Getting Ready for High School

Being a mother of a future Freshman, the summer months are a combination of excitement and anxiety...for both of us! Starting high school is:

• An exciting new part of life
• Heavier homework load
• The start of a VERY active social life
• Finding new friends
• Parting ways with old ones
• BOYS! (AHHHHHHH!!!!!)
• Learning to handle LIFE

High school is definitely where you start to learn who you are, what you like to do, make some of the hardest decisions of your little life so far, and the place where you learn good and bad habits. As a parent, I have already had the whole "sex" talk, no drugs, no smoking, no boys in your bedroom, you can't stay out late, don't even think about turning your phone off when you leave this house, and the "if you honestly think I don't know what you're thinking you are sadly mistaken little lady" lecture. (Being a mom is great, isn't it?!)

Although the above are all of the things that have been passed down from generation to generation, there is one other little tidbit of motherly know all that I am passing down to my little 14-year old...getting in the habit of an organizer!

One of the little fun goodies that I got from uCreate is a Student Planner for the new school year. Talk about appropriate! Now, I could just hand it over to Jordyn and tell her to have at it, but I am sure it would find it's way to the very bowels of her closet and never be seen again. Instead, I am getting her ready for it NOW!

She has a pretty busy summer planned so we are going to start with writing down all of her Orthodontist appointments, spending the night with friends, going to the movies, times and dates of her trip to Alaska and to Washington, and any other piddly poop fun stuff she has going on.

Not only will this get her into the habit of planning and organizing her time, but when she comes to me in the middle of July and says that she didn't do ANYTHING this summer I can tell her to grab out her planner and give her the old mom, "Oh really?" look. (That's really the reason behind getting her into the habit of doing this now!)

Bottomline, if your child, your spouse, yourself, whoever needs a little extra encouragement of getting some new positive habits start it out small, simple, and fun! It will amaze you what results you will end up seeing!

Happy Organizing!

Suzanne Babb

12 Steps to Better Team Organization with Ron Holohan

Several weeks ago, I was approached by Ron Holohan from pm411.org to do an interview for his Project Management podcast. I was quite giddy by the request and as I read the email I couldn't help but smile ear to ear over the possibility of doing the podcast interview. Then in the third paragraph of the email he said something that just made me say an instant "yes!"

"I think the episode would provide some good insight for my listeners and I am sure that your humor and sassiness (yes, I said sassiness!) would be welcomed by my listeners."

He he he, he said sassisness! How can I refuse an offer from someone who so pinpoints the fact that I am sassy?

Last Thursday, Ron gave me a buzz, I laughed my fanny off, and we recorded the podcast. Tonight, after a Sunday of busting his butt to edit all of the laughter from our call, Ron has posted the podcast.

The podcast reviews different suggestions and techniques for Project Managers and their teams to become more organized and efficient. If you would like to take a listen at some of my quirky sassy antics, be sure to check out Ron's podcast and listen to 12 Steps to Better Team Organization!

Thanks, Ron, for the interview! I had an absolute blast and good luck with Guitar Hero! Oh, and say hi to your mom for me! ;o)

Happy Organizing Everyone!

Suzanne Babb

100 Surefire Ways to Organize Your Life!

I have truly been blessed in my life as I am surrounded by an incredible family, I have a tremendous business support group, my bloggy/newsletter friends are amazing, and I have been lucky enough to work with 3 over-the-top professional organizers who make me laugh, let me cry, and have seen my desk at it's WORST and still they let me contribute to our latest "organizing brain child"!

Together with Ariane Benefit, Beth Dargis and Marcia Francois; we have come up with a great little eBook that is full of organizational and time management tips to help you manage your busy schedule.

The best part is it is totally and completely free...ok, fine, there is one little thing I would like for you to do before I give away the "farm". ;o) No, I do not want your first born! (You can have mine, she's 14 and ALL attitude!)

