Author Archive
On Organization featured on onlinecollege.org
Posted by Phillip Burger in Uncategorized on November 3rd, 2009
OnlineCollege.org has chose On Organization and our Twitter feed (@onorganiation) as one of the top 100 Inspirational Twitter Feeds for College Students and the top feed for organization.
We appreciate the recognition and helping to share the good word.
What are some other good sites or feeds you like to follow for organization tips? Post in the comments or on Twitter.
Here is the original article: http://www.onlinecollege.org/2009/10/14/100-inspirational-twitter-feeds-for-college-students/
Sorry for the delay in posting
Posted by Phillip Burger in Uncategorized on September 22nd, 2009
There have been some big things happening including taking care of my daughter and moving cities, as well as multiple travels over the summer. I am going to be doing my best to get back into posting organization tips and stories on the blog, so please keep following.
Smile & Move - Inspirational Video
Posted by Phillip Burger in Opinions on May 20th, 2009
Here’s an inspiring 3-minute video I think you’ll really enjoy. It’s Sam Parker’s follow-up to his bestselling 212° the extra degree.
It’s based on the fun new motto called Smile & Move.
You and your team can use it as a reminder to stay focused on the fundamentals of being valuable at work (there are 5 ways to smile, 4 ways to move).
A great message for a challenging time, I hope you enjoy it.
Let’s smove…
Watch the video on the Smile & Move website
If you enjoyed this, please share it. See the information below to visit the Smile & Move website. (RT on Twitter)
About: Smile & Move™ can be read at www.SmileAndMove.com.
It was written by Sam Parker as a follow-up manifesto to his bestselling book, 212° the extra degree® (www.Just212.com/video).
Sam is a co-founder of Give More Media in Richmond, VA.
He blogs at www.justparker.typepad.com and tweets @justparker.
Garage Organization 101
Posted by Phillip Burger in Home, Ideas on May 19th, 2009
While it’s easy to relegate the garage to a big storage closet, it can truly be a versatile and valuable space with a little organization and the right products. If you’re keeping your garage door closed to hide the frontier of junk behind it, follow these easy steps and get on the path to garage organization:
- Keep only the essentials. The first step to achieving an organized garage is to minimize what’s in it. If you haven’t used an item in over a year, sell it, donate it or throw it out. Spring and summer time is the best time of the year for a garage sale.
- Utilize wall space. Whenever possible, take advantage of the wall space with shelves, baskets and hooks. For example, bikes take up an enormous amount of valuable floor space. Salvage it by installing hooks or try the innovative Gladiator® Claw Advance Bike Storage device for easy access to summer riding.
- Prioritize seasonal needs. Think about what you need and don’t need for the next few months. In the current season, keep frequently used items like lawn chairs and coolers in easy-to-get-to places and keep seasonal items like holiday decorations up high on a shelf.
- Research product options. Whether its cabinets, workbenches, wall systems, ball caddies, bike hooks and more, the right storage solution can help clear clutter and uncover more space.
Whether you’re a first time homeowner or an empty nester, an organized garage is a valuable garage.
For a chance to de-clutter and unveil the full potential of your garage, enter the Unveil Your Garage sweepstakes at www.GladiatorGw.com.
-Lou Ann Schafer
Senior Brand Manager, Gladiator® GarageWorks
Twitter: @gladiatorgw
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/GladiatorGW/52058828971
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gladiatorgw/
Smile & Move - A great motto for personal excellence
Posted by Phillip Burger in Opinions on May 18th, 2009
Smile & Move: a reminder to happily serve (an excerpt)
by Sam Parker
I want to be needed. You want to be needed.
We all want to matter to the world.
And the way we matter is through our service to others… by giving more.
If we want to matter and to be happy, if we want more freedom, more flexibility, more responsibility or more money, we need to give more to those we’re supposed to be serving.
We need to get over ourselves.
We need to smile & move.
To smile is to…
- Be awake, attentive, and engaged with others.
- It’s being thankful for our opportunities, for our people, and for the occasional chance we have to be in the path to serve.
- It’s being approachable and accessible to our customers, our subordinates, and our leaders.
- It’s complaining less because we all have work to accomplish.
- It’s smiling, really.
To move is to…
- Start our days early and go long more than once in a blue moon.
- It’s exceeding expectations for others and dismissing mediocrity in our work.
- It’s having a sense of urgency with our efforts, predicting and pre-sweating the details for others.
- It’s being resourceful and resilient when we fall short, making it all about results – exceptional results.
The truth is…
- You’re at my service and I’m at yours.
To enjoy more, we need to give more.
If you enjoyed this, please share it. See the information below to visit the Smile & Move website. (RT on Twitter)
About: Smile & Move™ can be read at www.SmileAndMove.com.
It was written by Sam Parker as a follow-up manifesto to his bestselling book, 212° the extra degree® (www.Just212.com/video).
Sam is a co-founder of Give More Media in Richmond, VA.
He blogs at www.justparker.typepad.com and tweets @justparker.
Myths (and realities) of home organizing shows
Posted by Phillip Burger in Home, Opinions on May 15th, 2009
From one of our guest writers Liz Jenkins, here is a posting from one of her friends about the myths and realities of home organizing shows. Just a few for examples:
1. Myth: You can get your whole house organized in a day, or even three days.
Reality: The TV shows employ the use of teams of people working 10-12 hour days to organize an entire home. In real life, it is more likely to take you a few months, depending on how cluttered your house is, how often you work on organizing it, how quickly you work, and how many family members you have helping (or hindering) you. Even with a professional organizer at your side, expect to devote a few months to the project.
