Clutter control. Home organizing tips from Out of Chaos » Success Stories

Performing with a Clear Mind and Unburdened Heart

Linda Chu — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 22:00:24 +0000

Have you seen the Olympic ski jumpers doing those twisting jumps five storeys into the air and land perfectly on an angle I’d be scared to walk down? I’ve been captivated by the incredible achievements of the Olympic athletes. And when I see the interviews with them, they all seem so positive and grounded, whether they’ve just placed or actually won a gold medal. How do these people do what they do with such focus and balance as professionals and as real people?

The father and sometime coach of four-time Canadian Women’s Hockey Team athlete Jennifer Botterill, Dr Cal Botterill (sports psychologist for Olympic athletes and the NHL) recently helped create a study called “12 Key Questions for Young Athletes”. I thought the conclusions in the study could apply equally to my organizing and productivity clients as to athletes who want to stay focused and on top of their game:

Be clear about why you do what you do – know what your goals are. “Wanting to perform for others can be a powerful motivator and focus… Perform with a clear mind and an unburdened heart. Don’t let guilt (unintentional or not) develop from privileges you have been provided.”
Make rivalries positive – don’t compare yourself to others “Wayne Gretzky became Canada’s leader in hockey because he loved playing the best. As a player, captain, and now manager and leader, Wayne loves positive rivalries… He knew playing the best brought out the best in him.”
Get to know yourself better. “Olympic Diving Gold Medalist Sylvia Bernier believe good psychology can help you develop in all the other areas. Game plans can help you focus and execute strategies. Psychology can help you to get to know yourself better and develop a strong perspective.”

Stay balanced and focused and good things happen. Learn from the people who are going for the gold.

Outsourcing Your Hiring Activities to the Experts

Linda Chu — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:28:52 +0000

With the downturn in the economy many are finding themselves doing the work of two or more people. Take for instance a recent Vancouver-based client of mine who was in the position of hiring for a short-term entry level position in their company. The vacancy created a flurry of over 100 applicant resumes applying for the position.

Out of Chaos was originally called in to assist this busy manager with managing her tasks and creating a prioritized action plan. It was very clear early in our process that activities relating to hiring personnel were not this manager’s expertise.

In consultation with Sandra Reder, Managing Partner of Vertical Bridge Corporate Consulting, the following steps in the hiring process can easily bog down the best of managers, especially if they are not in your area of expertise:

Placing the advertisement on various job boards, website and possibly in print media
Receiving resumes (these days it can be anywhere from 75 to 150 resumes for one position)
Screening resumes to the job description and short-listing the suitable candidates
Pre-qualifying calls to the short-listed candidates to see how they communicate, as well as to confirm some basic details about them
Possibly doing a more in-depth pre-screen on the phone to find out more about their past work experience before bringing them in for face-to-face interviews

“Overall this can take one person well over 20 hours of their time (this is based on 75 resumes if there’s more, then time will obviously go up).”

What is your time worth? Consider the value of outsourcing hiring related activities to the experts and free yourself up to focus on your core business.

How to keep organized while enjoying needle working

Linda Chu — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 01:02:57 +0000

Thanks to Chu on This… subscriber, Lynda of Clearwater, BC. She shares with us her solution on how she keeps herself organized while enjoying her love of needle working. If you have a tip to share with your fellow “Out of Chaos” seekers, we look forward to hearing from you.

I’m an avid needle worker – knitting, sewing, crochet, quilting. I’m also partially disabled and in constant pain from a broken back. I have a great many magazines and books, especially those for quilting. Even when I can’t be working on a quilt, I enjoy looking through the books and magazines.

My husband of 40 years and I are retired. Our children have left home, although they visit often and we babysit as often as they need us. Suffering from chronic pain, it is important to me that our home be well organized. There are some areas that are better than others when it comes to organization but I’ve come up with the perfect solution to my large library of quilting books/mags.

I’ve archived them in our Word Processing program. I number each book then list the names of whatever patterns in that particular book or magazine appeal to me. At some date in the future when I want to make a certain pattern, I’ll go into my “Quilt Book Archive document” in my computer, do a word search such as “log cabin” or “bear paw” or “nine patch”. The computer looks for those words in the document and shows me which magazines have that pattern that I’m searching for. It’s a fabulous thing for me. Often, before I started to do this, it would take me so long to find whatever pattern that I was looking for that I’d be too whacked out from so much pain that it would be two days before I could even look at the magazine.

Organizing Hell or Help? – Shared Experiences

Linda Chu — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 01:05:15 +0000

When recently faced with cleaning out 3 generations of items in the family home, Alison Wheatley wanted to find happy new homes for the items not wanted by the remaining family members, as well as contribute to her community. The items presented a range of challenges which tested and proved again Alison’s patience, persistence and research abilities.

For example, two chairs purchased in the late 1980′s and specially designed for long term sitting, she thought might be perfect for seniors who spend much of the day sitting. The local seniors’ home confirmed her thoughts and were delighted to receive the chairs. Some items were sold to specialized retail outlets, while others were donated to museums. Some items went to deserving members of Alison’s personal network of associates. Overall, everyone benefited and the majority of items found a new home in a way that honored the original owners. As a result of her fulfilling experiences, Alison has found her niche. She wants to help you after you have de-cluttered your space, perhaps through a move or an annual cleanout, by sharing her learning and research abilities in finding happy new homes for items you are discarding. Ask about her services by contacting awheat@telus.net.

If you have an experience to share, we would love to hear from you.