Organize to Simplify

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

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 working with boulders or pebbles?

Things can be so dog-gone overwhelming sometimes, can’t they?

I worked with a couple clients last week that were paralyzed by their “to do” lists. The lists were so long and the projects were so daunting that the default action was inaction.

They were trying to work with boulders when it would have been much easier to work with pebbles.

What does working with boulders vs pebbles mean? I’ll use one of my projects as an example.

I realized that my current business name doesn’t speak to a large segment of my business: coaching. If you were looking for a coach would you think it made sense to contact “Organize to Simplify?” I know I wouldn’t, so I’m changing my business name which triggers a plethora of tasks. Some of these are Boulder tasks, some are pebble tasks.

Change business name and identity: Boulder task

Secure new domain: Pebble task
Create new logo: Boulder task
Create a new website: Boulder task
Outreach to clients and support base: Boulder task

Secure new domain: Pebble task (done)

Create new logo: Boulder task

Hire designer: Pebble task (done)
Engage with friends, family, and colleagues for their input on initial designs: Pebble task (done)
Submit preference to the designer: Pebble ask
Review 2nd round submissions, review updates with the designer: Pebble task
Review 3rd round submissions, review updates with the designer: Pebble task

Create a new website: Boulder task

Decide on new website platform: Boulder task (done)
- Review website options and costs: Pebble task (done)
- Review website templates: Pebble task (done)
Determine if the website will be self-created or hire sub-contractor: Boulder task
- Determine if I can do it myself: Pebble task
- Determine if I can justify sub-contractor cost: Pebble task
- Determine timeline availability of sub-contractor matches desired deliverable: Pebble task
Create website sitemap: Pebble task
Rewrite website pages: Pebble task
Choose images for the website: Pebble task

Market new company: Boulder task

Create marketing plan: Boulder task
- Determine marketing target: Pebble task
- Determine marketing vehicles: Pebble task
Order new business cards and note cards: Pebble task
Write a letter of introduction to clients and support base: Pebble task
Solicit LinkedIn endorsements: Pebble task
Solicit Google My Business endorsements: Pebble task

I fid this to be a pretty daunting, and I’m certain incomplete, list.

The task of “Change business name and identity” is a boulder task. I would never have been able to pick that boulder up all at one time. The boulder task was too big. I needed to create many pebbles out of that boulder in order to be successful.

What boulder tasks are you avoiding because they are too daunting?

What could you get done if you broke that boulder into pebbles?

Cindy Jobs, COC, ACC

Looking for more information?

Click here to schedule a free coaching consultation.

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

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

Energy Management vs Time Management

“I just don’t have time to . . . . . “ Go ahead, fill in the blank.

Ever said that? I’ll be you have. I know I have.

But is it time we don’t have or energy? If we managed our energy better, would our time management improve? If we managed our time better, would our energy improve? What could we accomplish if we managed both just a little better?

Earlier this year I started with a new client. She said by noon her energy was totally zapped and she just couldn’t get anything done throughout the day, creating a tremendous amount of guilt and anxiety. Having ruled out health problems, we started to look at her routines, really focusing on where she was spending her time and energy.

Here are just a few examples of what we found:

Nine months ago she became an empty-nester and no longer had the time or energy commitment of children at home. She hadn’t decided on what her next chapter was going to look like (volunteer? go back to work? go back to school?), so now she had all this time on her hands without a clear strategy on how to use it. She woke up without a blueprint for the day, so the day just slipped away. At the end of the day, she felt guilty and unfulfilled. Not having a good time management plan drained her energy.
She didn’t have a good, consistent sleep pattern. She went to bed late because she was easily distracted and didn’t make it through her day’s “to do” list until 1:00 – 2:00 AM. She got up early to see her husband off for the day, but since she’d only slept for about five hours, she was running on empty in the energy department by noon. Her poor time management the day before affected her energy management the following day.
She loved to shop, consequently spent a lot of time either in stores or online looking for the “perfect . . . .” Again, fill in the blank. So instead of buying one thing that was “good enough,” she bought several hoping to find “perfect.” This created both a time and energy management problem since she would spend hours returning items she purchased that she wasn’t going to use. Not creating a boundary around the energy expended looking for “perfect,” resulted in a time management situation when hours were spent coordinating returns.

