Office Clean Up: The Top 9 Excuses

Office Clean Up: The Top 9 Excuses that Create Your Chaos

Written by Christine Kane

“Perfection is not when there is no more to add, but no more to take away.”

                                                                – Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Our lives are meant to be simple.  

 

Our intuiton and creativity thrive when given freedom and space.  Clutter – in the form of physical stuff, time-wasters, or even draining people – steals our energy and prevents our success. Each moment we ignore the reasons we hold on to things we don’t want, those things rob us of energy, health, and clarity. Yes, clutter is destructive in your office environment!
Summer is a slow time for many businesses. That means it’s a great time to clear the chaos and cut through the clutter (and the excuses for having clutter around!).  Read over this list to see if you can find YOUR excuse – and then take action!


Excuse #1: “I’d be a mean horrible person if I released this…”
Guilt is heavy gooey energy that convinces us we’re bad people if we let go of heirlooms, knick-knacks, unwanted clothing or gifts.
These items clutter up our lives and keep us in a comfortable – but draining – place. And conveniently, we never have to decide what we actually do want in our environment. We become environmental victims. Often, that spreads into other parts of our lives too!

Excuse #2 – “I spent so much on it!”
Do you punish yourself for having made a bad choice by keeping the item around?  Or convince yourself that you’re going to get your money’s worth – even if it drains the heck out of you?
You won’t.  And it will.
We’ve all done stupid things. And we’ve all had to let them go. Now it’s your turn.

Excuse #3 – “I might need this someday.”
I often wonder how many idle telephone cords exist in the world. Way in the back of old desk drawers. Stuffed on closet shelves. They can’t be gotten rid of.
Why?
Because we might need them some day.
Evidently, some day – in spite of technological progress – you’re going to need that particular grey phone cord that came in the box with a phone you bought in 1989.
Throw it out. Now.
Same thing goes for:  The broken fax machine, switch plates from your first house, and every glass flower vase that came with deliveries.

Excuse #4 – “I might do this someday.”
I know. I know.
Someday you’ll take those broken pieces of china you’ve collected and create a beautiful mosaic birdbath. And you’ll go through those stacks of magazines and make that collage for your sister’s 30th birthday party. (She’s 51 now.)
Now – I don’t mean to deny you your plans and dreams.  However, I urge you to consider experiencing the infinite relief that appears when you let old project ideas go.
Call your sister and tell her the collage ain’t gonna happen. Buy a mosaic birdbath from an artist who makes her living from creating such treasures.
And then, make space for what you want to do. Don’t fill your space with what you should do.

Excuse #5 – “I gotta look good to my guests.”
CDs. Books. DVD’s. Are these items treasured? Or are they simply a prop so your guests will be impressed by your intelligence and diverse tastes?
Remember this: we are motivated by two things: Fear or Love. Which of these keeps you clinging to items because of appearances?

Excuse #6 – “I Don’t Know Where It Goes.”
When items don’t have a home, it’s harder to determine whether or not they are clutter. Some things may seem like clutter – like the cute card that your daughter made that floats around from drawer to drawer – but they’re not clutter.
They’re homeless.
Once you start defining spaces for items, then it’s easier to see when something doesn’t fit anywhere and should just get tossed.

Excuse #7 – “My thoughts don’t have any power. Do they?”
Everything has energy.  The thoughts you have about the things in your home CREATE energy.  If you are surrounded by stuff you keep out of guilt, then your environment holds guilt.  If you hang on to stuff given to you by your ex, and you still feel bitter – then there is bitterness in your home.
Get it?
It’s either fueling you or draining you.  If anything triggers you, then that is your barometer. Let it go.

Excuse #8 – “But I never wore it!”
See Clutter Excuse #2.

Excuse #9 – “There’s too much stuff!”
Overwhelm can stop us in our tracks. If this article makes you aware that there are lots of items in your life you don’t like, then go slow.   Schedule small chunks of time each day.  It takes time to be clutter-free! But the newfound clarity and lightness are worth it!


