baby steps

27 February 2011 by Marcia Francois 1 Comment

What are your organising goals for March?

I like to think of a few small things I want to do around the house every month.

I thought it would inspire and motivate you to also think up a few things and tackle one small task every weekend.

Let’s hold each other accountable and do this together.

For March my tasks are mostly photo-related:

Print 12 pics of Connor and 12 of Kendra for their first year frames (yip, 8 months later :))
Do the “Dion and Marcia” wall of photos in the passage outside our bedroom.
Decide where “friends” wall will be and start planning configuration
Two months’ filing

What are your 4 organising to-dos for March?

Filed Under: Time management Tagged With: baby steps, monthly organising goals, photo organising

22 October 2010 by Marcia Francois 5 Comments

Baby steps

I fell down the stairs at work last year when I was 16 weeks pregnant and since then, I’ve been taking the lift/ elevator.

That was 19 months ago.

Somehow I got in the habit of taking the lift and didn’t think anything of it.

During the last week of September, I suddenly realised there were only 3 months before the end of 2010.

Upping my exercise schedule is near impossible because of lack of babysitters so Dion and I have to take turns to go to gym at night while the babies are sleeping.

Because of this I thought “baby steps! what can I do to take advantage of every few minutes here and there?”

I decided that I’d have to exercise whenever a chance presented itself. Hopefully all the extra walking will evenutally count for an extra gym session over the course of a week.

So I’ve started climbing the stairs at work.

At least three flights up and three flights down every day.

Add to that running up and down stairs when I go to meetings and it’s all adding up, very slowly, but still, adding up.

The first couple of days were terrible. My knees protested as did my leg muscles.

Now, a month in, I’m almost to the top before I start feeling the strain.

I also want to add that I told EVERYONE how I’ve made a commitment to myself that I will only take the stairs. People are really supportive and some have even joined me in taking the stairs instead of taking the lift.

It reminds me how I tell clients to start with one small habit daily and build on that. It almost seems insignificant but it isn’t.

It’s like organising your entire home 15 minutes at a time.

It’s not about how much progress you’re making but about creating momentum.

This weekend, my question for you is this:

where can you start doing baby steps in your life? how can you start creating momentum in your life?

If you’re brave enough, I dare you to share in the comments. This could just be the accountability you need 🙂

Filed Under: Time management Tagged With: baby steps, how to set and achieve your goals

21 June 2010 by Marcia Francois 5 Comments

We ALL have 15 minutes

One of the biggest organising myths is that you need a HUGE chunk of time to organise anything.

That’s simply not true.

I actually don’t know many people who happen to have hours and hours free just for the purpose of organising.

The thing is, you have to make time.

One of the ways you make time is by using up all the little bits of time throughout your day.

Even if you think you have no time, I guarantee there are bits here and there.

If you start looking for those treasured moments, you’ll realise you can get a lot more done.

I remember when the babies were just newborns (you mothers will know how crazy that time is) I thought I’d never have time to myself again.

Then I realised that I had 5 minutes here, another 10 minutes there and so on.

I could read ONE article in a magazine in those 5 minutes and maybe even churn out a blog post in the 10-minute stretch.

All that time adds up if you’re ready to take advantage of it.

It’s the same with organising.

You may not have an hour to organise a chest of drawers but if you find 15 minutes a day for 4 days, you do have that hour.

A change of perspective = opportunities all over

You can always organise something in 15 minutes.

Here are a few quick ideas:

• Straighten your cutlery and/or utensils drawer
• Organise photos (one of my ongoing projects to use a “spare” 15 minutes)
• Declutter a pile of paper
• Tidy your handbag or wallet

See? There are 15-minute slivers of time all around us if only we’ll just look for them.

Make a list of 10 or more quick organising projects you can do in 15 minutes and get started today.

Are you an all or nothing person? Do you tend to look for the big chunk of time versus the little bits?

Share your comments!