Hibernate & Ruminate.
Winter is time for hibernation and planning new creations. Let this be a time to muse on how you want your living and working spaces to be. Instead of making a list or designing a project or otherwise overfilling your plate for the holiday season, let your vision of your perfectly organized space percolate at the back of your mind while you're busy doing other things.

Wait till January, when your schedule gets back to normal and the decorations are all put away, to start planning how you'll get organized.

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Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs.

---Henry Ford

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Change Just a Little.
People hate change. Change causes stress, even if it's good, desirable change. When you decide to get organized, you're deciding to make a change, sometimes a pretty big one. Even if you really want to change, you may feel that you're not making much progress. You may even know where you want to go and how to get there, but still you don't make progress. Maybe it's your self protection mechanism that wants you to stay right where you are where you're safe and risk free.

How can you circumvent that? One simple way to do that is to pinpoint a small change you can make and then do it until it becomes a habit. Once you've developed a new habit, it becomes part of your life and sneaks under your self protective radar. Pretty soon, many small changes amount to that big change, but without the stress of changing everything at once.

Don't Forget to Back Up.
If your date book is a PDA such as a Palm Pilot, backing up your data is simple (although I've met some people who rarely do it!) If you use Microsoft Outlook, make sure you back up the *.pst file, which contains all your contacts.

If you've got a paper date book, your backing up chore is much harder. At the very least, make a photocopy of your address book every six months or so. Some people jot appointments onto a wall calendar in addition to the date book entry. And try not to store every important document you own in the pockets of your date book. If your date book does get lost, you can minimize the chaos by keeping other papers, or copies of them, at home.

Cool Organizing Tool...
Last week I bought a desktop organizer at the Container Store. This sleek two-shelf unit is part of the walnut desk accessories line and is great for a tiny office like mine. It's open on two sides to store paper and/or filing and has a solid top that's a perfect spot for my small inkjet printer. It's compact, serves several purposes and looks terrific.


Have a great holiday season!


Take Care,
Claire