na – no – rhy – mo

National Novel Writers Month – November 2011

It’s a 30-day writing plunge for people all over the world. It helps people get motivated to do the writing they always wanted to.

The goal? 1666 words per day – or a total of 10,000 words for the month.

Technically, I’m not writing a novel. I’m writing non-fiction, but I’m participating anyway.Isn’t it fun to write your own rules?

Here’s a short synopsis of the book:

Creative people have such an incredible capacity to change the world through their ideas. Yet, if they have no physical space to do this work, all the accumulated clutter blocks their ideas and motivation. This non-fiction book helps cluttered creatives bring ingenuity and spirit to their spaces and to create environments that support and inspire their best work.

How I’m getting ready

Never having done this much writing before, I’m nervous! Whew! Here’s how I’m getting ready:

• Assess whether I really want to write 10,000 words (or if a different goal is more realistic)
• Set aside time in my calendar to write
• Flip through my notecards that outline the book (just to shift the stuck energy)
• Mention it on Facebook to connect with other writers
• Sign up for a NaNoWriMo account (free!)
• Write about it on my blog (yay!)

Insights?

If you’ve ever participated in NaNoWriMo or written a book or done something big that you were nervous about, I’d love for you to comment below. Please share your experiences about what worked for you and what you learned. I welcome your insights!

Did you know that if you own a copy of The Wish Kit you can attend an awesome class that helps you get the most from your purchase — at no cost?

It’s true! It’s called The Wish Kit class (fancy, huh?). So many people purchase the Wish Kit with good intentions and don’t get around to completing it. Totally normal! So, I created this class to be sure you get the most from this small-but-mighty tool.

This Monday!

I don’t teach this class often, but I thought you’d want to know that it’s coming up on Monday, October 10 at 9-11am Pacific/12-2pm Eastern.

The Wish Kit class inspires, motivates, and helps you shake out the gunk you’ve been struggling with in your workspace. You end up with clear steps forward that you feel excited to take. Chances are good that your workspace will improve because you’ll create a clear, exciting plan.

I really think you’ll like it. Many people have told me this is their favorite class that I offer — the normal cost would be around $60 — and I don’t charge a thing for it.

Get signed up!

Would you like to be there? Would you like a more inspiring workspace before the end of the year? Let me know you plan to attend!

Send me an email saying 2 things: “I own a Wish Kit (Scout’s honor) and I’ll be there on Monday!”
I’ll follow up with all the juicy details the day before.

Don’t own a Wish Kit, but want to be there? Not to worry! Just get yourself a copy and then send me an email like the one mentioned above. I’d love to have you there!

I’m working with a local charity organization that has too little work space for their staff. They’re making due fitting to staff into a 10×10 office in a scenario a client calls “office Tetris”.

The problem:

Can you tell from my drawing? My drawing isn’t realistic, it’s way more cramped in there. First of all, when these two gals pull out their ergonomic keyboard drawers, their chairs touch. They can’t use them.

Their second issue are these corner hutch-style desks. There’s a triangle of wasted space behind the monitors. The dotted lines represent where the upper shelves overhang. Each side has storage underneath, so there is literally no workspace besides where the monitor and keyboard already are. Add in one tall file cabinet and 2 short ones — and there basically no space to move. Very frustrating.

A solution:

Here’s what I’m proposing as a possible work-around:

1. Tables, not desks. Two for each — one wide (for computer use) one narrow for workspace. This eliminates that useless triangle behind the monitors and increases the amount of work surface dramatically. See where the chairs go? There’s just a little more room to move.

2. That 4-drawer feels like a skyscraper in such a tiny room. Adding two-drawer file cabinets will make the space feel more balanced. They could fit a third one there too. That they’re facing out means the contents are more reachable.

A request

This organization probably can’t swing the new tables – which will be about $100-150 each ($600 total). File cabinets are about $60 each (total $180). The impact of these changes on their productivity and focus can’t be underestimated.

