For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Now that all the Christmas decorations, party ware and gifts galore jump out at us at every turn it must to time for Thanksgiving. Yea, the “Holiday” we stuff (get it) between Halloween and Christmas, remember the one? The one that is bland and colorless on the plate as my mother the gourmet chef always stated. The one that takes three straight days to plan, shop, cook, bake, stir, whisk, blend, chop, boil, stuff, steam, cream, mix, burn, over bake, under bake, yea, you know the one! And Voila it takes fifteen minutes to eat…and our pants and skirts are much too tight and we swear that we will NEVER eat this much ever againJ…remembering now? And to say nothing of the dishes that we are washing for two days…The Holiday that my Mom loved but disliked the prep, preparing, purging and cleanup - only because it is bland and colorless:). But it was her favorite one for what it represents.
Just when you think the world, country, state, city, county, neighborhood can’t get any more tumultuous we must think of our forefathers who risked their lives to sail through the stormy treacherous seas to get to Plymouth Rock to create a new world for themselves and for generations to come. All this came back to me while watching Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving on TV this week...good ole Charlie, what a CLASSIC. In its simplest terms Charlie tells the story well. Let’s all give thanks for the people around us and not the “stuff.” Forgive people and move on…Give thanks to people around you for next year the table could look significantly different.
Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: it must be produced and discharged and used up in order to exist at all. ~William Faulkner
Small Business Office Organizing: Five Step Office Organizing Process revealed for entrepreneurs and home based business owners on how to get their heads back in the game by clearing the physical clutter; so players can exceed sales forecast touchdowns, expand the team, be a more effective team captain, negotiate lucrative contracts and hustle home before Monday Night Football!
One day I woke up and decided if I was going to have a successful business I would have to stop the madness and get my head back in the game. No one should have to go through this agony in order to be a successful entrepreneur. So I sat down long enough to put pencil to playbook and designed the Productivity Players Playbook - Get Your Head in the Game by following the 5 step “ZONES” process to an organization and productivity touchdown.
ZONE #1 –Zero (Z) in on the Piles – Place all like items, same topics in one pile. All sales leads go in one pile, all networking event information go in another, all P/L statements in one pile, get it? Then spread them out along a flat surface like your credenza, floor, or worktable keeping all like items together in one pile. Small piles is good, prevents tipping over.ZONE #2 – One (O) Pile at a Time -Deep breath – FOCUS on just ONE pile at a time. Try not to become overwhelmed or look at the other piles, they will get their turn in due time. If a piece of paper is calling out your name just ignore it and stayed FOCUSED on your one pile. Most entrepreneurs’ biggest challenge…is focus.
Zone #3 – No (N) papers left behind - go through each piece of paper in the pile one at a time and make a decision; shred or file, no other options. There is not room for “I will think about this or I will come back to it” shred or file period. No piece of paper left behind. Touch each paper only once and file by color with each topic assigned to a different color.
Zone #4 – Eliminate (E) Old – In with New - This means the in/out box, coffee mugs, paper weights, water bottles, kids art work from five years ago, old trade-show give-aways, outdated customer calendars and daytimers, it all goes! Goodbye, gone, and no this does NOT mean relocate to another desk…or on top of hallway filing cabinet for the receptionist or intern to handle…deal with it NOW, this is the NEW YOU!
Zone #5 – Sustainable (S) Change – is not something to be dreaded, resisted, and sabotaged. It's invigorating. It's fun. It is the very nature of life. Most major change initiatives fall short of the goals and expectations set for them. Does this mean that we are overestimating people's ability to learn to do things differently, and underestimating their resistance to change? Let’s hope not…We need to create urgency to change, develop clear visions for success, work the plan, and celebrate the baby steps….
Sheila Galligan is your office organizer and productivity quarterback based in Mpls. She coaches entrepreneurs and home based business owners on how to get their heads back in the game by clearing the physical clutter; so players can exceed sales forecast touchdowns, expand the team, be a more effective team captain, negotiate lucrative contracts and hustle home before Monday Night Football! To find out how she can coach you to an organizing touchdown visit officeorganizingprocess.com. Copyright 2010 Sheila Galligan.
