How are those resolutions working out for you?

by admin on January 4, 2012

The New Year is officially here and you’re now mid-way through the work week. How are those resolutions working out for you?

To be honest, these days, I am Switzerland when it comes to resolutions. On one hand, I realize the value of wanting to change your life, accomplish great things, and start the New Year off in a great way. I totally applaud that. On the other hand, if you really want to make a change in your life, holding off until January 1st isn’t necessarily the way to go about it. What’s wrong with December 18th? Or February 23rd?

What I see happening most often is that people make a resolution – for the purpose of this blog, let’s say, GET ORGANIZED! – and then a week into it, when papers are a piled up or the closet is a little jacked up, people lose ALL HOPE, and declare TOTAL FAILURE because they futzed up their resolution. Well, that’s no good.

So Alaia, does that mean you didn’t make any resolutions this year? That’s correct, I did not. Personally, I find that resolutions are a little too broad to have any real impact on me – lose weight, improve my diet, drink more water, blah blah blah. Just saying that makes me bored. So, what DID I do?  Well, I took stock of 2011 and decided how I wanted to approach the year ahead. I decided what I wanted to do – specific things versus general wishes.  Here’s my partial list:

  • Improve my photography skills (this has specific sub-actions like take a photography class, shoot weekly, etc )
  • Take a dance class or two
  • Read A LOT more books (I’m thinking one a week, but haven’t decided)
  • Have an adventure (I don’t know what it is yet)
  • Try new things (my goal is 52.)
  • Have more dinner parties (had two last year, which means I just need 3 to achieve this)
  • Finish my family tree project
  • Go on a retreat/take a personal sabbatical
  • Get rid of HALF of my possessions
  • Wear dresses more often
  • Launch my semi-secret new project.
  • Start making sweet potato pies again (dinner parties = good time to do this)

Different strokes for different folks!  Some people I know swear by resolutions. And if that works for them, I think it’s great!  Here are my tips for staying on track when it comes to resolutions:

Make SMART resolutions. I know you’re smart and savvy, but let’s review the acronym again:

Specific – make it simple yet significant

Measureable – how will you manage this goal?

Attainable – is your goal actionable and achievable?

Relevant – Are you being realistic? Does this goal fit your life right now?

Timely/Time-bound – when do you want to achieve this goal?

Instead of : “Get organized,” try “I plan to organize my files by January 31st and my physical space by February 15th,  so that by March 1st my entire office is organized.” Yes, it’s longer, but it is now clear what you actually intend to do.

Set milestones. This is incredibly important for big, long term things like getting organized, losing weight, or quitting smoking. For example, I don’t drink a lot of water, so it is honestly just ridiculous to think that I can go from 0 to 8 glasses of water a day just like that. I know myself too well. But I can start off with a glass or bottle of water a day. Totally doable. Then after a month, maybe my goal is 3 a day, and so on.

Be accountable. Have a buddy to check in with. Post your goals on Facebook or Twitter. Join a community of people with similar goals. Ultimately, your biggest motivator should be yourself BUT when other people know what you’re up to, you have some skin in the game and you’re much more likely to press forward. Um, yes, this is why my friends keep asking about the new project I am launching – but you see, it worked! I told a few select people what I want to develop, got them interested, and now they want to know how it’s progressing. And see how I just listed them above for the world to see? Now YOU know what I want to accomplish as well. Put up or shut up!

With that said – what do you plan to do this year? What do you want to experience? What do you want to change?  Think of some concrete things you’d like to do, or create some resolutions that you refine by making them SMART, setting milestones, and creating accountability for yourself.

 

All the best for 2012!

 

Alaia

 

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Steps to Organize Your Office

by emily on January 2, 2012

Walking into a clean, efficient, well-organized office allows you to spend more time building your business, being productive and doing what you love! If your other tasks have run away with you and your office is becoming a barrier to getting things done, it’s time for a little house-cleaning. I’ll show you how with a few easy steps to begin.

