Latest Blog Posts
No Wifi, oh no
My favourite time management technique is to know when I will have a WiFi connection and when I won’t. Yes, there are still times and places when I can’t get WiFi. Use data? Not me. For those times I plan to have work with me to do when I am unconnected. You might think, “When does that ever happen”, more often than you think:
- When I arrive early at a client’s home
- When I arrive early to pick up someone
- When the person I am pickup arrives late
- When the client is late
- When the distance between appointments and returning to the office will cause me to waste time commuting, I find a quiet location to work instead of wasting my time driving.
Plan your time
I will have a book along to read to do some professional education, mail to open or start on my e-mail that I downloaded before I left for the call. Sometimes I am reviewing a speech I am presenting, signing holiday cards, plan my week/ month or get in my exercise by going for a walk. Using these small expected or unexpected amounts of time well will make you more productive. I learned this technique by trial and error. I found myself sitting around waiting with nothing to do when my children were involved in activities. I quickly realized that I was wasting a lot of time and needed to plan my “spare time” as well as my work time to be able to get everything accomplished without using my family time or free time to get things completed.
Manage yourself
Time management is not about managing time it is about managing yourself. There are traps we fall into that cause anxiety and stress because:
- we are late,
- we don’t meet deadlines,
- we miss meetings,
- we are unavailable for important personal events
Determine what “traps” cause you to mismanage your behaviour making you late. Are they:
- doing one more thing that makes you late
- underestimating how much time you need to get ready and leave ( the house, for a meeting)
- thinking your time is more important than the people’s time who are waiting for you (to arrive, hand in a report), they won’t mind waiting
- procrastinating on projects, reports and commitments instead of looking for a solution to be able to complete the task on time
I can help you manage your time and streamline your routines to increase your productivity. Give me a call or text 905-321-1616
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home, office, mind and time. She guides and supports you to be accountable for your time, to complete projects and to reach your goals. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Harold Taylor is a time management expert. He produces a monthly newsletter. Here is one of his articles. I hope you enjoy it.
Harold Taylor of Taylor in Time
Managing E-mail
Do you respond to a lot more email messages than you originate? Are you deleting emails unanswered or unread? Are you spending so much time reacting to email that you don’t have time for creativity, relaxation and renewal? If so, calculate your “Reactive Ratio.”
Reactive Ratio
Count the total number of email messages you receive during the day. Include spam, egroup messages and newsletters whether you still read them or not. Divide the total number of incoming email messages by the number that you send during the day. The resulting ratio should be as low as possible.
You can easily calculate this ratio if you don’t delete or move anything until the end of the day – even those that you have answered. The next morning, quickly count the total number of emails received the previous day as well as those sent the same day.
If the ratio is high, take action by cancelling newsletters that you seldom read, getting off groups you don’t participate in, placing spam filters at higher levels, and getting off mailing lists. Consider using a different email address for purchases to avoid spam. Question whether all incoming messages require a reply. For instance, don’t thank people for thanking you. Consider adding “No reply necessary” to many of your outgoing messages. And investigate apps such as “unroll.me.”
Control Outgoing Email
Your outgoing messages also consume time and generate incoming messages. So question whether a quick phone call is better. Don’t copy people who have no need for the information.Decide whether a quick phone call is more productive than sending an email. Share on X
Reduce the Total Time Spent on Emailing
Even more important than your “Reactive Ratio” is the total time you spend on email each day. Keep messages brief. Use text replacement software for longer & repetitive replies such as instructions or directions. Allocate specific times to check and respond to email. This could be one hour late morning and one hour late afternoon. If you can get by with less time, so much the better. But don’t fragment your day by checking email every few minutes or every hour.
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Share a hack that helps you to control the amount of time you spend on email.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home, office, mind and time. She guides and supports you to be accountable for your time, to complete projects and to reach your goals. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Do You Play Well with Others? A look at cooperative competition
Coopetition occurs when companies work together for parts of their business where they do not believe they have competitive advantage and where they believe they can share common costs. (Source: Wikipedia)
In my experience, most professional organizers are very happy to share resources and expertise with their colleagues and reap many rewards from doing so. I asked my client, Julie Stobbe, about her thoughts on the subject, and was so impressed that I invited her to share them here today as my guest blogger.
Cooperating with someone in your line of business is a great way to get to know people, brainstorm and learn ideas and help each other with areas that you are weak in.
