Posts Tagged ‘simplifying’

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Spring Cleaning – or is it Spring CleaRing

Monday, March 19th, 2012

When  you were growing up, what do you remember about Spring Cleaning?

Did you all work together as a family ? Did mom work inside and dad outside? Did you set aside a whole weekend for sprucing up the yard, with the matted grass and broken branches? Wash windows? Did you get out the pail of cleaning products to wash  the  walls and throw the curtains in the wash so you can swap them for the spring/summer ones?

Remember how great it felt to start fresh, to smell freshness in  the air, to shake off the cobwebs of winter? It’s feeling that way now, in the Northeast U.S. after the strangest, warmest winter on record – at least my records.

We did some of those things growing up, but not everything I just mentioned; a friend recently mentioned that her family “washed the walls” and “swapped the curtains” each season. I don’t remember doing either of those spring cleaning tasks, but there are others we did which her family did not. And that, today, is my point.

Before you dive into  spring cleaning, think about your own standards and expectations.  I can’t say whether today we have more complex lives, affording us less time for Spring Cleaning, but it feels that way to me. And countless believe it is true.

Consider  first, what is “enough” to make your home feel like you have…

  • shaken off winter
  • turned a corner  into springtime
  • started fresh
  • cleared the  clutter
  • reorganized enough that you’ll spend as much time as you want to,outside, and not inside dealing with “stuff”
  • no guilt about spending time out of the house – because it’s taken care of, organized as it needs to be, and  simple to maintain

What is “organized” enough, to you, is a powerful question. More powerful than it sounds. Talk about it. Journal about it. You’ll discover it.

I’m asking you to ignore the sentiments and standards of your upbringing, your friends, your sister-in-law or anyone who says or intimates that maybe your standards are not high enough.

What do you choose, for your household, your family and your life in the realms of spring cleaning, spring cleaRing and simplifying?

Not sure how to come up with your own standards before you being cleaning, clearing and simplifying? Can’t shed the thoughts of what other people say? Or aren’t sure how to get it all done?

Keep reading – more blog posts on this theme coming up – or call for coaching or in person  support and collaboration.

 

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Delegate: How To – At Home or for Your Work

Monday, October 10th, 2011

 

Become the delegation champion

Delegating – How to do it well. At home or at work. A common theme in client meetings/coaching these past weeks. My hope is that you’ll give this a try, a few times. It takes practice.Most of my delegating practice came from 20 years in business, much of it managing client accounts or managing departments. It’s actually pretty fascinating to figure out a good balance of making this work. Even better is what you get to do with the time you free up!

 

Tip #1 What could you possibly delegate?

Start small. Choose a low risk, small task and delegate it. So your child might start putting his/her own clothes in a hamper, help with folding or remind you of when the timer’s gone off — one of these, not all. Break it down for low risk and build up from there. Or at work, delegate filing papers (after you review how your system works), but not invoices/financials.

If you still can’t figure it out, take another perspective: WHY are you thinking about delegating? What could do with the time you free up? More creative strategy at work? Implement new ideas? Calmer household? Easier schedule/less stress?

Or, maybe you’re interested in delegating what you know you always procrastinate on, but which does need to be done.

Tip #2 Who could handle this?

If you’re not sure the office mate/child/adult can handle what you’d like to delegate, take a step back. Is the task too big? Does the person have the skills? If not, how could you teach those skills – so that someday, you can delegate the task? Or, is there an easier, quicker task you can delegate to get started with this delegating thing?

Tip#3 Expectations – Yours, I  mean

Be clear in your expectations of WHAT needs to get done, the goal, the end game, the results.

Let go of HOW the task needs to get done. That’s what you’re delegating. Let it go. At work & home.

If you believe this is compromising  your standards, it may be! But what are you getting in return for delegating, and is THAT worth lowering your standards, just a bit?

Does the task really truly need all the time you’ve been putting into it? Maybe you’ve made the task/system efficient enough that  less time is just the right thing to do.

Tip#4 What are your “red flags” – What limits DO need setting?

