Been to the post office lately?

I have.  Yesterday, in fact.  I had 3 packages to ship out-of-state, and I decided to do it the old-fashioned way: at the post office.

Thinking I was sly, I selected a small neighborhood retail station that I figured would be quick.  (Or as quick as you can expect on December 14th!)  I knew not to arrive at opening – there would be a mob of folks hitting the station before work.  And I knew not to go around lunchtime, either.  Target: 10:15AM. 

When I arrived, there were only 15 people in line ahead of me.  Not too bad, right?  The way the line curved, it was difficult to see to the counter area, but I could hear a well-natured, high-energy postal employee chatting it up.  So I figured I was in the right place. 

Fifteen minutes later, I had moved about two feet in line.  But it was far enough to see the counter area.  And Mr. High-Energy.  Despite the three cashier stations at the counter, his was the only one open!

I was frustrated.  That little voice in my head chastisted me (don’t act like you don’t have one, too):

“Great idea, coming here! What were you thinking! Why did you choose this post office?  Why didn’t you get those packages ready last week?! What made you think mid-morning would be the best arrival time? Why don’t you go to another station? Why not spend the extra money and go to the UPS Store?”

As much as I don’t like to hear that little voice sometimes, at least it’s in my head.  No one else can hear it. 

Unfortunately, the other folks in line with me - who I had already determined were retirees, based on earlier conversation - shared their thoughts out loud. 

“This is ridiculous! One window open at Christmas? They should staff better.”

“I can’t believe this.  How long is this going to take!  They make budget cuts and we have to pay for it.”

 ”They need to open more windows.  Don’t they have more workers back there?”

 Although I had been willing to deal with a long wait, I wasn’t sure I was willing to deal with a long wait while listening to these people. An internal battle over whether or not to bail ensued.  I gritted my teeth & stayed.

In between joking with customers, singing along to piped-in music, and doing the jobs of three people, Mr. High-Energy explained to someone that his other two team members had called in sick for the day. Someone in line commented about how cheery he was, considering the situation.

“Well,” he said. “I can make it a terrible day, or I can make it a great day. Not much sense in the first choice.”

Turns out I was right after all:  I was in the right place.  With that reminder from Mr. High-Energy, I switched from gritting my teeth to focusing on my to-do list for the day.  And there was no more grumbling from the other folks in line, either.

I’ve been working with a wonderful lady who first called me saying that she was just plain overwhelmed.

Through my careful questioning to determine what was causing her overwhelm, she explained that there is a lot she needs to take care of before heading into surgery, and she just couldn’t bring herself to do it.

She did not say she was disorganized. She did not say she had more to do than she had time to do it.

She did not even say that she considers herself a procrastinator, which is often a label that my clients use for themselves.  

In fact, she is retired and is not under any pressure to bring home the bacon each month. She simply said she had a lot to do and didn’t want to do it.

I was concerned that I was not the person to help her.

My initial thought was that she was seeking a “body double.”  You know, someone to hang out with her while she worked through her tasks.  Which is not what I do.

She was referred to me by another client of mine, and claimed to fully understand what I do: create systems of organization, efficiency & effectiveness in office environments.

And she was certain that I was just the person to help her.

Based on her confidence, I agreed to see her. And heading to that first meeting, I was slightly nervous. Was I really about to charge my consulting fee just to handhold and babysit??  I hoped not.

Oh, but how things have a marvelous way of working out!  Once we spent a little time together and I discovered what was going on with her, it was obvious we actually were a perfect fit.

After a few hours of extracting information out of this kind woman, she had FOUR full pages of tasks and projects listed down on paper. And many of them were not simple little just-make-one-phone-call-and-you’re-done kind of stuff.

All that overwhelm had been swimming around in her brain!  She was fearful of what she might forget, and of some of what she remembered! Ick.

As a result, she had been completely, 100% stuck.

I’d compare it to looking over Santa’s list and saying, “All right, you have 2 weeks to get each kid everything they want, and most of the toys will not be found with a quick trip to Toys R Us. Good luck!”

Do you ever feel like that? Like there’s just SO much to do, you literally don’t know where to start, and don’t have any clarity to help move you forward on any one thing, because it’s just all so overwhelming?

Of course, the easiest thing to do at that point is to go watch Dancing With The Stars. Or reruns of Friends.  But that doesn’t get you any closer to a solution. It just makes that icky feeling in your belly grow even stronger. Ugh.

Instead, we did this (see list below).  And while everyone’s situation is different, this is basically what I would recommend when you get stuck:

 1. Perform a HUGE brain dump – in this case we unloaded every last little thought from her mind. If you’ve never done this, give it a try- it’s incredibly freeing!  

