My word for the year

After choosing an inspiration word for 2012, I wrote it on a rock and placed it where I look every day — just under my monitor.

Having it there reminds me what I’m striving to create and staying opening to. Every day. It’s a tiny little altar for my intention.

Have you chosen a word for the year?

If you haven’t, there’s no reason why you can’t today. What do you want to create this year?

If you have chosen a word (or words) this year, how do you remind yourself of what they are?

3 comments

In person! Fun!

Since Inspired Home Office classes are offered by phone, I don’t do a lot of teaching in person… but I love it. Last night, I got to speak to a full house of local artists about creating an inspiring studio space at The Art Department (a really sweet local business in Salem). What a blast!

There were moments of seriousness and laughter as we talked about the challenges of letting go of treasures. We dreamed about the environments that would make our hearts and creativity sing. I hope those who attended had as much fun as I did!

Masquerading projects

The distinction between a task and a project was a revelation for me years ago. When I added a project to my to-do list, I felt really frustrated that even though I had worked on if for a good while, but couldn’t get a “check mark” because it wasn’t done. Taxes are a good example. Write “do your taxes” on your to-do list and just wait — it’ll be on there forever.

Last night I shared that a task takes about 15-20 minutes to complete. If it takes any longer than that, it’s really a project. Projects are a collection of tasks.

The reason why it’s so hard to have a project on your to-do list is that it’s too big. What it really needs is to be broken up into smaller tasks before you begin. Even if you just write down the next 3-5 tasks (under 20 minutes), you now have action steps you can follow. Your brain can wrap itself around the idea of a few tasks, but it boggles at whole projects.

Removing the mask — practical ideas for your projects

One of the women who attended my talk last night followed up with a question by email:

I usually think something is just a task and will only take a short time and lo and behold it is really a project!  Like cleaning my quilting space…I thought oh I can get this done in a day and 8 days later it was done!  What is your method for figuring this out…any ideas are appreciated. 

I’m a big fan of writing things down — it’s visual, it’s kinesthetic, and (if you talk to yourself) it’s also auditory. Your brain revels in having all of these sources of input seeing, touching, and hearing your ideas.

So I suggest grabbing a p0en you like and blank sheet of paper. Write the name of the project (or suspected project) at the top and underline it. Then, underneath, do a 3-minute brainstorm listing all of the steps you’d take to accomplish the project. This is the exact same process that we use in the Office Spa Day class.

Cleaning My Quilting Space

Find the scissors and tape measure
Go through the box of fat quarters
Put cutting mat back
Put quilting frame away
Research containers for projects in process
Pick up dropped pins

With this hypothetical brainstorm list, you’d review it looking for things that would take more or less than 20 minutes.

To aid yourself visually, you could put a T next to tasks (less than 20 minutes) and a P next to projects (more than 20 minutes). “Researching containers” would likely take longer than 20 minutes. “Going through the box of fat quarters” might also (what fun!). When you notice which of these items are actually projects, you can either ignore them for now and just work on the tasks for the main project (clearing the quilting space) or make a new sheet of paper and list the tasks for the projects you discover on your list.

How to make it inspiring

Doing this process helps you prevent being surprised by lurking projects. My favorite part is that as I work through the list of tasks, I get credit for all the small things, not just the finished product. This encourages me along the way. I also delight in adding unexpected small steps to the list as I do them, which just gives more evidence of my progress!

The more you do this process (or any variation on it), the better you get at recognizing projects. You get better at guessing how long a task will take to complete. Within a couple of months, you become the Master/Mistress of Projects and they no longer surprise you. It’s pretty awesome to feel some control over the things you take on!

Have you encountered a recent task that turned out to be a project in disguise? I’m curious! Please feel free to share about it below.

One comment

Sentry Safe Guardian Storage Box

Not to spook ya, but somewhere in the dark recesses of your filing cabinet are documents you know you want to have better protected.