Consider ahead of time what your limits are & communicate these.

Examples: Please don’t spend over ‘x’ amount.

Let me know how much you get done in 1 hour & let’s go from there.

Don’t worry about (or do worry about) separating the laundry into darks/whites.

Please make sure when you put away the pans after washing them, that I can reach this and that one easily.

If you don’t educate on what’s a deal breaker, the task will return to you. And how would that feel?

 

Delegation is a muscle that needs an attentive workout. The first few times you try delegating may not be 100% successful because this does take practice.

Think about why delegating is important to you. What you hope to get in return. Let that motivate you to try again.

You didn’t learn to play the piano in a few lessons, or write a great story or fold the laundry the way your parents wanted you to.

Why would involving another human being in your work be any less easier? But it can be more joyful, too … :)

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Declutter in 5 Minutes: Your Ideas List

Friday, March 11th, 2011

I needed someone’s business card this morning. I only keep the most recent cards, before I’ve put them into Outlook Contacts, which I live by.

I found the card, but I took literally 3 minutes to look through my stack of about 20 cards. Why do I have 20?

One presentation this week and one networking group = 20 cards to decide on.

So I made decisions on who gets to live in Outlook Contacts, because I actually do want  to keep up. (And, here’s another hint: I put a task reminder into my calendar to check in monthly with groups of or certain individuals. I would never naturally remember to do this. )

What else can you declutter in just a few minutes?

Why bother with the little stuff?

Two reasons  (1) Little stuff grows up. Into big piles of stuff.

And (2) the little stuff thinks it’s hiding, but it’s really not. It lives inside our drawers, closets, on our shelves.

Though it’s behind closed doors, we KNOW ABOUT IT.

We remember there’s stuff there and we feel … guilty, annoyed, like a fake. The monkey’s on your back.

And the little stuff adds up: I spent 2 minutes today, but if I’d let that pile get bigger, I would’ve used up more time looking for this one card.

When there’s more  stuff to look through, there’s more wasted time in looking for the one thing you really want.

Little stuff decluttering ideas

And by the way, you will be amazed at how great this makes you feel.  On top of the  world.

These are ideas which would take from 3 – 15 minutes.

  • A junk drawer.
  • Business cards stack.
  • Pencil tins or those pencil drawers that have more pens and pencils than you’ll ever use.
  • One section of your recipe box/book.
  • One bin of arts and  crafts materials, or one shelf.
  • Receipts.
  • Mail.
  • One  file folder.
  • One drawer in the bathroom.
  • Your utensils holder in the kitchen.
  • The linen closet (maybe 10 minutes here).
  • One pantry shelf.
  • One box of DVD’s, movies, photos.

When –Make it easy

The easiest way, so that you hardly notice you are decluttering, is as I did it in my business cards example.

You go looking for something and you declutter that small space.

You put away the laundry – and declutter one drawer.

You cook dinner tonight, and while you’re waiting on a part of the meal, declutter the utensils holder or your recipe box.

When you file something away next  time, take 2 minutes and weed out a file.

You sit at your computer on Monday — and declutter your file folder. Just one.

Set a timer if you need to or if you’re not cognizant of time going by so well.

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A Life in Context

Friday, January 28th, 2011

It would be fascinating to be an archivist. Short of that, I get to work with one on a workshop we’ve developed together over the past year.

Because of my collaboration with Melissa Mannon at  ArchivesInfo, I have a new set of questions as well as a new perspective – particularly related to items of family history.

I typically ask people to consider sentimental and financial value of items they’re not sure whether to keep  (among many other questions; I’m simplifying.).

When we simplify our things, it behooves us to separate emotions from the objects. It’s also useful to take emotion out of the decision making process when possible. Otherwise, we tend to keep more than we wanted to.

Since working with Melissa, I’ve  broadened my perspective to include historic value, a fact versus an emotion. People often say that their things don’t have much historic value. “We don’t have anyone famous in our family. So … what historic value are you talking about?”

