Organize & Harmonize
Wednesday, February 21, 2007, 02:09 PM
I just read an online article about Suze Orman's new book "Women and Money: Owning the Power to Control your Destiny" Within the article it listed 8 qualities of a wealthy woman, the 7th being cleanliness. I thought this was important from an organizers perspective. Read below.
Quality 7: Cleanliness
Cleanliness is a state of purity, clarity, and precision.
Cleanliness is about respecting the importance of order and organization. When you don't know where your money is, when you have no filing system for your important documents, when you dive into your pocketbook to pull out crumpled bills, when your car looks like a garbage can, when your closets are filled with junk and clutter -- you cannot possibly be a wealthy woman. You need to clean up your act -- quite literally -- to bring true wealth into your life. In India, women sweep the front entrance to their home each morning as a way of welcoming Lakshmi, the goddess of material and spiritual abundance, into their home, for there is a belief that she resides at the threshold of every house. In order for her to enter, she must have a clear path.
You might be reading this and thinking that cleanliness is nice but not essential to your financial well-being. I am here to tell you that if this quality is not up front and center, wealth will elude you and you will be left with the mess that you created. Respect the power of this quality of cleanliness. Tell the universe that you have cleared the path for wealth and abundance to enter.
Get organized. Get Rich!!
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( 3 / 1751 )Friday, February 16, 2007, 09:02 PM
As a professional organizer, I just had to weigh in on the messiness is ok issue.
The book raises some interesting questions about how we spend our time and what is
important – Is having a beautiful, organized, and clutter free home
important in the big scheme of things? It makes me think about the
gratitude journal many of you use. Along those same lines I
think an accomplishment journal is important as well. Some days,
getting the laundry done is a big accomplishment, and just because it
is the laundry doesn't mean it should be overlooked as an
accomplishment.
I have been thinking about time management recently because everyone
is so rushed and stressed and I wanted to be able to help people in
this aspect of their lives. I wanted to incorporate these ideas
into a workshop (yes another). However, doing a time journal of
every minute of my day to see where I was wasting time seemed like a
waste of time for myself and clients alike. I found a better way to
look at time management and now call it goal management. I want my
time to reflect my goals which are based upon my values. So I
started doing goal research and found a great book through my mentor
Marla Dee, called the Best Year Yet by Jinny Ditzler. It is more of
a workbook really and it gives you strategies for coming up with
goals that reflect your values. It asks you to answer 10 questions
and your responses to these questions are the basis for your 10
yearly goals. SIMPLE!! It takes about 3 hours to fully answer the
questions. As far as time management goes, if you are committed to
these goals, then all you have to do is ask yourself is "Does this
activity reflect my goals?"
Going back to the book, some people do not have a goal of having
an organized and clutter free home, so messiness for them is ok. As
a professional organizer, I also think people can not make the goal
to get organized unless they are ready, just like you have to be
ready to make the changes needed in your life to lose the weight you
always wanted to lose. I think it is impossible to have a perfectly
organized home 100% of the time. What I do think is important,
however, is to have systems in place so that when things do get out
of wack, and they always will, you do not have to spend as much time
and energy getting back to a place where you can function.
Thanks for spending 2 minutes of your 24 hours reading this.
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( 2.9 / 1798 )Tuesday, June 27, 2006, 11:14 PM
I have completed the 5 day Clear & SIMPLE professional organizing training!! Marla Dee and Lisa Parsens, partners of Clear & SIMPLE Inc. flew in from Utah to be here. The training was wonderful. It taught me how to be a more efficient organizer and how to effectively grow Organize & Harmonize.
Day 1: We began the training with a presentation to the group about ourselves, our business, and our goals. It was excellent public speaking practice. Afterwards, Marla and Lisa presented their favorite organizing products and daytimers. This gave me exposure to so many types of planners. I will really be able to help my clients with their calendaring needs now. Today was all about attracting the perfect client. We did an activity called a SAP, Strategic Activity Plan, which when completed, gave a very clear picture of the type of clients we wanted to work with. The time was well spent. We then worked on our defining statements. Marla was of great help with this as she helped me to see that my statement needed a lot more work and definition.
Day 2: In the morning we discussed in depth the use of the 5 Feng Shui Elements and how to use them to help you to see your clients. I really learned a lot here and I will be using this tool to help me SEE my clients with more clarity. In the afternoon, we went to our "practice" client's hometo do an initial consultation. During the training we are expected to work with an assigned client under the supervision of either Marla or Lisa. This too was a fantastic learning experience. Lisa was a great coach and really helped me to keep focused on the Clear & SIMPLE 3 step organizing process. I was assigned two areas to organize, the laundry room and a peculiarly small sized storage closet. The before pictures are below.
Day 3: The third day was all about paper. So many of Organize & Harmonize clients have paper piles. Almost every piece of paper requires a decision or some sort of action before it is filed. I love the Freedom Filer for home systems. Because of the recommendations from Clear & SIMPLE, I decided to become a Freedom Filer Certified Consultant in the Spring of 2006. In the afternoon, we mapped out a plan for our client visit on Thursday. Before the end of the day we saw a lot of beofre and after pictures of Clear & SIMPLE organizational projects to get some ideas.
Day 4: The Client Day!!! I can't believe how long it took to sort, toss, assign a home, containerize, and label just the laundry room and the small closet. However, the results of our hard work paid off and it looked amazing.
This experience was invaluable in really getting a full picture of the Clear & SIMPLE organizational systems.
Day 5: This was my favorite day. The group was divided up and we created mind maps of where our business is and where we needed to go. Afterwards, we had one on one time with Marla and Lisa and they gave us mentoring advice on how to grow our business. We finished "closing the circle" and sharing our memories of the week. Thanks Everyone!! I learned so much from you all.
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( 2.9 / 1603 )Monday, May 22, 2006, 08:04 AM
The Organize and Harmonize site is fully launched! Check back for an updated contact form and any final edits.[ 3 comments ] ( 7 views ) | permalink | related link |
( 3 / 1594 )Sunday, May 14, 2006, 02:08 PM
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Please check back in a week or so when OrganizeHarmonize.com will be fully launched.
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