I love summer! Everything is so green and beautiful here in South Dakota. And, as far as I'm concerned, it can't get too hot!

Another reason I love summer is that I just celebrated my 52nd birthday on July 1! I can't believe how time is absolutely flying by!

I want to celebrate by giving you a gift! If you order both my book and manual "Organize with Confidence" during the month of July you will also receive the book "Focus, Organization, Productivity" which I coauthored. This book is a collection of simple ideas that will help you get the most out of life! Just go to www.OrganizewithConfidence.com and order and you don't have to do anything else—I will include the book in your shipment.

Starting this month I have a new section of my newsletter called "Only Read This If Your Know that Being Organized Is Not About Perfection!" Often times people comment to me that my house must be so perfect, or that everything in my life must run so smoothly because of my profession. I've decided to let you in on some of the funny things that happen in my life to prove that being organized is definitely NOT about perfection!

I had a number of great speaking engagements in June and one of my favorites was a 6-hour workshop I gave in Marshall, MN. It was a treat for me to have so much time to really give the attendees a complete Organize with Confidence makeover!

I realized after the event was over that I love having a lot of time to present my life-changing information and really give the participants the opportunity to process how they will implement the steps into their own life.

I am extremely excited to tell you that this fall I will start giving weekend retreats! The event will be called "TimeSpa™: The weekend that will increase your confidence and give you more time!" We are going to have SO much fun! I'll have more information later this month but if you want to be one of the first to find out more just send me an e-mail with TimeSpa in the subject line.

Before

Everything Out

After

As I was thinking what I wanted to write about for this month's feature article my mind could not stay focused because I kept thinking about what a disaster my makeup drawer has become! All of a sudden I thought "Why don't I organize this drawer and make the process the subject of my article?" And this is exactly what I did!

You don't have to think 'global' when you think about getting your life organized. That thinking is definitely too overwhelming. Just think about one small area of your life that has been bugging you and start there.

The first thing I did to organize my makeup drawer was to take everything out—I mean everything. You can see by the picture that things get a lot worse before they get better.

Then start using the S.T.A.R.T,™ Method that I teach in my book and workshops:

• Sort
• Throw
• Appoint a Home
• Restrict To a Container
• Take Back Control

I started the Sort step as I took things out of the drawer. I put all hair items together on the counter, all makeup items together, and all tools together. After everything was on the counter I went through each pile and Threw out what I no longer needed, liked, or used. As I was sorting and throwing I asked myself questions like: if I really liked the shade of lipstick, do I really need to keep foundation that is 95% empty, and do I need 8 lipstick pencil sharpeners?

After sorting through everything and throwing, I knew that everything left on the counter belonged in this drawer. This step completed the Appoint a Home step.

I then put drawer divider bins in to the drawer to implement the Restrict to a Container process.

As you can see in the final picture, I Took Back Control of this drawer. All in all the entire process took about 15 minutes but I bet I stressed about it for at least a month!

START™ Small!!! Now it's your turn! What area of your life can you go take care of right now? START!!

Would you like more encouragement to have a great life? I have all the tools and strategies for you. You can read past issues of my newsletters and free articles at www.elizabethhagen.com/free_resources.html.

Or treat yourself to my brand new book and manual "Organize with Confidence" and find out how to get the book for free!

When getting out of your car when you get home, look around the vehicle. Throw out any trash and take out what belongs in the house. It's amazing that by taking a few minutes each time you come home you won't ever have to spend a lot of time cleaning out your car!

Last Saturday I purchased new cell phone. It is an incredible device! It is not only a phone but I can also access my e-mail and have all my contacts in one place. I love it!

But, there is definitely a learning curve. I was up until past midnight learning all the bells and whistles and I had entered in my daughter's cell phone number. I thought that I would try and text message her to see if I could do it correctly.

So, about 12:30 am I text messaged her "What are you doing?"

Almost immediately she answered "Who is this?" I thought that was a bit odd since she knows my cell phone number but I thought since it's a new phone that maybe my number came up differently.

I answered "This is your mother!"

She replied "What number are you calling from?" Again, I thought how odd since she has caller ID but I answered by giving my cell phone number.

She then replied "I can see that but what phone are you calling from?" It was then that I realized something is not right!

I had a horrible thought "What if I had put her number in wrong and was calling the wrong person?" I checked the number I had entered in my phone against the number in my database and I was right! I had entered my daughter's number incorrectly! I immediately text messaged this poor person and said "I am so sorry. I was trying to call my daughter but had the number entered wrong."

This very kind person answered back "That's ok, but I was just about to call my mom and see what was going on!!!"

Lesson #1: Be careful in entering phone numbers.
Lesson #2: I should not do anything important after midnight!

Drum Roll PLEASE!!

I'm thrilled to announce my brand new workshop that is tailored for small business owners and entrepreneurs. This workshop is also perfect if you are in a direct marketing business such as BeautiControl, Arbonne, Longaberger Baskets, etc.

It's called "Build Your Confidence - Grow Your Business" and I teach you the 7 strategies to take your business to the next level and beyond!

Active Responsibility
Realize that "If it is to be, it is up to me." Take responsibility for where your business is at today and watch it grow tomorrow!

Commit To Take Action
Implement your own personalized GPS (Goal Planning System) to achieve all that you desire with your business.

Take Back Control
Start planning each day with purposeful action steps so you never have to wonder "Just what exactly did I do today!"

Increase Productivity
Stop procrastination, perfectionism, and multitasking in their tracks and watch your productivity explode!

Organize Your Office
Implement Elizabeth's signature S.T.A.R.T.™ Method to conquer the clutter and paper pile-up. You will love working in your office and feel like a new person!

Notice and Get Noticed
Start positioning yourself for more prospects and clients that you will love working with and discover the greatest marketing strategy in the world (and the easiest!).

Start Today!
Stop waiting until everything is perfect and the sun is aligned with the moon! Start today to create peace, increase productivity, and build self-confidence.

Call today to have me speak to your people to motivate them to take action, get organized, and be more productive!

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Are you free on Tuesday, July 18, 2006? I'd love to have you attend my next "Organize with Confidence" workshop and this night is just for women! We have a lot of fun!

I want all women to experience the joy and fulfillment of living in confidence and having an organized life so you can come as my guest. "Organize with Confidence" will be from 6:30pm - 8:30pm in the Carlton room at the Holiday Inn Express, 2501 S. Shirley Avenue, Sioux Falls, SD (by the Century Theatres).

You will learn:

How to be confident in every area of your life

Conquer procrastination and perfectionism

The S.T.A.R.T.™ Method to organize any area in your home

7 Steps to Stop Feeling Overwhelmed

The 3 simple decisions to tame the paper tiger once and for all

Save time the grocery store

To totally organize your closet in 6 easy steps

How to use the Life Balance Wheel to set goals

Organizing systems that work!

It's going to be a lot of fun—please join me! This workshop is free but you must register to attend. Visit my website to register.

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

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

It's time to make your life easier!