Extraordinary Results May 2005 Newsletter

>> Personal Note

I just returned from the beautiful Paradise Resort & Spa in San Diego, CA where I attended the NAPO (National Association of Professional Organizers) national convention. I had an adorable bungalow with windows that overlooked beautiful scenery! Just walking to the meeting each day was a treat!

Before the conference started I heard two great pre-conference speakers and received lots of great ideas that I can implement in my business. On Friday I presented "Meet Me in the Kitchen, Because Now I Love Being There!" to over 200 attendees. Ever since I attended my first convention in 2000 my goal has been to present at this conference and I was very excited to be a part of the program.

I mentioned in the April newsletter that I will be giving a teleclass on goal setting and many of you requested that I let you know when that will happen. If others of you are interested just send me a blank e-mail with Goal Teleclass in the subject line and I'll put you on the list. I plan on having the class near the end of May.

I am excited to announce that I have a blog!! Yes, a blog. I would assume many of you are thinking "good grief, what is that?!" The term is short for 'brain logging'. It's different and more information than what you receive each month in my monthly newsletter. What's really cool is that you can subscribe to the blog and whenever I post an article you will receive an e-mail letting you know. My goal is to post several times a week so you can receive new organizing tips and ideas weekly. Go to organizedresults.blogharbor.com. Do not type www in front of the address. In the upper right you'll see 'Subscribe' and you can sign up there. Look through the articles and entries that I have posted. On the lower left you'll see categories and you can jump right to entries that interest you. You can also post your own comments about the articles.

I will be keeping my updated speaking schedule there instead of in my newsletter. This will keep you informed regularly about speaking engagements that you might be interested in attending. I just posted an article on paper retention guidelines.

Have a wonderful May!!

>> Feature Article

Mise En Place

If you don’t speak French - like me - you will have no idea what this means! Translated it means "to put in place".

I attended an advanced training for the GO System: Get Organized for Life in Memphis in March. On the first night of training we all went to a professional cooking school to prepare a meal together. It was an incredible experience!

I’ve never seen such a clean and well stocked kitchen. We were given instructions and then put into groups to each make part of the Italian dinner. It first felt totally overwhelming until we realized how working in a kitchen is just like how working in our office should be. Since everything had its place and was labeled, even though we were in a strange kitchen we quickly got our bearings and started to prepare the meal. In other words ‘mise en place’ - everything in its place.

Just think how easy it is to make a meal in your own kitchen when you have all the ingredients and you can find them easily. It's the same in our office. We can get so much done when:

A - We know what needs to be done
B - We can find everything
C - We keep focused on what we are doing

We ended up all at the same time sitting down to an incredible Italian dinner. I couldn't believe it! I even helped make homemade pasta!

'Mise en place' is really a state of mind. When you truly grasp this idea you will always make sure you have everything you need before starting a project and you will prioritize the steps and get them in the right order.
Here's to great cooking and an efficient office!

>> Announcement

I have just written my first Family CEO™ Toolkit. This will be the first of a series of toolkits to help the Family CEO™ take charge of their life. The title is “The Family CEO™ Toolkit: Organizing Your Kitchen for Extraordinary Results”. You can receive it absolutely free ($39 value) by signing up for this newsletter! Since you already receive the newsletter you can download the toolkit here: www.elizabethhagen.com/pdf/toolkit.pdf. I hope you enjoy the toolkit! Use the ideas from the book totally organize your kitchen.

I will be writing more toolkits on paper pile-up, office organizing, closet/wardrobe management, children’s papers and memorabilia, etc. If you have an idea for a toolkit please let me know!

>> Quick Tip

Here is a guideline for quality living: Have nothing in your home you do not know to be useful, think to be beautiful, or love. If you have trouble getting rid of things as you organize hang this saying by where you are working! It works!

>> Workshops/Teleclasses

See my workshop schedule at my blog – organizedresults.blogharbor.com.