2. And just when she thought she got it all out, I would ask, “What else?” And sure enough, she’d sit there a moment reflecting, and remember yet another thing she needs to take care of.

3. Then we organized the big list into a few categories that made sense with her various tasks, including phone calls, legal issues and personal tasks.

4. Determined everything that could be delegated, delayed or deleted from the big, long list.

5. Assigned realistic, bite-sized pieces to be accomplished each day so she could begin chopping away at the list and build some momentum.

6. Set up an encouraging and helpful accountability partner, to ensure she continued moving forward each day. 

Though it sounds simple looking at that list, when you’re the one in the midst of overwhelm, it really can create paralysis. It happens to all of us sometimes - even me!

But if you take action on just the first step, you’ll get a little relief.  And then follow up with selecting just one thing you can do. Then pick just one more thing you can do, then one more thing, and so on… I’ve seen this approach work well in so many different situations.   Once they gain a little momentum, my clients often wonder what had them paralyzed in the first place!

I would love to hear how you’ve moved through a state of overwhelm, and how it turned out!

Seems that I missed the crazy deals on “Cyber Monday” earlier this week.  But that hasn’t stopped me from fitting in a little online Christmas shopping.  That’s how I came across this shirt:

I’ve posted about procrastination previously, so I know that you know that I take it seriously.  But still, I couldn’t help but appreciate the irony!

NOTE: Just in case the FTC is spending its limited resources reading this blog, I’ll mention here that I am not an affiliate for the product mentioned above.  The shirt is silly and so am I.

Sometimes a person’s words seem to conflict with their actions.  In this client’s case, I nearly took it personally!  But then I learned what was really going on, and ended up admiring him instead.

Ever feel like you’re stuck in a box?

Not a real box, of course.  That’d be dark.  And kinda lonely.

I’m talking figuratively. About how you think. Specifically, about how you problem solve.

Are you?  Stuck in a box?

I recently made a post about my persistent neighbor who watered the grass outside his condo heavily, for weeks, insisting that the grass was not be getting enough water, otherwise it’d be growing. When another neighbor noticed the excessive watering, she explained that the grass wasn’t in need of water, but of sunlight. A large tree above was blocking the sun.  Ah! The light bulb!

So, instead of watering, it seemed that some trimming was in order. Problem solved.  Three weeks later, the grass is lush and my neighbor is happy.

This morning, I shared this story with a group of professionals, and then followed with an exercise that perfectly reveals the box that so many of us create, and don’t even realize it.

Are you familiar with the nine dots exercise?

Here are your dots:

 And here are the rules:

1. Connect all nine dots using four lines
2. You may not lift your pen/pencil from the paper
3. You may not retrace a line

That’s it. Those are the rules, and those are the only rules.

Now print this out, and give it a whirl. Be aware of your thoughts and feelings as you work on connecting the nine dots.

Just so you know, this is not “impossible” and don’t accept that you “just can’t get it.”

The truth is, you have the answer, but you are creating something with the nine dots that does not actually exist.

There, that’s your one clue.

Let me know how it goes, and what you realize from this insightful and eye-opening exercise about thinking outside of the box. If you want the answer, just say so in your comments and I’ll send it to you.

But only after I know you gave it your very best attempt!

Very often people say to me, “You’re the organizing professional, what’s the right way to organize my files?”

Here’s the secret:  there is no right way.  But there is a right way for you.

It’s all about what is going to work best for you, based on your needs, your personality, your workflow and your goals.

I’ve spent the past five years consulting with professional offices in a variety of industries, and I’m here to tell you that no two jobs ever look the same. An effective, successful organizing system that will stick has to take your personal preferences & habits into consideration. 

Sure, I often recommend a core set of desktop organizing tools that work well for a variety of clients, but what their labels read, and the boundaries around how to use those files is different for each person.

So this means that if it works for you to always put your unopened mail on the back, right corner of your desk, because you know where it is, yet it’s not taking up your main workspace, that’s fine.

And if you always place your expense receipts upside down in a drawer to your left until it’s time to send in your expense report, that’ll work, too.

If you like to tap your heels together three times before you begin working through your to-do list….well that’s a little weird, but hey, it’s fine too!

As long as you organize in a way that supports you being your most effective self, without added stress or wasted time,  I say it’s a good solution, and likely one that will stick.

The objective of organizing is to ensure that you can kick ass in your line of work and avoid drowning in chaotic paperwork or becoming overloaded by the to-do list you’re tempted to keep in your head. 

So don’t get bogged down by trying to do it the “right way”.  Instead, consider what’s right for you!

I meet a lot of people.  Between all the networking events, volunteer activities and my growing social life, it seems like a constant flow of new faces. I love it!

As a result, I’m often answering the “what-do-you-do?” question.  And as I explain that I help people get organized, many people immediately announce “Oooo, I so need you!”

