Are you stuck at the office while everyone else is out enjoying the summer sunshine? Taking a pass on the neighborhood barbecue because you’re just getting to your taxes – in August? Get organized and you can enjoy life again.

This month, the Scrivener Magazine published my article from page 10, “Get Organized and Enjoy More Time” with tips to not only get organized, but also stay organized.

Some excerpts that you may find helpful:

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Knowing how to prioritize tasks is a common problem. It’s a challenge whether you’re keeping your home de-cluttered or maximizing productivity for your business. I see it with my clients and I definitely know it from personal experience.

As most of my friends and colleagues already know, I’m getting married this year. Naturally, I’m organizing the big event. I’m also running my business full-time, running off to consultations and home-organizing gigs. And of course, I have to have a life…

How do I avoid burn-out? I prioritize.

Before diving head first into a long list of tasks, it is important that you are clear on your vision and goals. Determine what you want to achieve in your organization, business, work and personal life.

• Ask yourself the following questions:
• Do you know what your company vision is?
• What are the goals you need to accomplish to meet this vision?
• What are your short-term and long-term goals?
• How does your personal goals fit into your day?
• What is important and of value to you?

Be clear about what needs to be accomplished. Every action that you take should serve to support reaching this vision. See your goals. Schedule milestones. And once you’ve got that plan, don’t procrastinate.

I help people de-clutter their lives and get rid of the bad habits that led to the chaos in the first place. Sometimes, my professional advice seems a lot like something you might hear from a life-coach.

After all, my “Three P’s” — planning, process and procedures, which help people stay organized and have a good life balance are also keys to long-term success.

Recently, some of my friends in the coaching field have written advice about forming good habits and letting go of things. My colleague, Dr. Brian Walsh, who collaborated with me on the Self-Hypnosis CD Ending Procrastination, provides this advice on improving behavior:

Over 97 per cent of our behaviors are unconscious. These behaviors are the result of imprinted patterns. Most of these were created when we were very young, perhaps under the age of seven. Another term for these patterns is habits, and yes, procrastination is a habit. It was learned, so it can be unlearned.

Most people believe that it takes 30 days to establish a new habit. Recent research has found that anyone can establish a new habit in as little as five days. Now, there’s a catch to this. Even if you have planted a new habit, the old one is still hanging around and is fighting for survival. Old habits die hard.

Here’s the key to success. Be aware that every time you fall back into the old habit, it will gain strength, and the new pattern will begin to weaken. The converse is true: Every time you practice the new pattern, it will gain dominance over the old one. Eventually it will dissolve, and that might take 30 days. You’ve heard that “Practice makes perfect.” Actually: “Practice makes permanent.”

On the topic of how to make your habits work for you, Life Coach Julia James has written a great article with a list of steps to follow:

1. First, pick a habit to establish.
2. What would be the smallest action you could take to get started? Commit to doing this one small thing on a regular basis, ideally on a schedule.
3. Set up a reminder to help you remember your commitment.
4. When you feel ready, gradually increase your commitment – but no more than you can consistently do.
5. Share your commitment with someone. Accountability really helps.
6. Identify the personal values you are honoring with your action.
7. Notice how good you feel when you follow a healthy habit; give yourself kudos for taking this positive step.
8. Stick with your new habit for at least 30 days. Before long, this behaviour will feel automatic and you won’t have to think about it anymore.

I’ve written before about how to face down the challenge of letting go of stuff that we don’t need. But what happens when your identity is tied to the things you own? My friend, Living in Vision Coach Lynne Brisdon discusses how to get past your hesitation:

When we have a strong attachment with our stuff our identity can feel threatened if we let go of it. This also has to do with being afraid of change and needing to control our surroundings in order to feel secure. The antidote is to shift to a sense of self identity that is truly about being who you are and not associated with having stuff.

This can also be related to the mistaken assumption that material objects: cars, a new PDA, or outfit, will fulfill us or have us feel complete. We feel good for a little while after acquiring the object of our desire, but we soon end up feeling empty again. We mistakenly equate having stuff with being loved instead of feeling whole and complete regardless of our belongings.

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.

My friends and colleagues in Vancouver have been talking non-stop about the latest real-estate innovation to hit our expensive city: “microlofts”, 270 square feet of compact urban living roughly equal in size to two parking spaces.

In an Olympic-frenzied city with some of the most expensive real estate in the world, I guess it was inevitable that people would start living in accommodations that combine your sink, toilet and shower into a single “washroom enclosure”. But the question on everyone’s lips is “how do you organize your stuff to actually live in such a small space?”

When the CBC interviewed me about this topic, I noted that in a perfect world where you have as much space as you could possibly need, you would just keep everything. But for most of us, organizing our living spaces means making choices. What do you really need? What do you actually use? And what do you just have around because of emotional attachment or memory?

For those of us who don’t live in spacious mansions, these are very practical questions. One way to face it is to ask yourself, what would I keep if I could only have 100 items? Would I keep my Wii? All the DVDs I’ve collected but never actually watch? How many sets of cutlery do I need? Which is more important: that set of coasters that I bring out for company twice a year, or my toothbrush (well, I hope you’d choose the toothbrush, but it’s your choice…)?

We’re moving into smaller spaces and as a result, self-serve storage is a booming industry. It’s not just people shifting gears in a tough economy; many retired residents are moving from 2000 or even 5000 square feet homes into rooms roughly equivalent to in space to these microlofts – and they’ve acquired decades worth of stuff.

