.

Does it matter? I don't think so. The over all picture in this hospital lobby is one of beauty and cleanliness. When you walk in the doors you are impressed with the gleam and shine of the Italian tile floor. The place in every area says, "This is one clean hospital!"

But what about the foggy corner of the glass doors. Nobody but a woman waiting for breakfast and doing a critical survey would notice.

The point I am making is this. Pay attention to the overall impression. Later maybe, you can get to the details but it is the overall impression that is important.


Warmly,
THE ORGANIZER LADY®, Sandra Felton

Founder, Messies Anonymous

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

THE URGE!

In a past seminar where were laying out our plans for each day of household maintenance by filling in the Flipper planning chart, a sweet lady said, "But suppose I don't have the urge to clean on that day?"

What we do is wait for a whim. Some day we wake up and there is that "right" combination of energy, time, and opportunity to clean. So we say, "Today is the day," and begin to plan because we realize we have "THE URGE."  It has come! 

Needless to say, this is not the way the house can be maintained the way we want it. Who knows how often the urge or whim might hit. And what else do we wait on a whim for -- going to work? going to school? fixing the meals? Hopefully not!

The point is proper household maintenance can only be done when we have a plan that is easily within our capability and we do it faithfully. We don't wait for urges. And the freedom from having to wait for an urge makes a person so happy. It is encouraging to think that I can keep things under control even if I don't get the urge! It's a wonderful idea. Try it.


Warmly,
THE ORGANIZER LADY®, Sandra Felton

Founder, Messies Anonymous

Visit our website www.messies.com

You can find more information about our unique Super Flipper on the "Tools" page of the Messies website.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Saying Good-Bye

Are you considering yet again that you need to get rid of more stuff? Maybe you have gotten rid of a lot of things. You think that you have reached your limit for letting go. And yet, the house is still too cluttered. There is still too much lying around. So you start again facing the hard job of saying good-bye to things that have woven their roots into your heart. It hurts to pull them out. But it must be done. The quality of your everyday life is more important than this accumulation. As you face the task, keep the following thoughts in mind.

What you are about to do is an honorable and good thing. This is the right time to say good-bye to some of the things that have been an important part of your life for a long time.

You are a sensitive person. You view things in a way that other people do not. Belongings are more important to you than to other people. Now use that same sensitivity and understanding to confirm to yourself the overriding importance of living a clutter-free and stress-free life. Keeping that priority in mind will make it easier to say those final good-byes.


Warmly,
THE ORGANIZER LADY®, Sandra Felton

Founder, Messies Anonymous





Monday, August 6, 2012

Procrastination Makes You Sick

Do you often replace high-priority tasks (important jobs) with those of low-priority time wasters (like TV, computer games, email, texting, reading and the like), causing yourself stress and lack of productivity? If you do this regularly and your life being harmed by it, you are among the 20% of people who describe themselves as chronic procrastinators.
    
Those of us who struggle with organization know this problem very well. Clutter is the result of neglecting organizing basics such as putting things up immediately or failing to set up or follow organizing systems and schedules. Some procrastinators appear relaxed and unworried about keeping on top of their responsibilities. Others feel overwhelmed and pressured as procrastination has a debilitating effect on their personal and business lives. Both reap negative results because of their neglectful habits.
    
Studies show that procrastinators develop physical problems resulting from the stress caused by problems caused by this destructive lifestyle. If you have this problem, you will benefit from beginning to face its causes and cures.

WHY, WHY, WHY?
You may procrastinate for one or more of a variety of reasons.
• Perfectionism - Fear of not doing the job well enough.
• Depression - Lack of mental energy caused by a variety of mental issues.
• Forgetfulness - Lose track of what needs to be done and when.
• Low grade physical impairment - Undiagnosed illnesses such as low thyroid, anemia, or several other “small” overlooked physical causes can drain the energy it takes to negotiate a well-ordered life.
• Lack of childhood training on how to set and accomplish goals.

JUST GET STARTED!   
Whatever the reason, it takes energy to address and begin to overcome the problem. Do yourself a favor. Take a step, even if it is a small one, to begin to address and overcome the problem.
    
Read books such as Organizing for Life, a  time management book such as Organizing Your Day,  or a book on procrastination that has a practical application.  Both of the named books are by Sandra Felton and found on the web site http://www.messies.com/  Find a pattern for living and follow it. Join a support group like one of those found on the Messies Anonymous site http://www.messies.com/   
        
“Procrastination is, hands down, our favorite form of self-sabotage.”
Alyce P. Cornyn-Selby
    

Warmly,
Sandra Felton
THE ORGANIZER LADY®
Founder, Messies Anonymous
Author: NEW! Organizing Your Day

Friday, March 30, 2012

Let's Play Fetch


Jake, rest his soul (if doggies have souls and I hope they do) loved to play fetch. He would chase the ball we threw, bringing it back for another throw until his little tongue fell out, so to speak.