All you need to do is sign up for my little Organize Me, Please! newsletter! If you are already a member of the newsletter, you will be getting your free copy on February 1st.

So, if it's time you cleared your clutter and got down to business enjoy our organizing gift to you! (Wait until you check out the layout! Ariane, did a PHENOMENAL job! It's stunning!)

Until next time,

Happy Organizing!

Irritations List - What Really Chaps My Hide

I am getting ready for an organizational seminar tonight with Allison and I was going over one of my favorite Time Management workshops that I host and one of the lists I wanted the attendees to work on was an Irritations List. As I was looking over my notes and agenda, I realized that "wow, there was some really good stuff in that baby!" :o)

So, I thought I would share my Irritations List and the concept behind it. I put together a .pdf document that you are more than welcome to download or you can use your own notebook, but the idea behind the list is to get rid of all of those nasty irritations that drive you a up a wall!

You make your list according to whatever pops in your brain at the time:

Stupid headlight that is out AGAIN
Flyers on the door cluttering up my porch
Solicitors calling on my CELL PHONE!
Little dog down the road pooping in my yard
I STILL do not have a functional bathroom in the master bath
I just know the same bird is pooping on my drivers side window every afternoon

Now that you have completely vented to yourself and you are feeling mildly better about exploiting the rat dog down the street that can't poop in his own yard, go through the list and determine HOW you are going to eliminate the foul distractions from your life.

(I'm thinking a taser gun to the dogs offending parts would be good at this point!....kidding....sort of!)

I could get one of those cute "old fashion" mailboxes for the front of the house with a sign that reads "Insert flyers here". It removes them from the front door and the eventual fall to the ground, plus I will have to do when it's overflowing with crap is throw it in the trash! woo hoo!

It's all about identifying the problems and coming up with some fun and creative solutions! (Plus taking out some of your frustrations!)

Happy Organizing!

Keeping Your Sanity During the Holidays

Seven years ago, I was going through a divorce and in the divorce papers it was decided that during every holiday the kids would be with their father, since I had them full time throughout the year. At the time, it was quite difficult for me as it meant this would be the first time I would be alone for the Christmas holiday and I wasn't sure how I would react to being alone for the first time in my adult life.

The week before Christmas my mother decided that she would do Christmas the weekend before so the kids could be there and since December 2000, that is exactly what we have done. Last Sunday night was our Christmas and it was just as wonderful as the 25th of December. It's about family, remembering the birth of our Savior, and just enjoying being with loved ones. Does it have to be on the 25th? Not really.

Of course, that leaves the question of what it is that I do on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Well, for the last 7 years I have spent Christmas Eve at my best friend from High School Irish Bar and it always seems that the bonded together single parents without children on Christmas Eve are always there. From an outsiders point of view it could be viewed as depressing, but for us it's a wonderful time to laugh, be silly, talk about our kids, and just enjoy being lonely adults in Arizona where we can still wear shorts and flip flops. Hopping in a car and driving 4 hours to the ocean hasn't been ruled out of the equation either.

Tomorrow it's about going to the movies and doing a bit of "double dipping" or movie hopping. ;o) Shh, don't tell the kids!

So today, I had breakfast with the folks, a 4 hour lunch with one of my dearest friends and tonight I am going to another of my girlfriends house for a Christmas Eve dinner and then back home to chill out by a fire with the A/C on. (Nothing like Christmas in Arizona!)

The best part about Christmas is there is absolutely no stress! We enjoy Christmas before, I spend time with family without the hussle and bussle, the kids enjoy both sides of the family with a couple of extra gift giving hoop-las, and I get some much needed down time.

The fact that I can enjoy the family, friends and loved ones without feeling guilt and stress is truly amazing and one of the things I am truly grateful for.