When I decided to try coopetition, I did it on a project basis. I used it to help me to market better, because marketing is not my strength.
I would think about something I would like to have (product development) or something I would like to do (offer a new service) and think about someone who had mentioned that they had an interest in the same thing. I would approach them with an idea and see if they were interested in working together to develop and implement the plan. It was nice to have a partner to walk the path with and hold my hand.
The payoff is having to do half the work while increasing business for both parties with the understanding that if they get busy and need help, they would approach me first, and I would do the same for them. If you develop a service with a partner, if someone gets sick, you have the other person as backup. I always selected someone who lived east of my main marketing area. This made it easy to get materials delivered over a larger area – half the work, twice the area covered. This gave us both exposure to a larger market.
Here are some examples of projects I’ve worked on with people in my field and with complementary businesses:
- Developing organizing tip booklets; we have 4 different topics.
- Developing courses to offer to colleges, school boards and groups; we have 3 different 3 hour courses prepared.
- Advertising someone else’s electronic resources (because I don’t want to develop them at this time) in exchange for services.
- Advertising together so the cost of printing is shared by both companies.
- Recommending specialty services to clients, such as clutter removal service, rug cleaning, and website design.
- Inviting someone to attend new meetings and events with me. That way I don’t have to walk in alone, and perhaps they can make introductions too.
Although I have been fortunate and careful with whom I partner, there are always things to consider.
- The person you partner with now represents your company as well as their own. Make sure you have similar business ethics or your company’s reputation may be adversely affected.
- If you are producing a product and the quality of what they produce is not up to your standards, you may be disappointed. However, you have both contributed time and money to the project so they may use it the way they want to.
- One of the companies may work much harder at marketing the product or service than the other company. Make sure that you can live with it if you realize that you are marketing them but they are not marketing you.
Overall, I have gained a lot from coopetition with others. I have grown as a business person, I have learned new skills, I have made good friends I can depend on, and I have learned to be flexible. I hope my coopetition partners have found me to be reasonable, supportive and hard working. Taking a chance to work with good people is really making a sure bet.
Thanks to Janet Barclay of Organized Assistant for interviewing me.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home, office, mind and time. She guides and supports you to be accountable for your time, to complete projects and to reach your goals. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Carolyn Shannon is my guest blogger today. Her business Venting Creatively helps people find creative ways to shine a light on their lives from a different view. She publishes Women of Worth magazine.
Top 10 Productivity Time Killers
Every day countless hours are wasted away due to non-productive activities. Time is money, so when distractions and procrastination set in profitability will decline. A survey conducted by OfficeTime.net has revealed 10 of the biggest time killers. The main offenders that reduce our productivity are:
1. Emails
How much time do you spend surfing the web?
2. Surfing the net
3. Watching TV
4. Procrastination
5. Meetings
6. Non-business conversations
7. Commuting & travel time
8. Social networking
9. Cell Phones & texting
10. Dealing with red tape
Types of Time Wasting
There are many factors that lead to procrastination. There are a few broad categories that most time wasting falls into.
1. Indecision. Perfectionists will often struggle with indecision. Some things may never become perfect, and putting too much focus on perfection will mean too much time spent on one job. Splitting the work into smaller tasks is one way to deal with it more effectively.
2. Avoidance. Fear of being judged can be the main cause of procrastination. It could be fear of failure or even success. Neither of these is something to be ashamed of. Success should be celebrated, and failure is the best way of learning. Think less about what others may think and more about trying your best at the task at hand.
3. Thrill Seeking. This is when procrastination is justified because the worker likes the thrill of an approaching deadline. If this is the case it is best to move deadlines closer and set personal targets. This still gets you the thrill of working against the clock, while reducing procrastination.
Time flies
How to Put an End to Time Killers
The first step to battling time killers is to understand and appreciate the amount of time that is being wasted. What is the value of all that lost time? Time wasters will directly affect your career advancement opportunities and reduce the amount of income you could have received. Tracking where your time is spent will allow for efficient time management. Don’t just rely on your memory to remember what you did during the day. Use a system so that you have a written record that can be looked over and analyzed. This could be as simple as creating a timetable on a piece of paper or utilizing a computer program or app to record your daily activities. Cutting down on time killers is a good start, but there are other strategies that should be used to effectively manage your time:
1. Define your purpose. You need to know exactly what you want when starting a task. Without a definite purpose, you will lose focus.