Jake’s replacement, Scotty, surprised us all. He understood the concept of going to get the ball. But once he got it, the game was over for him. He just ran around with it in his mouth or dropped it. He never seemed to realize that if he didn’t bring it back to us, we couldn’t throw it out again. No more fun for Scotty.

Organized people take things back as Jake did. Those of us who struggle with clutter are like Scotty. For us, it is exciting to get something out but not to put it back. We gather the wrapping paper, scissors, and tape to wrap a gift but when it is wrapped, for us the game is over. The same goes for many other items -- books we remove from the shelf to read, toothbrush and toothpaste from the cabinet, cups from the kitchen in the living room, and ... well, just look around.

The meaning of the word “fetch” is “to go get AND to take back.” Let’s play fetch, like Jake. Make it a point to return what we get out so that when we need it next time it will be there for us to do the exciting part again.

Trust me, the game of life will be much more fun if you do.


Warmly,
Sandra Felton
THE ORGANIZER LADY®
Founder, Messies Anonymous, www.messies.com
Author: NEW! Smart Office Organizing

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Up the Down Escalator

Have you ever tried walking upstairs on an escalator that is moving down? If you have, you know how much effort you it takes. For a little while you may be able to make some progress upward. After a while you are lucky if you can just stay in place. And finally, the inevitable -- you are swept backward by the unrelenting force of the downward flow and plop! you are back at the bottom where you started.

Many of us feel the same way about trying to keep the house in order. The flow of clutter has us puffing to keep the house picked up properly. By working really hard we can do it for a while but fatigue inevitably wears out our resolve and the house drifts downhill again.
 
Get off the down staircase of disorder. Quit trying to overcome clutter by putting forth more effort. Change your ingrained habits, reorder the setup of your house, and abandon your old ideas of how to do things. The best place to figure out how to do this is by reading the book, Organizing for Life, that illuminates the factors that keep pushing us back.

Abandon what isn’t working. Open the elevator door to new ways of thinking and acting and you will be surprised at how high it will take you. 

Warmly,
Sandra Felton
THE ORGANIZER LADY®
Founder, Messies Anonymous
Author: NEW! Smart Office Organizing

Thursday, February 2, 2012

You Can Do It

There is a strange and virtually ignored something about how the body performs. Perhaps coaches whose job it is to evaluate movement of athletes could shed some light on the subject of the mind-body connection regarding moving. 

It makes sense that like everything else there is a bell shaped curve for ease of movement. A few rate 9s or 10s  because their bodies and minds run smoothly together. Most people are in the mid range of 4-6. And then there are a few of us in the lower numbers. Our mind-body connection does not work with the same ease as others. It does not fall into the smooth category.      

There is nothing very serious about this any more than it is a problem if you can’t carry a tune while someone else has perfect pitch. Or can’t draw a stickman well while portraits flow easily from another person’s pencil. We are all a conglomeration of a variety of skills and it may just be that some of us are a little shy in the ease of movement area.
     
All of this is to say that a task such as opening a tightly taped shipping carton that may seem simple, if slightly annoying to some, is a challenge to others. Neither one recognizes the difference in the other. But the one to whom activities come hard is likely to want to avoid tackling that challenge of opening the box, or at least put it off for a while.
     
Because of this subliminal reluctance, mundane things that need to be done, like taking out the trash and putting in a new bag or unloading the dishwasher may be neglected or postponed. Either of these will cause a backup and resulting clutter.
     
Recognize we all are different. We need to put forth a little extra effort when we notice that we hesitate to move.

Warmly,
Sandra Felton
THE ORGANIZER LADY®
Founder, Messies Anonymous
Author: NEW! Smart Office Organizing



Visit our newly designed website!










 

Thursday, January 26, 2012

OH, GO AHEAD

This is what I find myself repeating to myself when I am tempted to stop just short of finishing a task completely. Like putting the jewelry in the jewelry box instead of just on the dresser top.
 
A voice inside says with a mix of encouragement and annoyance,  
“Oh, just go ahead!” 

And I do. And I am glad.

Warmly,
Sandra Felton
THE ORGANIZER LADY®
Founder, Messies Anonymous
Author, New Book! Smart Office Organizing