New Year's resolution time is here--that annual ritual most studies (and cynics) say is destined for failure within two to three weeks. But does that mean don,t bother? Our intentions are noble--the start of each year, (and each season) provides an opportunity for a new beginning.

As an organizing and productivity expert, I've noticed one main distinction between people who succeed in transformation and those who get derailed boils down to a single behavior: Reflection.

On my recent trip to Australia I met a lot of really cool people. One on which I’d like to highlight today: Megan Castran, a jewelry designer from Melbourne with a sparkly personality! I got the chance to visit Megan in her studio and home. Though Megan thought of herself as disorganized, I discovered some phenomenal systems that lie in Megan’s space!

Her beads….

Are you ready to get organized but don’t know where to start? Whether cleaning out a closet, kitchen cabinets or kid’s room, follow my S.P.A.C.E. formula to make the task manageable, methodical and rewarding. The key to succeeding with the SPACE formula is to do every one of the steps, and most importantly, to do them in order. Attack and complete one room at a time for the biggest sense of accomplishment and success. 

Time spent getting organized is the best investment you can make for the entire school year. The 3 part back to school series will show you how to maintain organized enviornments that will make an easy, productive year.

In the lazy days of summer, it’s easier to get away with disorganization. But the structure of the school year brings deadlines, appointments, and early mornings that make any child (and some adults) wish for a snow day just to sleep in, watch cartoons, and avoid the often hectic mornings that come with rushing out of the house. Getting organized now will help you stay on schedule and keep the chaos at bay. It will also give you a wonderful feeling of control, so that mornings are calm, and relaxing, even if your child insists on checking the 7 am news for school cancelations.

Cleaning professionals say that getting rid of excess clutter reduces housework by 40%!  When someone refers to things in their home as “collecting dust”, they’ve hit the nail on the head!  Having lots of stuff around—like knick-knacks, piles of mail, stacks of grocery bags, and newspapers does more than clutter up a room.  It makes cleaning much more difficult and provides the ideal place for dust and it’s allergens to accumulate.

But…where do you begin?

Quick: Do you know where your birth certificate is?  What about the warranty for your digital camera? Chances are they’re buried in one of the many piles that plague you—along with everything else, from newsletters, to pay-stubs, to grocery receipts, all cast amidst paper mountains. You’re not alone.  In fact, most people are beset by paper; it’s hard to know what to save, how to categorize and file.

To someone else, your items of memorabilia might look like junk, but in truth, each one holds the seed of a story. Items don’t start out as memorabilia. They begin as functional objects that get sanctified through time—often by the mere fact they didn’t get trashed!  Without a system, piles of college notebooks, bags of bellbottoms, and kids’ school projects get stuffed, stashed, lost for years, and often destroyed in the process.

Let’s define true memorabilia as objects that encapsulate your most significant memories, when a photo just won’t do. Their physical form transports you to a time in your life with a mere smell, touch or glance.... 

            Many creative or “right-brained” people who have always worked in chaos both crave and are frightened of getting organized. On the one hand, you crave it because you feel the disorganization has kept you from achieving your full potential. On the other hand, you are afraid a more structured system might squelch your creativity, as you’ve usually produced high-quality work in spite of the chaos.

            Every hour of every day at work, we are bombarded with information that comes to us in myriad forms – mail, e-mail, reading material, computer attachments, phone messages, business cards. In order to avoid being buried under piles, we must be able to separate information we need from that which we don’t at lightening speed, without missing a beat.