Christmas: Are you a Tigger or Scrooge?

My husband is gearing up to put the Christmas tree up in his office this weekend.   His enthusiasm for all things Christmas knows no bounds.   Our house looks like Christmas threw up in it and it takes all his restraint to wait until December 1^st.   One year I came home from a business meeting and the tree was up, garland on the banister, the entire shooting match - it was November 1^st!   He was like Tigger bouncing up and down on his Holiday High.

I on the other hand am a little more in the “Ebenezer Scrooge” category.  While I like the season, for me, the holidays create a little bit of stress and anxiety. 

The abundance of tasks on my “To Do” list increases dramatically and I can get overwhelmed at the enormity of it all unless I take the time to chunk it into smaller pieces and map it out on my schedule.

The list never seems to end

·        menu planning

·        party planning,

·        choosing the perfect gifts,

·        baking,

·        getting ready for guests,

·        extra clean up

·        still running all the rest of my regular life tasks, etc….

I sometimes would prefer to skip the season all together. 

Okay, so maybe not altogether but if the tree went up Christmas and came down Boxing Day, I would be a happy camper (happy elf).

With all the additional cleaning, the setting up of decorations, baking, meal planning, getting the guest room ready and buying gifts.   It can all be too much for even the most hearty holiday fan!

In that light, I wanted to do something very special this year to try and help not just myself and my one-on-one clients get through the season, but also help those of you who follow Adventures In Organizing.ca on the Blog, Facebook, @OrganizeYourLif on Twitter and for those we work with virtually around the world.

I created and am launching a very special,  just for you 

"Get Organized in a Weekend Bootcamp"  

... what on earth is that you ask???

Well, I have cleared my calendar and dedicated an entire weekend just for you!  I am going to play along as well and together we are going to get the house in order and check off a bunch of tasks on our organizing “To Do” lists.  The weekend is scheduled to not only help us all get ready for Christmas but also so our US friends can get ready for Thanksgiving which lands the following week.

The “Get Organized in a Weekend Bootcamp” will play out like this:

The fun begins on Friday evening November 22 at 6 pm EST

The evening will start with a live webinar, outlining the weekend, and send you off on your first set of missions.

We will check back in at 8:45 pm for a Q&A and ensure everyone is cued up for Saturday.

ON Saturday we continue the fun bright and early.   This week will be all about accomplishments and successes.

The day will run from 9AM UNTIL 9 PM

At 9 am on Saturday morning, we will meet back live on the webinar, have some training and tutorial time and establish the goals and missions for the morning.   After the webinar you will implement the missions (there will be worksheets and checklists to help you get through the tasks.)

At noon, we meet back on the webinar, have some Q & A time, discuss the plan for the afternoon and you can share any photos of your success with the group.

The afternoon will be spent working on the missions outlined at noon.

At 5pm we will break for dinner so we can all reconnect with our families.
        

After dinner, we meet live at 6PM on the Webinar to Outline the evening events, share any photos, Q & A and then you will be sent off to complete your final mission for the day.

Saturday evening we have a short wrap up party live on the Webinar at 8:45 to discuss your successes and to briefly outline tomorrow.

And then on Sunday, the final day of our Bootcamp will begin again at 9am with a Webinar to review Saturday’s success, establish the outline of Sunday's goals and missions and you will have the opportunity for Q&A as well.

Your morning will then be spent accomplishing your organizing missions until we will meet back on the Webinar at noon. 

Sunday afternoon will then be spent further accomplishing your goals and missions for the day and you will break at 5PM for dinner.

The evening will begin again at 6 PM with your evening mission and Q & A period.

The wrap up of the weekend will be, Sunday evening, where we wrap it all up, put a bow, and celebrate our successes with a closing webinar at 8:45 pm!

The event will include:

• Live Webinars,
• Assignments,
• Worksheets,
• Checklists
• and other fun bonuses*.

Hope to see you all there!

Oh wait…………………

Speaking of bonuses….

Here are a couple that I have for you now!

Bonus One:

A free Facebook Group has been created for this event just for you to share your photos, questions and thoughts with each other throughout the weekend.

