“I can do this myself. Why should I pay someone else to do what I am capable of doing?”

You may be capable of doing that task, but are you getting it done? It’s very common for people to avoid tasks they’re capable of doing because:

* they hate doing it;
* they have little or no confidence in their ability to do it well;
* they really don’t know how to do it, but think they should;
* they have problems getting started on tasks that really aren’t a good fit for their abilities.

I am a competent writer. I thought I should be able to whip out a press release to announce my new business, Simply Organized, back in 1998. After avoiding the task for several months, I finally hired Linda Barrett of All the Buzz, a marketing consultant, to draft the press release. Not only did the press release get done, but Linda urged me to write my first booklet, “Simply Organized: The Art of Conquering Clutter,” to offer as a free gift to anyone who contacted me to inquire about my business. That booklet was my first product and has been a money-making product for me ever since. I paid the consultant for the press release, but I got so much more.

When I took that important first step to get help I learned several important things:

* I can save a lot of time and make more money if I work in my area of strength and pay others to do tasks that are not in my area of strength;

* I can get important tasks done that move my business forward faster when I outsource tasks that I cannot do, cannot do well, or have no desire doing at all;

* I usually end up with a result that is exponentially better than I could ever do myself; and

* in the process of getting help I develop relationships with some incredible people.

I also firmly believe we are all connected and have the opportunity to work together for a greater good. Why pass that up?

Get the help you need so you can make a bigger difference!

Collaboration rules!

© 2012 Clutter Clearing Community | Debbie Bowie

“Author, Organizing Expert and Feng Shui Practitioner, Debbie Bowie, is a leading authority on clutter clearing to attract more of what you want in life. If you’re ready to clear clutter and move your life forward, get your FREE TIP SHEET, “Feng Shui Tips for Instant Success” at http://www.clutterclearingcommunity.com.

Have you had good intentions to process paper daily, as I recommended in an earlier news tip, but have not been able to make yourself do it? If that is the case, perhaps your old paper habits are still in place, running the show and resulting in a paper nightmare.

Just deciding to do things differently often doesn’t change behavior. Habits you aren’t even conscious of having keep old behaviors in place.

To change a habit you must:

* be conscious of what you are doing that’s causing you problems;
* decide what specific actions you will take to achieve better results;
* make a commitment to the new behavior; and
* do the new behavior for at least 21 days in a row.

Here is a hypothetical example of what you might do to change dysfunctional paper habits to more functional habits.

* When you watch what you would normally do with paper, you identify that
you dump paper on your desk every day without a second glance, creating
an overwhelming pile by the week’s end.
* You decide that instead of just dumping paper on your desk, you will spend
at least 5 minutes each day as soon as you get home sorting mail and other
papers into categories of trash/recycle, action, filing, and other, Monday
through Saturday. Sorting alone will keep paper under more control.
* You commit to spending at least 5 minutes at the end of each day sorting
paper and plan to document your progress by checking off each day on the
calendar.
* You spend 5 minutes each day for 21 days sorting paper.

Of course there is more to paper management than just sorting it, but if you focus on just one habit at a time, you’re more likely to be successful. Give it a try! Do 5 minutes of paper processing Monday through Saturday for 21 days. You’ll be amazed at the results!

Use the front door of your house EVERY DAY! The front door of your home is the main mouth of chi (energy) for your home. To keep your life moving and to keep opportunities coming your way, you need fresh energy coming through the front door of your house.

Why am I writing about the front door today? I just got back from a walk with my dogs. Once again I passed a perfectly nice house that looks dead in the front. The large front porch is empty. There is no decoration of any type on the porch or the door. Cars are parked on the side of the house, and it’s clear that EVERYONE enters through the side door. The front of the house looks bereft!

It’s quite common for people to enter their houses by the door closest to where they park their cars. They enter by a back door or the garage. Not only do they enter into parts of the house that usually have the lowest, most problematic energy (garages and utility rooms), but consequently, the front door gets neglected.

Think of entering the front door as facing your life head on. Even if you use another entrance much of the time, make it a point to enter through the front door at least once a week. And, ask guests to use the front door instead of entering through a back or side entrance. Guests can help activate the energy at the front of your house. When you need to work in the front yard or get the mail, use the front door.

Treat the front door as the important source of energy that it is! Then watch for new life in your life!

Those of you who follow my blog and get my news tips regularly have probably noticed that the last two blog entries are copies of recent news tips. I am in the process of putting all my news tips onto my blog so they can be archived there and accessed at any time. Please forgive the duplication! Perhaps seeing the same information a second time will inspire you to take action in some way!