Will you help me support them in doing world-changing work? I’m already donating my time — if you make a donation before June 1st, I will also match it. The button below takes you to PayPal – a secure site.

Please let me know if you have questions!

Warmly,
Jennifer

If I had this neat thingamajig back then? Wow.

It’s called SquareUp – a teeny credit card card reader that fits in your smart phone!

I don’t use this my self (no smart phone), but I’ve talked to a couple of people lately who do — and who can’t say enough good things about it. It’s great for business owners on the go.

The Square itself is free and the pricing to use it is about the same as PayPal. When you swipe cards with Square there is just one fee: 2.75% and when you enter the number manually, it’s 3.5% + 15¢ per manual entry transaction — and the money goes right to your bank account. No other fees or contracts.

Currently, the Square works on Apple iOS and Google Android devices. You just download the app and go! Pretty cool!

Once of the risks I took 5 years ago when I quit my day job was to drop my health insurance. I know. I can hear your cringing. I insured my business, but health insurance was financially out of reach.

I knew it was risky. I was 32 at the time, in good health, and was willing to gamble. Talk to any insurance sales person and they’ll regale you with tales catastrophe and financial ruin. For the last 5 years, I’ve lain awake some nights thinking that some odd pain was going to be my first class ticket to living in a cardboard box.

32-year-old me never imagined I’d still be without any health insurance coverage 5 years later.

Until today…

…when this came in the mail.

(angels singing)

My application was approved and the coverage shall now commence.

I’m so happy/relieved/ecstatic that this area of my life is becoming saner, more organized and more supportive to my well-being. May you find the same in your own life.

I invite you to cheer with me while I heave an enormous sigh of relief. Thanks to Oregon, ODS, OEBB, Chemeketa, and the support of my family and clients.

Whooopee!
Jennifer

Aren’t those plastic organizers adorable? I’ll bet you have big goals for this year, too. Even though this is the time of year for resolutions, most of us have barely recovered from the holiday season before we launch launching headlong into planning, organizing and goal-setting. I know I do it. You too?

Let me invite you to start off your new year gently and with a full heart.

Join me this January for Office Spa Days (4, to be exact) and receive inspiration from some of my best friends and wisest small business buds:

5 Office Spa Day 10am -12pm Pacific (details)

8 Office Spa Day 10am -12pm Pacific

10 Wish Kit Class 1 – 3pm Pacific (details) Note: You will need to purchase a copy of the Wish Kit if you don’t already have one.

12 Sarah Bush from Make Great Stuff will lead a Creative Breakthrough Collage Teleclass giving you a chance to listen to your own artistic heart (even if you don’t know what that is) and carve out time for your creative spirit. (details) 10:30am – 12pm Pacific

17 The Language of Self Care with Joanne Scharer from All Writing Matters will be guiding us through open-ended writing exercises that nourish the mind and heart. 1:00 – 2:30pm

19 Six Steps to Rejuvenating You & Your Biz with Sharon Roemmel of Practically Enlightened Business If you’ve been tapping into less than 100% of your internal resources you’ll end up feeling depleted. Accessing and aligning with your wholeness leaves you feeling nourished, balanced and clearer about action. Experience some simple and free techniques during this hour-long teleclass. 10am – 11am Pacific

20 Interview with The Comfort Queen, Jennifer Louden, author of many fantastic books on self-care. We’ll be talking about how to do self-nourishment when everything around you is going crazy (like the month of January). Be prepared to be delighted and inspired by Jennifer! 2:30 – 3:30pm Pacific

24 Waverly Fitzgerald, author of Living in Season, will be sharing about end-of-the-year rituals which extend into spring, taking the month of January off for dreaming, aligning goals and dreams for the year with the seasons. You won’t want to miss it! 11am Pacific

26 Office Spa Day 10am -12pm Pacific

29 Office Spa Day 10am -12pm Pacific

You can attend every single one of these events for the price of one Office Spa Day:

$40.

