For as long as I can remember, I have collected home making tips – written them into notebooks and made clippings files. As a teenager, I would collect ideas for my mother and I still have those old notebooks. My dear Mum recently passed away and in the sorting out of her home, I found some of my old notes.

Even all those decades ago, there was a thread that weaved through my learnings about clutter and how to protect our precious things. I didn’t understand then what is now called feng shui, but the idea of an “uncluttered home equals a home of harmony” seemed to resonate with me. I did, however, have a bit of trouble translating the theory to my office and have always struggled with keeping my office tidy. As a Sourcing Diva, I have projects in the pipeline from beginning to end that I must keep in order and keep tabs on.

I have come to realise just how impactful our environment is on our state of mind and have thought long and hard about how I can set my own office up so that it forces me to store incomplete or future projects in appropriate places so that I am not distracted every day by having them in front of me in a disorganised pile.

Whether you believe in the ancient principles of feng shui or not there are some really cool concepts that work well in a design sense as much as releasing the feng shui chi flow through your office. Here are three principles you can try:

1.       If you cannot separate your office from living space or if you have an open plan office, try and partition your office area with screen, bookcases, plants etc. Water also helps the flow of chi energy, so place a picture of a water scene on a wall or screen or if possible have a small aquarium. I do not have the space so I have a marine screen saver (it even has the sound of water – cool).

2.       One of the most important principles of feng shui is a neat tidy environment – free of clutter! If you accumulate paper at an alarming rate as I do, try getting some coloured envelope folders and label them with broad headings – one for bills to be paid by the end of the month, another for warranties or product info, maybe another for reading later. Just have three or four to start with – you will know the types of documents they are. Make an effort to set up a workable filing system, either electronically or physically (or both) and commit 10 minutes a day to sorting into your folders.

3.       Before entering your office and after leaving it for the day, take a short walk. This removes you from the work space or the home space so that you are clear to focus on what you need to at that given time in the appropriate space. This helps to get you into the creative flow of either your business or personal life.

Limit the damage that perfectionism does to your productivity

While it isn’t a bad thing to strive for excellence, perfectionism can have a damaging effect on our productivity and even health. Perfectionists often set unrealistic goals and hold themselves to unreasonable standards that result in overwork and undue stress.

Check these symptoms and see if you are prone to perfectionism. A “yes” to more than one of these may be an alarm bell.

• Do you feel inadequate when you make a minor mistake, or hesitate to tell others when you have erred?
• Do you ever lose sleep over a mistake or something you said?
• Would your co-workers or family or friends describe you as difficult to please?
• Are you afraid to be spontaneous, preferring to plan everything down to the last detail?

Problem is, if your standards are too high, you’ll stress about having to put in extra effort that no-one else but you really cares about.

Try these cures if you feel you are slipping into the perfectionist mould.

Search for the good. If you look at the finished project and only see the minor mistakes you made (and we all make them from time to time), that saps your energy and enthusiasm. Focus instead on the things you do well. That helps you keep occasional errors in perspective.

Evaluate your goals. Are they reasonable? If you constantly fall short of the mark, talk with your manager or a trusted friend. Be prepared to suggest ways to revise your plans and gain some breathing room and listen to suggestions your manager or friend provide for you.

Recognise how your perfectionism affects others. If you are that hard on yourself, you probably judge others harshly too. Your criticism can lead them to doubt there own abilities.

Allow yourself to do one thing imperfectly today. That doesn’t mean turning into a sloppy worker – just curb unproductive behaviour. For example: Quickly clean your desk rather than agonising over the best way to make it perfect.

Look for imperfect role models. Perfectionism doesn’t equal greatness. Some of the most successful people you know or know of were “failures” by the popular standards of their lives. But they do keep moving forward and get things done, even if some things are imperfect.

Set time limits. Don’t fuss endlessly over a minor report or task. Just tell yourself “I have 30 minutes to finish this and no longer”. Then stick to your deadline.

Change your thinking. Watch for cues that indicate your perfectionism is kicking in, Do you feel afraid that your work isn’t good enough? You may hear yourself thinking “I think I can do better than this.” Are you worried about what others might think? You may think “This won’t be good enough for Madam”.

When you finally identify your beliefs around your perfectionism, you can beat it. You will learn to say every now and then, “This is good enough”. “This will meet the standards of Madam, just as we’ve discussed before”.

Motivate yourself to start a task you’ve been dreading.

For months you’ve been promising to clean out your files or tidy up the garage and the growing piles of stuff are adding to your guilt each day as you trip over things and can never find the piece of paper you need right now. The time has finally come – no more excuses – you’ve made the decision now and you’re going to get this done today, or at least break the back of it.

