Organization Can Relieve Stress

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  A main pipe in your home has burst and your in-laws are coming tomorrow… You forgot to send important documents to France before the deadline… Your teenager just backed into a pole…  Stressed out yet?  Any one of these occurrences could very well send anyone over the edge.  People are extremely busy these days and often working faster than they can think, all while managing a family or home life. There is a way to relieve the stress.  If your life is organized in such a way to allow for unexpected events, you will more likely be able to get through it with little or no stress.

Start with Your Email

  Most commonly, it is easier to achieve a goal if it is done in parts.  When I say organize your life to relieve stress, I mean every part of your life.  Start small!  Clean out that email inbox!  Go through old emails and either act on them or get rid of them.  If there are a few that you cannot act on right away, create a “To Do” folder in your email client and store them there.  You can also create “rules” and have certain emails go to folders rather than your inbox.  After you have successfully cleaned your inbox, there are a couple of ways to keep it that way.  First, if you receive a lot of email, designate about 30 minutes in the morning and before you leave for the day to read emails.  Act on them if necessary, and/or delete them.  If you don’t receive a lot of email, you could read them as they come in, act on them, and delete them.  This will keep your inbox free of clutter and you less stressed because you won’t have that dreaded triple or quadruple digit number of emails to read through!

 Move On To Your Desk

  Now that you have your email under control, it’s time to attack that clutter on your desk or in your workspace.  First of all, make sure you have an “inbox.”  This will keep you on task and keep your work in a convenient place.  Next, get rid of all those small papers and sticky notes by dealing with the information on them right away.  If it is a phone number, get it into your address book immediately.  If it is an item that needs to be on your “to do” list, get it on there as soon as possible.  Also, don’t allow files to remain on your desk after you have used them.  Put them away when you are done with them.  Lastly, the main idea on getting your desk in order is to simply put things where they belong.  If everything is in its place, you will instantly have more space and even more importantly, peace of mind because you will know where everything is.

Can You See the Floor in Your Car?

  Some of you are cringing right now.  The last time you cleaned the inside of your vehicle, Scott Baio was starring on “Charles in Charge!”  Ok, maybe not that long ago, but quite some time has passed since it’s been tidy.  The first thing that you want to do is get a trash bag!  Throw away every bit of garbage and recycle or shred unnecessary papers.  Then, put all pertinent documents such as your registration and insurance card in a safe, easily accessible place.  If you get pulled over or need to show your registration and/or insurance card, you will know where to find them and not stress out looking for them.

Home Sweet Home

  It is no secret that most clutter is found in your home.  Though most don’t want to admit it, that clutter’s main purpose is to collect dust.  Going room by room, eliminate clutter by getting unnecessary items out.  Store items that you still need in a storage space in your home or a storage facility in your neighborhood.  Have a garage sale for other items.  Along with clutter removal, make sure that you put items away after using them.  This way you are not stressing trying to find that porcelain salad bowl for dinner.  Each night before you turn in, make sure that your home is tidy for the next day.  You will find that you won’t be stressed about a messy living space.

Clear Your Head

    Now that you have cleaned the spaces around you, it’s time to get your head in order.  There is nothing more stressful than trying to remember that important thing you were supposed to do today.  You retrace your steps, look on your calendar, but nothing comes to mind.  Two days later, you remember and it is too late.  This can be relieved in a few simple steps.  First of all, make a daily schedule for yourself.  Begin with what you do in the morning and end with the last task before bed.  Leave nothing out!  Make sure to write down the times you do each task as well.  You will refer to this list each day for about a week until it becomes second nature to you.  Next, make sure you have a calendar or use the one on your cellular or palm pilot.  Enter every important date into this and set a reminder.  You can also have your assistant do this or hire a Virtual Assistant and request this service.  Also, you will want to create a “to do” list every single day.  It should include all tasks that need to be done.  Do not stress if all your tasks are not completed by the end of the day.  Simply place the uncompleted item at the top of your “to do” list the next day.  Lastly, make sure you stay on schedule, but leave room for unexpected events.  You must be comfortable diverting from your schedule if need be.  Simply continue on schedule after you have dealt with the unexpected event. 

  Living a stress free life is this simple.  First, clear the areas that you dwell in most, then clear your head.  If your mind is free of stress then you are able to deal with unexpected events throughout the day with ease.  Having your dwelling places free of clutter will make it easier to find items you need, in turn reducing stress in finding them.  So, implement these suggestions and start living life again – with less stress.

