The “What do YOU do?” series gives you a glimpse into my life as a messy, creative person and invites you to share your organizing insights and ideas.

Business cards

We put so much work into designing our own and so much money on printing and so much courage into sharing them, it feels terrible to just throw out someone else’s card. Don’t you agree?

Here’s what I do

When it comes to business cards, I have a politeness policy: I accept them if offered (and take them if I want them), but with the inner understanding that I’ll toss/recycle them if I don’t plan to use the information.

It hasn’t always been this way, but I’ve reached a level of trust that when I need something, the right thing will come along. If I need a painter, I’ll ask around and find the perfect person. It takes too much energy for me to hang on to business cards just because I might need them someday. I’m not willing to devote time to organizing every single one anymore.

The business cards I do keep? They go into an alphabetized folder with these handy plastic sheets that look like this (link provided for reference).

I don’t use it often, but it’s helpful to have – and all those cute little cards stay contained.

It’s worth mentioning that I don’t alphabetize by last name. I file by what I’ll remember. If I look at the card and the first thing that comes to mind is “recycling”, I file it under “R”. If I know that I only remember the person’s first name, I highlight it and put it under the corresponding letter. It’s only a system that works for me, but that’s the point. It works. : )

How about you?

Your turn! If you’d like, please share what you’re doing that helps you keep track of business cards. Your ideas help everyone!

Your comments on your own process are welcome. Just remember to give advice to me or others only when it’s specifically requested. This makes exploring safe and learning possible for every reader.

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Dr. Abby Heppner

What she does: Abby Heppner is a chiropractic doctor in Salem, Oregon who owns her own practice and works with families to prevent and treat pain.

What she loves best about her office: If we’d asked a month ago, she would have said, “Nothing.” Since she’s read Fun In Functional, she found a way to make the things she looks at positive and beautiful even in a tiny, shared office. Wow!

Abby’s organizing genius idea:

Abby went from having what she called the “Post-it(R) Note Crazy Wall,” to containing all those notes into 3 elegant, labeled manila files:

• Things to do this week
• Things to do next week
• Long-term projects

The best parts of this system for Abby:

• A place to put all those tiny sticky notes.
• The folders fit in her laptop bag and are easy to transport.
• Notes are reduced into small, digestible chunks of information.
• She knows when the actions need to be done.
• She can see when she’s finished with the week’s tasks.

Impact on her business:

• Feeling less overwhelmed and more in control.
• Neater piles and less stuff.
• Things seem more manageable because she’s taking on only what she can do.
• More present with her patients.

Listen to the recording (12 minutes)

Genius quote:

“It’s so much nicer to have a clean little space than a messy little space.”
- Dr. Abby Heppner

Care to comment?

The “What do YOU do?” series gives you a glimpse into my life as a messy, creative person and invites you to share your organizing insights and ideas.

Online distractions.

Although the Web and email are all pretty handy tools, sometimes they’re so visually stimulating that they feel like threats. Enemies. Barriers to concentration.

If you want to focus, there are lots of ways to prevent distraction and still get the most from these tools.

Here’s what I do prevent online distraction

• Close browser tabs - Firefox and Internet Explorer (and I’m sure many other browsers) allow users to open an infinite number of tabs. I just know that if the little tab says Facebook, I will click on it whether I really want to go on Facebook or not. So I keep it (and other distracting websites) closed. In fact, I keep as few open as possible. Usually just my gmail and gcal are open.

• Prevent popups - Most of us know about pop-ups from websites. But I’m talking about the pop-ups that Skype creates every time one of my contacts gets online. And the pop-up on gmail when someone wants to instant message me. And the pop-up that appears when an email comes into your inbox.

Concentration is hard enough without pop-ups, so I’ve turned them all off. With Skype, I have to actually log off. With gmail, I have to select my status as “offline”. If you have Outlook, you can opt out of the “so-and-so has sent you a message” announcements. And good riddance!

Here’s what I’m working on

• Twitter and Tweetdeck – I’m not sure I’m actually working on this, but I’m aware that although I keep very few browser windows open, I almost always have TweetDeck (a tool that makes Twitter easier to use) open. I’m still figuring out if it’s a distraction or a tool – or both.