To get motivated to complete the challenge ahead, here are eight tips that will help you:

1.         Create a ritual. Bring some light to the darkness and think of ways to make this task more pleasant. Your decision to start creates a shift in attitude and the battle is more than half won by this alone. Treat yourself to a special little reward either before or after your daily efforts. Be prepared – have the appropriate clothes on, anything else you need – think of a surgeon’s preparation before he operates – everything he needs is right there at his fingertips.

2.         Pay yourself. If you want to reward yourself before or after your daily efforts, why not set an hourly rate and pay ‘yourself’ for working on this dreaded task. Use the money you earn to pay for your reward – movie, dinner out, coffee, book, massage. Just don’t allow yourself any treats until you have enough task money to pay for it. Even if you pay yourself a mere $5 per hour, this may well build up quickly and is still a lot less than if you out-sourced the task.

Valuing your time is an essential key to deciding what to do yourself and what you could out source.

3.         Create a soundtrack. With current technology, it is simple and quick to create a playlist of great music that will put you in the mood for doing your task. Think about appropriate music – could be upbeat, positive lyrics for mundane jobs that require movement; could be classical baroque for a task that requires concentration for study mode. 

Tell yourself that you will work for a certain number of songs or tracks, put on your earphones, get busy and groove along to the sound as you work.

4.         Set a timer. Set an electronic timer for 15, 30 or 60 minutes. Work on your task until the timer sounds. This will keep you focussed long enough to make an impact. Maybe have a quick 5 minute break if you wish, then back to the task until it is completed.

5.         Give the task a HIGH priority. High priority means you have placed it at the top of your “To Do Today” list and you should not move on to the next task until you have spent your allocated time on this task. Remember a task is not a project. A project should be broken down into smaller tasks and these tasks are usually only 1-2 hours.

6.         Give yourself a day off. To repeat: A project is bigger than a task and should be broken down into smaller tasks (around an hour). This makes the project manageable. Looking at the big project can be overwhelming and this is probably why you have procrastinated in the first place.

Keeping the bigger project in mind though, everybody needs a break every now and then. You should estimate how long you think the project will take and print out or record a couple of “passes” for your schedule. Having these can motivate you to accomplish more on the days you are working on your relevant tasks, but if you do have a slack day, you can use a “pass” and still keep on track.

7.         Form a support group. Is someone else you know in the same boat? Is there someone else who would like to support you? Find a partner and work together if that is possible. Find a team mate who is working on a similarly dreary task and start a friendly competition – winner buys a coffee or lunch at the end.

8.         Stay on course. You will get interruptions, but get back on track as soon as you can. The longer you wait to return to the task, the harder it will be to remember exactly where you were.

You CAN do it! … Well done, now you feel so much better, yes? 

We so often get into a mess when life gets busy. Some things fall by the wayside … other things compound and loom larger and larger the longer we neglect to pay attention to them. Then we reach the point of chaos and we are forced to make decisions to restore balance in our lives.

It has recently become crystal clear to me that unless I learn to manage life issues that seem to persistently appear – certain things will keep on coming up in my life in one form or another until I make a decision to deal with them and change my thoughts towards them.  Decision is the sleeping giant within us all, according to Anthony Robbins, and so I made the decision to sort out some of the things I should be doing and some things I shouldn’t be doing to help me be more effective on certain levels.

I made time to put pen to paper and write out all the things I had to do, all the things I wanted to do and the things I was doing without due diligence. My list included tasks, the people involved, places, resources, skills and anything else that was specific to the issue.  The learning from this lesson was profound as I realised I needed to re-visit some of my goals and make adjustments to get me back on track and being comfortable again.

It really boils down to knowing what you “really” want and then setting goals to be able to achieve your goals. This should be for any and all areas of your life – family, career, hobbies, finances, spiritual.  Your goals should be SMART:

·         Specific

·         Measurable

·         Achievable

·         Responsible

·         Timed

Goals just don’t happen though – writing them out or creating a vision board is a great way to focus on your goals but taking action is actually essential. Think about what needs to be done:

·         Do you need to out-source some tasks (errands, admin, cleaning, bookkeeping)?

·         Do you need to in-source some tasks, learn new skills, update systems?

·         Do you need to set aside time to do certain activities – diarise it and do it?

So let’s make a few changes – NOW!

1.     Write down – right now – four things you really need to do but have been putting off.
Fixing up your financial drawer, cleaning out a cupboard, losing some excess weight, has a silly falling out that has injured a valued friendship?