2. Smart goal setting. Choose realistic and specific goals and targets. It should be measurable so you know when it has been completed.
3. Plan on a regular basis. As factors change, your plan should be adjusted to reflect the reality of the situation.
To truly beat time killers you need to work on your mindset & stick to your plan for the long-term.
Which type of Time Waster Are You?
1. Thrill Seekers feel they can procrastinate, as they enjoy the feeling of working against a deadline
Tip: constantly set and adjust deadlines so that you still get the adrenaline rush but are using your time more effectively than procrastinating
2. Avoiders prefer to procrastinate as a means to avoid being judged. Whether it is a success or a failure
Tip: Success is a good thing and nothing to be ashamed of. Failure is a way to learn and improve. Focus on doing the best job you can and not on what others think.
3. Indecisive people are often perfectionists but procrastinate to shift responsibility from themselves
Tip: Not everything has to be perfect so try to take small risks and use your intuition. Mistakes may mean you learn something new. Try to split the task up into more manageable parts.
Need help managing your time effectively contact Mind over Clutter. Julie can work with you in person or virtually to help streamline your processes and routines.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situation. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home, office, mind and time. She guides and supports you to be accountable for your time, to complete projects and reach your goals. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Click here to learn more about her online course Create an Organized Home.
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
People have tried to find electronic solutions for most things that used to be done by paper. However, would a paper To-Do list work better for you than an electronic one? Here is a thought provoking blog post on the topic. Which ever system works best for you, you must check your list. People will make lists but not look at them. Use a system that keeps your to-do list in your mind.
Why the Old-School Paper To-Do List Is Superior as a Productivity Tool (& How to Make It Work for You in Under 5 Minutes)
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situation. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home, office, mind and time. She guides and supports you to be accountable for your time, to complete projects and reach your goals. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Click here to learn more about her online course Create an Organized Home.
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Samsill 2-in-1 and 3-in-1 Organizers
Samsill has a 2-in-1 organizer and a 3-in 1-organizer. They are binders with a section of 7 clear plastic accordion style dividers and a fold-over cover with an elastic closure to hold the organizer closed. They come in a variety of colours.
1 Inch 3 Ring Binder + 7 Pocket Accordion Style Expanding File + Hanging File –
There are very few differences between the 2 products. The 3 in 1 organizer has 4 slide out clips that allows you to hang the binder in your filing cabinet. The clips lock into position making it easy to use them. This function makes storing the files neat, tidy and easy to retrieve. No more shelves of binders that slide and tip over every time you remove one.
The binder has clips to hang in a filing drawer.
The 2-in-1 organizer has tabs on the top of each file section making it easy for labeling. It also has 2 elastic closures so you can open just the file section or just the binder section. This is helpful as it prevents any loose papers from falling out when you open the binder section.
In addition to the clips to hang in a filing cabinet, the 3-in-1 organizer has tabs only on 3 file sections for easy labelling and one elastic closure.
The fold over lid is quite stiff and initially caused me some problems but if you fold it open and re-crease the fold the lid will stay back and make it easy to access the plastic file section. The files hold paper that is exactly 8 ½ by 11 inches. If you have manuals or slightly large paperwork you may need to trim it.
Fold over lid keeps document secure.
At first, you may be fooled and think the elastic closure won`t stay closed because the elastic is loose. The elastic closure works well when the organizer contains paperwork making the elastic tighter.
The elastic closure hooks securely onto the front of the binder
The file sections are open at the bottom edge, it is not a pocket. Some small items may slide under the edge and into the next section. If this is a problem for you try using an envelope to hold small items in the file section. The dividers are flexible and bend slightly making it hard to get the paper to slide easily into the correct section. As you get used to it and you have more paper in the sections it becomes quite easy to use.
This may be the perfect product if you have large client files. You can record your ongoing notes, to-do lists, reference information in the binder section and use the file section for billing, receipts, marketing material, information to give to the client, calculator, and iPad.etc. It would also be a great networking tool. You can have a place for notes, following up with clients after a meeting, recording upcoming events and to-do lists and filing all your marketing material. It would always be ready to go when a networking event arises. Having the binder and file system in one organizer gives you the flexibility of storing paperwork in the way that suits your preferred style and the paper best. You can pick it up and go and look like you are ready to work.