What do YOU do that minimizes online distractions?

Your turn! If you’d like, please share what you’re doing that helps you in your business and/or life – and also something that you’re working on/experimenting with.

Your comments on your own process are welcome. Just remember to give advice to me or others only when it’s specifically requested. This makes exploring safe and learning possible for every reader.

6 comments

If you want organizing that sticks around, one of the most effective, compassionate things you can do is make small tweaks to the systems you already have. Tiny ones.

Today, I’m inviting smARTists and regular readers to share:

What’s one tweak you’d like to experiment with that would help you feel more focused or organized?

And if you’re in the smARTist program this week, you’re also welcome to share something from my presentation that you’re planning to try out.

Why are you asking this?

It is so powerful to state an intention out loud and to have respectful, encouraging witnesses. By creating a place to witness your tweaky intention, you have a better chance of making it happen.

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I love this quote.

“You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” — E. L. Doctorow (via @artcetera)

If you’re frustrated by the amount of email you have, or the amount of work, or the volume of paper on your desk, or the frazzled nerves in your brain, or the lack of time to do things…

Just remember that you don’t have to do the whole thing. You only need to do the next thing.

• If you have boatload of work to do, pick one thing – even the easiest thing – and start with that.
• If you have a ton of email to read and reply to, start with the one on the bottom.
• If you haven’t had time to write a single Christmas or New Year’s card, don’t do all of them. Just start with one.

It’s the season where you can knock yourself flat, deplete your spirit, and snarl at loved ones.  Not because you want to, but because there’s just so much happening at once that it’s hard to decide where to start.

Just like the quote says, shine your light on one thing. Start with that. You’ll still get to your destination – and you might even feel lighter and more peaceful when you arrive.

For me, that means clicking “publish” on this post so I can share it with you.

What’s the next thing for you?

12 comments

Do you remember the last time you took a walk in the woods?

Maybe you can recall the quality of the light, the views and scenes that passed you, the kinds of plants and trees along the way, or the companions who accompanied you. There’s something meditative about the woods.

Practically speaking, most people find that a walk in the woods is fairly easy to do. You simply choose a place to begin and then start walking. It’s so obvious how to take a walk in the woods that it hardly seems worthwhile to explain it.

You just start.

You don’t worry about step 247 or bridge number 2 or the fourth squirrel. You just walk.

Organizing is like that too.

Organizing is just like a walk in the woods. You begin. You take a single step forward – and another – and another, pausing occasionally to take in the sights.

Except when it isn’t.

Unlike walking in the woods, people do get stressed about where to put things (step 247) or how to deal with email (bridge number 2) or dealing with time management (the fourth squirrel). When you worry about these things, it’s as though you’re standing stock still in the middle of the path with your eyes closed.

You can’t get there any faster by thinking so hard.

Just take a step.

Depending on the length of your legs, a single step happens in about a half-second. Is there something you can you do in your space today that would take a half-second?

The idea isn’t to get to the end of the trail in one fell swoop. Your legs aren’t that long – and neither is your attention span.

Maybe, just maybe, you’d be willing to take a “walk” through your workspace today, taking half-second actions to move what you can.

That fourth squirrel will appear when it’s supposed to and no amount of thinking will make it come faster.

Enjoy your walk.

Care to comment?

It’s a lot more organized than you realize.

A deer in the technology headlights

Over breakfast this morning, Inspired Spouse, who is a lover of all things technological, informed me that there is a new android from Google. (blank look)

At least that’s what I heard. Inspired Spouse informed me gleefully that it was a kind of phone. Which could possibly be synced with a computer and other digital devices so that you could access your information anywhere.

If this is going over your head, don’t feel badly. Although I appreciated the information and enthusiastic delivery, I wasn’t tracking the whole thing myself.

A dose of healthy skepticism

I confess. I tend to reserve my rejoicing regarding new products that organize. Whether it’s a phone or digital doodad or paper organizer or (insert retail item of choice), there is simply no better organizing tool than your own brain.

