Getting Organized in the Google Era

Lifehacker: The Guide to Working Smarter, Faster and Better

Getting Things Done

Time Management from the Inside Out

Organizing for the Creative Person

ZenHabits.net

SimpleProductivityBlog.com

BalanceInMe.com

Real Simple Magazine

The Energy Project

These and many other great books, websites, blogs and products can be found under the Resources tab.

Resilience: The ability to adapt to life’s misfortunes and setbacks.

In the last month, my resilience has been tested. And, I felt like I failed completely. When one stressful event after another happened, I stopped all self care and went directly into feeling sorry for myself, anxiety and depression.

In my work supporting clients as a VA and coaching clients on productivity, I am usually the preacher of all things self care. I encourage clients to delegate, take time for themselves and create systems that allow them to make self care a priority. In my own life, I struggle, sometimes even more than my clients do.

The key to managing stress and building resilience is to surrender to it and realize that you have little or no control over the situation. Create a system of habits that are so set in stone that even under stressful circumstances you can keep self care going and allow yourself to get back on track much sooner.

So, how do you build resilience?

1. Put yourself first – Make self care your first priority. Create habits and routines including exercise, nutrition, sleep and spiritual practice. Find an accountability partner to be sure you stay on track.
2. Ask for help – When disaster strikes, don’t try to do it all yourself.
3. Be proactive – Take action instead of retreating.
4. Remember “This too shall pass”.

How do you handle stress and build resilience in your life?

I was so lucky to participate in a call with the amazing Anastacia Brice of AssistU and Angie Mattson of Mattson Business Services.

We spoke to a group of Virtual Assistants about time management. Time management can be tricky for a lot of people. With information overload, trying to do it all, and an overwhelming inability to say “no”, we just don’t know where to begin.

Though time management is difficult, our advice to the women on the call was really quite simple:

1. Take care of yourself – to create focus and productivity
2. Set goals and priorities – to know where you’re going
3. Put it in your calendar – to know when to get it done
4. Create a system that works for YOU – to get it done
5. Make it a habit – to keep getting it done

It really can be that simple. Remember, simple is good.

I recently read Be Excellent at Anything by Tony Schwartz. Schwartz is the author of the New York Times bestseller, The Power of Full Engagement and the founder of the Energy Project. In the book, Schwartz writes about the four key sources of energy: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. He uses a series of quadrant diagrams to illustrate the positive and negative aspects of these areas of energy and how they affect our productivity. He also suggests that we are not meant to work for long periods of time. In fact, we work best when we work in periods of no more than 90 minutes followed by a brief period of rest and renewal.

A few weeks ago, I started planning my day according to this principle. I schedule projects for 90 minutes and then I take a 15 to 30 minute break. It has made a huge difference in my productivity. I feel focused and able to put my full attention on the scheduled project. My reward is a break that includes a cup of tea, a quick walk or spending a little time on Facebook.

Visit The Energy Project website and take the Energy Audit. It’s a series of questions related to the 4 key areas of energy. You will receive tips to help improve your energy and productivity.

Overwhelm is a huge problem for many people. If your office is cluttered and disorganized, it can be extremely difficult to find the energy and motivation to start digging out. Where do you begin?

Like any big project, the key is to break it down into smaller tasks so it’s more manageable. Try to work on it for just 20 minutes a day. Here’s what you might get done in 20 minutes:

1. Clean out a file drawer.
2. Clean a desk drawer.
3. See how many electronic files you can clean out, creating new folders.
4. Remove everything from your desk, clean it and put back only what needs to be there. Put the rest in a box to sort tomorrow.
5. Sort the box from yesterday. Donate, recycle, trash.
6. Clean up your computer desk top. Remove unused icons.
7. Clean out your pen holder.
8. Clean off a bookshelf. Donate books you no longer need.

If after 20 minutes you feel motivated to continue, by all means, do. If not, begin again tomorrow.

Remember that once your office is organized it takes maintenance to keep it that way. Still set aside 15-20 minutes a day to put things away and keep your desk looking neat and tidy.

Tackling any big project this way is sure to help ease overwhelm and make some serious progress on your goal to creating an organized space.

It’s that time of year when people are cleaning out files, getting ready to file taxes and trying to stick to that elusive New Year’s Resolution: “Get Organized”. Maybe you’ve printed off your reports from your reconciled to the penny QuickBooks file and then meticulously placed your alphabetized 2010 files into a sturdy, white banker’s box from Office Max. Or, more likely, you’ve scooped up all of your receipts and crammed them into a shoebox to hand over to your accountant.

