Creatives! You Can Be Organized!

By Marcia Francois

Creative people need different ways to organise themselves because traditional methods won't work too well for them.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to organising; in fact, I believe that since each person is unique, each person's organising system should also be different.

Let's look at four areas to organise yourself for success:
1. Attitude
There's a myth going around that creative people can't work in a structured environment. On the contrary, having a bit of structure in your life actually enables you to be even more creative and to do better work.

A few weeks ago, a client emailed to tell me how she's been energized and has been creating beautiful things again.

What was the difference in her life? We'd worked on organising her office space and within the order, she could be creative once again.

Stop telling yourself that you can't be organised; rather tell yourself that you organise yourself in non-traditional ways. And that's perfectly in order.

2. Schedule
Traditionally, we've all been told to work according to the clock. I'm telling you to work with your energy cycles; don't try to battle them.

If you know that you go through a bit of a slump around lunch time, maybe that's when you want to run errands or exercise to give yourself an energy boost.

If you design websites and you know that you're most creative at midnight, then design your websites at midnight ;) Who says you have to start working at 8am?

3. To-do list
Scrap the to-do list. Yes, you read that correctly. The to-do list may set you up for failure especially when you feel you're not getting things done.

Rather use an Eat the Frog list. This list helps you be more flexible so you only need to get the most important things done. My clients are always a bit shocked when I tell them, "the less you have on your list, the better it is". Just make sure those are important things on your list.

4. Workspace
When you can find your equipment and supplies easily, your valuable energy is used for actual creativity and not wasted on looking for things.

It's so important to have your workspace set up according to your organising style. Are you a visual, auditory or kinesthetic learner? Are you a paper or electronic person? Maybe the reason you can't seem to get your papers organised is because you're actually an electronic person.

I've had clients with very messy offices whose computers are perfectly organised, and vice versa. It's so important to play to your strengths.

If you join in on the Virtual Organising Seminar, we'll definitely be uncovering your unique organising style.

My challenge to you
Check your attitude and tell yourself you can get more productive once you organise according to your style.

Marcia Francois is a time management and organising coach who empowers small business owners and other busy professionals who want to make the most of their time. You'll get simple, practical organising and time management secrets to help you work less and enjoy life more! Visit http://takechargesolutions.org for your free Organising Success Pack.

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For more information and support for creating more time for yourself and what’s important to you, visit http://www.GalileoLS.com/consult.html for a free coaching consultation.

Easy Tips For Organizing Electronic Files

By Lynn Cressy

When it comes to organization, electronic files have to be dealt with like everything else. There are ways to keep these organized and save time as well. It will help to eliminate some of the time spent searching for the file that you need. Wasting time searching for an electronic file defeats the purpose of doing the task electronically in the first place and causes you more headache than if you had done it by hand.

Organizing electronic files can be done rather simply with techniques that involve little effort on your part. Time is all that you need to do this and it will, in turn, save you time later on since many areas of our lives are driven by the use of electronics.

The basics of organizing electronic files remains the same no matter what type of system you are using. The first thing you should remember is that computers do not organize information the way our minds do. It will be arranged by the application source or format that was used to create the file in question.

Second is remembering that we can use a name for the file that contains as many as 225 characters and can use a search on the computer to find them. This makes naming files properly a must. This will save time that is often wasted doing things that you have already done.

The third step is to use keywords to keep the files that you need in order. This makes it easy to find them in the search options. This will allow you to change them later if you need to.

Directories are the next step. Put files into designated directories that you made for each of them. Sub directories can be made for each program that you utilize during the time you are on your computer. If something is for work, you may designate one directory entitled "work" and another entitled "personal" if something is of a personal nature. The fewer directories the less you have to search. General directories that are broken into sub categories will save time.

Next are the folders. You can create different folders to keep your files in. The names of these folders should be something that helps you to remember the content of them.

Now that you know what to do with all the new files you create, it is time to put old files in the appropriate place which may take some time. You want to make sure you have the correct file in the correct place. This is simple; you move the files you still need to relevant folders and directories. Then you take the files that you no longer need and back them up to a flash drive, CD or even an online backup service. Once the file is backed up you can now delete them from the computer and you still have the backup copy if you need it in the future.

For ideas on keeping your home and office organized, download a free copy of the ebook "The Essential Guide to Organizing Your Home". Download it free here: Organizing Tips.