Eshe R. Collins

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE, BLOG, OR WEBSITE?  You can, as long as you add the following passage at the end:

  Eshe R. Collins is the owner of Platinum Assistants, a virtual assistance firm that specializes in helping others, especially administrators of assisted living facilities, with their administrative needs.  For more information, go to: www.platinumassistants.com.

Moving On…

  Are you in the middle of a major change in your life?  Sometimes when change is just around the corner, we’re not too sure how to handle it or even execute it.  This article, “How To Know When To Go,” by Christina Merkley can help your transition run smoothly. 

HOW TO KNOW WHEN TO GO

By Christina Merkley

  Been working in a certain area for a long time?  Ready to move into newer territory?  I hear ya!  But how do you know when it’s truly time to go?  Listening to these signals can make your SHIFT easier and smoother … and enable you to make your transition in style. 

Pay Attention to Your Discomfort:
Chances are you have wanted to make a SHIFT for a while and have been sweeping your uncomfortable feelings under the rug – hoping they might go away or you’ll somehow be saved from having to actually do something.  While this can certainly work for the short-term, it’ll backfire on you eventually. 

Your discomfort is there for a reason … it’s telling you that you are ready for your next level of development and evolution.  If you don’t listen to it, it’ll up the ante and turn up the volume – with results like frustrated outbursts, negative incidences or even health concerns.  Do yourself a favor — acknowledge how you really feel about your situation (be it personal or professional) and realize that your feelings are your friend not your enemy. 

Use the Negative to Get Clear About What You Really Want:
Negative situations are blessings in disguise. They are the universe’s method of getting us to bust through to our next level.  If we use them properly, they can clearly and concisely point us towards what we do want.  Don’t stop short when you have outgrown your current existence.  Use your discomfort as a springboard. 

For example, a few years back when I was increasingly feeling discomfort at facilitating corporate and not-for-profit strategic planning retreats I used my pain to help me get clear about what I did want.  If I didn’t want long hours, lots of travel, sort of toxic groups, and negativity —- what did it tell me about what I did want?  I FLIPPED IT … it told me that I wanted humane and flexible hours, clients traveling to me (or working virtually), healthy and functioning individuals, couples or business partners and lots of positive emotions and joy.   

Focus on What You Do Want:
You’ll never get anywhere focused on what doesn’t feel good and what you don’t want.  You have to use the initial negativity to help you get clear … then do your very best to hardly focus on the negative past or uncomfortable present again.  Once you’ve got your new sights set, you need to put your attention there – constantly, repeatedly, almost obsessively (but not so obsessively that you start feeling bad). 

Do visions boards, collages, virtual reality and scripting exercises … anything that gets you off of what is, onto what you want to be. Hang around with people who already there (even if the only access you have to them is reading about them!).  You’ve got to FEEL your new reality.  Grock in it.  Marinate.  Ooze it.  The more you do this then the more you will start identifying yourself with the new you as opposed to the old you. And the more things will subtly (and sometimes shockingly) shift in your outer world to reflect your new vibe. 

Yes, You Are Going to Have to Take Action (and probably a lot!):
I’ve manifested that vision that was born out of my frustrating corporate work from a few years back.  It is now my reality.  I have humane and flexible hours (most of the time … the problem now is I’ve become a little too wanted one-to-one), clients travel to me and I work virtually as well, and my clientele are individuals now not unhappy groups.  And my work is all about the positive and increasing joy and happiness.  It’s a dream come true. 

But I didn’t just dream it.  I took actions.  Lots and lots of little and consistent actions that added up.  When I lined up with my vision … ideas and inspirations came to me. And I acted on them (even when I was scared and unsure … and that was a lot!).  I found people to help me.  I invested in needed training and coaching.  I took risks.  I went for it.  I believed in myself (and loved myself!) deep, deep down (the only place where it really counts). 

It’s An Ongoing Process of Discomfort, Alignment and Discomfort Again:
I now feel new rumblings of discomfort and that is ok. I’ve realized that that is just the way life works.  We get disgruntled, we use that to figure out what we do want, we align with what we want and we take inspired action.  It eventually manifests (in some form or other), then the process starts over again — maybe not as cleanly as all that, but more or less.  Being ok with life being an ongoing evolutionary process really softens things.  And the softer you can be about things, the easier they get!

© 2008 Christina L. Merkley

Christina Merkley, “The SHIFT-IT Coach” and creator of the SHIFT-IT Method® is a Visioning and Strategic Planning Expert specializing in Graphic Facilitation and Law of Attraction techniques. Based in charming Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, she works deeply with individuals, partners and groups in defining and getting what they really, really want. For more information visit: www.shift-it-coach.com.