2. Myth: Hiring a professional organizer means hiring a drill sergeant or design snob, who will force you to throw away your things.
Reality: There may be some demanding, snobby organizers out there, but I’ve never met one. And if you do stumble across someone and are so unlucky as to hire him or her, you have every right to fire him or her. A good professional organizer is respectful of your decisions and non-judgmental of your possessions and why you choose to keep them. He or she will never force you to part with anything you don’t want to. You are the client, which means you have the final say in what stays and what goes. Always.
… Follow the link below to read the rest of the article:
Myths (and realities) of home organizing shows…blog post by Mary Jo Monroe [a fresh space]
If you like this, please share it (RT on Twitter).
About Liz: bio, articles by her, website, blog, @afreshspace
Inspirational Posts Coming Soon…
Posted by Phillip Burger in Opinions on May 14th, 2009
Why be organized? I do it because it makes me more productive and it makes me feel better. This website is all about organization and things you can do to try to keep your life in order. I think the overall productivity piece of organization is very important as well. In addition to keeping your house clean, using these organization tips to make you more productive at work is excellent too.
I hope that these messages are always bringing positive messages to everyone because the “always be positive” aspect is important when working hard at things. I try to be positive all the time and it really helps me.
To provide some additional help with “being positive”, there will be a series of inspirational posts coming soon as well. Look under the tag inspiration to see the list.
If you like this idea, please share it. If you have inspirational stories you want to share to help keep people working towards their goals, let me know, and we can get them posted. (RT on Twitter)
On Organization Listed On FruitfulTime.com’s Top Productivity Blogs
Posted by Phillip Burger in Opinions on May 13th, 2009
What a great day for On Organization!
We were chosen to be listed on FruitfulTime.com’s list of top productivity blogs. Considering the rest of the blogs listed on the page, we are very proud. Please visit their website to thank them for this honor and to see the other blogs on the list.
Organize More Efficiently By Staying Put
Posted by Phillip Burger in Home, Ideas on May 12th, 2009
This article touches on one very simple mistake that most people make when trying to organize a room: they leave it. During the organizing process, you will invariably find something that belongs in a different room. The key to the organizing process is to put it aside, and stay in that room working. If you take the object to the other room to put it away, you have a large chance of getting distracted and not returning to the room. The message here is pretty simple:
When organizing a room, stay in it until you are done!
Use the link below to read the entire article. If you like this, please share it. (RT on Twitter)
Organize More Efficiently By Staying Put [Apartment Therapy]
Organizing for the Creative Person [Book Review]
Posted by Phillip Burger in Opinions on May 6th, 2009
Organizing For The Creative Person
Right-brain styles for conquering clutter, mastering time, and reaching your goals.
To start this review of this very helpful book, let me mention that this book is greatly valuable for right-brain (creative) and left-brain (analytical) people. Being a very left-brain person myself, I was afraid that there might not be a lot of substance to this book that would be helpful to me, but I was sorely wrong. For right-brain people, this book gives great ideas of ways to help get yourself organized. For left-brain people it explains how right-brain people are thinking, and why we sometimes think they are disorganized.
From the authors:
If disorder presents continuing problems for you, we want to give you insights into what may be causing these difficulties and offer some tools that may be helpful.
Some tips the book focuses on are:
- Ways to keep your papers so you can find them without losing them in a filing cabinet
- Ways to use your time more effectively, so you’ll have more time left for fun and creativity
- Ways to overcome procrastination
- Ways to be in better control of your life without becoming rigid
- Ways to handle criticism
Some chapter highlights
- Fulfilling your dreams - this chapter focuses on realizing what you can accomplish if you decide you want to fulfill your dreams. Becoming organized is essential to getting to the next step because it is the only way you can make sure to channel your efforts to make the most of your opportunities. Record goals, prioritize, and create a plan.
- Assessing your organizing style - this chapter helps you to understand the difference between an Arbie (RB, right-brained person) and Elbie (LB, left-brained person). Elbies tend to be tidy, methodical, and punctual - “well organized” in the standard sense. Arbies are characteristically creative, and their traits are opposite of those left-brain-dominant people. This chapter talks about understanding the different styles and shows some easy ways to determine if you and the people you know are Arbies or Elbies (this knowledge can help you understand how to approach and work with these people in the most effective way).
- Focusing in on your visions - you make the choices of what you do with your time, so take some time to think about it and decide what is important to you. What is your vision, your goals you want to accomplish? How can you use your time the best you can to achieve all you want to? Do you know the difference between “urgent” and “important”? This chapter discusses these topics in detail.
- Creative ways to schedule your work - this chapter discusses a few different ways to plan your tasks. See the whole project, break it down into steps, break the steps into activities, and schedule those activities. This chapter discusses different ways to schedule appointments and tasks, and some mind-mapping techniques.
- Launching your visions into action - this chapter discusses practical applitions of when and how to go about putting your dreams into action. How can you best use your time, how to see the whole picture, and classifying “do it now” versus “note it now and do it later”. Ideas about how to choose the best task and do it at the best time.
- … so much more. There are more than these chapters, but these are the highlights.
Each chapter ends with a great summary to help you review what was just learned and focus in on the main points.
In summary, I highly encourage anyone to read this book. It is helpful from the standpoint of being all about organization, but it also has some motivational aspects to it, and it can help you to be a better mentor, teacher, and manager because it will help you to understand how other people are thinking and organizing their lives (also, if you are an Elbie like me, it will give you that great view of what an Arbie is, and why they do what they do). You can use the link below to buy this book now.
If you like this article and/or this book, please share it and/or leave a comment. Here is a link to RT on Twitter.
Organizing For The Creative Person [Amazon.com]