Lynn Cressy has a love for decorating and shopping for home decor. She owns a home decor web site and writes articles on home decorating and organizing your home and your life. http://www.lynnshomedecor.com/f/Opt-in_Pages.html

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For more information and support for creating more time for yourself and what’s important to you, visit http://www.GalileoLS.com/consult.html for a free coaching consultation.

Home Organization Tips For Busy Moms

By Jill Borash

Getting and keeping your home organized can save you time, stress and headaches. It does not have to be hard but it does require a bit of planning. And getting your kids involved in getting your home organized can not only help you but teach them valuable lessons as well. The trick is to make it fun both for you and for them.

Let's start with the basics: Set aside some home organizing time every day. Many different home organization tips books encourage this one. Keeping your home organized is going to require some specific dedicated time every day. Use this time to organize mail or to focus on a specific home organization project.

And while you are working on your home organization project, have your kids either working on their own home organizing project or have them help you with yours. This helps teach them good life lessons about staying organized and gives you some helping hands with your organizing projects as well.

Use some creativity to keep it fun and interesting for both you and your kids. Let's face it, most home organization tips and tricks are boring and dull. But you can make it fun if you just use a little imagination. Some ways that you can make home organization fun is by making it a game. Make it a contest to see who can get their room cleaned up and organized the quickest. Make sure there is a reward at the end that makes it worth it for your kids. To "test" how organized your kids' rooms are, ask them who can find you a pen or a specific kind of toy first.

For younger kids, you can incorporate imaginative play into home organization. Make getting and keeping their toys organized a way to teach them and have fun at the same time. So explain the noises that each of the toy animals makes as you put them in a specific drawer and explain that all of the animals "live" together in that drawer. Then do the same thing with the toy cars, etc.

As a working mom, one of the best home organization tips I ever learned was to plan out the meals for the week. This saves me so much time and headaches throughout the week. Every lunch and dinner is planned and sometimes even partially prepared by Sunday night. The part I like the most about this one is that it allows me to spend more time with my daughter because I am not trying to figure out what I need to make right before mealtime and whether or not I have the ingredients.

Need more free help getting your home organized? Get more free home organization tips at http://www.YourHomeIsOrganized.comArticle Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jill_Borash

For more information and support for creating more time for yourself and what’s important to you, visit http://www.GalileoLS.com/consult.html for a free coaching consultation.

Efficiency and Organization

By Laura Wright

Working from home is a dream for many consumers today. The flexibility, control, and lower costs involved often means a greater amount of productivity in a smaller time frame. One of the challenges for the home worker is simple office organization.

When a home business is disorganized or cluttered it can make working sheer torture. Misplaced paperwork, products, or missing receipts can quickly cause frustration. Many home business owners have even hired relatively needless employees because they didn't consider the efficiency they can regain just by a deliberate arrangement of office space and assigned places for their supplies. Organization not only makes your job easier, it can save you much time, money, and effort.

Look at the overall picture when you start to organize your office space. How is your furniture placed? Is there adequate room for movement? If it is a smaller space, could it do with less furniture? How are your supplies currently placed? Is the trash can within reach of the desk? Is the telephone placed where the computer can be accessed if needed?

If you are manufacturing a product, are the items needed for assembly placed for easy access? For example, if you are making beaded jewelry and accessories, are all items needed placed near one another? Do you have lidded containers to separate and manage your beads? Are all necessary tools in one carrier?

When you are organizing your office space, you should go digital as much as possible. Digital documents are just as professional and can be transmitted more efficiently than print documents. Digitized documents are easily stored on compact discs, DVDs, or portable flash drives. Routine paperwork can be stored in template form and only printed out as you need it. Customer files can be digitized and stored with the help of a scanner. You can store original paperwork in an airtight plastic container in your closet or even your garage. A good spreadsheet program will assist you in creating order forms, records, and any inventory management you may need.

Instead of using a traditional planner that you must correct with liquid paper and pen, consider a desktop calendar on your computer. Entries and important events can simply be deleted or reentered. Many programs will offer auditory and visual alerts for important events. Even removing a simple desk blotter can free up space for desktop organizers or create more room for your keyboard and mouse.

If you have pictures or figures on your desk, you can purchase "floating" shelves and install them above the desk. You can place your personal items on the shelves as opposed to your desk.

