Today's goal: Skip the mistakes.
Have you ever noticed that your great organizing ambitions fizzle after a day? It might be because you've been too ambitious, too perfectionistic [Ed. note: Guilty!], or not intuitive enough. Today, we have a new guest post, from professional organizer Janine Adams, owner of Peace of Mind Organizing and president of the St. Louis, Missouri, chapter of the National Association of Professional Organizers. She specializes in helping those of us who are chronically disorganized and also blogs on organizing on her own site, so be sure to check it out. Questions for her? Comment below and I'll get them to her.
We all make mistakes. Getting organized isn’t a precise exercise and there are lots of ways to approach it. But there are some things people tend to do that will actually undermine their efforts. See if any of these ring a bell:
Mistake #1: Storing things far away from where you use them.
Organizing systems need to be simple and convenient. Store things where you use them. The more steps it takes to put something away, the less likely it is to get put away.
Mistake #2: Buying organizing products before weeding stuff out.
For lots of people, the most fun part of organizing is going to The Container Store (or equivalent) and picking out products. That’s great, but wait to do it until you’ve after you’ve purged your stuff, so that you know what you need. Most of my clients have lots of bins and baskets before I ever get there. And they still have clutter. Save money by buying exactly what you need and nothing more.
Mistake #3: Not paying attention to your piles.
If you have stuff that piles up in a certain place on a consistent basis, maybe you need to use that particular spot for storage. A pile can become perfectly acceptable if you store it in a pretty container.
For example, my husband leaves the dogs’ leashes on the table by the front door, rather than crossing the room to put them away. (I clearly had made Mistake #1 when deciding to store the dog leashes across the room from the door.) The pile of leashes was unsightly. I put a cloth-lined basket under the pile and now it’s an acceptable storage system. If you’re consistently leaving things in a certain place, there’s usually a reason and it’s usually convenience. Rather than fighting it, make it work for you.
Mistake #4: Delaying decisions.
Clutter is nothing but delayed decisions. Don’t pick up a piece of paper and put it right back down because you can’t decide what to do with it. Instead, decide to decide. Make that decision and then act on it. Get into the habit of making decisions about your stuff and you’ll keep clutter at bay.
Mistake #5: Trying to be perfect.
It’s kind of ironic that perfectionism can lead to clutter, but I’ve seen it over and over. Perfectionists don’t want to start the organizing process until they know exactly how they’re going to do it. They feel the need to know what systems they’ll put into place before they even start the process. While the perfectionist waits for the perfect system to materialize, the clutter accumulates. And overwhelm sets in. Rather than striving to be perfectly organized, I encourage you to try to be just organized enough so that you can find what you need without undue stress.
Life is messy; don’t try to make it perfect.
[Ed. note: Man, I feel called out! Janine, you nailed me! Perfectionist, unrealistic organizing plans, etc. But there is one place where I feel like I've made progress:
Today, I was at Bed, Bath and Beyond with my girlfriend, who is going to let me organize her room as my Christmas present this year, and she asked, "What do you think we'll need to buy? What will we need to spend?" I replied that I thought first we needed to figure out what to keep, then we could figure out what to buy.
There seems to be hope for me yet!
What about you? Which of these mistakes do you make regularly? Which have you learned to stop doing?]
Showing posts with label perfectionism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label perfectionism. Show all posts
Monday, November 10, 2008
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Serenity Tip: Knowing Your Value
Not long ago, I wrote about transfering your creative skills to your business life. But here's another good reason to cultivate your skills:
Better negotiation
The first thing Erik Sherman will tell you about negotiation is to remember the value you bring to any project. If you're a perfectionist or simply prone to negative thinking, that's not just the first step but the most important one. Here's what I mean:
When a client contacts you to do work, do you negotiate pay?
Do you know what your hourly rate should be?
Do you believe you deserve it?
I know many freelance writers who don't value their own skills enough--or at least struggle to value their own skills enough--to ask for the money they need to make their career sustainable. They may have a business plan. They may even know how much they need to earn per billable hour to make their minimum income. But without the belief that their skills matter and that they are offering something of value to their clients, they constantly feel like their clients are doing them a favor by hiring them. Without that sense of value, they can't put the rest of their plan into action.
So don't skip this step. If you're particularly prone to focusing on the parts of your work that aren't good enough, make a list of your skills, and the good things editors say about you and put it behind your computer monitor or on the wall in front of where you look most often (obviously, this should be out of view of your clients).