Bonus 2:

A free copy of our exclusive Vision Casting Workbook, redesigned just for this event – It will become your “Bootcamp Blueprint”.  Normally this is a value added gift I reserve for my private one-on-one clients but you will have access to it just for you participating in this event!

Bonus 3:

The first 3 people to sign up for the Get Organized in a Weekend Bootcamp will receive  a 20 minute free organizing coaching call via Skype, phone or Google Hangout with Jennifer Dawson, owner and lead organizer of Adventures in Organizing to answer your specific questions, concerns or challenges.

***If you wanted to book just 20 hours with Adventures In Organizing you would pay over $1000.00

This Bootcamp, at this first time launch price is just $79.00 and will never be offered at this price again.

 
I am limiting this first "beta" Bootcamp to just 25 participants and keeping the price point at an irresistible rate. 

Register today and I will see you in the Bootcamp!
 


 Helping you to lose clutter and gain clarity,



Jennifer  
http://www.eventbrite.com/event/8958361701  

Menu Planning - Two Quick and Easy Methods to Maximize Your Time & Fill Your Freezer!

I love to do bulk cooking, it saves me a ton of time, a lot of money and I am not left scratching my head each night wondering what to make for dinner.     

If I make Chili, I make a lot of chili (A LOT) and freeze it into family sized and individual meals.   I make egg-rolls once or twice a year and make hundreds…it takes all day but then the job is done.   

Then, the following week I might take another day to make Chinese Dumplings and again, I make a ton.    It is almost never that I make just one of a meal.   I really do not like cooking enough to have to come up with new ideas each night. I find it a waste of my time and would sooner double up on my efforts.  Meatloaf, make 3, freeze two, cook one.  Are you following me?

One of the other time savers I use when it comes to meal planning is put the meat I buy at butcher store, directly into freezer bags.   I then add whatever sauce or marinade I am using, chop the veggies and toss them into the bag as well.   After that, they all go into the freezer.   

It is now, crock-pot or oven ready - all I have to do is thaw and cook!   Preparing my meat as soon as I come in from grocery shopping also saves me having to put most of the groceries away, I just mix the ingredients, pour it into the bags and the job is done.  A few minutes of prep on grocery day saves me hours during the week.   Love it!!!

If you would like more information on how to maximize your time and productivity, we would be happy to help!   Adventures In Organizing.ca works with clients in the Ottawa area or virtually around the world.

We would love to hear from you!

3 Simple Ways to Increase Your Productivity

An increasing number of our clientele are solopreneurs, entrepreneurs, and those with network marketing businesses.     

These clients have unique challenges.  The bulk of their time is spent managing the day-to-day reality of building their client lists, serving their client needs and managing their case loads.  These small business owners often have little or no office support, as a result, the paperwork often backs up and over time things often become unmanageable.   The age-old organizing question arises “where do I start”?       

Here are 3 simple strategies to help you manage your information your time.

1.    Start by dealing with today’s mail.

Get a handle on the plethora of papers by dealing with the incoming of today.  As Barbara Hemphill of, Taming The Paper Tiger, fame often states “Today’s mail is tomorrow’s pile”

A simple way to begin to get your paperwork a.k.a. “Today’s Mail” under control is to start with a 3 folder system, 

• Mark Folder One:    “To File”,

• Mark Folder Two:    “To Pay”,

• Mark Folder Three:  “To Do”

There is very little that would fall outside these three categories and if they do, the recycle bin would likely be the appropriate file folder for them.     

2.   Stay off your email and social media sites for the first hour of your day.   

Set your agenda for the day and control your time.   By responding to email and Facebook posts as soon as you start the day, you are allowing other people’s agendas to run and control your day and you will get side-tracked.   

  

Consider setting your email auto responder to read something like “emails are checked at 11 and 3 each day and we give you our full attention at that time”.

3.    Have a planner and use it! 

The number one absolute to having an organized business life, home life, student life, is having and using a good planner.   It does not matter if you use a paper planner or a digital planner but whatever the choice, use it to it’s fullest function.   Hundreds of Post-It it notes all over the monitor get forgotten and become part of the background noise – put those notes into your planner or use programs like Evernote,  or Workflowy and keep all your information in one place.  

For more productivity strategies or information on how we can help with your paperwork management strategies,  please contact Jennifer at Adventures In Organizing.