Receipts are needed for tax purposes and their collection can seem daunting. A year's worth of receipts may take up a fair amount of space that could be used for other things. Consider purchasing a messenger bag at your local discount store if you collect your receipts. These can be suspended from a closet rod by a sturdy hanger and you can slip receipts into this. A messenger bag is the perfect size for plain brown mailing envelopes. These are used to separate them by month or by deduction. If you don't have spare closet space, consider slipping the bag beneath your desk or even under your bed.

You will need an adequate wastebasket for your office. Many advertised for typical home offices are good for occasional use, but if you are working at home, you will need a receptacle that is large enough for daily use. A compact shredder can also help reduce the size of your waste and some people recycle the shredded paper in the preparation for their own mulch.

Recycling unneeded paper, plastic, and glass is another good way to responsibly dispose of your office trash and is easier than you imagine. Separate containers for waste can be stored under your desk or in a closet. This allows you more time in your work area and less time traveling to other parts of the home. It will also reduce the amount of waste in your garbage can.

Filing cabinets can be tedious to have in a small office. Before you invest in these cabinets, be certain you need them. Is it mandatory for your organization or are you just looking for storage space? If storage is more your need than what a filing cabinet may offer, consider installing a large bookshelf.

Plastic organizing containers can be purchased in a variety of colors and sizes and most will fit on a wide bookshelf. Instead of having a standard cabinet that may have four drawers, a tall bookshelf may have six levels of shelves where you can place multiple organizers. If you use a large bookshelf, please ensure that is securely fastened to the wall to prevent tipping over.

Organizing your home office is an exercise well worth the effort and time involved. Having a well arranged space will help you fulfill your duties faster and make the overall work easier.

Laura Wright is a multi-published professional writer. She has held a variety of positions in the writing field. She currently instructs two web courses and maintains several web domains. She also works as a freelance provider and novelist. Her primary web site is: http://www.laurawrites.net

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For more information and support for creating more time for yourself and what’s important to you, visit http://www.GalileoLS.com/consult.html for a free coaching consultation.

Why are most Glow-in-the-Dark items are green, and why do they glow?

A phenomenon named phosphorescence is responsible for the light most Glow-in-the-Dark items emit.

Phosphorescence occurs when light absorbed by an object is slowly released and can be observed even after the light is removed. If not tampered with, the light the object emits is dim, and is always pale blue in color.

Chemists had a bright idea to spark interest in this phenomenon and to make it visually stimulating. They discovered that when they mixed fluorescent dye with the phosphorescent material, the object emitted a glowing, brighter green, or sometimes red, light.

The reason for this transformation is that fluorescent compounds absorb the light and rapidly emit it, giving the compounds a glowing appearance. This phenomenon occurs only in the constant presence of the original light source.

The phosphorescent material absorbs the light, and slowly emits a pale blue light, that in turn is absorbed by fluorescent dye. The light now emitted is green or red light, depending on the type of dye used.

The most commonly used phosphorescent material used is zinc sulfide mixed with copper, and the green fluorescent dye most likely is sodium fluorescein. The most likely source or red fluorescent dye is rhodamine. Paired together, the phosphorescent material and the fluorescent material produce a ghostly, glowing green or red light, and hours of enjoyment for young and for old alike.

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6 Steps to Overcome Procrastination While Building Confidence

By Bruno Logreco

Everyone procrastinates. It is a common fact, with more than 95% of the population freely admitting they will put off some task or challenge today that they feel they have time to complete tomorrow. The number of people who continually put off that exact same task for a second or even third day is a whopping 20%, making one-fifth of the population chronic procrastinators. If you are one of this large percentage, you probably have tons of good excuses why things can wait - whether it be how much time you actually have to how creative you feel, to how much motivation you can drum up. You put things off and you always have a good excuse.

Studies have been conducted for years on procrastination and the results of those individuals who repeatedly put off important tasks in their lives. Some studies go so far as to correlate procrastination to a person's innate fear of success, using it as a coping mechanism to combat anxiety that comes with starting any new task.

What happens is that, when faced with a challenging task, a procrastinator will look at their skillset, their confidence in their skillset, and their general measurement of success in completing the task. Many times, they find they have little or no confidence that they can be successful in completing the task at hand and they then proceed to put the task off for a number of days. A prime example is the annual New Year's Resolution - a challenging goal set by millions every year in an attempt to improve their quality of life. Subsequently, millions break their resolutions because they just can't make themselves complete the task.

