2010 Articles and Reviews
6 Ways to Create a More Peaceful Workspace
by Leslie Garrett, Gaiam Life
To get to my desk, I have to step over a pile of clothes I’ve been meaning to put away, clear boxes of books slated for charity and dodge an “in” tray that rivals the height of my five-year-old. On my windowsill sits a forlorn fern in its final death droop. I sigh. My office is decidedly NOT Zen-like.
But oh, how I long for it to be. A desk free of clutter, with healthy plants, a place for everything and everything in its place. Those who’ve achieved it say I can expect a boost in productivity and enjoyment in work, and a decrease in stress.
Gina Mazza Hillier promises me nothing less than “greater joy” if I can see my way clear — literally. Hillier is author of Everything Matters, Nothing Matters: For Women Who Dare to Live with Exquisite Calm, Euphoric Creativity and Divine Clarity and someone who has created her own Zen-like office space in her home.
She makes it seem so easy.
When she decided to work from home, Hillier removed everything from the space that would become her office. Then, she says, everything she put into that empty space — from the paint on the walls to the fresh flowers to the whimsical artwork — was placed there with intention.
And that seems to be the key, say the experts. Creating a space that nurtures your soul, boosts creativity and productivity, and encourages success is a product of consideration. Serenity is no accident.
And don’t confuse serenity with being laissez-faire, say the experts. A serene office will help us get more work done with less stress, leading to a fatter paycheck and increased well-being. I’m convinced. So where do I start?
1. Wipe the slate clean to get serene
Like Hillier, personal organizer Betsy Simmons – dubbed the “Queen of Serene” by her clients – suggests a clean slate, whether working from home or in an office tower. “Start from scratch and designate or zone this space within it for a specific purpose,” she recommends. “Remove everything. A fresh coat of paint is a good place to start.” Steer clear of red, orange or yellow, which Simmons calls fast colors, noting that they’re usually the colors of choice for fast-food restaurants. Instead, she recommends blues, greens and lavenders…but with a bit of punch to keep you calm but moving forward.
Starting with a fresh slate, promises Simmons, means that you create an environment that will work for you.
Then determine what you need in this location. A desk is generally a given, but choose a style that suits your needs without compromising. It’s too important a piece to try and simply make do, believes Hillier. Hillier also subscribes — “lightly,” she says — in the principles of feng shui. Simmons recommends the desk be placed facing a door and without a window to your back. “Open space draws energy from you and you want strength behind you,” she explains. Get a comfortable chair that keeps your posture erect but relaxed. “Or use a ball,” suggests Simmons. “It’s great for your posture.”
2. Work the system
Create a system and work it until it’s second nature, says Regina Leeds, known as The Zen Organizer and the author of six books including the New York Times bestseller One Year to an Organized Life and the upcoming One Year to an Organized Work Life (January 2009). “Another word for system in this context,” she explains, “might be ritual, habit or routine. If your day is run by the whims of others, you won’t get much done.”
Simmons agrees. “The more you can control and maintain the space, the more time you have to catch the curve balls that keep coming.” With that in mind, create zones in your office that reflect the different aspects of your work life — a priority zone, which is usually what you’re working on, a reference zone, and so on. Choose a system of organization — alphabetical, color-coded, by date or topic — that works best for you. Then stick with it, always returning things to their rightful zone.
Simmons also suggests that those of us seeking office serenity start each day with a plan. “Each minute of planning can save one hour of execution.” Then spend a few minutes at the end of the day on cleanup. “Do not pass it on until tomorrow!” she insists. “What a horrible way to start a day…by finishing up yesterday.”
3. Clear the clutter
While every magazine promises us the key to curing our lives of clutter, why do so few of us succeed? “Getting organized is a skill,” reminds Leeds. If it’s not something that we learned from parents or that comes naturally, it’s something we not only need to learn now, we need to take action to implement. With that in mind, clear anything out of your office that isn’t directly related to your work or to helping you work. That means kids’ toys (gulp), family photos (double gulp) and any extraneous stuff that isn’t currently relevant to your work or to creating a peaceful space.
4. Green and light are a go!
Bring in live plants. Not only do they help clean indoor air, they’re a positive life force. And by all means, light candles that lend an air of calm. Ensure that they’re nontoxic. Artwork that inspires is a great addition to any office space. And don’t just think of your walls. A beautiful rug can be art for your floors. Hillier includes fresh flowers in her office space. “They add to my energy,” she says.