Unfortunately, unlike many gadgets, your brain comes with no user’s manual. This makes it easy to fall prey to the belief that your brain is broken. Disorganized. It’s easier still to succumb to clever advertising that convinces you that some doohicky will make you be organized and save your life.

Celebrating your brain

This is a topic we’re discussing in the Inspired Organizing program right now: the truth that your brain is organized. Really. Since the day you were born. In fact, as you went through childhood and got older, your brain became even more refined and orderly.

Like any tool, you just need to know how to use it. The two keys to utilizing this miraculous natural order inside your head are awareness and space.

Key 1: Awareness

Awareness is most effective when you concentrate on your strengths (for example: creativity, appreciation for color, skill with words, estimation of distance). Even though we all have weaknesses, they’re really, really hard to change. So, by focusing on what you naturally do well, you get lots of good-feeling material to work with in your organizing.

To create awareness, just jot down a list of things your brain is really good at. You may find you want to use some of these strengths in your organizing systems. You might even discover that you already do!

Key 2: Space

In my experience, the people who create the most satisfying, enduring organizing systems are the ones who allow their process to be spacious. In other words, they stop looking for a quick fix.

Stepping out of the quick-fix mode is challenging in a culture that values taking a pill to solve dis-ease and buying its way out of problems. Frankly, choosing to step out of that mentality is a decision I have to make again and again, not just once. But it’s worth it.

Organizing is a process that evolves over time – because you evolve over time. Thank heavens for that! I invite you to notice if you’re open to creating an attitude of space in your life – so there’s room for discovery.

Things to try

Become aware of what you’re good at: As suggested above, take a moment to write down all the things your brain is naturally good at. Add to this list over time. Then think about how your might use these strengths in your organizing.

Create space: While you’re writing, jot down your thoughts to these question: How open are you to letting go of the quick-fix mentality? What might need to shift in your life in order to accomplish this?

3 comments

Passwords.

Aside from their helpful purpose (to keep your sensitive information safe), they can be kind of a hassle to remember, to find, to concoct.

Here’s what I do to remember to remember passwords

What is currently working well for me:

Low tech. I wrote them down – every last one – on a piece of paper. Remembering them is hard. My magic password sheet makes it easy.

Bright and shiny. The magic password sheet lives in a see-through red plastic sleeve that is practically impossible to miss.

Handy. I keep it very close to me in the most convenient place. No, not my Brownie Smile. My magic password sheet. I can reach out my right arm and – voila! – there it is! Lickey-split!

Security. My vivid imagination gets me to worry sometimes that a nefarious character will get their grubby paws on my magic password sheet. So all of my passwords are written in code. The passwords on the paper are not the actual codes themselves, but I know what they mean.

Laugh if you will, but I sleep better at night.

What I’m currently working on:

Remembering to write them down. Whenever I set up a new account somewhere, I write down the login and password on my magic password sheet. It’s not hard to do, it’s just sometimes a trick to catch myself in the act and recognize, “Hey! I’m creating a new login name and password! Better write it down!”

What do YOU do to keep track of passwords?

What works really well for you? What are you working on?

Share your insights and ideas! Your comments on your own process are welcome. I also request kindly that you not give advice to me or others unless it’s specifically requested. This makes exploring safe and learning possible for every reader.

17 comments

You are here.

Although you’ll rarely catch me at the mall, I’m a fan of those big kiosks that harbor a colorful, glowing diagram of the entire place.

No matter how lost, there’s a friendly star that tells me where I am.

Knowing where you are helps orient you. It helps you find direction to move forward confidently. It helps you appreciate where you’ve come from.

A map for an inspiring home office

Just for you, I made a map that shows how to create a workspace that nourishes you. It has seven basic steps. (You’ll just have to imagine the glowing colors.)

1. Feeling deeply stuck and unsatisfied.
2. Creating an idea of the workspace you really want.
3. Taking stock of how things are today.
4. Clearing out the things that no longer serve you or your business.
5. Finding intuitive places for the things you want to keep and use.
6. Enjoying a fairly functional, soul-nourishing workspace.
7. Creating fun, intuitive systems for projects and business tasks.