Your office inventory — the one your insurance agent told you to make just in case the whole place burns to cinders — is filed away in a folder marked “Office Inventory.” This inventory lives in a cabinet which will melt to a puddle of blistered beige goo if the unthinkable happened. Ditto your tax returns, your Microsoft Stocks, and your 11th grade yearbook signed (with love and kisses) by Danny Hammond.

You might not need (or have room for) an honest-to-goodness safe, but most of us do have things which ought to be kept in a place slightly more secure than the usual cardboard accordion folder. Here, then, is a dandy answer!

Well, technically, it’s the red thing under the cat.

The Sentry Safe Guardian Storage Box is small enough to fit in my office closet (above), under your desk, light enough to carry, and works incredibly well as a footstool in a pinch. It has the same capacity as a regular storage box, but astonishingly, can withstand up to 1,200 degrees for up to twenty minutes.

I own one because the nice people at Sentry asked me to review it on my blog! How generous!

The downsides:

You can’t use hanging files. I tried. When you put the lid on, no closey.

See?

If you’re crazy about hanging files and their sticky-uppey plastic tabs (like I am), it’s an odd sensation. You mean, organize without tabs? It’s like going out in public in my bathrobe.

But I tried it.

Proof that organizing doesn't have to be perfect to be effective.

And it wasn’t awful. What I did was cut a few hanging files in half and removed the metal hangers. So there are still dividers. As long as the box is mostly full, it works pretty well.

The upsides:

I’ve been meaning to do this for years.

Technically, the IRS wants you to keep 3-7 years worth of original tax records and receipts. Not bank statements, not credit card statements — original receipts. If they burned up in a fire (God forbid) and I got audited (God further forbid), well I’m sure I’d find a way. But, ugh.

Someday I’ll scan everything (the IRS likes scans), but in the meantime having everything in there and protected makes me feel much better. I like that feeling a lot.

The really cool thing? Receiving the Guardian also motivated me to downsize two file boxes worth of old papers. It took me a weekend, but wow! I love that kind of motivation!

An inspired organizing tip:

If you leave the lid off this box, it’s useless — at least as far as fire protection is concerned. Unless you think you’ll really replace the lid consistently during regular use, plan to put touch-once-per-year archives only in here. Birth certificates. Passports. That way the lid goes right back on and you don’t have to think about it again.

Once you get the hang of putting all those important documents in here, you won’t ever have to frantically search for your passport ever again before leaving for Europe. (And when you do, will you take me with you?)

My summary

This storage box would be better if it copied its non-fireproof cousins and accommodated hanging files. Other than that, it’s pretty darned great! And I’d say the same thing even if the nice Sentry people hadn’t sent me one!

One comment

 Introducing the amazing, versatile stair step folder holder thingy! Isn’t she a thing of beauty?

Each of us has something like a stacker on our desks which holds work-in-progress folders, as well as the “to be read when I have a minutes and/or want to impress somebody who happens by” folder, and, of course, the “I have no idea what to do with this, but if I wait long enough I might have an epiphany” files. Sadly, these little organizers do little to actually organize us. Generally, they effectively hide the folder labels because they are all on the same level and cannot be easily seen.

 Ahhh, but here we have the perfect office accessory. This is the little black dress in the world of home office-ers. Not only is it inclined upward from front to back, making it possible to actually SEE what you have stored there, but it’s also made of 30% recycled materials! The best ones have high dividers that prevent papers from flopping over.

The only down-side I can find to owning your own amazing, versatile stair-step folder holder thingy is that you might find some nasty surprises when you clean out your old stacker.

“Huh. I thought I’d sent that form to the Internal Revenue Service MONTHS ago.”

Don’t like black? Try these on for size!

 I use this exact one in my own office.

Do you use a graduated file holder? If so, what do you put in it?

2 comments

What?? How the heck do you pronounce that?!

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!

