Tag Archives: certified organizer coach

Important vs Urgent

I feel fortunate and blessed to have created a work-style and life-style that supports a flexible schedule, but the past couple of months have been a whirlwind of guests and travel that has my head spinning . . . and my “to do” list expanding by the day.

The past couple of weeks I’ve been feeling pretty darn guilty about all the stuff I’m not getting done.  Some of it is personal, but much of it involves things I really, really want to accomplish to support my business and clients.  After beating myself up a bit, I revisited the Urgent vs Important grid (thank you Stephen Covey!) to help me through the “what to do now” decision process.

Important & Urgent: Things that really, really need to be dealt with right now (house on fire, etc.).

Important & Not Urgent: Things that need to be done, but don’t need to be done right now (long-term planning, etc.).

Urgent & Not Important:  Things that probably never need to be dealt with, but take up our precious time (telemarketer calls, etc.)

Not Urgent & Not Important:  Not only do these things not have to be done right now, chances are they don’t need to be done at all (watching videos of dancing cats on Youtube, etc.)

With the limited amount of time I’ve had in my home and office the past couple of weeks, here’s how I broke down a few of the outstanding items on my “to do” list:

  1. Pay bills:  Important & Urgent
  2. Complete coaching homework required for certification: Important & Urgent
  3. Listen to teleclass before it expires: Important & Urgent
  4. Ironing:  Important & Not Urgent
  5. Office Filing: Important & Not Urgent
  6. Unsubscribe from unwanted e-mails: Important & Not Urgent

I generally don’t put Not Important stuff on my “to do” list, so two of the categories were easy to eliminate.

Granted, there were a lot of other things on my list, but these represented hours worth of things I wanted (not needed) to do.  The result:  #1-#3 got done; #4-#6 will be saved for another day.

Suffice to say, with my list prioritized, I’m feeling much better about getting the important stuff done, leaving the other “not urgent” things to be tackled at another time and focusing on being thankful that I have the ability to spend time and energy traveling and enjoying our guests.

How do you prioritize your “to do” list?

 

Cindy Jobs, COC, ACC

Looking for more information?

Click here for 15-minute organizing tips.

 

 

 

www.organizetosimplify.com

 

 

 

National Association of Productivity & Organizing Professionals, Seattle Chapter Vice-President

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Professional Resource Member

 

 

 

Coach Approach for Organizers

 

 

 

 

Institute for Challenging Disorganization

Level I Certificates earned in Chronic Disorganization; ADD; Client Administration; Time Management; Mental Health; and Hoarding.

Level II Specialist Certificates earned in Chronic Disorganization and ADHD.

What’s your story?

I just finished Brene’ Brown’s Rising Strong.  In the book, she encourages her readers to think about “the story I’m making up” and explore other perspectives.  What does she mean by that?

Read the story about the total disconnect she had with her husband while taking a swim on a long-awaited family summer vacation.  I assure you, you will have an “ah-ha” moment before the story is through.

Acknowledging “the story I’m making up” can be a real communication life-saver.  How has “the story” manifested for me?  Here are a few examples:

Scenario #1:  A friend and I took a road trip together.  We’ve known each other for a long time and have a very sarcastic repertoire.  Basically, we flip each other sh&! all the time.  The day after our road trip I saw a meme on Facebook that said “The definition of bestie: someone who opens their mouth just to insult you.”   The story I made up was, “How funny is this?  This is the perfect description of our super-fun road trip yesterday. My friend will think this is so funny.  I have to send it to her right now!”  Well, the story my friend made up when she saw the iMessage two weeks later was “Cindy must hate me and think I am a horrible friend.”  It took her a full week to get the nerve up to send me an e-mail letting me know that she would try to be a better friend.  Same message, two completely different stories.  Had my friend called me and said: “the story I’m making up is that you think I’m a mean friend” could have been easily explained away.

Scenario #2: A couple of years ago a client poured her heart out to me in a text message.  She displayed a lot of vulnerability and raw emotion.  The text never came through to my phone.  However, at about the same time I was in Costco and texted my client asking if she wanted me to pick up some of her favorite pencils.  Unfortunately, my response to her vulnerable text was “I’m in Costco, want me to grab some pencils?”  She never replied to my text.  The story she made up was “Cindy is ignoring my painful text because I crossed the line of professional boundaries.  I wonder how this is going to change our relationship.”  My story was “Well, I guess she doesn’t need any pencils.”  Same texting miscommunication, two completely different stories.  Had my client called and asked about my strange response to her text, she would have saved herself a week of concern about our potentially-damaged relationship.