5. Use the zone concept to get more done
Keeping in mind your office zones, tackle work in the same way. Group together tasks, such as phone calls or errands, blocking out more time than you think you’ll need to ensure that you complete tasks and complete them well. Leeds reminds us that “Time is a commodity. It can be wasted but never recovered.”
6. Work to live, don't live to work
Our work should complement our lives, giving us greater meaning, greater joy and greater balance. An office space that soothes our soul while it stokes our energy will be a place we’ll look forward to entering. It will lead naturally to a career that enriches not only our wallets, but our beings.
Do you "have it together?" - The Importance of organization during tough times.
To be A best CXO, May 2010
Here is a guest post from Regina Leeds, author of One Year to an Organized Life: From Your Desk to Your Deadlines, the Week-by-Week Guide to Eliminating Office Stress for Good. I think her point that being organized is even more important now is very true. For both our mental confidence and our practical productivity. If getting and staying organized is a challenge for you, check out her work and book.
It's always important to have an organized work space. But now with downsizing and job loss spreading throughout the work sector like a fever, being organized is a great insurance policy. You can use your organizing skills to demonstrate to your employer how invaluable you are to the day to day operation of the business. And, if you are the owner of the establishment, you can just as easily show your employees by example the kind of office space and productivity you hope to find throughout the organization. Are you looking for a job? Being organized will not only help you organize your job search, it will be a skill you can present to your employer. You see? There isn't a single down side to being organized!
If the world of organization has been an area of challenge for you, consider this: getting organized is just a skill. If you wanted to play a musical instrument like the piano, master a sport like tennis or learn how to dance, what would you do? You'd read some good books, find a qualified teacher, practice and hope to reach your individual potential. Getting organized requires the same steps. It isn't solely for those who seem to have been born with a natural proclivity for order. Learning a new skill is one of the best ways to keep our brains active and stay youthful. There's no time like the present to begin the journey. And "One Year to an Organized Work Life" is the ideal companion.
Regina Leeds, author, "One Year to an Organized Life"
'The Zen Organizer'
The Sacrament of Making Your Bed
By Reverend Keith on January 21, 2010
I was starting to read Regina Leed's book One Year to an Organized Work Life (which I hope to review soon) and happened on this wonderful little tidbit on why you should make your bed. Now I don't really have a problem with making the bed. I'm used to it now and it bother's me if it isn't done. But I have to admit that some days I wonder just what the point it. After all, I'm going to mess it up again the next night. No one but me is going to see it. Why bother. If I were a bachelor, it probably wouldn't get made very often.
But Regina had this to say:
"An unmade bed signals that there is no end to your day; you are dragging the activities, emotions, and energy of one day into the next without ever giving yourself the experience of a fresh start. When you make your bed, you will feel energized every time you walk into your bedroom."
I hadn't looked at it from quite that perspective - organization as a spiritual symbol to your mind. And why not? As a priest, I believe in the power of physical symbols to effectively represent spiritual realities - often much better than words ever could. A spiritual symbol such as a cross or communion can impact the spirit on a powerful and unconscious level. Making your bed can be a sort of sacrament. It communicates hope for a new day and a fresh beginning to a spirit that needs refreshing.
I suppose this is something of the appeal of Feng Shui, which I have to admit I haven't taken all that seriously. Not that I don't enjoy a well-organized and beautiful room. But the Taoist details - such as which direction things have to be arranged in, I have to admit that I really didn't have much use for. But to people who are steeped in Taoist tradition, I can see how these details in a room's organization would resonate on a subconscious level with years of previous associations. I'm still not sure it resonates all that well with Americans ignorant of Taoist symbology.
Organize Your Work in 2009
Lifehack
January 8, 2009
Regina Leeds, the best-selling author of One Year to an Organized Life: From Your Desk to Your Deadlines, the Week-by-Week Guide to Eliminating Office Stress for Good, has a brand new book out that might come in handy as you work on getting your work organized for 2009. It's called One Year to An Organized Work Life - and it's different from a lot of the self-help, get-yourself-organized books that are out there.
