By Tracey Shadley
Organize A to Z
“Organize Your Space, Organize Your Life!”
Sedona AZ (October 31, 2014) –
The first thing I do at work every morning is open my e-mail and cringe…..I just want to shut my computer off. Can you help me organize my e-mail? – Marnie C
It’s amazing what can accumulate if you don’t take the time to clean out your Inbox! My suggestion is to do that the first and last thing of every work day. In the morning, grab a cup of coffee and go through what has come in from the night before. A lot of it is probably Junk Mail that you can delete right away and then go through the rest. Quickly answer what you can and “star” the things that you need to come back and spend time on. Create files so that you can move things out of your Inbox once they are complete. At the end of your work day, do a quick scan again and delete, file or “star” what is left. You will find that you’re Inbox will become much more manageable.
Lately I am finding that I am having a hard time focusing on anything. Do you have any suggestions? – Annabeth K
With so much stimuli in our lives right now, having trouble focusing is becoming a lot more common!
Here are a few things to try:
1- Avoid the computer and checking your e-mail for the first and last hour of your day. Often, e-mail and social media keep us connected to work when we don’t need to be. Spend your first hour of the day concentrating on you or your family and spend your last hour unwinding and relaxing so that you can get a good night sleep.
2- Find Balance between your work life and personal life. Sacrificing your personal time for work will actually make you less effective. Going through your work day stressed and resentful will not make you a productive worker and then those feelings can be carried back home. It can become a vicious circle.
3- Use only one daily planner. Separating business and personal calendars may seem more effective but what it actually does is create more room for error and more things for you to pay attention to. Having all your “To-Do’s” in one place will ensure that you are not forgetting something somewhere else and allow your mind to focus on other things.
I am starting to sort through boxes of photos from the last 25 years. What would be the most effective way to sort through them? Right now they are sorted by event and I have about 50 boxes. – Julia C
Sorting through photos can be a very fun and time consuming project. Keeping them sorted by year and then further by event makes the most sense. In order to cut down on the amount of photos, go back to them with a more critical eye and start to eliminate some (ie: is someone’s head cut off, do you actually remember the people in the picture, is it out of focus etc).
Something to consider as you take on this project is do you want to go digital? It will take some time, but after the sorting, the best way to save and protect your photos is to put them on your computer and then back them up on a Gold disc or the cloud. Digital photos can be easily shared and will last a lifetime!
Tracey Shadley is the owner of ORGANIZE A-Z in Northern Arizona. She specializes in custom closet design, home staging and de-cluttering. For more information or to submit questions, please visit her website at www.organizeatoz.com
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