Of course, if you are one of the many parents out there that swears that next Christmas will be less stressful because you will do things differently, think about the thing or things that makes it insane and figure out a way to bypass the agony. Try doing Christmas with the in-laws a few days before, limit the homes you visit, or decide today that next year you are staying home and enjoying the children NO MATTER WHAT and tell your family that! (It's so nice that no one expects to see me on Christmas day! I cannot tell you what a relief that is!)

So tomorrow I will be enjoying PS I Love You and I may finish it off with 300! Can't get enough of Gerard Butler! Oooh la la.

Merry Christmas, Everyone!!!!

xxx
Suzanne

Playing Catch Up

Regardless of whether or not you have just come back from vacation, a long holiday or out being sick as a dog, playing catch up can take a lot of your time and force you to either slow down or drop the ball on important tasks. Me included.

Despite the crazy insanity of life in general, it has been a long holiday weekend complete with my being sick as a dog. There were definitely times where I wished whole heartedly for someone to take me out in the back 40 and put me out of my misery. I bit melodramatic, yes, but still I hate being sick.

So here I am on a Sunday trying to play catch up from the last several weeks, talk about not fun! Thank goodness the kids are at their dad's house and I have a quiet day all by my little lonesome to put things in perspective.

Just what is the best way to get through all of the unread emails, the pilings of to do's and missed deadlines? (Fist, you yawn and then grab your nearest caffeine fix...Route 44 Coke I love you!)

1. Start with the voicemails. Listen and log them into the Voicemail Log Book.
2. Since it's Sunday, I am going to respond to the voicemails via email for those I have email addresses for. The others will wait until tomorrow.
3. Tackle the email overload. I NEVER have over 50 emails in my inbox. Today, I have 253. Yikes!
4. I go through and do a quick Flag of the ones that are important and print them, read my little funnies and forward or delete, and then get down to business.
5. For the ones that I can do a quick reply and dump, I do those first. I like the quick and easy when I start my catch up. As soon as I replied to them, I either delete the email or file it away in their respective email folder.
6. Next, I sort my emails by Sender. This allows me to look for the emails from my clients and then if they are action items, which they typically are, I print them. (Yes, I know, I am killing trees...deal with it. No one thinks twice about it when they blow their nose, I am not going to worry about it when it comes to making mula.)
7. Once I have my client emails printed, I file them into their respective files and get them out of my inbox.
8. Pretty much, that leaves me with some misc. emails that I am waiting for response on or need at a later date. I do keep these in my inbox, but that is my preference. If you have another system for monitored emails, by all means use your system of choice.
9. Woo hoo! I am now down to 19 emails in my inbox and a pile of paper in my printer!
10. Personally, I LOVE dealing with things on paper. I go through the printed emails and sort them by priority for each client.
11. I then make a list of what I need to do in my Master To Do List. It's a bit repetitive, but it works for me and I certainly like it that way. This way I have a back up of what I need to do...just in case.
12. Since I have been out of commission for a while, I like to send over a recap to my clients letting them know that I am back in the saddle and here is what I have on the list to do for them and make sure that nothing has changed or anything added. This helps me make sure I am not wasting my time, energy or efforts on a project that doesn't need to be completed any more. Plus, it makes them feel better that I have everything that needs to be done and they don't have to worry about it.

The only thing left to do is the actual "To Do's". It just makes me feel so much better knowing that I have a plan and I know what is actually going on in my little life again. So, for the next 3 hours I am going to shut down the phone, get ready for tomorrow's appointments and try and get all of these to do's done!

*Side Note: Of course, if you use your Outlook Task List, just drag the email to your Task List icon in your email and it will automatically populate the Task for you. You just need to put in the pertinent information. :o)

When you have it all under control...really

My mom has got to be the most organized person when it comes to putting together functions at her house. From the time I was little, we were always having Ohio State football at the house and then on Sunday it was the Browns. My dad's friends and their families would all come over for my mom's chilli dogs and all of us rugrats would get into immense trouble. It was great!

