In my early days as a professional organizer, my company was called Task Masters — with the tag line “we do life’s drudgery for you.”  One year in mid-December, I got a call from a new prospect who wanted help preparing for the holidays. There were 2 weeks until Christmas, and she hadn’t had time to decorate her house, shop for gifts, wrap, send cards or prepare for Christmas dinner. We worked non-stop 8 hours per day for 8 days, and by December 24th everything was flawless and ready for its closeup

I am about to move, and it’s been an emotional journey. I love the apartment I am leaving. It’s the first place I ever bought. I purchased it when I became an empty-nester, as a platform for the next chapter of my life. My goal was to expand my social life, enrich my work-life balance, and give more space to romance than I had as a single parent.

As an organizer, I’m in the business of helping people organize their spaces and lives, which often get filled with things they don't use. Because of that, I am particularly aware of excess and clever marketing traps. Some might even say that I am on a constant plight to ensure there is no unnecessary clutter in my life, nor anybody else's.

Garages are notorious dumping grounds for things you used to use, thought you might use, or didn’t know where to put. It's an everyday eyesore, the door you slide past while giving friends the grand tour of your home: “Ohhh, that’s just the garage.” The financial implications of the wasted space and money spent on dormant objects, amount to a crying shame.

Several years ago Life Magazine conducted the Great American Weekend Study, and discovered that 47% of people wait until Thursday night or later to plan their weekends. I don’t even need to tell you what happens when we wait too long to plan — the weekend slips through our fingers and before we know it, it’s Sunday night, and we didn’t do anything fun or refreshing.

"How do I find time to think?" is, without a doubt, the most common question I am asked by clients (and audiences) when I speak, train or coach on the topic of productivity.  

Many moons ago, I loved to cook.  It was fun to experiment in the kitchen—to have a vision for something exotic (baklava) or even ordinary, like minestrone, and make it happen. But somewhere along the way, after having a child, and launching my business, cooking and all the prep involved with it became an exhausting chore.

My philosophy about time management is that every system must be designed from the inside out—based on the unique way you think, your natural habits and goals.  

When we do studies of how people spend their time, we find, on average… a backlog of 32.4 hours of tasks. That means, on any given day, people feel like they’re drowning in work, like they’re never done, like they can’t ever relax. 

As a productivity professional, clients and audiences often ask if I can recommend a great To-Do app. I’ve looked. I’ve tested. 

Organizing is not just about getting rid of clutter and making the space look “neat”. It’s about designing spaces that reflect who you are and what’s important to you...

There will always be more work to do than time to do it. The goal is to make sure you are doing the most important tasks, so you can leave every day with a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.