Heather Diodati () -

12 Easy Ways to Organize your Work or Home Life (or both!)

By: Heather Diodati, DDesign

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I admit it! Sometimes I'm overwhelmed by the seemingly endless

streams of paperwork. Emails I want to keep, Ezines or sections

of them, ideas I found on the Internet, school papers, notes of

ideas that popped into my head as I was waiting to have a tooth

filled, newspaper clippings ... EEEK! I would file and file and

file and then forgot where that article was that I needed to

complete the project that was due last Thursday!

I have been an avid list-maker all my life out of necessity,

juggling a 9 to 5 work life, family time, a home business and

taking care of two houses; as well as having a number of hobbies

such as cartooning and fine art, clothing design and creation,

crafts and ballroom dancing (at one point in my life even being a

competitive ballroom dancer for 5 years as well as an assistant

disk jockey for parties). (no stress!)

For all of you super-busy people I have put together some handy

hints on getting your life in order and keeping your sanity.

1) Notables: Keep a small notebook and pen handy, wherever you

are, to jot down ideas or appointments or things to do instead of

trying to remember them later on.

2) Telephonery: Set a time limit to each phone call and make

sure you tell your caller. That way you save yourself the stress

of trying to end the phone call and it also helps the caller to

condense the information they want you to hear.

3) In Waiting Use waiting time at the dentist, meeting with

your boss or while waiting on your roast to cook to catch up on

reading or planning, or use the time to tidy up, filing or other

tasks.

4) Help Wanted: Be sure to offer praise to a subordinate, co-

worker or to a member of the family for any effort you've noticed

- they'll be happy to help you when you're bogged down.

5) Don't Put It Off! If you procrastinate you'll only get

stressed out when you think about that hateful "to do" item on

your list. You'll blow it out of proportion in your mind and

it'll become almost impossible to accomplish. Make sure you

tackle the largest or most disliked job first, dividing it up

into manageable tasks, then the other jobs will be a breeze!

6) Control Bug Delegate the tasks you have no time for or team

up with someone who can help you. (see tip #4!)

7) Group Effort Save time and footwork by collecting everything

to bring with you to complete errands or to distribute in each

room of the house instead of making too many trips. Make a fast

list while planning out your route and be sure to plan each stop

along the way so you don't have to backtrack and lose time.

8) Schedule Fun Time! Make sure you include some personal time

for YOU. Allot some time in your agenda - make an appointment

for yourself and keep it, even if it's only a leisurly 20 minute

bubble bath or a 15 minute walk in the fresh spring air!

9) Space Freebies Go through any old unneeded files to free up

space in your filing system.

10) Once and Only Once Each piece of paper should be handled

only once. Read it and either file it, redirect it to someone

else, schedule it or toss it. Don't add it to an ever-ending

pile on your desk in hopes that you'll get to it eventually.

11) Post-Master Use sticky notes to write errands needed to be

done. Stick them to your front door to remind you as you're

headed out.

12) Systems Engineer Too much time is wasted everyday on

searching for things. Find a system that works for you and your

lifestyle and apply it. Use it religiously and you'll find new

time slots you thought you never had!

Get the new Memory Jogger System and forms for free! Subscribe

to our new free Ezine and we'll email you our new Memory Jogger

System complete with a kit of printable forms for you to use -

all for free! Time to organize your life! Please sign up for

your free newsletter and the Memory Jogger kit on our site:

http://www.whimsies-online.com

© 2003 DDesign

Reprints of this article are free of charge as long as you

include the author portion of the text.

About the Author

Heather Diodati, owner of DDesign, is the creator/distributor of

the Pet Computer Virus, a novelty designed for the computer user;

as well as other unique computer novelties; and Whimsies!

Personalized Cartoon Designs for all occasions. Sign up for our

free ezine, On A Whim, for your free Memory Jogger System; and if

you looooove ballroom dancing be sure to subscribe to Dancing On

Air ezine, for your free gift, The Dancer's Notebook!

http://www.whimsies-online.com

• http://www.whimsies-online.com

Comment #1 John from Johnstown -

I have a problem with emails myself. I have so many emails in my in box and go back and forth about saving it or deleting it. Most of the time I save it and think that I'll get to it later. Now I've made a folder specifically for those emails that way I can see them right away and not have to scroll through all of the other ones.

Comment #2 Debra from The Desk -

I organize my email adding folder after folder so I can keep everything out of my inbox. That is a great organization technique. I never used to use this option, but I just started to a couple of months ago and now checking email isn't nearly as frustrating or time consuming.

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