As we have all grown up, the football parties have ended but my mom still insists on doing all of the holiday parties at her house albeit a couple of weeks early, but still! The woman is amazing. Right now, my folks are freezing their fannies off up in Akron, OH but they will be back to sunny AZ tomorrow only to have my Aunt Net and her family flying in from WA on Wednesday, my brother and his crew will be here on Saturday along with our family Thanksgiving dinner with 20 to 30 of our closest family members. Did I mention my mom does all of the cooking? On top of that, she makes breakfast for me and my kids, picks my 9-year old up from school, and makes sure homework is done by the time I get home from my latest office I have organized. Did I say "amazing"?

So, how does this 5' tall fiery red head manage to do it all? Simple! She has Denise, her just as amazing cleaning lady who always comes in the Wednesday before the shin-dig. She does a lot of her shopping from the Schwann man so she doesn't have to run to the store as much. Plus, her house is always decorated for the holiday...a month or so ahead of time.

This year she took down Halloween, packed, decorated for Thanksgiving, did up her menu, washed the bedding, shampooed the carpet, and flew off to Ohio to visit my brother and sister and my latest little niece, in just two days time. The secret to her success other than her cleaning lady and the Schwann man? A long line of trial and error and her lists.

1. She has her pre-printed grocery list of every day items that she picks up ahead of time
2. She schedules Denise to come and clean so she doesn't have to stress about it
3. She keeps a special notebook for all of her menu ideas, list of people to invite, and any other silliness she comes up with
4. About a month prior to the event, she mails out invitations to the family with the anticipation that noone will RSVP but they will all show up. :o) It keeps her sane and we eat a lot.
5. She has the house ready to go a couple of days before hand so she doesn't have to pull out what little hair she has the day before.
6. "Buffin it" is her favorite way to feed the masses. (Buffet style)
7. The backyard is ready to go all year round. The weather is amazing so it's so easy to do.
8. Where and when possible, she always uses top of the line plastic or paper plates/utensils so very little clean up is required.

That is pretty much her wedding/Thanksgiving/Christmas/Family Reunion schedule. (Did I mention I got married at my mom's house, too?

Her daily routine to keep all of the rest of us hooligans inline is pretty much the same way only on time schedules. Which is KEY to my mother's success.

1. 6:45am Laura calls my mom to have her morning chit chat...every day without fail
2. At 7:00am she always makes Jordyn breakfast first, since she leaves before everyone else.
3. 7:20 she makes me rye toast :o) We are spoiled and I read everyone's horoscope.
4. 7:30 the boy bellows from the back room his breakfast order, typically a blueberry bagel and a glass of milk. (My mom actually carries it back to the room on a tray for the spoiled little brat! I totally disavow any participation when he is hard to handle for his future wife. It's all the mama)
5. 7:30 the girl leaves
6. 8:00 I take the boy and head off to school just as my grandma calls to talk to my mom for about 30 minutes.

Without fail, my mom is on a schedule, just like clockwork. Not only does it help her get through her chaotic and hectic life, it helps maintain the sanity, and cut down on interruptions. My grandma knows not to call before 8am, because she is impeding on my time. ;o) And God forbid I call my mom between 8am and 8:30. It's just not done.

So, this holiday season try getting yourself into a routine, try getting those around you into the realization that you have things you need to do at a specific time and don't interfere. Trust me, even the little people can learn not to mess with mom during Susan Graver on QVC. You just need to enforce it.

Destress = Denise

Don't forget the Crescent rolls, Mom!!!

Extra Help for Those with ADD/ADHD

I have several wonderful clients who are making quite a success with their companies even though they have a "touch" of ADD/ADHD. Having the main focus of what they are doing on an overall scale definitely helps them and it also creates an overwhelming feeling of self gratification that they are doing it!

Until the little projects and to do's come into play. Oh, the stress, the anxiety, shutting down and panic that settles in is awful! I can go in once a week and get the office "looking" decent, but what is that REALLY doing? Helping me sleep at night, sure, but in the grand reality of things, is it doing what NEEDS to be done for my clients? No!