2 comments

I have the right to express myself
to live my life as I see fit
to say no and mean it
to say yes with my whole being to what I love

I have the right to my own creative space
to draw a real or imaginary line around my domain and claim it for myself
to a door that closes
to absolute silence when I need it

I have the right to spread out
to interact with my ideas
to see them
to touch them
and doodle in the margins
until the ideas seep into my bones and become mine

I have a right to a sacred space
that is free from intrusions
that is free from guilt
that completely supports my spirit
that is truly sacred space
powerful as an ancient circle of standing stones

I have a right to fully inhabit my body and treat it with loving care
to a good night’s sleep, to clean teeth, warm hugs, and supportive ears

I have a right to a healthy relationship with myself
to choose gentleness
to change
to grow more deeply into my magnificent self
to learn to be my own best friend

I have a right to a space that allows me to become who I am
that helps me visualize my dreams so I can make them happen
that celebrates my gifts and all my senses
Because when I can hear my own deepest knowing, self-criticism dissolves
and in finding my own voice, I am better able to hear yours

I have a right to contribute something valuable to the world
I was born with gifts, talent and abilities that the world needs
While the world hungers for compassion, for wisdom, for beauty, for healing
my space gives me the grounding I need to courageously offer my service

I have a right to be here, in this world, at this time in history
Despite the risks of living, I know I am safe
I am loved
I belong
This life I’ve been given is a gift
and each day, I find gratitude
and new courage to live it

Comments? You’re invited to share thoughts or feelings that reading this brings up for you.

No comment to share? Feel free to add a little stone  -o-  to let me know you’re here and took the time to read (this delightful idea courtesy of Darcy).

19 comments

You have limited energy

Assuming you’ve had a restful night’s sleep, you wake up in the morning with a reserve of energy. Not like electricity, but like a battery. A rechargeable one.

You probably do some things that joyfully drain your battery — doing your creative work, for example. It takes energy, but it also gives you some too. Life is also full of things that drain the spirit’s battery, emptying us slowly throughout the day. There’s traffic, noise, stressful circumstances and depleting people, too. We lose this vitality without filling back up.

Perhaps you’d prefer to spend your finite energy on your work, creating revenue, using your gifts, sharing them. You can turn this desire into a sacred practice.

You deserve a sacred space

Because we live in a “more is more” culture, so many things compete for our time and energy that it becomes difficult to sense where appropriate boundaries are. What is enough? What is too much?

Boundaries? It’s a free for all. We throw up our hands in overwhelmed resignation. From this place, it’s too much effort to discern where to begin.

You can create a sacred boundary around you

It is possible to preserve and cultivate this precious energy. Even though it seems impossible with all the act-now offers and text messages and appointments and calls to return and errands to run (and even my phone rings as I type this). It is possible. You may just need to start small. Smaller than you’re accustomed to.

Unsubscribe

Unsubscribing is a perfect place to begin to reclaim your vitality and spirit. Even as you do these actions, you may incidentally improve others’ lives too. Consider these suggestions:

Unsubscribe from emails: As you look through your inbox, notice what depletes you. Notice if there are certain emails you never read. Start unsubscribing — including to this newsletter. If you don’t have the heart to offend the sender, many email programs allow you to set up a “rule” so that certain messages get automatically trashed bypassing your inbox. Same outcome: less email, more peace.
Unsubscribe from phone calls: When you get a solicitation — even at an odd hour — pick up the phone and ask to removed from the list belonging to the company calling you. Be kind to the solicitor and remember they’re working to pay the bills too. I like to say thank you at the end and wish them a good evening with a smile. It may be the only kindness they receive today.
Unsubscribe from mail: In the US, you can write “RTS” (return to sender) if a letter was mistakenly sent to you and it will be returned. If it was intended for you, call the company that sent it and ask to be removed from their mailing list. It’s worth the time. My insurance agent sends me letters occasionally asking if I’d like additional insurance products. When I emailed him today, I learned that I can unsubscribe from all their mailings at once — so I did. No hard feelings. No more junk.
Unsubscribe from advertisements: I’ve debated canceling the Sunday paper for this reason: I look through all those ads and feel all angsty and full of want for things I don’t really need. Another kind of advertisement (and feeling) comes from catalogs. If you receive them and don’t like how you feel when you look at them, pick up the phone. You’d be surprised how helpful the sales agents are — and how accustomed they are to this request. Not only will you save the company the expense of sending future mailings, you’ll save yourself the time of processing them and leaky energy that could be put to better use.