Many times, individuals will simply make decisions without thinking ahead. Procrastinators are not afraid of becoming involved - they want to be part of multiple tasks, proving to themselves and those around them that they can be successful. But, this impulse to constantly be involved more often than not only makes things worse as they start putting things off, building upon their fears and doubts and dealing blow after blow to their confidence.

At this point, it takes very little in the way of distractions to trigger a procrastinator's innate response to a challenging task. Their anxiety continues to grow and they look for any excuse to put off their task and convince themselves it just isn't time to complete it yet.

With all of this negative self-talk, fear of failure, and complete lack of confidence, many people lose inspiration and motivation to do much of anything. They hope that the next day will be a better day and that they will feel what they think they need to be successful then instead of today. All that happens is that the cycle picks back up again where it left off and procrastination continues.

Are you born with the procrastination gene or is procrastination a learned behavior?

There are multiple theories on why so many people become chronic procrastinators and the truth could go either way. Regardless of whether you grew up in an environment where you were constantly controlled and not allowed to develop necessary life skills, or whether your family just puts things off a lot, you must learn to overcome procrastination. Below you will find 6 key steps to doing just that:

6 Steps To Overcome Procrastination:
1. Write out all of the challenges and tasks you've been putting off - this might include everything from projects at work, to losing weight, or work around the house. Write them all down.
2. For everything you're afraid to complete, ask yourself three quests: What am I afraid of? What outcome do I fear the most? What can I do to change the outcomes so that they will be in my favor?
3. Create a plan that will work - Break down all of the tasks you have to small chunks you can manage and then break them down even smaller into easily completable steps.
4. Think positively and ignore your negative self-talk.
5. Finish one task each day - Check off everything as you complete and don't expect too much of yourself.
6. Monitor your progress and continue building on your plans - Look for three keys to success here: Motivation, Confidence, and Self-Esteem.

When you break down your procrastination and approach it one step at a time, you can start to overcome the factors that have been making your life that much harder for so many years.

Take the first step towards breaking your procrastination habit while you build confidence and self esteem. Visit http://www.brunologreco.com today to learn how Master Life Coach, Toronto (http://www.brunologreco.com )native Bruno LoGreco could hep you with your procrastination.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bruno_Logreco

For more information and support for creating more time for yourself and what’s important to you, visit http://www.GalileoLS.com/consult.html for a free coaching consultation.

Why Procrastination is Your MORTAL ENEMY!

By Gary Simpson

There are few conditions that can paralyze a person's future more than the disease of procrastination.

Procrastination is the paralysis of action for fear of making a mistake. It will ensure that whomever is afflicted with such a condition will live a life of inactivity and regret.

Millions, perhaps billions, of people are stricken with this condition. For them, the fear of failure outweighs the joy of success so strongly that they cannot start or finish any project.

Could you imagine how much further advanced this world would be if everybody were able to throw away the shackles of mediocrity and achieve what they were infinitely capable of doing? We would have cures for cancer, diabetes and the common cold to name just a few medical advances.

We would have also solved greenhouse gases, our dependence on fossil fuels, starvation in third world countries, war and so many other problems that affect the world.

Defeating procrastination involves four things:
1. knowing where you are
2. knowing where you want to be
3. knowing how to get from where you are to where you want to be
4. getting from where you are to where you want to be

Until you learn to get procrastination under control you will never achieve anything worthwhile with your life. That would be so sad.

Procrastination is your mortal enemy.
Succumbing to procrastination is surrendering your life to something far less than what you were ultimately designed for.

Isn't it time you discovered how to get on top of procrastination once and for all?

Gary Simpson operates the Turn Debt Into Wealth (http://www.turn-debt-into-wealth.com/wealth.html) website. To discover how to get on top of procrastination once and for all and become more successful than you ever thought possible go here: "How to Stop Wasting Your Life and Start Getting What You Want - A Guide to Help You Get to Where You Want to Be." (http://www.turn-debt-into-wealth.com/mind.html)Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gary_Simpson

For more information and support for creating more time for yourself and what’s important to you, visit http://www.GalileoLS.com/consult.html for a free coaching consultation.