If you need help setting up a filing system contact me at julie@mindoverclutter.ca.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of physical activity to reduce clutter, in your home and office. She guides and supports you in managing your time. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
MIND OVER CLUTTER is offering a free 30-minute Virtual Organizing Session.
Here’s how it works:
1. We book a virtual appointment with a video chat over Zoom or send me photos or a video and chat on the telephone
2. You show me your home office or another part of your home.
3. I recommend solutions for your organizing dilemmas.
Contact me to take advantage of this free introductory offer or book a time online.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home, office, mind and time. She guides and supports you to be accountable for your time, to complete projects and to reach your goals. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
What is a virtual assistant?
Virtual Assistants are professionals who supply businesses with help in areas where the owner can’t or doesn’t want to do certain tasks. This allows the owner to do the work that they are good at and hire a Virtual Assistant for as many hours as they need or can afford.
Who is Janet Barclay?
Janet Barclay of Organized Assistant www.organizedassistant.com is a fantastic Virtual Assistant. She specializes in website design and social media. She designed my first website 13 years ago and redesign my new responsive WordPress website. She takes care of hosting the site and letting me know what directories I might want my site on in addition to the directories she has already used. She is a wealth of information and will answer my questions quickly and clearly.
An Organized Assistant can help you virtually all the time
Need blogging help?
She also is a blogger. She runs Blogging Organizers for, yes, Professional Organizers who blog and Professional Organizers Blog Carnival. This blog has a different topic each month and contains lots of information for the public, submitted by Professional Organizers. Her current topic is Organizing Basements and Attics http://organizedassistant.com/organizing-basements-and-attics-professional-organizers-blog-carnival/ She helps the industry and Professionals Organizer become better known to the public. If you are in a specific industry, look at her blogs and how she is helping the industry to grow, increasing her visibility and helping other people in the industry. It is a great model to explore if you want to become a leader in your industry and love blogging.
Website design
Janet is a website design and website maintenance virtual organizer. She helps you take care of your website so it is backed up, virus free, has good SEO and is updated regularly.
There are many Virtual Assistants who each specialize in different areas such as,
- bookkeeping,
- social media,
- webcast videos,
- and specific software programs. etc.
Janet facilitates the Golden Horseshoe Virtual Assistants Association www.GHVA.ca. Check out this site if you need help virtually all the time.
Let me know in the comments what tasks you hire out to a virtual assistant.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of physical activity to reduce clutter, in your home and office. She guides and supports you in managing your time. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Click here to learn more about her online course Create an Organized Home.
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
If you are interested in starting your own home based business, how to start a home-based…. is a great series of books. They contain information about the field of business, clients and practical materials such as forms. Some of the books in this series are Computer Repair Business, Personal Chef Business, Interior Design Business and Professional Organizing Business.
Great series of books for information on how to start a business
how to start a home-based Professional Organizing Business has sections on:
- helping you to decide if Professional Organizing is for you,
- setting up your office,
- finding and working with clients,
- products and
- forms
For approximately $20.00 you will have enough information to confidently start your business. The book contains a script for the first phone conversation with a new client. This is very helpful, especially with your very first client. It has sections on setting your rate and a number of different ways to charge along with the pros and cons of each way. The book lists a number of ways to market your business.
Chapters on skills to be a competent organizer.
Along with the business side of professional organizing, half the book contains skills and information a person needs to be a competent organizer. It teaches the psychology of clutter, why areas become disorganized, how to declutter a space and products to use to organize a client.
Forms
The section containing forms is very helpful and they are easy to customize to your own business. There are assessment forms, invoices, mileage records, marketing planning sheets etc.
This book is written by Professional Organizer Dawn Noble. It is easy to read and use.
If you want to start a business see if this series contains a book that could help you be successful.
If you want to talk about becoming a Professional Organizer contact me, I would love to chat with you.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of physical activity to reduce clutter, in your home and office. She guides and supports you in managing your time. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
How do you respond when someone retweets you? Replying with a thank-you is indeed polite but isn’t very interesting to read. Most people on Twitter like to scan interesting comments. So I asked a Virtual Assistant, Janet Barclay of Organized Assistant how to respond. She sent me a very helpful article. By the way, the short answer is to say thank you. Here is a link to the blog post. http://organizedassistant.com/2011/04/05/what-do-you-do-when-someone-retweets-you/
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home, office, mind and time. She guides and supports you to be accountable for your time, to complete projects and to reach your goals. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
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