Back in June I pledged to achieve in-box zero by the first day of autumn, so I owe you, dear readers, an update. How did I do? In a word: busted. I managed to keep up with most everything that came in during the past three months, but the backlog is a mere 10 percent…
Category Archives: Organizing
No Regrets
When I asked my father, then aged 85 and about to move out of the home he’d built with his own hands 25 years earlier, whether there was anything more he really wanted to do, his response was memorable: “You can always think of more things to do in a day than you can get…
One Easy Way to Get That Shredding Done
Feeding old financial documents and client files through a small office shredder is no one’s idea of fun. Finding a shredding company that will pick up less than 10 boxes of paper can be tough. So how does the small office or home office clear out a backlog of shredding? Many local stores such as…
Worth repeating – August posts from New Leaf News
I’m sharing a few posts from the New Leaf archives. Here’s what was on our mind in August during the past couple of years. Productivity depends on being able to work in comfort. Eliminate at least one pain in the neck with a wireless headset. Successfully planning for the future requires acknowledging past wins. Are…
In-Box Zero
Remember merit badges, those embroidered circles used to mark achievement for Boy Scouts and Girls Scouts? Now there is a company that makes merits badges for grown-ups, and there’s one I desperately want to earn: In-Box Zero. My goal of an empty email in-box is more elusive than live tech support. I crossed into the…
Want to get organized for business? This class can help.
Tired of an overflowing in-box? Would you like to be better organized? Want to manage your time, paper, and energy, and have a lot more fun doing it? There’s a class that focuses on the skills and tools you need to banish disorganization in your office. I’ll be teaching “Organize Your Business Life” at College…
Listen to "Getting Organized with Margaret Lukens" podcasts
Would you like to listen to your organizing and productivity information as well as read it? The latest episodes of my radio program, “Getting Organized with Margaret Lukens”, are now available as podcasts on iTunes. The free podcasts were originally broadcast on WHDD public radio in Connecticut, New York, and Massachusetts. Now you can download…
Are professional organizers perfectly organized?
This recent news from my organizing colleague Margaret Pearson Pinkham, who specializes in working with chronically disorganized clients in Sonoma County, CA: I went to sign up for the Spring season of NSGCD teleclasses and guess what? I had waited too long and the class on Procrastination was FULL! Occasionally someone will ask me whether…
Productivity in 10 words or less
Really. You can sum up all the productivity advice in the world in just 10 words: One thing at a time. Most important first. Start now. All the rest is commentary. (I made the photo using the Candy Heart Generator at www.iheart.despair.com, a site I also enjoy for their very funny, satirical anti-motivational posters. Pay…
Five steps for ending "tolerations"
I call them “tolerations” – those little irritants we hardly notice. Maybe it’s something small, like a sticking wheel on a desk chair. Maybe it’s something you try to ignore because you feel you can’t change it, like a noisy neighbor. It could be your life-long habit, such as piling your papers rather than filing…