As you can see, this process is more than just organizing time or paper. I invite you to create just enough structure — to cultivate an environment that replenishes your precious energy.

Starting with these steps will enliven you and give the gift of peace to your future self. When excess email, calls, and paper decrease, what could have room to grow?

In its place, invite in more of what you want

To deepen your sense of sacred boundaries, imagine drawing around you a circle of light or flowers or love or ocean sounds (or whatever touchstones nourish you) that provide a healing, expansive buffer for your spirit. Your creative space can be like this. In the place of distraction, you can invite focus. In place of overwhelm you can invite clarity. In place of depletion, you can experience a full heart.

Start small. Nurture your spirit. See what unfolds.

6 comments

Do you receive my newsletter, Juicy Gems?

In it, there’s visually blissful art, an article from me, a calendar of events, and a blog archive. Sound familiar? I ask because so many people have told me that it’s the only newsletter they actually read, that I started to realize it’s really something special.

In addition to being pretty awesome, Juicy Gems is my primary tool for letting people know about upcoming classes.

My vision and intentions for marketing

If you’re running a small business or art career, you probably know how important it is to be in touch with people who like your work. You want to contact them without being annoying or sales-y.

When I contact my newsletter subscribers, I have 3 questions use in every message I send:

• Is it helpful and valuable to the reader?
• Is it sincere?
• Is it inspiring?

Intention matters. Having received some creepy, spammy promotions via email myself over the years, it feels that much more important to bring integrity to my marketing. Since I’ve been entrusted with permission to send emails to over 2000 people, I’m committed to using this access in a mindful, respectful way.

I don’t expect you to have my class list and calendar memorized. The goal I strive for is to share just enough information for you to be informed about supportive options for clutter and organizing. I want you to feel informed without feeling bombarded. Practically speaking, I never send more than 3 extra emails a month about a class or product (a promise I make on my Get My Newsletter page).

Most of all, I want for you to have enough time to think about your options and make a decision without feeling rushed.

The actual IHO marketing plan

When I have an upcoming class, here is the system I use for marketing it:

• 8 weeks out: Add to calendar in newsletter
• 6 weeks out: Mention in newsletter
• 4 week out: Send a separate email describing the class
• 2 weeks out: Mention in newsletter, offer free taster class when appropriate
• 1 week from deadline: Send a separate email reminder
• 1 day before deadline: Send a quick reminder

So far, this plan works very well and people seem to respond well to it. That said, I’m always open to feedback.

Getting help

For the first time ever, I’ve hired a virtual assistant to help me plan and deliver the messages I write about upcoming classes. It’s one of the smartest business decisions I’ve ever made. I noticed that I’d forget to send things on time in the past (sound familiar at all?). Now I have someone to whom I’m accountable and it’s really helping a lot!

If you receive my newsletter, now you have a sneak peek into what I’m up to and how things work behind the scenes. I hope it’s useful to your business (more on this in a moment).

If you’re not subscribed to Juicy Gems, let me encourage you to consider it. If the other subscribers are any indication (60% of whom open it within 3 days), you might like it.

Why I’m telling you about this

Everything I’ve described up to this point is actually a kind of organizing (you knew that was coming, right?). Over the 5 years I’ve been self-employed, one of the things I learned to do was create order in my marketing. I’ve developed specific instructions to myself about how to connect with cluttered creatives who need help in their home office.