Have a great week!

Have you ever worked your butt off to organize a space and then turned around and it’s a mess again? Why is that? Was your organizing faulty? Probably not. A major factor leading to the meltdown of organization is a failure to be relentless about putting things away ALL THE TIME.

This sounds so simple. Why is it so hard for so many people? When you take an item from its home, the place where it belongs, make sure to return it to its home when you’re done with it. That habit alone separates the person who can stay organized from those who can’t.

If you don’t have this habit, or if you’re inconsistent with this habit, the first step is to get conscious of when you’re just dropping things where they don’t belong. Watch yourself and notice when you don’t put things away. What are the circumstances? Usually people think they don’t have time to do it. If you have created convenient homes for everything, putting things away takes only seconds. Just do it.

If you haven’t created homes for everything and can’t seem to create that initial order yourself, get help from a respectful friend or professional organizer to set up your space with convenient homes for everything. Then commit to putting things away every day for 30 days. At the end of that time you’ll have developed an invaluable habit and you’ll have a space that is still organized!

© 2012 Clutter Clearing Community | Debbie Bowie

“Author, Organizing Expert and Feng Shui Practitioner Debbie Bowie, is a leading authority on clutter clearing to attract more of what you want in your life. If you’re ready to finally clear the clutter from your life and move your life forward, get your FREE TIP SHEET, “Feng Shui Tips for Instant Success” at http://www.clutterclearingcommunity.com.

I know, most of you are cringing at the mention of Christmas. And, some of you are thinking, “Why would anyone be making plans for Christmas in September, other than planning where you’ll be this Christmas?”

It’s never too early to knock a few items off your Christmas to do list. Christmas happens in layers of things to do. The first layer of Christmas cards, for example, is gathering the ingredients: getting the cards; composing the Christmas letter; finding a photo to send; and buying stamps. The second layer is assembling all the pieces and writing notes.

Making a list of gift ideas is the first layer of Christmas gifts. The second layer is buying, ordering, or making the gifts. The third layer is wrapping the gifts.

Is it any wonder many of us feel overwhelmed when we look to the upcoming Christmas season? But, what if you began whittling away at pieces of those layers prior to the big November/December rush? Here are some tasks you can do now that will ease you into the holidays without the angst:

• Make your gift list and carry it with you so you can pick up items whenever you’re shopping. Shopping early means you can avoid the insanity of the crowds and parking during the peak season. (Just yesterday I picked up a gift for my brother-in-law. I can check him off my list!)
• Order holiday cards.
• Identify your Christmas photo and have it duplicated.
• Make notes of items to put in your Christmas letter.
• Plan where you’ll spend Christmas and make travel reservations.
• Begin Christmas craft projects. (I’ve begun photo scanning for photo calendars and scrapbooks.)
• Bake and freeze cookies, breads and casseroles if you have freezer space.

I’m sure there are many more little tasks you could be doing right now. My list is just a starting point.

Do you feel resistant to doing Christmas tasks so early? Perhaps you think you need to be in the holiday spirit, something that’s difficult to feel when it’s not yet fully fall. Just remember how you usually feel when you wait and have more to do than is humanly possible in December. Doing even one task now will lighten your load and get you moving into the holidays with a different energy and attitude. The more you do ahead, the more time and energy you’ll have to enjoy the activities of the season.

Are you able to make yourself do things you’d rather put off doing? If you can, you have discipline. It’s easy to procrastinate. It’s harder to bite the bullet and do the things you’d rather avoid.

Just this morning I would have loved to read a book or spend time gardening or scanning photos for a creative project, but instead I went to work on a slide show for an upcoming speech I’ll be giving to teachers. How did I do that? Here’s what works for me:

• I committed to my mastermind group to get the slide show done by this coming Tuesday.
• I took yesterday off to do just what I wanted to do so I’d be rested and ready to work today.
• Yesterday I mentally reviewed my priorities for today, putting the slide show at the top of the list.
• Today I treated myself to an episode of All Creatures Great and Small, a favorite series of mine, with breakfast to meet my need for fun. I would not have done that if I was the kind of person who has difficulty disengaging from the TV.
• I ignored other tasks on my desk and my email and went straight to work on my slide show.

As you can see, getting myself to do the most difficult task on my to-do list was not accomplished by one simple step. I really had to set myself up mentally and emotionally, and I had to deliberately ignore tempting distractions. Today I succeeded! I too succumb to email and the lure of other less important things. But, today I succeeded! I think what nudged me into compliance was the commitment I made to my mastermind group.

What do you really need to get done? I hope I’ve given you some ideas about how you too can set yourself up for success!