There are two factors in this book that convinced me it would be useful to just about anyone. Most important is Regina's approach: she's known as the Zen Organizer, and her books are all about getting organized with a Zen approach. Don't worry - that doesn't mean that she expects readers to get touchy-feely about which drawer their paperclips go into. Instead, Regina's references to Zen are a matter of focusing on eliminating stress. The philosophy of Zen is about creating calm - an impossibility when you're stressed out over a messy desk or a disorganized calendar. To reach a more Zen-like state, Regina walks readers through getting rid of some of that stress.
The second factor that makes Regina's book stand out is the fact that while the book has the word 'work' in the title, it takes a holistic approach. Regina makes it clear that a person can't get his or her work life organized but still be unproductive at home. She quotes a Zen proverb:
...the way a man does one thing is the way he does everything.
Throughout the book, Regina makes a point of giving readers the tools to organize their entire lives, even if their current focus is work. After all, you can't just stop being organized when you leave the office each evening.
The Twelve Month Guide
One Year to an Organized Work Life is organized in twelve chapters, one for each month. Each chapter is broken down even further into individual weeks. For each month, Regina sets out a work habit and a home habit for readers to work on developing. For January, for example, readers are asked to leave their desks every day for at least five minutes and to make their beds at home.
At first glance, these habits may seem to have little to do with getting yourself organized. Even the work habit is counter-intuitive: you'd think that doing something at your desk is more likely to get your stuff organized faster. But there is a reason behind Regina's approach. Moving around for five minutes refreshes both your mind and body after hours of staring at paperwork - and knowing that you can step away from your desk for even a few minutes can reduce your stress over trying to deal with everything that has built up.
But why a home habit? The book is about work, right? Regina includes home habits as a part of that holistic approach I mentioned. If your home is more organized and less stressful, making the transition between home and work is that much easier. In both cases, Regina sets forth relatively simple habits. She also provides some simple advice on developing a new habit, including the advice to repeat the same action every day for 21 days to make it habitual.
The Weekly Tasks
In addition to monthly habits, Regina offers small tasks for readers to complete each week. These tasks range from something you can knock out in thirty minutes to something you may need to dedicate two hours to. The tasks vary: some involve setting goals, others cover reviewing your filing system. Regina devotes several pages to each task, making sure to provide readers with all the tools necessary to complete each task as well as explaining why the task will be useful.
We are talking about 52 individual tasks here, as well as 24 habits. It seems like a lot of work. I bet some prospective readers are already wondering whether it's worth their while to spend the next year with One Year to an Organized Life. I think it can be worth the effort, though: setting out to get organized is very difficult without any kind of roadmap. You have to organize your organizational plans and it's easy to get discouraged in the process. But Regina's book lays out a clear approach. It might not be the approach you would have planned for yourself, but eliminating the planning phase can get you on the road to organization a lot faster.
I think Regina's background has allowed her to create a logical approach to organizing work: she started working as a professional organizer in 1988. While Regina has done a lot of organizing homes, she's also helped a long list of business professionals get their work under control. While organizing might not be an exact science, Regina has had the opportunity to see what actually works in the real world - and to find out where the pitfalls are. Her book acts as a roadmap around those problems.
Finding the Book
You can find One Year to an Organized Work Life on Amazon, as well as at many brick-and-mortar book stores. It is published by Da Capo Press and weighs in at 304 pages. You can find more information about Regina at her personal website.
While I might not recommend Regina's book for every reader, I do think it's a good basic route to getting your work organized. If that's one of your goals for 2009, One Year to an Organized Work Life will get you going.
Five Ways to Find "Lost Minutes" in Your Day
Smartman Daily
Every guy has been there: You're on deadline and every time you look up, it seems that the hands of the clock have moved to a position that can't possibly be true. Alas, you're facing a late night. Again.
I have good news for you. Every day contains "hidden minutes." We tend to waste them-but there are ways to "find" them and put them to productive use.
Let's look at five common time stealers. There is an antidote to every single one.
For starters, try this: set a timer for 15 minutes. Now start at one corner of your office or desk and work as fast as you can. Your goal is to eliminate as much as possible. Don't stop to mull things over or have a discussion with someone. Your gut will tell you what can go. What sorts of things am I talking about? Ancient phone books you no longer need because the yellow pages are now online; magazines older than two months (the articles are probably online anyway); newspapers older than two days; invitations to events that have passed; coupons that have expired; junk mail and projects that are completed.