Where are you?

If you’re working on several of these steps at once, that’s totally normal. You may also find that you repeat some steps again and again. No judgment about it, that’s just how it works. It’s a process.

What step(s) are you on today – and how do you feel about it?

(Reminder: Comments before August 24, 2009 enter you to win some fun stuff from Inspired Home Office. Please feel free to participate!)

17 comments

Money management ideas for the faint-of-heart

Okay, so I’ll come right out and say it:

Budget.

Sounds terrible, doesn’t it? It almost sounds like “diet.” Add a little free association and you get cutting back, cracking down, belt-tightening, and more. (cringe)

You’re smart – you realize that a budget is a good thing, but what’s a creative person to do with all these painful-sounding restrictions? Ouch! And yuck!

Nerdy words

When I find myself confused about a term, I usually look it up to see where the word came from (thanks, Mom). In this case, I am in complete resistance to the word budget (maybe you are too), so I looked it up.

What I discovered was fascinating! Budget is derived from French, Celtic, Latin, and Old English and means “leather pouch or bag.” In fact, the Middle French derivation, bougette, actually means “cute bag.”

Leather pouch? Cute? These are not exactly the words one associates with budget.

Further inspection

The dictionary also had a long and scary definition of budget that would have made an MBA or CPA grin maniacally. Let’s ignore that part and stay with the word origin instead.

The thing I love about the leather pouch is that I can imagine holding it. You can really imagine the softness and smell of leather and feel the weight of your money inside it. It’s an evocative image, this bougette.

With your bag in hand, you can imagine going to the market in Old England and spending what you had in the pouch – arriving home with an armload of tallow, fresh eggs, and cloth. Tactile yum-yums!

Modern day hiccups

Confession: My relationship with money (like a lot of people’s) hasn’t always been healthy. Neglectful, even.

Most of my spending is virtual (debit cards, online purchases, online banking, etc.). I’m a whole step removed from that leather pouch because I have only theoretical numbers instead of real live coins and bills.

The convenience of virtual financial transactions is a huge time-saver, but some money gurus say that it’s better to use cash, because you can hold it in your hand. It’s real. Make your own determination on this, but I believe that the outcome of virtual spending in my life is not knowing where it goes and spending more than what’s in the pouch.

The reality is…

Abundance theorists will hate me for saying this, but there’s a finite amount of money in the pouch. Someday you can grow more, but right now, you have what you have.

The leather pouch, the budget, creates structure. Without this structure, your money slips away, bouncing down the cobbled streets and willy-nilly into others’ hands.

The walls of the pouch, the budget, help support who you are and get where you want to go. And knowing the exact nature of the container means you can plan what you do with the contents.

Dood! What does this have to do with organizing?

Ha! Have I drifted too far afield? I’m having a lot of fun with this Old England analogy.

Okay. If you have dreams and goals for yourself and your business, get familiar with the shape of your container. Consider spending time developing a healthy relationship with your money facts.

A budget isn’t about sacrifice. It’s about making decisions that are in alignment with your goals. That’s all.

For example, if your goal is to be gainfully self-employed doing work you love, buying a yacht might take you off course by giving you debt you can’t afford. If you dream of building a home for your family, buying decor and furnishings beforehand might delay the groundbreaking. That new (fill in the blank) might look adorable, but how does buying it fit with your goal of being debt-free? Just notice.

There are no right answers. There are only actions that bring you closer or farther from your goals and dreams. You still have to live while you’re reaching those dreams, so be kind to yourself.

Things to try:

To organize, become familiar with your money container, your bougette.

1. Write down your answers to the following questions: What do you dream of doing with your life? What are your goals?

2. Determine your average monthly income (the money in the leather pouch) and monthly expenses (what you let out of the pouch) based on your current income and spending. Remember to add in expenses (like insurance) that happen less frequently than once per month.

3. Draft a spending plan (budget) that will support progress toward your goals. Adjust it as time goes on to reflect the realities of life. Be sure to celebrate your progress!

And let me know how it goes!

One comment