© 2012 Clutter Clearing Community | Debbie Bowie

“Author, Organizing Expert and Feng Shui Practitioner Debbie Bowie, is a leading authority on clutter clearing to attract more of what you want in your life. If you’re ready to finally clear the clutter from your life and move your life forward, get your FREE TIP SHEET, “Feng Shui Tips for Instant Success” at http://www.clutterclearingcommunity.com.

This week I noticed that the fonts on my blog were messed up. Initially I tried to figure out how to change them. Yes, my knee jerk response was to do it by myself. After a frustrating few minutes of searching for how to make the changes I wanted, it dawned on me that I did have a great resource who could help me. I shot an email to Bryan Dunn of WebbDunnRight at webdunnright@gmail.com, asking him to check it out. Not only did he fix the problem, he found the origin of the problem and added a few spam filters to keep me from getting an inbox full of comment spam. Asking for help really does pay off! I got what I needed and more!

I’m working hard at developing the habit of hunting for help as soon as I am clear that I cannot do or do not want to do something by myself Rather than taking hours, days, weeks and even months trying to do tasks myself that I can’t do or making myself do things I hate doing which always results in procrastination, I’m calling for help and getting things done by competent others. It’s amazing how wonderful it feels and how much gets done. No longer do I have procrastination piles impeding my path to success! Try it! You’ll like it! And, by the way, it’s not breaking the bank! If anything, the bank is filling up faster!

© 2012 Clutter Clearing Community | Debbie Bowie

“Author, Organizing Expert and Feng Shui Practitioner Debbie Bowie, is a leading authority on clutter clearing to attract more of what you want in your life. If you’re ready to finally clear the clutter from your life and move your life forward, get your FREE TIP SHEET, “Feng Shui Tips for Instant Success” at http://www.clutterclearingcommunity.com.

As many of you already know, I am recovering from bilateral bunion surgery–both feet, both sides of both feet. When I scheduled the surgery I knew I was signing up for a procedure that at best would be painful, and at worst could be excruciating and debilitating for an undetermined amount of time. I’d had estimates of being off my feet ranging from 2-8 weeks. Since I’m self-employed, being off my feet for even one week costs big bucks! So, physically and financially the whole experience looked pretty overwhelming!

Fortunately, in the last twenty years I’ve learned how essential it is to ask for help and allow it to be given. As a first child, first grandchild and a child of divorce and other types of family dysfunction, it was no easy feat to ask for help. I felt safer and more in control doing everything for myself. My work as a professional organizer, however, has given me ample opportunity to watch the magic that happens in people’s lives when they invite help into their homes. When I decided to have bunion surgery I knew the only way I could do it was with the help of others.

I didn’t know exactly what kind of help I’d need, other than my husband’s help to get me to and from surgery. So, I started there. I told him the surgery day and he made arrangements to take three days off work to be available to help me. I didn’t ask for that much time. He willingly made those arrangements, and guess what! That’s exactly the length of time I needed him!

I made a point of telling all my family, friends, clients, neighbors and networking buddies about the upcoming surgery. I wasn’t sure what I’d need from them, but letting them know about the challenge I’d be facing felt like the right thing to do. Following my surgery many of those people spontaneously reached out to me with food, flowers, phone calls, emails, offers to drive me to doctor’s appointments, cards, visits and gifts. And, each and every offering was EXACTLY what I needed. Two clients even gave me projects I could work on for them at home so I could generate some income while off my feet.

I guess part of the lesson of this experience was that I didn’t need to figure it all out ahead of time. I just needed to let people know that I was having surgery and trust that I’d get what I’d need as I needed it. That’s really how it happened!

And, when I had a specific need, like the need for a Healing Touch session or a meal, I had to be willing to ask for that. I also had to be willing to receive it without guilt or feeling like I was being a burden.

Finally, for years I’ve worked with the belief that what you put out there comes back to you. I’ve worked hard to put out love, caring, respect and kindness to clients, friends, neighbors and family members. First, it is a value of mine to treat people that way and it has felt good to do that. But, I also knew that by doing that I was sewing the seeds of receiving the same back from them. Recovering from bunion surgery gave me the opportunity to receive so much good from people who were happy to give. What a blessing!

© 2012 Clutter Clearing Community | Debbie Bowie

“Author, Organizing Expert and Feng Shui Practitioner Debbie Bowie, is a leading authority on clutter clearing to attract more of what you want in your life. If you’re ready to finally clear the clutter from your life and move your life forward, get your FREE TIP SHEET, “Feng Shui Tips for Instant Success” at http://www.clutterclearingcommunity.com.