To help, here are some questions to ask yourself:
* What compliments do you get most often from clients?
* What skills have you fought hard to develop?
* What do you like most about your work and what energizes you?
* Are you good with deadlines?
* Do you return calls quickly?
* Are you professional--do you fess up to errors, do you double check facts, do you respond quickly to edits (if you're a writer)?
* Are you always looking for ways to improve your work? (This is a twist on "negative thinking:" if you are focused on what you didn't do perfectly the last time, you're also focusing on changing it. You don't make the same mistake twice or three times.)
These may seem like small things to you but they are of great value to your clients--and they often make the difference between hiring you and another writer. You become the go-to contractor for clients by having these skills.
So the next time you go to negotiate your price, remember the value you provide and ask for what you deserve.
Better negotiation
The first thing Erik Sherman will tell you about negotiation is to remember the value you bring to any project. If you're a perfectionist or simply prone to negative thinking, that's not just the first step but the most important one. Here's what I mean:
When a client contacts you to do work, do you negotiate pay?
Do you know what your hourly rate should be?
Do you believe you deserve it?
I know many freelance writers who don't value their own skills enough--or at least struggle to value their own skills enough--to ask for the money they need to make their career sustainable. They may have a business plan. They may even know how much they need to earn per billable hour to make their minimum income. But without the belief that their skills matter and that they are offering something of value to their clients, they constantly feel like their clients are doing them a favor by hiring them. Without that sense of value, they can't put the rest of their plan into action.
So don't skip this step. If you're particularly prone to focusing on the parts of your work that aren't good enough, make a list of your skills, and the good things editors say about you and put it behind your computer monitor or on the wall in front of where you look most often (obviously, this should be out of view of your clients).
To help, here are some questions to ask yourself:
* What compliments do you get most often from clients?
* What skills have you fought hard to develop?
* What do you like most about your work and what energizes you?
* Are you good with deadlines?
* Do you return calls quickly?
* Are you professional--do you fess up to errors, do you double check facts, do you respond quickly to edits (if you're a writer)?
* Are you always looking for ways to improve your work? (This is a twist on "negative thinking:" if you are focused on what you didn't do perfectly the last time, you're also focusing on changing it. You don't make the same mistake twice or three times.)
These may seem like small things to you but they are of great value to your clients--and they often make the difference between hiring you and another writer. You become the go-to contractor for clients by having these skills.
So the next time you go to negotiate your price, remember the value you provide and ask for what you deserve.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Serenity Tip: Gentleness
On this blog I offer a lot of techniques and tips for staying serene on the job. But I would hate for anyone to use this blog as a means to beat yourself up. You don't have to track your time, do a mid-day check-in every day, finish your business plan today, or do yoga and meditate every day.
These are all good things, sure, but too much too fast guarantees you won't keep any of it up for very long. And if theres one thing serenity isn't, it's attempting to be perfect by doing everything and then beating yourself up for not being serene.
So if you're feeling overwhelmed or inadequate, follow the suggestion of a friend of mine: "Take what you like and leave the rest."
Basically, like any toolbox, these tips can be picked up any time you need them. You don't need to do them all day every day. And if one really works for you but you fall off the wagon with it, that's okay. Just become aware and when you're ready, you'll pick it up again.
Take good care of yourself today--whatever that looks like. And remember that however much of a workaholic you are with bad boundaries and all the rest, it took you years to get that way. You aren't going to let go of those habits overnight, and you don't have to. To make a change to a more serene life, what you have to do is just keep trying. Eventually, it'll take.
These are all good things, sure, but too much too fast guarantees you won't keep any of it up for very long. And if theres one thing serenity isn't, it's attempting to be perfect by doing everything and then beating yourself up for not being serene.
So if you're feeling overwhelmed or inadequate, follow the suggestion of a friend of mine: "Take what you like and leave the rest."
Basically, like any toolbox, these tips can be picked up any time you need them. You don't need to do them all day every day. And if one really works for you but you fall off the wagon with it, that's okay. Just become aware and when you're ready, you'll pick it up again.
Take good care of yourself today--whatever that looks like. And remember that however much of a workaholic you are with bad boundaries and all the rest, it took you years to get that way. You aren't going to let go of those habits overnight, and you don't have to. To make a change to a more serene life, what you have to do is just keep trying. Eventually, it'll take.
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