Here is what we found out.

1. A cluttered desk and office really isn't a BAD thing. Sure, it LOOKS terrible and I can't handle it, but then again, I am not working in that environment. So who cares?
2. What is HORRIFYING is not knowing what needs to be done TODAY.
3. Not being able to focus on the tasks at hand because of all of the "other" distractions in the office.

What are the solutions we came up with?

1. Don't worry about the mess, Suzanne. (Oh, this was the hardest...for me, anyways!)
2. 6 hour (yes, 6 hours!) of brain dumping. Going over every project and the to do's associated with them and writing them all down (ok, I did this.) I then transferred them into Excel and sorted them by Project, To Do, Due Date, Person Responsible. I then put filters on the row so my clients could only see what was needed to be completed for that day. The important piece was they weren't distracted by everything else that needed to be done.
3. Accountability Phase. For the first two weeks, we have a daily conversation at the end of the day where we discuss what did not get accomplished during the day and put together a new due date. We then review the items that need to be completed tomorrow. After we have that settled, we discuss any new action items or to do's that popped up during the day and schedule them into another day. This has worked INCREDIBLY well!
4. Getting out of the office for an hour. After my clients get into the swing of the planning and accountability phase, I have them plan their day by going to a coffee shop, book store, park, anywhere but in their office. This forces them to concentrate on their To Do's versus what is lying around on the desk or popping up in their email inbox.
5. Having measurable goals. The great part of the Accountability Phase and the Excel spreadsheet is I can keep track from the time we start to the time they are out on their own of how effective they have become! When they see just how much they have accomplished, they are OVERJOYED! They still need a bit of accountability now and again, but for the most part they have their routine in place, it's simple, and it's not distracting.

Some times working for yourself is harder than it seems. You only have yourself to answer to, unless you have a 9-year old who comes in after school and asks how your To Do List is coming and how much money you made (the tyrant!). But if you don't have brow-beating-boy always by your side, who is holding you accountable? If you find that you aren't completing your tasks, if you are falling behind on client projects, or you are dropping the ball on your customer service, you may want to consider getting some outside assistance to help you manage your time and hold you accountable to your responsibilities.

Happy Organizing!

Between a Rock and a Hard Place? Just Jump!

I have been spending a lot of time outside of my office lately and it is definitely starting to take its toll on me. I end up getting out of bed and into my office around 4:30 - 5:00am so I can get some "office" projects done, I leave the house to scoot off to my appointments, I will typically get back home around 6pm and then it's still another 3 to 4 hours of back end work I need to complete from that days appointments. It's been horrific! Not to mention that the man who shares my office feels the need to play World of Warcraft in the evenings while talking to the other players on Skype. Not the most ideal working conditions, if I do say so myself!

The good news is I am busy busy busy, but if I am not careful I am going to hit a major wall of extreme burn out! After wracking my brain for 7 days straight I have come up with a short term solution to help me better manage my time and hopefully avoid burn out!

1. I am planning a trip to Scotland and I am aiming at November/December time frame. This gives me a goal to work toward and a light at the end of my very busy tunnel. When I think about Scotland an overwhelming sense of peace, happiness, love, and heaven flows over me like the Highland mist. This is an extremely important piece of my sanity puzzle, of course, I need to make sure I sell 100 eBooks before then so I can go, but I'm not worried...yet!

2. I used one of my composition books to really manage my long list of To Do's. I ended up doing a MAJOR Brain Dump on Sunday where I filled 15 pages on regular sized paper of all of my To Do's! 15 PAGES!! Although my little fingers were numb and my hands were cramped, I did feel a bit better that all of those things were not running around in my brain any more.

Once I had my list made, I went through and labeled each To Do with the day it needed to be completed by. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, etc. Next, I grabbed out a Composition Book and labeled the pages Sunday - Saturday and then another page for To Be Scheduled. I also printed out my calendar for the week. I have a busy busy week and I wanted to make sure that I was setting some realistic time goals for my tasks. Then I started filling in my notebook.

