I’ve just been browsing 43 things. There are 99212 people who put “get organised” as a goal and 99764 that put “get organized” as a goal.

WOW!

I have heard before that “get organised” is one of the top 10 goals most people set every year.

I don’t believe that getting organised happens instantaneously. You can get the principles instantly but it takes a while to build the habits to stay organised.

It’s one thing to organise a space and another thing altogether to keep that space organised.

In fact, clients often say to me, “I can get my office organised but a week later, it looks like a tornado hit”

That’s why I put together a simple, step-by-step system, 7 easy steps to organise your office and the Organise your Business system.

If this is something on your to-do list this year, then I want you to have that peace that being organised brings.

and Organise your business here

Here’s to an organised 2009!

Being rich is having money; being wealthy is having time. -Stephen Swid, executive (b. 1941)

I’ll show you exactly how to:

• Do the one thing that will instantly get you more time
• Focus your time and get the right things done
• Design your business around what you’re good at
• Stop feeling overwhelmed
• Say no to what’s not good for your business
• Focus on your high-payoff activities
• Know when it’s actually good to procrastinate
• Stop time-wasters from getting the best of you

Plus you’ll also get regular weekly tips and information to make your business more organised and highly productive so you can bring in more money.

1. Please enter your first name and primary email address below, and click submit.
2. Check your inbox for a special link to confirm your subscription.
3. As soon as you’re confirmed, you’ll get a second email from me with the download link to your first tip. You’ll receive one tip every two days.

*Your email address will NEVER be sold - that’s my promise!

Tomorrow it will be 2009. Do you know what that means?

That’s right - it’s time for two of my favourite things - goals and planners

Today we’re tying up the series with how I personalise my own diary/ planner/ agenda.

First I want to talk about why I need to personalise my diary.

I have never ever found a perfect diary. I have come really, really close but what I do is this:

I decide what my non-negotiables are and then I adapt the rest.

You need to also decide if you need lots of name and address pages? Or note paper at the back?

My advice to you is decide on your non-negotiables and make peace with the rest. But above all, make sure you love your planner (like I do) so that you want to use it.


Okay, let’s get to the fun part.

Someone commented on one of the earlier posts that they like how grungy an old diary gets just before the new year. Mmmm, so do I! So here’s a pic of my grungy (well-loved) diary.

Part 1
I have some typed pages I print out once a year and stick into my planner:

• my goals for the year
• personal information
• important telephone numbers
• reference numbers (insurance policies, account numbers with various institutions, etc)
• birthday list

What happens when I have to add new numbers during the year?

I simply write them on the sheet. Yes, it looks a bit messy but messy is good

On the 2008 page, I only added 8 numbers. So for the 2009 page, I simply added some of those 8 and deleted the numbers I don’t need, and I reprint.

I do this page in Excel and in the footer, I make a note of the date the page was updated. Very useful especially for changing insurance providers, etc.

Part 2
I paste the top of the birthday list on top of this page so I can flip the page up to see my other events.

Part 3
I paste an envelope on the last page like this so I can keep any business cards (before I enter them in Outlook) and other bits of paper. I also like keeping a couple of sheets of the big Post-It note pad (about 10) so I can make lists that won’t get lost.

Oh, the page on the left is a write-up of my ideal coaching client to keep me focussed

That’s it for me.

Do you personalise your planner? If so, how? Did you get any good ideas today?

P.S. I’ve had some emails from people saying how they’ve enjoyed going through this process with me. Feel free to link to the posts from your blog - let’s spread the happiness

If you missed the previous posts, you can catch up here:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

This time we’re discussing monthly and other tools.

Do you need a monthly event calendar? Do you need a budget or a financial page? What about a monthly goals form?

You need to decide if these are “deal-breaker” issues for you or if you’ll be able to do without them.

This particular diary/ planner has an events page at the start of every month and it has one financial planning page spanning over two pages for the entire year.

I have to have a monthly page so that’s a deal breaker for me but I don’t have to have a page for financials since I typically do that in Excel.

If you haven’t been answering the questions, take a few minutes to do so now.