In 150 years, how will people know about us, how we live, what was important, our culture, mores? How do we know about those who came before us? We document our culture today by what we preserve for the future.

In your local newspaper, you’ve probably seen requests for identifying people in “old” photographs. They’re not famous people. The photos aren’t that old sometimes (1940′s, 1950′s high school photographs appear in my paper). That’s us.

How do you  know what’s valuable to the family, to the  communities to which your family belonged, to documenting the culture we live in?

So as you simplify your life, think about these new questions.

  • Would you like to know that you’ve shared beyond your own family and contributed as a cultural heritage partner?
  • How important is it to you to be the family’s collector or historian? How do you feel about this role?
  • Has someone in your family asked to have these items?
  • Are there other materials with the same information? (Copies in better condition? Information in a different format?)
  • Do they reflect an important activity of the times?
  • Do you know the accurate story associated with these items? Or, could you find out more information from a family member?
  • Were they created by someone with a special connection to an event?

I’m very excited about our workshop; we’ve had great participation to date. And, it merges my interest  in exploring our past, passing on legacies and family history, with my specialty in organizing for your next chapter- moving on by simplifying. Melissa’s expert knowledge of what, why and how to record and preserve our history mixes beautifully.

Oh, and plus I get to hear Melissa’s expertise each time we prep and give the program.

If this is your interest, we have a facebook page called Life in Context and are building a “family collectors” community there.

Resources:

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Posted in Downsizing Dilemmas- Solved, Harmony at Home, Memories, Papers | No Comments »

More from My Interview with Barbara Winter

Monday, January 3rd, 2011

Look around wherever you are, at home or at your office. Let your eyes rest on each item. If you had the choice again today, would you buy each item again? Do you remember the story about each item? Is the item part of your last chapter or the current one?

In another part of my interview with Barbara Winter, we talked about “our stuff.” What it means to us. (For the first part, click here.) Barbara is wrapping up a move of her home and her business. I was curious to know what she had found out about herself with respect to her things. A life event such as moving gives us greater clarity. b-winter-photo

Observation from Barbara: Just the way work can expand to fill our time, so can our stuff expand to fill the available space. As she began preparing to move, she saw items in her storage spaces she hadn’t seen in a long time – “out of sight is out of mind” was the expression which came to mind.

So the question she asked was: “If it’s been hidden away and I haven’t missed it – does it get to make the move?”

Watch how your stored away items stay in their resting places. Maybe you don’t need some of them anymore. Barbara used to move more often, so each move was the natural event trigger to winnow down. But it had been awhile this time.

Observation – Barbara keeps the item if it “still has a use in my life” or if it “still has an important story.” When you’re moving onto your next chapter as Barbara is, these are two great questions. What you want is some “no regrets” questions.

Observation – Books were the hardest.  The hardest part for most people in winnowing down is often items with sentimental value or items which are close to your values. With books, it’s often a value of curiosity and/or lifelong learning.  Two values you’ll hear often in Barbara’s online presence.

You know you have the knowledge so do you need to keep the physical book? The key, which you’ll notice Barbara does, is to read, share the gems, and leverage what you’ve learned. Collect for a purpose. Another key is to focus on finding great new homes versus “getting rid of” anything. You loved it once after all.

Observation – Being at peace with yourself in your surroundings is crucial

If you’re self-employed, you have more choices about your office environment than when you worked for someone else, so take advantage of this source of inspiration. Barbara wrote about home offices on her blog and inspired me.

When I looked around my home office, I realized I needed to move upstairs, to more light. This year, it was a repainting and renovating of this office – from paint to rugs to a fabric bulletin board and my vision board – where I can actually see it this year!

Barbara calls her new home and home office her “stop in between adventures.” And she passionately commented that she wants to be a “really outrageous grandmother” this coming year, too!

So between the books, the concept of her “cottage in between adventures” and being a really outrageous grandmother, I can imagine what her new home and office will look like, once she’s all moved in.

So how about it. What would we notice about your home or office if we visited today? Seriously – Do they reflect who you are and what’s important to you?

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