Oh my gosh, how wonderful did that make me feel? So, I now have a great day to day plan of all of my action items and to do's and I don't have to worry about anything that I don't have to do today! Brilliant!

3. Now for my work stuff. It is nearly impossible for me to working in my office at night anymore and I sometimes have an hour or two to kill between appointments that I could be working if I had my computer. Ding ding ding. I do have a laptop and desk top so I spent the weekend trying to figure out how to get my Treo to work with my laptop as a wireless internet connection and I got that working. I also transferred all of my files from my desktop onto a jump drive. Now, whenever I am working I strictly use my jump drive. You would not believe how much better my desktop runs! This way I just grab my jump drive, my laptop and head on out the door. If I have time to kill I pop in my jump drive, work on my laptop and voila' I am set to go! No worries about whether or not I have the latest version or worrying about uploading what I did on my laptop, because it never "lived" on either computers.

Plus, when I get kicked out of MY office I can just grab my laptop and head out the door and leave "him" with the kids! Scotland. Scotland. Scotland. Hadrian's Wall. East Kilbride. Skye. Aberfeldy. (See, it works!)

Between my "Scottish Light at the End of the Tunnel", my composition book and jump drive I am now ready to be Super Woman!

Happy Organizing!

Can You Afford Not To?

The last several months I have encountered more and more of my current and new clients experiencing a lot of burn out and the gripping sensation of overwhelming fear taking hold of their lives. With an impasse between breaking down in the fetal position and crying to giving up all together because there is just too much to do to get any type of control over it.

My suggestion has been simple. STOP! Go to the movies, take a break, don't take on any more clients, outsource some of the trivial tasks.

The response, as I am sure you have guessed, is always the same, "I can't AFFORD to stop. I can't afford to hire out. I can't afford to not answer my phone."

My retort..."Can you afford NOT to?"

In the "real" world, people take vacations. Albeit they get paid for a vacation, but you do more work than they do. You NEED to a take a break or your business will fail.

In the "real" world, companies have a different department to handle different aspects of the business. Albeit they have employees to handle those tasks, but so can you! Outsourcing some of the more time consuming and frustrating tasks you have will save your hind end! It may cost you a few extra bucks, but how much more money could you be making if you did pay someone $35 an hour to handle your books? If you keep thinking you HAVE to do it all yourself, your business will fail.

In the "real" world, the project management team gets rewarded for a job well done and a project implemented. Guess what? Reward yourself! Go to a midday movie, get a massage, head off to a ball game with the kids. You are the BOSS! If you don't reward yourself, no one else will. If you don't take some time to take care of YOU, YOU may not be there in the end.

In the "real" world, you decided that it was time to get out of the "real" world and create "your" world. Well, guess what? YOUR world is getting ready to crumble around you if you don't do something to pull it back together. If you are suffering, chances are your family is suffering. Is that why you left Corporate America to start your own business? Or was it because you wanted to spend more time with your family?

Get back to basics. Remember why you started your business in the first place and embrace it.

If your business is overwhelming you because of the growth, stop! Hold off on taking new clients and revamp your business plan. Update it. Get a clear picture of where you are going, how you are going to get there, and what needs to be done. Don't try going off in nine million directions all at once because your brain is so fried.

And because there are times when I need to take my own advice, that is EXACTLY what I am going to be doing this month. I am reducing my spending, I am handling only the clients that are scheduled and I'm not taking on any more until I have my new business plan completed. I may even talk the husband into footing the bill for me to stay up north for the weekend so I can get some much needed R&R and quiet time to work on things. :) It's the least he can do since he has been up at the Calgary Stampede for the last 8 days.

Bottomline, if you are overwhelmed take a time out. Regroup. Plan. Delegate. Implement. Kick Ass!