You can too. In fact, if your business is a little shaky, creating a plan to spread the word about your work can feel very empowering. Here are a few resources I love and recommend without hesitation:

• A 7-Sentence Creative Marketing Plan from Entrepreneur.com
• mplans.com has fantastic marketing plan samples from all kinds of industries (software optional)
• Katy Terpack Tafoya at Success for Solopreneurs
• Molly Gordon’s Authentic Promotion program (and other great marketing resources)
• My favorite heart-centered marketing resource: Mark Silver at Heart of Business

What do you think?

How deliberate and organized is your marketing at the moment? What’s something you’re doing really well already?

5 comments

It’s in the air

I can’t quite put my finger on exactly what is happening at the moment, but there seems to be a low buzz of purpose and love reverberating in my community right now. I’m a member of an informal network of heart-based business owners who are doing their part to reinvent what it means to make a living — with intention, with purpose, and with Divine guidance.

As I get clearer and clearer about my work (Inspired Home Office) and what it’s meant to do (clear cluttered minds and hearts so one’s purpose shines through), I see my peers coming to some of the same discoveries about themselves and their own work. Like, today.

Can you hear it, too? Here’s the recent writing and life work of three people who have influenced me beyond measure by their teaching and lives and example.

Mark Silver, from Heart of Business, wrote an article yesterday called, The Two Costs of Being Heart-Centered in Business. It’s so affirming to read about his own recent spiritual growth and the validation that running a heart-based business is worth the challenges.

Marissa Bracke just had (possibly) the biggest a-ha of her life and recently went public with her new business offerings in her post: My A-ha! Moment. Marissa has been my accountabilibuddy for well over a year. Having benefited from her clarity, compassion, and eagle-eyed insights this whole time, I’m beyond thrilled to see her share these gifts with the world.

And Jen Louden, the Comfort Queen, the woman who first introduced me to the self-guided retreat, wrote a post today that affirmed everything I believe about living your purpose in life: You are Called. I loved it so much, I even commented.

If you have 10 minutes in the next few days to do some reading that will nourish your spirit and inspire to do your creative work in the world, these are my three recommendations.

Lots of love,
Jennifer

One comment

Written by Lea Jabieski Shulman, one of Jen’s best friends from high school.

Jen and I met our sophomore year in high school. Someone was smart enough to pull the fire alarm on Halloween and managed to give everyone in the school a little recess outside. Jen was standing with a group of mutual friends. She was the one dressed like a hippy, guitar in hand. I’m pretty sure not too many people came to school in a costume that day, but that’s Jen.  She is fun and free-spirited.

I know that anyone who reads Jen’s blog (or who knows what she does for a living) knows she is open about her struggles with ADD and disorganization. I imagine her clients must feel like her best friends; they know she is witty and emotional and flighty and quirky and creative and smart.

But I’m the lucky one who knew Jen before Jen had this amazing self-discovery.

I knew her when she just couldn’t study for a test (but everyone said she wouldn’t.)

I knew her when she lost her pen, her binder, her jacket, her keys…

I knew her when she was day-dreaming, gazing out the window when she was trying to do her homework.

I even knew her when she forgot to feed my cat when my family was away on vacation. (Don’t worry, the cat was fine!)

Jen and I recently reconnected, just as we are rounding the corner of our twentieth high school reunion.  And the more we are getting to know each other again I see how perfect it is that she does what she does for a living. When you have lived what you teach, one can only be seen as an expert. Who better to help people out of their disruptive and disorganized work patterns than someone who can empathize with the same struggles? She lives and breathes the techniques she offers in her guidance, everyday.

Jen is witty and emotional and flighty and quirky and creative and smart. Now I know Jen can add “successful entrepreneur” to the list.

Lea Shulman
Lea Shulman Interiors

3 comments