Christine Kane is the Mentor to People Who are Changing the World. She helps women and men Uplevel their lives, their businesses and their success. Her weekly Uplevel You eZine goes out to over 26,000 subscribers. If you are ready to take your life and your world to the next level, you can sign up for a FREE subscription at http://christinekane.com.

Creative and Fun Ways to Organize your Child's Bedroom

Thank you to our guest contributor: Anna Berry

When you plan to have a child, you must also plan for their bedroom to become very messy.  Parents shouldn’t have to be the only ones to clean up the messes after the kids have gone to bed.  Children learn new things very quickly, which is why you should encourage them to clean up and organize their belongings.  

Organization is needed because it helps children develop a sense of discipline and a knack for cleanliness.  Not only does this free up more time for you in your day, but you’ll be teaching one of the most vital building blocks for future success; staying organized!

1)   Build Shelving for Your Child's bedroom     

Installing fun and colorful shelving in your child's bedroom may inspire them to put away their belongings, the correct way, once play time is over.  Kids love to collect things!  And when they have a shelf to display their treasures, they will be able to learn how important it is to keep their room neat and tidy.

2)   Put Leftover Containers To Good Use

There’s nothing more excruciating than accidentally stepping on a piece of Lego that your kid forgot to pick up.  You can give a new meaning to your unused boxes by letting your child use them as make-shift containers.  Small, unused containers cater to tiny toys and treasures, which can help kids learn to organize better.

3)   Combine Design with functionality

Instead of cluttering your child's bedroom with book shelves and drawers, why not opt for an adorable cupboard that not only looks great, but comes with plenty of shelf space and drawers! This will undoubtedly help you save space in your child's bedroom.

4)   Always have extra storage

As your child grows, the amount of stuff they have will accumulate as well.  By providing pouches, bags and boxes, you and your child can ensure that the room stays spic and span all year round!

5)   Labeling storage boxes

There can be nothing more upsetting than losing something precious to you; or hiding it for safe-keeping, only to forget where it was stored.  Make sure you instill in your children the necessity to label everything that will be kept and stored away for long periods of time.

Instilling that sense of organization will help formulate good study habits for high school, plus later on in college.  Start teaching these healthy routines as soon as possible, so it becomes ingrained as a lifelong principle.

New Learning Platform AND a Special Bonus

It has been project central around here lately and good things are in the works.

One of the best things is that I discovered a new learning platform to make it easier for our clients to download our products and to be able to participate in our programs (just wait until you see what is coming in the next few months!)

With any new platform, you need a test, so our test project is that we have moved our eBook "30 Simple Steps to a More Organized Life" to the new learning centre and it is ready for download.  It should make it extremely simple for you to register, purchase and download.   Previously (that would be yesterday) were hand doing everything. We would get an email saying client X bought the ebook, then we would do to the file and upload it to an email and then send it to the purchaser.   Not very time efficient and a time lag for our clients once they purchased the eBook until they received it.   As we continue to grow, and develop new offerings it became apparent that this system would not work for much longer so .....Now, you can access it immediately!

If you, or anyone you know is looking for some extra organizing direction, our book 30 Simple Steps to a More Organized Life is sure to help.   The book follows a similar structure to our  daily Take 5's but is more intensive.

Please feel free to send your friends and family the link as well to our eBook "30 Simple Steps to a More Organized Life" over to our new learning center.    As an added bonus and to celebrate the new learning center launch we will include a FREE special bonus forum, within the learning center,  for those who purchase the book between July 4 and July 31st.  

Within the forum you can share your photos, your goals, and your successes with others working on the book together.

I will check the forum on a regular basis and you are free to ask any questions and to pick my brain in the forum for free (my "pick my brain" rate for clients is normally $125.00 per hour!)   The forum will only be active until the end of August 2013 so don't wait to order your book.
 

Support is a powerful motivator to achieving goals AND best of all, the eBook is still just 4.97 

Let me know if you have any issues downloading the book, as will any new system, there are bound to be a few hiccups. 

Jenn


https://www.jigsawbox.com/signup/AdventuresInOrganizing/18883/50297