No kidding. $40. Join the live calls or listen later to the recordings (Spa Days are live-only, and not recorded).

It’s my sincerest hope that this January loosens your bones, makes you breathe deeply, and allows you to begin the new year truly restored.

Click here to sign up.

You’ll receive a follow up email with the class details and call-in numbers. And some soul-nourishing inspiration.

I’d just returned from visiting my family for the holidays when the taxi dropped me off at midnight. I stood at the back door in the dark, fumbling for my keys – and couldn’t find them. Stunned, I realized I’d locked my house key inside before I’d left for my trip. There I stood, exhausted from my travels, shivering in the cold, and unable to enter my own home.

This was back in the days before cell phones. I couldn’t call for help. I couldn’t call a locksmith. Being new to the neighborhood, I didn’t dare knock on a neighbor’s door at that hour. I eventually I found a payphone and called the police, but they wouldn’t agree to break into the house for me. I had stopped thinking rationally. I seriously considered breaking a window, but I was renting and couldn’t see explaining my actions to the owner (who was out of state for the week).

After about an hour or 2 went by, I remembered that the unattached garage was unlocked (so the neighbors to feed the cat). A garage never felt so welcoming. Fully clothed, I crawled into a sleeping bag, shed some tears of frustration and shame, and fell asleep.

When the sun rose, I was thinking more clearly, made a few more payphone calls and then asked a neighbor if I could call a locksmith. Within 20 minutes, my problem was solved.

Lessons learned

Strategy. One of the lessons is an organizing rule: if it (whatever it is) happens once, chances are good that it will happen again. So plan for it. Within a day of my homelessness, I copied the house key and installed a sturdy outdoor lockbox. I’ll never have a repeat of this incident (knock wood). And the combination I used is intuitive — it’s the first thing that comes to mind when I stand in front of that box. No remembering required. No more sleeping in the garage.

Solidarity. Even though I had a home, I felt solidarity with fellow human beings who make-do with less than a dry garage and a sleeping bag. In fact, on my way to the payphone that morning, I chatted with a homeless man. He gave me his sympathies for my hardship (?!) and I gave him the small amount of cash I had with me. It was one of those moments when you know, deep down, that the separateness between us is only an illusion. All our warm hearts beat together.

Simplicity. If we’re friends on Facebook, you might know that I’ve been volunteering at a at-risk/homeless teen shelter during my retreat. Tonight’s event was the culmination of a lot of generous donations, a dedicated staff, and some organizing on my part. What made it worthwhile were the faces of the kids, receiving needed items like warm coats, hair brushes, socks… things that most of us take for granted.

These kids reminded me that physical objects are helpful, but they don’t bring us happiness. What does bring us happiness is the sense of safety we feel in our world, the support we need to overcome tremendous odds, and the degree to which we claim our ability to choose. We don’t need all that much, physically speaking.

It’s the season

Tradition tells us of another couple, many years ago, who found themselves homeless on the night their child was born. It’s my prayer this season that we remember what beauty is born in simplicity — his, yours, and mine. May every person — young and old, homeless or settled, organized or cluttered — remember that they are as cherished and precious as that one Child. May you remember that your life is your gift to the world.

With much love,
Jennifer

(c) 2010 Jennifer Hofmann

In the last few weeks, I’ve started a new little practice whose effect on me has been profound. It’s called counting your blessings. Maybe you’ve heard if it?

As I was writing my weekly God List recently, I realized something was missing. I’d never once stopped to say thank you for all those divinely delegated items that had somehow miraculously gotten accomplished. No guilt, just — huh!

So I added a second column on the big chart that says “Grateful for…” and as I started writing, tears started to flow. I realized how much good there is around me. Even the simple things, like snow and avocados, remind me that I am so very blessed. I’m usually in such a day-to-day hurry that I fail to recognize these small, sacred gifts. And I miss out on all the warm, heart-expanding feelings that go along with them.

Not this time.

The second column is now a permanent fixture. My God List is now both requests and love letter to the Divine. It’s a thank you for the life-affirming things I receive every day.

