Calendar Queen

The onslaught of New Year's resolutions begets planning. And planning begets calendars.

Over the years, I've used Palm and Handspring handhelds, and like everyone else I use Outlook for business. Digital solutions are great for beeping reminders, planning years into the future, or recurring tasks.

But I've found that I need the tactile sensation of writing on paper. Faster to write, easier to check off. Nothing to charge up. Done!

However, using a Franklin Covey 5x8 calendar over the past year (with spiral-bound booklets for each month), has introduced more frustrations.

While the thing is large enough to write in easily, it's a horse to lug around.

You'd think swapping months in and out wouldn't be a big deal, but when the folio is only large enough to house three spiral-bound items at a time, it's a pain. Having only a three-month view of my schedule at any given time is . . . well, it creates its own little kind of stress.

It always felt like I was missing something, or that a deadline was lurking in the shadows of the future.

Plus, the thing is so large that it doesn't fit into my everyday handbag. That is a problem.

For the moment, I'm mostly working on short-term projects, but most of the time I tend to work on longer-range projects that span multiple months.

So after much hunting around online and in neighborhood stationery stores, I located this. And so far, it's the perfect solution.

Portable, a year in your palm. It's a chunk of a calendar, but everything is within reach. And that coral-lipstick red cover shines like a beacon in my purse, making it easy to spot.

What kind of calendar do you use? What makes it work for you?

Mission: Organization

After Christmas - when the gifts, stray wrapping paper, gift bags and boxes add to the everyday clutter in the house - is the best time to organize.

Right after Christmas, I emptied out our bedroom closet down to the bare walls, piling the contents around outside it. It's incredible how much you can jam into a closet!

I was on a tear. I vacuumed the dust and wiped down the shelves. Did a major take-no-prisoners purge of outdated, worn or unsuitable clothing. Got piles of bags ready for charity.

This year's Christmas Miracle? The closet is still neat as a pin. And it's amazing how serene it is to look inside.

The after-effects made such a positive impression on me that last week I cleaned out our hall closet. The one I think of as a Black Hole of Luggage, where enough duffle bags to stock an Eddie Bauer store (remember those?) reside, oversized suitcases lurk in the shadows and coat mayhem ensues.

Now, it's an oasis of coordinated baskets and bins, housing purses, scarves, stray hats and gloves. Oh, and those tennis racquets we bought that time.

But I've been dodging that workspace organization - that's the Big Dog, the one I am committed to tackling this week.

Sure, I've cleaned up the piles of new purchases and stowed them away, but unlike the closets, the problem isn't really solved.

I vow to "Make it work," copping Tim Gunn's catchphrase. Writing it down, committing to it, will make it so. Wish me luck!

In the meantime, if you have any experience with organizing and housing small pieces of things - think beads and teensy-tiny findings that go into jewelrymaking - for which one needs full visual availability, feel free to post your suggestions.

New Year, New Goals

Every year around this time, I take stock of the past 12 months.

But in the past, even when I started out reflecting on the good times, invariably I thought about what went wrong, where I could improve.

That's where the resolutions factored in. And they were always short-lived.

So this year, instead of fixing what's broken and setting myself up for failure with resolutions that are too vague to accomplish, I'm taking a new approach: creating personal goals.

In creating my goals for 2008, I'm vowing to make more room for positive events, things that feed the proverbial soul.

For me, that means:

1. Learning a new recipe every week.
2. Seeing every movie that piques my fancy (Juno's on tap this week as well as La Vie en Rose; finally saw The Simpsons last night).
3. Traveling to places that make me feel more awake and alive.
4. Organizing more outings with friends.
5. Spending more fun time with my niece and nephew, smart creative kids who keep me smiling.
6. Adopting a better house-cleaning schedule, focusing on the relaxing sense of order that results.
7. Reading more books that make me feel like writing.
8. Taking a different approach to work by focusing more on learning-innovating-thriving.
9. Spotting the art in everyday life.
10. Enjoying the good parts of every day.

What do you want for yourself this year?

Whatever you do, I hope you derive satisfaction from achieving whatever goals you set out to accomplish, and I wish you a happy, healthy and prosperous 2008!

Contain Yourself

For many years, I've heard a lot about The Container Store.

That it was one of the Best Places to Work, according to Fortune magazine.

That the place had more stuff to contain your stuff than anywhere else under the sun.

That its customer service is top-notch. (Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding!)

Well, they're finally opening one within a drivable distance. And they're donating 10% of grand opening sales at this location to a good cause.

Since it's not far from my aunt's place, I may take a field trip and check it out.

Question: What's your best organizing solution?

My Cures for Writer's Block

For many writers, despite the best of intentions, sometimes the words fail to flow.

