Elizabeth Hagen - Making Your Life Easier

Ok, here it is March already!! Did you have a great February? Are you making progress on your goals for the year? If so, fantastic! If not, take time to write them down again, post them where you can see them every day, and start taking action.

Speaking of goals, I have two exciting things to share! My book “Organize with Confidence” is off to the publisher and may be in my hands by the end of March. I can't wait! I've always felt that there is such a strong correlation between being organized and feeling confident at home and work. My book teaches the 10 tools that I've learned to develop confidence in my life (and now yours!) and organizing systems that go along with those tools. I have also written a manual that gives you all the forms and tools you need along with a CD so you can load everything onto your computer. I think it's going to change everyone's life that reads it and my goal is to get it into the hands of every woman in America!! Yes, that is a big goal. In fact it is called a 'BHAG'—a Big Hairy Audacious Goal.

A 'BHAG' is something that everyone should have and I teach this in my “Organize with Confidence” seminar. Read how you can attend my next seminar at the end of the newsletter.

The other news is that I am honored to be one of the presenters at this year's NSA (National Speakers Association) convention. This has been a goal of mine and I'm thrilled to be able to speak to this prestigious group. Plus, it will be in Orlando in July and I'm going to be taking our son, Micah, along for a wonderful trip together.

Both of the news items that I'm sharing with you are results of not only setting goals but a belief that I can do both these things—write a book and speak at NSA. Life is incredible with positive thinking!

I LOVE the quote in the sidebar from Edward J. McGrath. Talk about positive thinking—and he was only 8 years old!

What are you telling yourself? Are the thoughts in your head always stopping you? Perhaps you tell yourself “I'm not good enough”, “I don't know how”, or “Who do I think I am to…” STOP!!! This kind of thinking gets you nowhere and keeps you nowhere.

In Proverbs 23:7 the Bible says “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Truly, what you think about, you are. Is it time to change that little voice (which really isn't so little) in your head?

I heard a speaker say that you should wear a rubber band around your wrist. Every time you think a negative thought you should snap the rubber band! Talk about an immediate consequence for negative thinking. While I don't really like this idea since I don't like pain, it may help to keep your thoughts focused on the positive.

I would challenge you this month to really listen to your thoughts. The second you start putting yourself down stop yourself and tell yourself that you are a person of great value and significance. Change the way you think—starting now!

Use a CD wallet like the young people have for their music CDs and store all your computer software in this binder. It's wonderful to have them all in one place and easy to find when you need them.

Hey baby, what kind of computer do you have? Is it the new pick-up line of the Computer Age? Well, maybe only in Seattle. But you'll get a tamed-down version of this question often in your technological life, and usually, the questioner is looking for more information than, "A silver one named Dammit."

How do you answer this overwhelming question? How do you know what kind of video card you have, how much RAM you have, what your CPU processor speed is? I came across a handy solution today for Windows users. Here's how to print out a System Summary.

For Windows XP

Right-click on My Computer. You probably have an icon for this on your desktop. If not, you'll find My Computer listed in Windows Explorer and you can right-click on it there.
Click the Hardware tab, and then the Device Manager button.
Click once on Computer to select it. This will probably be the first item listed.
Click on the Actions menu at top and choose Print.
At the bottom of the window, select System Summary.
Click Print.

For Windows 2000

Right-click on My Computer. You probably have an icon for this on your desktop. If not, you'll find My Computer listed in Windows Explorer and you can right-click on it there.
Click the Hardware tab, and then the Device Manager button.
Click once on Computer to select it. This will probably be the first item listed.
Click on the View menu at top and choose Print.
At the bottom of the window, select System Summary.
Click Print.

For Windows 95/ME

Right-click on My Computer. You probably have an icon for this on your desktop. If not, you'll find My Computer listed in Windows Explorer and you can right-click on it there.
Click the Device Manager tab.
Right-click the computer icon and select Print.
At the bottom of the window, select System Summary.
Click Print.

Have your printout on hand when you head to the computer/software store, when your college-age computer wiz comes home to do their laundry (and fix your computer), and when talking to tech support. The printout will still probably look like an alien hostile takeover formula to you, but imagine the blissful ease of answering that inevitable question "What kind of computer do you have?" with this printout.

This article was reprinted from VA-Lab Notes, a newsletter from VA-Lab Designs.

I'm excited to be presenting "Organize with Confidence" on Tuesday, April 4, 2006. This is a women's only workshop and it is absolutely free! I want all women to experience the joy and fulfillment of living an organized life so you can come as my guest. "Organize with Confidence" will be from 6:30—8:30 pm in the Carlton room at the Holiday Inn Express, 2501 S. Shirley Avenue, Sioux Falls, SD (by the Century Theatres).

You will learn:

It's going to be a lot of fun—please join me! This workshop is free but you must register to attend. You can register at www.ElizabethHagen.com/OrganizeWorkshopregistration.

See my upcoming speaking engagements at http://www.elizabethhagen.com/speaking_training.html.

I'm in the process now of booking spring speaking engagements. If your business or organization would like to start off this spring being more focused, organized, and productive please visit the Speaking page on my website.

It's time to make your life easier!