But if you’re paying for a storage locker after you downsize, how much would that extra $200 or $300 per month buy you in rent or a mortgage? If you’ve filled up your garage so you have to pay for a parking pass for your car to park on the street, how much are you paying every month for stuff that you might never use?

When I’m working with my professional organizing clients, helping them through the downsizing process is often a cathartic kind of process. They realize what is really important to them. At the same time, they learn how to make smarter decisions about how they use their space. For instance, in smaller spaces, you learn how to turn your coffee tables and ottomans into dual-use pieces and find places for hidden storage.

It’s often a challenge at the beginning, but in the end, they realize better value and a better standard of living from their homes than they ever had before.

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.

I’m often asked, “As a professional organizer, is it easier for you to let things go? You must not have any junk or knick knacks because you’re the expert in getting rid of clutter.”

That’s mostly true, but not the whole story.

Often we hold onto things based on the emotional value they provide, which they spark in our memories. Sometimes the object reminds us of an intention to do something. Other times, we just don’t want to get rid of something we spent money on, whether or not it is actually useful in our lives.

My clients are asked to determine the value of the item they are keeping. Value is measured in two forms: Functional Usefulness and Emotional Attachment.

To illustrate, I’ll tell you a story about myself.

My Dad owned a Chinese/Western food restaurant. It was a small neighborhood eatery, visited by the locals. Think back to times of Pink Ladies, Fuzzy Navels, Shirley Temples and Rob Roys.

He had quite the following. There were line-ups out the door every weekend. The community where he was located has a strong Scottish clientele. Imagine, a Chinese food restaurant hosting Robby Burns Day ceremonies, turning out authentic Haggis and entertaining the sell-out crowds with Highland Dancers and full Robby Burns Day ceremonies.

Dad was presented with his own kilt, brought back from a loyal patron on a visit back to Scotland. He wore it every year during the ceremonies. When my Dad passed away, we buried him with his kilt. I remember George, a regular restaurant patron, playing the bagpipes as we followed his casket at the graveyard.

One thing that I did keep of my Dad’s was this statue, made by another loyal patron — complete with glasses cut out of black construction paper and the black marker scribble for Dad’s mustache. The base of the statute reads “Hamish McChu”.

Just think of me as Linda Chu from the McChu clan…

Dad looks over me each night from atop of my wardrobe in the bedroom. What value does this item bring to me, you ask? Emotional or usefulness? You decide. Contact me and let me know what you think. Best regards.

I provide my clients with systems for organizing their office and home spaces and managing work-life balance. A lot of the advice I provide comes from the inspiration and ideas I’ve gotten from successful people I’ve met here in BC and around the world. This issue of Chu On This… kicks off a new segment called Productivity Pointers from Top Business People, where I will share the organizing tips and advice many experts in various fields have used to achieve success.

Our first expert for this Q & A segment is sixty4media co-founder, Rebecca Bollwitt. Rebecca has been named one of the Top Ten Women in Vancouver Technology to Watch and one of Canada’s Top Ten Most Influential Individuals in Social Media.
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More and more, social networking is being used to stay in touch with family, friends and colleagues and to boost business. But I barely have time to live my own life, much less to read what everyone else is up to. How do you manage your time and use social networking in an organized way? To answer these kinds of questions, I talked with WRITEIMAGE founder Jonathon Narvey, who helps organizations get their message out through social media.

Q. How is social media good for business when people are Tweeting, Facebooking and updating their status about what they just had for lunch? A. Filtering the information is the key to making it useful. You select the RSS streams, Twitter profiles and Facebook friends that you want to follow. If someone is always Tweeting about their lunch, the solution is simple – you would never follow that person in the first place. It’s the same idea as when you watch TV, in that you choose the channel you want to watch – except that you can probably get far more targeted information from scanning relevant status updates online for 10 minutes than from any TV show.

Q. Which tools do you use?

A. I manage several blogs to establish a presence in my chosen fields and build connections with others. I also guest blog on other websites. I use Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. These are the big sites. All of my social networks include both personal and professional connections. Often, there’s overlap, as colleagues become friends.

Q. But which tools are better for business?

A. All of them can be used for business. For instance, anyone can have a Facebook fan page for their business. LinkedIn is handy for building professional connections and finding professional associations. And Twitter is a convenient tool for finding influencers, connecting with them and broadcasting your message.

Q. Maintaining all those networks must be a lot of work. How do you manage your time?

A. Especially for those using social networks for business, the amount of time you use them will depend largely on how you want to use them. For passive connection-list building, a few minutes a day is probably all you need. If you’re using social networks for marketing campaigns, keep a strict schedule.

Social networks often include tools that automate functions, reducing the amount of time you need to spend maintaining them. For instance, you can set up your blog RSS feed (a summary of your most recent posts) to auto-Tweet whenever you publish, and then use Ping.fm to update all of your social networks at once.

Q. How do I de-clutter my social networking profiles?

A. Facebook and LinkedIn both let you customize the look of your profiles. You can select the applications you want and get rid of the rest. For instance, I organize my Facebook profile to show very minimal contact information, some links to my business and articles I’ve written. I keep it minimal to make an easier scanning experience for myself and others.

Social networking, just like email, can get out of control and consume what little time you have. Set your priorities and make social networking a part of your marketing plan, just as you would a face to face meeting or networking event.