by CS Team
Your Right & Left Brain can now work together!
âWhen sitting down to create a mind map all you need are two things; an idea and a brain. You put your idea in the centre and let your brain do the rest.â Andrea Leyden
Mind Mapping is our favorite tool for the MAP IT. Š Step. Remember MAP IT. Š stands for Make-a-plan. But often this is confusing and overwhelming. Mind mapping to the rescue!! âWhenever I get STUCK in my day or any project, I whip out paper and do a mind map. It has become an essential tool. I also go to this tool first when planning any new project or for my week and day.â Marla Dee
WHY â No matter what the project or the size, mind mapping makes it simple. And whether you are a left brain list maker or a right brain artist, mind mapping will work for you. You can use mind mapping for planning out:
- Your year, month, week or day
- Any size project, large or small
- A paper, report or any writing project
- A creative project such as a website
- Creating to do or task lists
- An upcoming trip or event
Â
HOW â Here are some simple tips and resources for learning how so you can use this tool all the time.
- The ideal size paper is 11Ă17 but 8Ă11 works just fine â grab printer paper.
- You can use pictures, words or a combination of both.
- Draw or write your main image or project at the center of the page.
- Then ask what parts come to mind that are part of this project and draw them around your central theme.
- One by one as the thoughts come to you, expand on each element.
- Keep going until you have dumped out everything in your brain related to your theme.
- If there is one part that turned into a loaded area, you can do a separate mind map just on that.
- You can also do this joyfully and easily on the COMPUTER. There are all kinds of digital mind mapping software; both FREE and PAID. These are just examples. A quick internet search will bring up a lengthy list of options.
Make-a-Mind-Map click here for detailed step-by-step instructions that make it simple! You will also see some great TIPS.
Have fun with this. Make it a ritual that is supportive and rewarding to you. Please share your stories with us!
Marla, Kate & Team
Â
Â
Â
by CS Team
Reclaim your space, your day and your life!
Do you have clutter and chaos in your life? Download our TOP TEN Tips for the Year. Marla will be taking a deeper look at them at the home show and will be speaking each day, so mark your calendars and come! If you canât join us stay tuned throughout the month as we share the tips with you.  We want to support you in reclaiming your space, your day and your life.
Extra TIP& GIFT: Have a one-page master map for your year that inspires, empowers and supports you. Here is the form that we use with our clients. Itâs our gift to you! If you would like a personal session with Marla to expand on this, click here.
Marla Dee is speaking again at the Salt Lake Home Show.
Friday January 8th @ 4 p.m.
Saturday January 9th @ 11 a.m.
Sunday January 10th @ 12 p.m.
Visit our table next to the Design Stage to enter our drawing and receive special offers!
You can save $2 per person by purchasing tickets online.
Show Information:Â Friday, Jan. 8th @ 2:00 p.m. through Sunday, Jan. 10th @ 6:00 p.m.
South Towne Expo Center
9575 S. State Street
Sandy, Utah 84070
Go here for additional information and directions.
by CS Team
Youâve picked the organizing project to do, you have set aside the time and now the overwhelm hits. You look around at all the stuff and feel paralyzed about where to startâŚWe are here to help! Read and watch below as Ruth Hadlock brings the power of SORTING FIRST to life!!
Â
Click to watch Ruth on TV
Â
We just love when other people share in their own words the steps of The Clear & SIMPLE Systemsâ˘. It affirms to us how simple and supportive they truly are. Ruth Hadlock of Streamlined Space, who is also a Clear & SIMPLE Certified Organizerâ˘, explains the power of a simple SORT.
PARALYZED! My clients tell me itâs often overwhelming when they decide they are going to finally organize a junk room/craft room/etc. They are inspired and ready for action but as soon as they walk into that room and look around at all the clutter they are paralyzed â they donât know where to start and what to do! Iâm a certified organizer in the Clear & Simple method, a step by step system called S.T.A.C.K.S. Š that takes you through the entire organizing process.  The first step is SORT. I have seen over and over again that by sorting first all the other steps are easier; they actually build on each other.
So we start with setting up for the SORT. Put together 15-20 bankers boxes. You can buy them at Office Depot or Costco [or best price at Wal-mart]. These are great because once youâre done with this project, you fold up the bankers boxes until youâre ready to use them for your next organizing project. [read Clear & SIMPLEâs blog post on bankers boxes to get more]
The goal of SORT is to put like with like according to categories. As you pick up an item, ask âWhat is it?â and put it in a bankers box with a post it note label. For example, if you were sorting your office, you might have books, office supplies, filing supplies, projects, etc. If you donât have a box already with that category, then make a new one.Â
The benefit of using boxes is you can freeze the process in time. How many of you have tried to organize an area, run out of time, friends are coming over, so you shove it into a closet and shut the door essentially wrecking any organization you just tried to implement!? This way, when you run out of time, simply stack the boxes against a wall and when you have time another day, you can easily pick up where you left off.
The key is to focus only on sorting. Youâre not jumping ahead to âAm I going to keep it? â Where will I put it?â âDoes it need a container?â. Those are later steps. Just sort until the room is completely categorized.
Does this take time? YES! But how long has this room of yours been the way it looks now? I promise this method pays off if you follow the system. You will feel the progress!
VIEWER HOMEWORK: Choose a room in your house to sort. Download the Clear & SIMPLE Systems Card for free. Next time, Iâll share the 2nd step âTossâ with you.
Marla, Kate & Team
Would you like to become a professional organizer? Check out our in-depth, 3-tiered training program.
by Kate Fehr
Hereâs the first step to tackling your paper piles!
Get yourself a vertical container that will hold ALL of your incoming paper for a week. Thatâs right. You get to put it all in there and then process it just once a week. You can even get one for each family member, or one for personal and one for business, to make it even easier to go through. Itâs not really magic, but it will feel like it is when your kitchen counter, dining table and desk are clear of all those stacks.
We recommend the mesh wall pocket.
- Itâs Vertical. Vertical = Action. Horizontal = Rest. Using vertical keeps active energy in your papers.
- Wider at the top. This allows for what Marla calls âthe fingertip flipâ allowing to quickly find a paper you may need.
(moreâŚ)
by Kate Fehr
Today is the day to dive in and get it done day!
As if we need an official day to share tools and advice on organizing your home officeâŚbut weâll take it. Quite perfectly, this falls in line with our monthly theme of Power over Paper. To assist you with the most significant items related to our home offices, paper and time, we suggest out latest eBook.
Clear & SIMPLEâS TOP TEN Tips for Paper & Time will give youâŚ
- Our favorite tools for managing and mapping out your time
- Our best systems managing your paper in 1 hour a week
- The secret to handling paper rather than piling paper
Weâve said it before and weâll keep saying it, only 10% of the human population is born with the âorganizing gene.â (moreâŚ)
by Kate Fehr
Do you wish you could do more reading?
How many magazines or articles come into your life that you really want to read, but never seem to get too? How many places do magazines pile up just waiting for you to peruse? Life has gotten so busy for so many of us that we donât always get the reading time we desire.
Here is how to change thatâŚ
- Get a holding container for your desired reading items (we like magazine files)
- Keep one where you will do the reading (i.e. next to your bed, near the couch, in your reading nook, in your office). Sometimes this means you will have more than one in your home.
(moreâŚ)