What kinds of tools are deal breakers for you?

Next time I’m going to show you how I personalise my planner.

This is part 3 in our choose the perfect planner series.

In our quest for the perfect planner, we’ve discussed…

Paper or electronic
Size of planner and of lines

Today we’re talking about space per day

Daily format

Do you like the week-at-a-glance over two pages or a page-a-day format?

My favourite is the weekly format because I do weekly planning. I find there’s just enough space to jot down my 3 - 5 Eat the Frog tasks every day. So it forces me to focus.

However, this beauty is a page a day.

That’s not a bad thing so I live with it.

Evening appointments

I also like a planner with plenty of space for evening activities. With many planners, I find that there’s such a small space for the evening and my evenings are hectic – gym, coaching, teleseminars, etc.

Other space requirements

I also like space for notes, not just appointments. So this planner has them both.

We’re almost there and by now you should have a really good idea of what works for you.

Which do you prefer – page a day or week-at-a-glance?

Keep reading for part 4 in our series.

Last time we discussed whether you’re a paper or an electronic gal.

This time let’s discuss size.

There are two parts to the size issue:

1. Planner size

Your planner has to be portable if you’re going to use it most effectively.

Decide on a comfortable size…FOR YOU… and stick to that. We all have different tolerance levels so play around with what works for you.

If your planner is HUGE, no matter how cute and functional it is, you’re not going to actually use it unless you have the muscles I wish I had!

I remember years ago I received a beautiful planner from a friend – leather bound, filofax-type thing. It had lots of cool sections for anything I could possibly want to organise and yet, it was just too big (nearly A4 size, which is the size of printer paper).

I think I used it for maybe two weeks max before I cracked. I just couldn’t lug that huge thing around.

This one fits into any of my gazillion handbags very easily because it is just smaller than A5 (half a printer page) but not as small as A6 (half of A5).

Size of lines (if the paper is lined)

I don’t have the biggest handwriting in the world but I do like the freedom of not having to squeeze my handwriting into tiny lines.

First of all, I don’t like to squint my eyes to read it, and secondly, I don’t want to have to focus attention on writing small – I just want to get it down on paper.

So don’t make the mistake of getting a small size if you have medium - big handwriting.

I also write with medium point gel pens and those just look better when you don’t have to squish up your handwriting.

Are you getting clearer on your vision for the perfect planner (for you)?

What size suits you best, and tell me about the size of your handwriting. Surely I’m not the only fussy one with medium handwriting?

It’s time to choose the perfect planner…for YOU. This is part 1 in a series on choosing the right planner/ diary/ agenda/ whatever you like to call it …for you.

I’ll be honest with you - the MINUTE I saw mine, I bought it. So it’s been patiently waiting for me about 2 months now.

This is the perfect planner for me - not because of its features but because I personalise my planner and make it EXACTLY how I like it. So many people (and I was one of them for many years) search high and low for the perfect planner. Well, it probably doesn’t exist.

But before we get to my personalisation, let me talk some more about how to choose a planner.

Are you a paper or electronic gal?

Why do you need to know this?

If you don’t, you might think you have to fall in love with a gadget like my organising buddy, Suzanne from Let’s Talk Organizing. Thank goodness she’s now embracing her paper side

Don’t feel pressured to use an electronic diary just to keep up with your friends or what people think you should use if you’re actually a paper gal.

I wish I’d had my camera at a meeting on Monday. Somebody asked a question and about half the people whipped out their fancy phones and started tapping away.

I love Outlook as much as the next person but I only use Outlook for time-based appointments like meetings and recurring appointments like gym (!).

I use a paper planner for the rest of my planning (about 95%). I like to physically write things down with a smooth-flowing gel pen and I love crossing things off and hearing that squish across the paper. Mmmm - lovely! It’s very satisfying for me because I’m such a tangible person.

That’s me. I embrace my paper-ness

Over to you. If you’re a techno-savvy, electronic gal, use your gadgets happily. Please just remember to back up your data regularly.

Please share - are you a paper or electronic person?