2.     Then write the answers to these questions beside each one: Why haven’t I yet? What pain have I associated with such action in the past? An honest answer will bring home the fact that the thing holding you back has been that you link more pain or inconvenience with the action than with inaction.

3.     Next, write down all the pleasures you’ve gained by adopting this negative course. The immediate pleasures of indulging in chocolate or one too many wines are obvious. The same goes for avoiding a difficult task or painful conversation. Writing them down focuses your attention on your target. Change comes with new goals – think of ways to get these, or better still, pleasures without the unwanted consequences.

4.     Now write the cost of not changing. Money, ill health, death … perhaps it is a precious relationship that will be lost or damaged forever if you don’t act. Add up the cost over the next year, the next 10, the next 30. Consider the effects on your self-respect and your feelings about your life during all those years to come.

5.     Finally, write down all the possible pleasures which could result from acting on these issues – NOW! Make your list long and lavish. Allow it to get you worked up. Let it change your emotions with anticipation of all those benefits. Remember the benefits for others are at stake here too.

(Adapted from ‘Awaken the Giant Within’ by AnthonyRobbins)

This is such a powerful exercise – pick just one area of your life and see how you will transform and watch your motivation shift to a higher and more positive level. The power of decision is in all of us – we just need to wake it up.

Life was hectic in the weeks before I decided I should honour my commitment to join the next session of my ‘Big Table’ get together in Lake Tahoe so packing was done at the last minute. I was only going to be away for 10 days, so not much to think about – the weather should be fairly similar, hopefully still a bit of snow around. Besides, it was a short trip, so baggage shouldn’t really be a concern. But, despite my promise not to attract another excess baggage charge, my suitcase somehow managed to expand to an excess of 15lbs at San Francisco Airport!  I did manage to convince the check-in officer to ignore it – but I won’t publicly announce how it was done lest the secret becomes a source of stress leave for airport staff.

Everything else went to plan without a hitch though and I am now safely back home, vowing to follow my own travel rules in the future with a further promise of halving my clothing allowance before departure and limiting the shoe purchases next time I am in San Francisco.

Here is my checklist for travel:

1.      Strictly limit the amount of clothing you pack – don’t cater for every season. Only pack clothing that is light weight and crushproof. Try to mix and match items so they can be worn more than once, if necessary. Light weight clothes are easy to wash and dry overnight. If you are not able to wash as you go, pack a plastic bag to put your used clothing in.

2.      If you haven’t been to a place before, get a map so you have a good idea of where you will be staying. The internet is invaluable for finding out about everything before you arrive. Road maps, points of interest, phone numbers, weather information, cultural expectations and so on.

3.      If flying, be on the lookout for the best airfares as far in advance as you can. Be aware of any conditions that apply to your ticket. If you need a passport, allow ample time to get you application in – photograph, valid documents as proof of identity. Know the visa requirements of each country and any security alerts (visit: www.smartraveller.gov.au). Don’t forget your travel insurance (if your airline ticket was paid for on your credit card, travel insurance is often free).

4.      If you need any vaccinations, ensure you do this in plenty of time. And have a dental check-up before you depart.

5.      I always take my MP3 player with me as I prefer to be plugged in to my audio rather than in-flight entertainment.  On long trips I copy learning audios to my MP3 – making the most of time. All my music is on my Ipod and I can also use it to record notes and reminders. Don’t forget to take a good book too.

6.      Leave a copy of your itinerary with a family member or close friend – with contact numbers of hotels and details of flights, arrival times and departures and where you will be. Also copy your passport and travellers cheques and keep them separate to your originals.

7.      Make sure your bills are up to date and other documents (such as insurance policies and your will) are current and accessible to your family.

8.      Be aware of what you are permitted to carry on board an aircraft. No sharp objects, limit of 100ml in any form of makeup, toiletries etc. Last year when I was travelling and had to remove something from my large suitcase excess weight again), I stupidly removed my toiletry bag to my cabin bag and forgot my toothpaste was in the toiletry bag – it was binned by security.

9.      Buy a  phone card – very useful if you are overseas and much cheaper than a mobile or landline. If you take your mobile phone, ensure you have international roaming applied to your phone..

10.  Always allow more time than you think you need to get to the airport – better to check-in early rather than arrive stressed out because of unexpected heavy traffic.

11.  Make sure your home is clean and tidy so you can return to your haven and only need to unpack.

12.  Have lots of fun and take lots of pictures.

Oh, and I suppose I should mention just one more thing. If you have been shopping on your travels, you really should throw something out to make room for the new.