You know what it's like. After 30 minutes of what you think has been solid work, you realize that every other sentence includes the word "great" or "unique" or (for marketing types) "paradigm." Ugh. All of those weak, say-nothing adjectives and nouns just rolling around like tumbleweeds with no destination.

Maybe your novel isn't going anywhere (reminder: NaNoWriMo is just around the corner!). Or you're writing an important speech for work - the one that will make or break your chances at a promotion. Or there's a proposal due in 24 hours and it looks like the only way you'll make it is to spend the next 12 hours in a hyper-caffeinated buzzland.

Whatever your situation, sometimes it helps to gain a little perspective. So here are 10 of my jump-starts for breaking through the brain lock.

1. Free-write a page. The only rule is there are no rules. Write about anything that is taking up space in your mind – your ideas, scraps of outlines, your worries, your fears. Whatever. Even the absence of thought can be described. Get in the zone and just fill that page. Go ahead, you can do it. And then see what happens next.

2. Change your venue. Staring at the same four walls can render your mind positively numb. If you're on a real tight deadline, just change your perspective - physically. Been working for hours in your office? Move your stuff to the dining room. Take over that little corner of the hallway. Or just swivel your chair around and reposition yourself so you're staring at something different.

3. Write something else. Whatever you're working on right now, stop it. Write a letter to a friend. Send an email to your cousin in Iraq. Make a list of home improvements to make this year. Think of a list of 30 meals you can make for dinner over the next month.

4. Read good writing. During the (very) brief time I worked in PR, my boss noted that reading good writers was the best thing one could do to improve one's writing. Whether it's a favorite old master, an article in Fortune or BusinessWeek, or a novella that you treasure, savor the turns of phrase that speak to you and try to dissect what it is that appeals.

5. Go outside. Have you been lulled into a state of suspended animation? You know, that feeling when you've spent 2 hours in front of your computer watching YouTube and reading the news, barely moving when you should be writing? So that your brittle body feels about as flexible as Rodin's The Thinker? Go outside, you giant lump of marble! (OK, technically, cast bronze - but still, not very flexible!) Be one with nature. Feel the sun shine on your face. Look up in the sky. If there are clouds, identify the shapes (Is that Nietsche?). Take in a few deep breaths of fresh air.

6. Get your blood pumping. Do some exercise. Take a 30-minute walk. Do 25 jumping jacks. Lift some weights. The activity will deliver much-needed oxygen to your thought-maker, yielding more creative insights than you ever thought possible. Try it and see. And then replenish with a healthy snack.

7. De-clutter your desk. Has your home office has turned into your home’s Procrastination Zone? You know what I mean... Office supplies you play with. That magazine you just bought. The temptation that is Halo 3. Shoes that you need re-soled? (I guess that's just me.) Realize that clearing your desk is symbolic of clearing your cluttered mind. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. But what’s the harm in cleaning your desk?

8. Put someone else's shoes on. Knowing your audience is the most important step when you’re writing. Think about what it's like to be the person who will be reading what you write. What motivates them? How old are they? What's their day like? What are they most likely to read every day? If you're a business writer, think about the business challenges your reader faces day in, day out.

9. Talk it out. Give your best friend a call and ask for 5 minutes of their time. But keep it positive. Instead of complaining about your project and your frustrations with writer’s block, instead try talking about the approach you want to take. Explain to your friend what the project’s all about. Needless to say, try one of your more positive friends (not a Debbie Downer type who will have you doubting your ability to ever pull out of a writerly funk).

10. Take a break. If exercising or snacking doesn't put you in a different frame of mind, shelve the project for a day or two. Or even a few hours. Turn your attentions to another project, ideally one that doesn't involve writing. I've seen that making headway in one area of my life can drastically change my attitude and provide a little inspiration along the way.

Keep in mind that the spark of an idea can come from a totally unrelated activity. What seems like unproductive procrastination can actually be invigorating and renewing, allowing you to tackle whatever word-oriented challenge you were wrestling with. And your writer's block will be a distant memory.

Good luck!

All Systems Go

While I admire this guy's Moleskine-planner hack, my own notebooks (pocket, squared) end up a jumble of scribbles, notes, journal entries, diagrams of earring designs, places to eat, books to read, observations, websites to look up, stuff to accomplish in the next 90 minutes -- a veritable idea heap.

Each time I've tried using my notebook as a planner this rigid and organized, it's degraded into a flurry of random phrases, strikethrough'd tasks, and scribbles through Thursday's header to give Wedneday more space for an out-of-control to-do list.

But I guess you have to work with the system that works for you -- even if it's something as drab yet effective as the hipster PDA. That's why some people's desks feature piles (um...), while others are pristine.

What's the system you use for capturing brilliant ideas or to-dos? Is your system working for you?