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Tackle Your Tough Projects

by emily on December 16, 2011

Do you cringe and grimace when it’s time to get down to business on one of your toughest projects? If you don’t know where to start, it often leads to procrastination, which ultimately hurts your business! Don’t get caught in this vicious cycle. Below I’ve shared some of my top tips for getting started on tough projects.

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Tame Your Paper Clutter

by emily on December 13, 2011

Do you step into your office only to find yourself surrounded by a sea of papers, stacked knee deep as far as the eye can see? Instead of swimming through all of the piles just to get to your desk, why not start cutting back, filing and throwing things out now? Because today is as good a day as any. Watch my video below to see how you can start to cut the waste and feed your recycling bin and shredder some much-needed paper pulp.

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Online Marketing 101 for Small Business

by emily on December 2, 2011

Social media and online marketing freak many entrepreneurs out, but with this video, I will break down the best online tools and resources for you to promote your business and polish your professional image.

 

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Time Management Tips for Business Owners

by emily on November 28, 2011

If you have problems with time management, you’re not alone. Most of the small business owners and solopreneurs I know seem to have more work than time. But this is not always the case. Sometimes, it’s just a matter of prioritizing and managing your time in an effective and efficient manner. Check out my tips for time management.

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Making the Most of Each Business Day

by emily on November 22, 2011

Every day, we have a fresh chance to start over, work hard and accomplish much. But somehow the promise of the morning sometimes slides into the ides of mid-afternoon, which suddenly can crawl into dusk before we’ve completed many of the tasks we started the day wanting to accomplish. What slows down your progress? How do you prioritize tasks when the days are not long enough? And, most importantly, how do you make the most of each day? I’ll give you my strategies in this video.

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One Organized Business Fan Page Launched!

by admin on September 28, 2011

When it comes to social media, I am a firm believer that you should only bite off as much as you can chew. I have seen too many clients, colleagues, and friends sign up for any and everything, only to find that they have trouble maintaining their sites.  When I taught a social media class this summer (which is happening again in October, by the way), one of the points I tried to drive home to the participants was taking their social media step by step, starting with the sites they liked most and that would reach their target audience.

I’m not going to lie, Facebook was never my favorite (and I’ve been on it since it started). But it is growing on me these days. I created a fan page many many moons ago to show a client how simple it was. Well, what I failed to realize was that I published it! And I’ve had about three fans for the last year.  Truth was, I didn’t feel like having a fan page at the time, even though I knew I *could*. Well….things change.

First off, I got tired of telling the “I don’t intentionally have a fan page” story. But, over the past few months, I think my Facebook community has grown tighter than before. I’ve found myself posting a lot more business content on my personal page, which isn’t my preference. I started to think that yes, now it is time to launch that fan page. So, it is now official!

You can now become a fan of One Organized Business on Facebook.

Here’s some of the groovy stuff I’ll be sharing with fans:

  • Upcoming Events
  • Classes
  • Interviews with other business professionals who can help you rock your business
  • Tips on how to get organized
  • The scoop on techy things that will actually benefit you (not just help you waste time)
  • Tools and resources
So, check out the page, become a fan, and I’ll see you on Facebook!
- Alaia

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Something new is coming!

by admin on September 12, 2011

Hope you all had a fun and safe summer! Mine was the perfect mix of work and play. No complaints!

One thing that was officially “birthed” last weekend is a course that will be taking place this fall and I wanted you to be the first to know about it.

Full details, dates, and registration are coming soon, but in the meantime, check out my little teaser on the course and sign up to hear about when it launches:

Smooth Operations

Yay! :-)

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Creating a Filing System

by admin on September 7, 2011

It takes four simple steps to create a filing system that will work for YOU and YOUR business.  Check out the video below for tips that will help you get started today.

 

 

 

Is your filing system supporting your biz or leaving you flustered? Do tell!

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