Thanks  giving

At Inspired Home Office, especially in my classes, we look at 9 particular areas to gauge personal satisfaction in life. I realized recently, that these areas are useful for counting one’s blessings. There are a dozen little voices in my head saying it’s trite to share what I’m going to. That it’s overdone. I’m sharing anyway it in the hopes that it inspires you to follow suit.

Giving thanks in the 9 Areas of Life

Home: I’m grateful for the quiet beauty of our space, our fabulous landlord, a working furnace and well, and the myriad wild animals who call this place home.

Body/Health: I’m thankful that all my parts work, that I’m getting stronger and healthier every day now that I’m exercising. It is such an amazing gift to be able to feel and move and see.

Primary relationship: I feel so much gratitude to Inspired Spouse who shares my joys and frustrations, accepts me in my most obsessive, obnoxious moments, and loves me beyond measure.

Friends and family: Being related to some of my best friends is an incredible blessing – and one we’ve worked hard to cultivate. My close friends see past my business face, encourage my inner growth, and love me despite my faults. I’m awed.

Recreation: Does Facebook count as recreation? Because I’m thankful for that. And Wii Fit. Those and also painting, guitar, singing, my cats, photography, Barbara Brown Taylor, travel writers, and Hawaii. Just to name a few.

Livelihood: When I think of this, I can only shake my head in disbelieving gratitude. Really? Me? I get to do this work with such beautiful, soulful, inspiring women? Thank You, thank you.

Money: I am thankful to have enough. I’m well aware that many do not.

Spirituality: The Benedictine community at Mount Angel Abbey, the intentional community at Breitenbush Hot Springs, and the amazing staff at Wings Seminars have created sacred spaces in which my spirituality has blossomed. How lost I would be without them.

Contribution: Though my work is my primary contribution to the world, I am thankful for the opportunity to join a small choir recently that lets me touch others’ hearts through sacred music.

Finding your way

Can I think of myriad ways I want to improve my life? Of course. I’m constantly striving for more, for better, for improvement — to the point of exhaustion sometimes. Stopping to hold all these blessings in my heart and finding gratitude for them is healing. It fills me up in a way that more-better striving never does.

In the following weeks, you’ll be led to believe that your satisfaction is defined by what you get, what you give and how much you do. It’s not. What’s true is that you are surrounded by love and abundance every moment. It may not look as shiny or sexy as what’s for sale, but it’s an abundant life. May you find lasting contentment within.

Thanks for reading. I’m wishing many blessings on you and yours this Thanksgiving.

Warmly,
Jennifer

P.S. Care to share what you’re grateful for?

I’m being called on the carpet.

Right now, I’m teaching a 7-week class called Inspired Organizing which is meant to help participants develop lifelong, fun organizing systems. I gave them an activity last week to ask someone they trust what their best and most admirable qualities are. It’s been a little challenging for them — especially to share them within the group.

I got lovingly called out by some of the participants, “Jen. Shouldn’t you have to do this, too?”

So, if you feel compelled to, I’d like your help walking my talk. Would you be willing to comment below, publicly what you like or admire about me? I’d like to walk a mile in my clients’ shoes with your help.

Warmly,
Jen

And many more!

It’s been such a fun adventure so far – and sharing something I feel so passionately about bring me a lot of joy and satisfaction. Better yet, there’s a growing group of people (including you) that are starting to get that organizing can be loving and holistic. I’ve loved the conversations, the comments, the community that’s building around compassionate organizing.

For a look back over the past year, here are the Top 5 Most Viewed posts:

• 5. What do YOU do to keep track of passwords?
• 4. The 5 guiding principles of finding your VA (by guest blogger, Marissa Bracke)
• 3. The #1 sneaky lie that attracts overwhelm
• 2. Grape scented delegation and dropping the ball
• 1. How the retreat really went

You don’t have to sing, but if you’d like to comment please do! What was your favorite post from this year?