Which I’ve always taken as polite conversation. I’ve never actually considered that they could be expressing interest in my services.  And while I’m proud of my effective follow up with prospects and clients,  I’ve never followed up with one of these folks.

Until now.

See, I was totally impressed by someone recently.

A wonderful lady representing wickless candles hosted a table next to mine at a trade show. (Yes, wickless candles are a cool product, but that’s not what impressed me!)

After introducing myself and asking her a few generic questions about her business, I was very interested in this new ( to me!) concept. To keep the conversation flowing, I commented that the candles would make great gifts for two newly-pregnant friends.  It was a quick thought that popped out of my head as I learned about her business.  I wasn’t actually prepared to order candles at that moment.  And I immediately realized: that’s just like what people say to me! 

I returned to my office after the trade show and within twenty minutes I received an email from the friendly little lady saying she’d be glad to drop off some samples for me to choose the perfect scent for my newly pregnant friends.

Ah!  Effective follow up wins again. I made my purchase – my friends will love these unique candles – and I admired her for the follow up, and for pushing past the idea that I might have just been making conversation.

As a result, I realized that my presumption someone is “just being nice” could be costing me business opportunities.  There is likely a kernel of truth in the “I need you!” statement people make upon meeting me, and some kind, supportive follow up could lead to benefits for us both.

Last Friday I left a message – during regular business hours – with a local house cleaning service.  My message stated that I was interested in contracting their services, and to please call me back with general pricing information.

I heard back from them on Tuesday.

Of course, by that time I had already spoken with a few of their competitors.  And while I hadn’t yet selected a company, I knew I wouldn’t be choosing them.  Why not, you ask?

If it takes three business days to return a call to a prospect (which equals additional income during a down economy…), how long must an existing client wait for a return phone call?  I certainly don’t want to find out.

As a business owner, I can’t help but wonder what these guys might be wasting in marketing dollars, only to have potential new clients turned off by a slow-response staff member?

I realize I’m making a presumption that any service business should be thrilled with new clients right now.  Perhaps their business is booming and returning client calls is taking priority over getting back with price-shoppers like me. 

But I suspect something else happened.

Calling me back just fell through the cracks.

This is where I have to say that being organized is absolutely vital to our bottom line.  And while it’s not always easy to see how directly it impacts our bottom line, the truth is, it does.

What if this company had a more efficient system in place? Perhaps an end-of-the-day routine, where before they leave the office, they review all messages, and return phone calls to customers, right then. Sure, things come up, employees don’t show, technical difficulties arise, but what about Monday? What if they had a start-of-the-day routine, where before they check email, or do anything else, they review their messages, and are sure to call back any customers or prospects who happened to call just after closing time on the prior business day?

Are there areas in your business, where you could use some “cement”? – You know, a little routine or practice that prevents things from slipping through the cracks? Even if you’re 92% organized, efficient and on top of it all, what about that remaining 8%? What could that small percent be costing you? Is it worth it to examine what areas you could use to cover the cracks? Potential customer follow-up, perhaps?

Or perhaps you’ve already implemented something along these lines – with great success?  Do tell!

I was recently out of town for a few days for my sister’s wedding. As any responsible business owner would do, I checked email occasionally – using my Blackberry.

But here’s the thing: I purposely do not have my email dumping into my phone automatically (And this is something I strongly recommend to many of my Crackberry-using clients). So my email does not chase me when I’m away from my office – I have to purposefully seek it. And I usually only do that when I’m expecting something important.

To see email using my Blackberry, I log onto the GoDaddy server that hosts my email – this is where my email lives before it dumps into Outlook. (And in Outlook I’ve turned off the auto-send/receive function, so I have to tell it when I want to see email. Until then, it stays in GoDaddy-land, accessible via the web).

Make sense? Have I lost you yet?

So when checking my unfiltered email online during that trip, I was thrilled to discover that due to the effective “rules” and junk-mail filters I have set up in Outlook, that I usually only see 40% of the email being sent to me. Yes, this is a good thing! 

When checking my unfiltered email online, I was overwhelmed at the amount of junk, and other interesting but not- vital email that I receive. If that was everything I would have to filter daily, I’d be spending twice the amount of time and energy on email. No thank you!

What rules or filters have you set up for your email?

In Outlook, you’re just a right click away from setting up a rule on any email that comes in your box. Tired of all that junk mail? Don’t just send the email to junk, but take a second, right click and make them permanently go to your junk mail. The good news is, you can quickly scan your junk folder any time and make sure you’re not missing anything vital.

Trust me, you won’t be.

Play along with me:  Quick!  You have to hop a plane to Europe tonight….do you know where your passport is?  Are you sure?  Listen to this story about my poor friend – I felt terrible for him!