As we reviewed her routines, we continued to find situations where poor time management affected her energy and situations where she was expending an enormous amount of energy on an activity that in the end had an impact on her time.

To better manage both her time and energy, we created some structure around how she wanted to manage both.

We started with:

Creating a structure that included time for sleep, exercise, meal preparation, social interaction, and mindfulness.

She made a commitment to get in bed by 11:00 PM at the latest.

She didn’t know if she was a Zumba or Yoga girl, a runner or a hiker, a golfer or a tennis enthusiast, so some self-exploration when it came to an exercise routine was necessary.

Because of poor time management and the diminished emotional need to feed “the family,” she and her husband subsided on a significant amount of take-out. Recreating her vision of “family” as just the two of them, changed her perspective on the value of daily meal preparation.

Because of the previous time commitments for the family, she’d reduced her social interaction in her local community. Looking for opportunities to become involved in the community, recreating some social connections that may have fallen by the wayside in the day-to-day rush of household management, provided an emotional high that had been missing since the kids moved out.

She included mindfulness in her regular routine. Focusing on living in the moment, not rehashing the past and living in an undefined future, can provide a great amount of peace and clarity. Mindfulness can be anything from meditation to a simple walk in the park. Whatever brings your mind into the present is extremely valuable to mental and physical well-being.

Creating balance and structure has been extremely beneficial for my client to manage her time and energy. Where might you be out of balance in the time and energy department?

Cindy Jobs, COC, ACC

Looking for more information?

Click here to schedule a free coaching consultation.

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

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

Balance: Self Value vs Stuff Value

Balance is a tricky thing. Too much of one thing tips the scales in the other direction and we get totally out of balance.

But balance is not just about stuff vs space (although stuff vs space is a huge issue for a lot of people). For some interesting information on how much stuff Americans have, here are some statistics from a recent CBS Morning show.

There are 50,000 self-storage facilities in the U.S., more than Dunkin’ Donuts (8,500), Subways (28,000) or McDonald’s (14,027) combined.*

And that’s just for the stuff we CAN’T fit inside our homes, where there’s more “stuff” piled in closets, bedrooms, garages and basements.

The CBS segment speaks to the stuff vs space conundrum with an interesting question: why do we park $10,000 cars outside when we fill our garages with stuff of largely no value?

Nearly all my clients struggle with the self value vs stuff value balancing act.

A client spoke to a situation at their home. His comment to me: “my wife asked me a while ago to clear out the garage so she could park in it.” When I inquired what “a while ago” meant he admitted it had been 18 months. It was clear he was prioritizing the stuff value in his garage above the his wife’s self value (her request to be able to park in the garage). The prioritization realization created a perspective shift.

Another client comments regularly about how her closet (stuff) drives her crazy (self). It is packed. She could easily get by with half of the items in her closet and still be considered one of the best-dressed women I know. If she eliminated half the stuff she would feel the benefit of open space, organization and clarity (self value). For years she’s been prioritizing her stuff over herself.

And then there is the client who tries to cram too many commitments (stuff value) into his schedule resulting in limiting his time with family and friends (self value).

What’s your balance of self value vs stuff value?

* Note: This is a direct lift from the CBS segment. No, the math doesn’t work, but it’s close. 🙂

Cindy Jobs, COC, ACC

Looking for more information?

Click here to schedule a free coaching consultation.

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

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

Step five. Step three. Step one. Nope.

I watched a sitcom the other day where one of the characters introduced the family to her new dog. The look of confusion on their faces indicated having a dog made absolutely no sense. But then she explained:

Step 5: She had a dog because . . . .

Step 4: . . . she was going to have a fenced yard.

Step 3: . . . in the house that she was going to buy with her $50K paycheck.

Step 2: . . . for being a surrogate.