In addition to the trash/recycle piles, you can of course have an archive section (for those completed projects if you need to save them) and a place for items that belong elsewhere. Now is the time to return cups and plates to the kitchen or return to the office supply closet the folders you aren't using. (Make these returns after the timer goes off.)
Doesn't the space feel better? I call this process a "speed elimination," and consider it analogous to a diet. Congratulations. Your workspace is now five pounds lighter.
There are many techniques for getting control of your time. Let's consider two. The first is learning how to delegate. No, you don't have to do it all yourself. Your task is to find qualified people to help you even if it means you have to stop to instruct them carefully. Take 15 minutes now to explain how a task is to be done and you might save several hours over the course of the next year as that person repeatedly takes this item off your workload. Be sure to set false due dates so that you have some wiggle room should the person fail to deliver the goods on time. After all, they just might have fallen victim to over-scheduling themselves.
The next tool is an "inside job." Ask yourself if on some level you enjoy being harried, driven and exhausted. Some of us were taught as children that struggle breeds the most valuable success. Did you have a parent who said that in so many words? Or did they demonstrate it with their actions? If you drive yourself to exhaustion, you'll likely wind up sick-or worse. You want to be around to share the benefits you've earned with family and friends, right? Take a few minutes to examine your schedule and see if there are some items you could eliminate or at least postpone.
In conclusion...
It might take some time to diagnose the problem and find the solution that suits your personality. The bottom line is that all of us have free time hidden in our day that could become part of our productivity program. Right now it's being frittered away. If there's one consolation, it happens to all of us. But not everyone wakes up and makes the change. Congratulations: you just took the first step.
Do you "have it together?" - The Importance of organization during tough times.
Management Craft
January 20, 2009
Here is a guest post from Regina Leeds, author of One Year to an Organized Life: From Your Desk to Your Deadlines, the Week-by-Week Guide to Eliminating Office Stress for Good. I think her point that being organized is even more important now is very true. For both our mental confidence and our practical productivity. If getting and staying organized is a challenge for you, check out her work and book.
It's always important to have an organized work space. But now with downsizing and job loss spreading throughout the work sector like a fever, being organized is a great insurance policy. You can use your organizing skills to demonstrate to your employer how invaluable you are to the day to day operation of the business. And, if you are the owner of the establishment, you can just as easily show your employees by example the kind of office space and productivity you hope to find throughout the organization. Are you looking for a job? Being organized will not only help you organize your job search, it will be a skill you can present to your employer. You see? There isn't a single down side to being organized!
If the world of organization has been an area of challenge for you, consider this: getting organized is just a skill. If you wanted to play a musical instrument like the piano, master a sport like tennis or learn how to dance, what would you do? You'd read some good books, find a qualified teacher, practice and hope to reach your individual potential. Getting organized requires the same steps. It isn't solely for those who seem to have been born with a natural proclivity for order. Learning a new skill is one of the best ways to keep our brains active and stay youthful. There's no time like the present to begin the journey. And "One Year to an Organized Work Life" is the ideal companion.
Regina Leeds, author One Year to an Organized Life
'The Zen Organizer'
Organized Living: "One Year to an Organized Work Life"
Posted by Lylah on 20th March 2009
This book should be required reading for anyone who works in an office, whether that office is across town or across the kitchen. In her new book, One Year to an Organized Work Life, Regina Leeds, a professional organizer and the founder of Get Organized! by Regina, offers up a practical, step-by-step system to help you streamline your workspace and free up your time. Weekly and monthly guides help you set realistic and achievable goals and, using her unique "Zen organizing" approach, Leeds keeps the tasks from becoming overwhelming.
10 Best Productivity Books of 2009
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6. One Year to an Organized Work Life by Regina Leeds
I interviewed Leeds back in 2008 for Lifehack Live about her then-current book, One Year to an Organized Life. This year, she returned with a follow-up, applying the same principles of self-discovery and limited, focused organizing projects to the office. Divided into 12 sections, one per month, this book walks readers though a series of easy-on-their-own steps that, taken together, create a system for workplace organization and a mindset to match it. Plus, there are rubber ducks on the cover, which are awesome. Thursday Bram wrote a review of Organized Work Life when it came out in January.
Blogs
www.studentmentor.org/blog/2011/03/work-life-balance
2010 Blogs
http://www.workitmom.com/bloggers/affordableluxuries/?p=466
http://www.curvemag.com/?q=http://www.evilaliv3.org