Tag Archive for: being more organized

Marie Kondo Sparks Joy in Person

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Paula with Marie

Paula with Marie

Who knew watching someone fold clothes could be so mesmerizing?  

I sat with a packed audience at the 92nd Street Y in New York City on a Friday night as Marie Kondo folded oddly-shaped clothing carefully and slowly.  

She’s the author of “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing.” Her newest book and the reason for this gathering is called, “Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up.”

Watching her fold never got old.  (I didn’t mean to rhyme there but I was just feeling that sentence and it’s true.) The whole room was in a collective trance — Marie had our full attention.

She folded up one side of a shirt and then the other and created a small origami-esque package again and again.

Everyone was fixated on the tiny woman, who was wearing a white top and skirt with black tights, work her magic.  

It was like watching Michelangelo paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling.  

A real craftsman at work.   Read more

I’ve Never Had So Much Fun Cleaning Out My Closet

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before

My closet before!

I truly believe I’ve found my spirit animal — it’s Marie Kondo.

I’ve written before about her book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. But this week I finally got around to listening to the entire audiobook and I have to admit I’m a convert (mostly.)

Now I understand why she’s such a rockstar in Japan and why there is a waiting list to work with her!

In her book, Marie explains that she started “tidying” when she was 5 years old. Like a classic middle child she did it to get attention and praise from her parents. Since then, for Marie, tidying has become a celebration. She even dresses up for the event.

Marie says everything you own wants to be of use to you. Isn’t that such a nice way of thinking about it? That was a huge mindset switch for me. Read more

My Love/Hate Relationship with Tim Ferriss

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Timothy_FerrissTim Ferriss is considered to be one of the leading experts in productivity right now. His book ‘The Four Hour Workweek’ is immensely popular and I would recommend reading it.  I mean – who wouldn’t want a four hour workweek?

When I tell people I write this blog or about my book Listful Thinking —  they will often ask me what I think of him. While I often smile and tell people he’s great….the truth is, I have a sort of love/hate relationship with Tim Ferriss.

What I ‘Love’ About Tim Ferriss

There’s nothing wrong with him, in fact I agree with him on most things. These are just a few examples:

Go right to the source – Tim believes that if you want the best and most accurate information you should head to the best source. It’s how he made his decision for voting in the presidential election and I completely agree.  He asked people in the know what they thought about each candidate and decided from there.  No suffering from analysis paralysis for him.   Read more

Bad Productivity Habits You Picked Up In College

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As graduates around the country end their academic careers I’m reminded that college is great for many different reasons. It’s a chance to expand your mind, meet lots of new people, get involved in new activities – the list goes on and on.

The one thing college is not so great for is your productivity.

The college lifestyle is structured completely differently to your typical working week. This isn’t a bad thing, it just means you might have a bit of a shock the first week of a new full time job.

Here are some bad habits you might have picked up in college that might still be sticking with you today:

Working Until the Early Morning – Everyone has a story of that one paper they left until the last second. Drinking coffee to stay up until 5am, desperately trying to write the whole thing in one night — you remember the scenario. This is fine when you have nowhere to be the next day, but highly impractical if you work.

If you get used to the idea that you can leave things until the last minute without consequence, it can be quite difficult to shake. Try to give yourself a fake deadline, a week in advance. This way even if you leave everything to the last minute you will still have some extra time to polish and refine. Read more

How To Work Through Challenges And Get Stuff Done

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finishCan you imagine a day where you checked off everything on your to-do list without any problems or interruptions? Wouldn’t that be a nice change? But truthfully these days are quite rare. When we hit a roadblock it’s important to remember it happens to us all!

In fact problems are a normal part of the process. It’s all about how you deal with them.

Here are a few of the more common hang ups and how to move past them:

Denial: Do you ignore a problem when it arises?  Me too!I  I’m naturally a procrastinator, so I’m inclined tell myself “It’s nothing!” or “I’ll have time to address it down the road.” Especially if it’s a large task, or something I don’t want to do. Since I know these are my usual ways of ignoring a problem, I can recognize them and deal with them.

Make sure to pay attention to your own personal ‘tells’ so you can stop bad habits before they happen. If you are in denial, try writing a list of all the things you need to do to complete that day. You might surprise yourself and find that it’s easier than you think. Read more