Scenario #3:  I managed the Northwest Harvest food drive for my department when I worked at Macy’s.  I was passionate about giving back to the community and loved this part of my job.  One year it looked like we were going to fall a little short of our goal.  I was discussing the situation with one of the senior managers and he said: “just put me down for whatever we are short.”  I felt he had already given plenty so my response was “You’ve already given so much, why don’t you let someone else pick up the slack?”  To that, he curtly responded “Don’t tell me what to do with my money. If I want to give more, I will give more.”  Because I very much respected this person, I was crushed.  My story was “I failed to rally the troops enough and this very generous person is having to pick up the pieces as a result of my failure.” His story was “We’re close, I’m okay giving a little more. Why is she questioning how much I want to give?”  If I’d had my wits about me I could have simply said “Wow.  I didn’t expect that strong of a response.  Where is that coming from?”

Can you see similarities to your experiences in these stories?  What’s your story?  What’s their story? What story can you create together with thoughtful and vulnerable conversations?

Cindy Jobs, COC, ACC

Looking for more information?

Click here for 15-minute organizing tips.

 

 

 

www.organizetosimplify.com

 

 

 

National Association of Productivity & Organizing Professionals, Seattle Chapter Vice-President

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Professional Resource Member

 

 

 

Coach Approach for Organizers

 

 

 

 

Institute for Challenging Disorganization

Level I Certificates earned in Chronic Disorganization; ADD; Client Administration; Time Management; Mental Health; and Hoarding.

Level II Specialist Certificates earned in Chronic Disorganization and ADHD.

Are you stuck on your “get organized” resolution?

Historically, “get organized” is in the top ten New Year’s Resolutions.  I’m not a big believer in resolutions, but I’m a big believer in goals.  And I think getting organized is a fantastic goal.

As you might imagine, I get a lot of calls this time of year.  People are energized behind their goal (see, I’m eliminating  “resolution” already) to “get organized” in the new year and are looking for support.  Some people know what they need to do to accomplish their organizing goal, others need some assistance.

If you are feeling a little stuck, try some of these tips:

  1. Check your motivation: What was your motivation around the get organized goal?  Ask yourself “why did I set this goal?”  Possible answers could be:  save time, save money, reduce stress, get out of the house on time, reduce clutter, etc.  The answer to that question will help motivate you toward action.
  2. Confused on where to start?: Start with your biggest pain point.  Is your kitchen so disorganized making coffee is a hassle?  Are you spending so much money on things you already own that your finances are getting stretched?  Are you stressed about not getting to work on time because you can’t find your keys?   Success in your biggest pain point area will motivate you to move on to the next.  If you can’t decide where your largest pain point is, close your eyes and point toward an area.  Progress anywhere may lead to success everywhere.
  3. Set aside time to organize: I’ve found a lot of people are very aspirational when it comes to planning projects (and organizing is a project). They say “I’ll get to that next week.”  Well, next week comes and goes.  I suggest people mark organizing time on their calendar.  When your calendar says “organize the pantry on Saturday between 2:00 – 4:00,” chances are the organizing date will be kept.
  4. Sort items into three large categories: Most items can be categorized into three major groups:  Keep, Give, Toss.
    • If you use it and love it, keep it and give it a place of honor and respect.
    • If it’s functional but you no longer use it or love it, give it away.  Determine the best place for the giveaway item.  The best place could be a relative, friend or charity.  Whatever you decide, set a deadline to get it out of your space and into theirs.
    • If it’s no longer functional, toss it.  Some of my clients find this to be a difficult part of the process because they are concerned about contributing to our landfill problems and I appreciate that mindset.  I encourage my clients to check with their local municipality regarding recycling and check out alternatives to just throwing something away. For example, my recycle station accepts household metal like toasters and Goodwill will accept clothing that’s no longer wearable (just mark the donation as “textile recycle”).  Research and creativity can keep a lot of things out of landfills.
  5. Track your progress: Take a “before” picture of the space you are working on and continue to take pictures throughout the organizing process.  Even if you haven’t completed the process, seeing change is motivating.  Be sure to take a photo after you’ve completed the project not only as a reminder of how far you’ve come, but to give yourself a clear picture of what you’d like the space to look like on an ongoing basis.

I encourage my clients to remember a couple things:

  • Organizing is not only a project, but a way of life.  Once you are organized enough for your lifestyle, a few minutes a day will help maintain your newly-organized spaces.
  • Largely attributed to Sheryl Sandberg “Done is better than perfect.”  The thought that something needs to be perfect will stop us in our tracks.

Whatever you do, don’t give up on your new year’s goals like the Allstate “Mayhem” character has!

Cindy Jobs, COC, ACC

Looking for more information?

Click here for 15-minute organizing tips.

 

 

www.organizetosimplify.com

 

 

National Association of Productivity & Organizing Professionals, Seattle Chapter

National Association of Professional Organizers, Seattle Chapter Vice President

 

 

Coach Approach for Organizers

 

 

Institute for Challenging Disorganization

Level I Certificates earned in Chronic Disorganization; ADD; Client Administration; Time Management; Mental Health; and Hoarding.

Level II Specialist Certificates earned in Chronic Disorganization and ADHD.