If you’re a small business owner and you don’t have some kind of software to keep track of your income and expenses, get one! Software like QuickBooks is very easy to use – I’d even call it idiot-proof. If you are not inclined to keep up with your books, hire a bookkeeper to enter your receipts and reconcile your accounts.

Other helpful tips:

Write expense categories on your receipts the same day you make the purchase and file them by payment method for easy bank and credit card reconciliation.

Don’t forget to enter cash receipts.

Enter receipts into your software weekly (or even daily) instead of monthly to avoid overwhelm.

File your receipts and statements right away. Avoid putting them in a pile or into a “To File” folder. Again, this just leads to overwhelm and procrastination.

Ask for help. Your accountant may also do bookkeeping services. If not, they are sure to have a referral for you.

“The life we want is not merely the one we have chosen and made, it is the one we must be choosing and making.”  ~Wendell Berry

Today I was thinking about my goals and I ran across this quote by Sid Caesar: “In between goals is a thing called life that has to be lived.” In Simple Abundance, Sarah Ban Breathnach talks about her authenticity and says: “It is the striving to be authentic that makes you so, not the end result.” We are not always moving in a linear way, we often move in circles. People strive to become something or accomplish something but the truth is we are never done. We are always changing and evolving.

Many people have a goal to “get organized”. They think that once they are organized that all of their problems will be solved. It’s important to clear the clutter and put everything in its place but if you don’t have great systems you’ll be right back where you started in no time. Organizing is a process that truly never ends. You will set up systems and those systems will evolve and change. Know that you have a system that works right now. Follow that system. Change and adapt the system as your life changes.

January was Get Organized Month (GO Month) according to the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO).   What happens after you “get organized”?   The key is to “stay organized”.   So, VAST Business Solutions has officially declared February and all months that follow, Stay Organized Month (SO Month).   We’ll be offering tips and tricks to keep you on track.   Stay tuned…

I recently watched Pride & Prejudice for about the one millionth time. My husband asked why every woman loves that movie. Men. They just don’t get it.

Besides the love story, I enjoy the scenery, the costumes, the music and most of all the simplicity of life over 200 years ago. The family in Pride and Prejudice was able to hire help around the house so the sisters spent their time dancing, reading, painting, sewing, playing the piano and traveling. That was pretty much it. No cell phones, iPods, computers, email, television or radio. There was nothing to distract them or demand their attention except the prospect of marriage and finding their one true love.

I do love technology and life is a lot easier because of it. But there is a difference between simple and easy. Life is easier now with all of our modern conveniences but life was simpler then. I am always looking for ways to make my life simpler. I unplug often. I drive without the radio on and I can go days without watching television. I also meditate, go for walks (without my iPod) and I read Sarah Ban Breathnach’s Simple Abundance every night before bed.

I also try to simplify my work. I keep my desk free of clutter and only have out the things I need for the project I’m working on. I turn off the radio or play soft, classical music (often the Pride & Prejudice soundtrack). I close my email and turn off the phone while working on projects.

In working with clients I focus a lot on simplicity too. I see many people who overcomplicate things. Overcomplicating leads to overwhelm. When we are overwhelmed we often don’t know what to do or where to begin. It’s always great to look at the big picture but to move forward and make progress we need to break it down. What are the steps needed to get the project done? How can you do a little bit at a time to make progress? Can you delegate some tasks? What are the distractions that keep coming up that are stopping you from making real progress on this project?

How do you create simplicity in your life and work?

It's important to me to stay up to date in my industry and continue my professional development. As a result I am constantly reading books related to professional organizing and productivity.

Recently I read a statistic that 95% of all self help books are never read or utilized. I must say that I had been guilty of this in the past and many of those books are still sitting on my book shelves collecting dust. (I’ve now started borrowing books from the library and then deciding if I want to buy them for my library at home.)

The problem, I think, is that many organizing and productivity books have structured systems that seem to have no flexibility. They are also too long and give too much information.

In working with clients I rarely suggest just one book or system. The systems we create are customized using bits of many books and resources to create what works for them. I suggest that clients read books with an open mind, knowing that they are most likely not going to use every piece of advice the author gives them.

The answer is really to find different things that work for you, create your own customized system and be open and willing to change it as your needs change.