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.

In this latest “Organizing Tips from Successful People” segment, Managing Editor Timothy Renshaw of the award-winning weekly news source, Business in Vancouver explains below how we need to prepare as though we’re in a marathon – because in some ways, that’s what our lives are.

What is your biggest challenge when it comes to staying organized?
Staying in the here and now is a challenge. Also, focusing on one task at a time without being overwhelmed by major projects. You have to train the mind to prevent it from being distracted by worries about the future or regrets about the past.

How do you manage your schedule?
I start early. You have to execute the plan mapped out the night before. Deliver on commitments, but if you are unable to deliver on those commitments, inform everyone who will be affected by the situation and reschedule another delivery date. Break large projects into daily digestible pieces.

How do you define work-life balance?
It’s embracing work and play with equal enthusiasm, inspiration and energy.

Can you think of a time when being organized helped you seize an opportunity?
Meaningful and valued jobs, promotions and relationships have all resulted in some way from being prepared, paying attention and being interested.

Do you have a system for staying organized? If so, what is it?
I make lists and complete them every day. You need to structure a daily routine that includes some form of physical activity and mental meditation. This is a marathon: you have to be in top physical and mental shape to deliver good results.

Aside from that, you have to be candid and open in all your communications. Be clear and concise. Don’t waste people’s time. Be courteous. Be authentic.

Finally, take action. Don’t dither.

How do you manage and organize yourself on your computer or online?
(social networking, calendars, address books, email, etc).
I organize through calendars and e-mail.

Paper or digital organizer (daytime vs blackberry/iPhone) and why?
Paper. No batteries and no moving parts means no system failures.

Finding the right balance invariably comes into conversation when I work with clients. This month I’ll share with you a tip for your work, yourself, and your environment.

No Time to Open All Those Emails
Here’s a quick tip to put into practice immediately, to save precious time when managing your emails. EOM — End of Message. Use this in the subject line to signal the recipient of your emails that they don’t have to open up the email. All they need to know is in the subject line of your email.

This works nicely for things like. “See you Friday at 11:00 am. EOM”, “Congratulations on a great job!. EOM”. Forward this email tip and get organized.

When time is limited, every second, or in this case, every click counts.
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About 95 per cent of us have done it at some point. For up to 20 per cent of us, it’s a chronic behavior that induces guilt and feelings of inadequacy (CBC News).

Procrastination. For some people, it’s a curse, preventing them from achieving the things they want in life. They put off tasks that they find unpleasant or stressful. But then they feel so guilty about not finishing what needs to be done that they can take no pleasure in the things that they used to enjoy.
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Go Go Go. More More More — and yet…it never seems to be enough. Never enough effort, never enough time.

I was just in Toronto presenting at a Conference, the theme aptly titled, Conquer the Chaos. As Deborah Conners, the President of Health, Work & Wellness Conference states, “distracted, unfocused and unproductive employees will not provide the creativity, innovation and loyalty organizations will need to get ahead and stay there.”

She mentions how we are more trapped by our ‘electronic leashes’ that technology has given to us initially as a godsend, but has quickly become a nightmare. You know who you are (or someone is), who is connected to their email 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The same people who sit on the bench at their children’s Saturday sports games, doing business on their Blackberry.

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As a Professional Organizer, we are consultants, who assist in developing systems to organize the piles that have accumulated in peoples lives at home and work.

We are often contacted for hands-on tangible results with your physical possessions. In speaking with my Coach Willie Carter, of The Next Step Personal & Professional Coaching, I am reminded that our physical surroundings can be clues that we are ignoring.

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Cathy Clark, a Personal Professional Coach, had some straight-forward thoughts to share with me when we were speaking about the subject of clutter. Often our physical space is a direct reflection of where our minds are.

3 Part Recipe to a Clear Mind:

If your space around you is a complete jumble and rather out of control, that may not be the only thing out of line. Our minds can certainly become cluttered, too. In fact this can paralyze some people from functioning at work, or home. When I am coaching clients I often ask them to describe what the space they work in looks like. For those who say “it’s a horrible mess, I can’t find a thing…!” I offer this approach. I have them use a simple three part recipe to clearing your mind, so you can get on with clearing your physical space, too.

First, be aware of your thoughts. Slow down and Think about what you need to do first, what is important, not what appears to be urgent.

Secondly, tell others what your plans are, and ask for help. So Speak about what you are about to do.

Lastly, take the action, even if it is baby steps. So, Act on it.

That’s the simple recipe, Think it, Speak it, Act on it. Remember nothing happens, until something happens.

“The process of resolving something”.
“A firm decision to do something.”
According to the dictionary, this is what we set out to do whenever we make New Year’s Resolutions. I often say, that a list of things to do is nothing more than list of intentions.

How successful are you in actually doing something about your list?
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I was recently in a weekend workshop in my search for finding balance in my life and came out with nuggets of information that I thought would be of value and worth some contemplation. As adults we are often striving to multi-task and be more efficient with all that we have on our over-flowing plates.

Here are 3 things to think about as you are trying to create that balance for yourself:
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If you don’t already know it and live it… all those piles around you are only piles of delayed actions… you know, the things that you will get around to doing later… BUT, we all know that ‘later’ never seems to get here.

The following quick tips will kick-start you into action and help you to achieve that order and dig you out of your chaos.
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