Step 1: . . . after passing her medical exam.

Some of you may have also watched this show and know exactly where this is headed. This particular character had lept all the way to step five without ever passing through steps one through four. Unfortunately, her plans fell apart at step one because she didn’t pass the medical exam.

How many times have we jumped all the way to the end of the process without working through the important steps along the way? I know I have. As a matter of fact, I almost did it again just last week.

I heard that Google My Business is a great marketing venue. I got very excited and started the process to create my Google My Business page. But wait, I’m in the process of rebranding my business (new direction, new name, new client base, etc.). How could I create Google My Business exposure without my new business name defined, my new website up and running, my rebranded logo, etc. See what I almost did there? I was too many steps down the path without having completed step number one . . . creating my new business identity.

Leaping over process happens with both my organizing and coaching clients on a regular basis.

My organizing clients rush out and purchase pretty bins and boxes before they know what they are keeping (purging is step one, containerizing is way down the line).

One of my coaching clients came to me with a big goal: quit my job and move to a foreign country. Great, let’s move in that direction but don’t purchase an airline ticket before all the other pieces are in place.

What big goal are you working on that require multiple, necessary steps along the way? How do you keep yourself from stepping over the important parts of the process? Leaping to step five before completing steps one through four can be counter-productive, frustrating and a challenging use of resources.

If you need some help breaking those big projects down into manageable pieces, ask a respected colleague, friend, family member or any other support structure for some assistance.

Cindy Jobs, COC, ACC

Looking for more information?

Click here to schedule a free coaching consultation.

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

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 gap?

When I start working with clients I ask them to describe two visions:

Where are you right now?
Where do you want to be?

With those two questions clearly understood, we can start the process of change that moves someone from where they are now, to where they want to be. In essence, closing the gap between their two visions.

What do I mean by “the gap?”

“Steve” wanted to get a job that better fit his strengths and ADHD diagnosis. His current job involved phone sales 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM with very little in-person contact and a lot of sitting. His vision of the perfect job involved travel, in-person communication and a high level of flexibility. “Steve” had a very clear vision, he knew where he wanted to be, but there was uncertainty about the process to get there.

“Kathy” wanted to take more control of her life. Her current routine was highly irregular and impulsive. She would go to bed and wake up “whenever,” with little direction for how her day unfolded. Most days she went to bed frustrated because she had little to show for her waking hours. “Kathy” wanted a more productive life she could feel good about. She wanted to go to bed by 11:00 PM, get up at 7:00 AM and have a robust, attainable schedule for her day. A very large gap from where “Kathy” was and where she wanted to be, but there was passion about getting there, one step at a time.

“Susie” wanted to have a home she could be proud, one to which she could invite friends and family to visit. Unfortunately, the current state of her home was very cluttered, disorganized and in some rooms, not physically safe. She continually brought additional items into the home without moving any items out. Her vision was of a home that reflected her many life experiences but was not so overwhelmed with clutter that she was in constant fear of tripping. This gap was physical, but closing that gap would open up a world of social interaction that hadn’t been experienced in a long time.

Each of these clients had a clear vision of where they were now and an even clearer vision of where they wanted to be. The disconnect was the gap.

Closing the gap is different for everyone, but it almost always involves a significant emotional component. And a lot of time, that component is fear.

Fear of being rejected in our job search so we settle for the status quo.

Fear of failure and sometimes even fear of success.

Fear that if we get our lives a little more in order even more will be expected of us.

Fear that if we let something physically go, the memories attached to it will go too.

Fear of the unknown.

What do you want to change? Where are you now? Where do you want to be? What’s your gap?

Cindy Jobs, COC, ACC

Looking for more information?

Click here to schedule a free coaching consultation.

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

Professional Resource Member

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.

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:

Pay bills: Important & Urgent
Complete coaching homework required for certification: Important & Urgent
Listen to teleclass before it expires: Important & Urgent
Ironing: Important & Not Urgent
Office Filing: Important & Not Urgent
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 to schedule a free coaching consultation.

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

Professional Resource Member