Seven Steps to Stop Feeling Overwhelmed
June 26, 2008
By Elizabeth Hagen
Do you look at your office or home and feel totally overwhelmed by the clutter, piles, and stuff? Do you wonder where to start? Do you want to run out in terror?!
I know what it’s like to feel like your home or office is totally out of control instead of you being in control. I know that this feeling causes stress and anxiety. And, can make you a not very nice person to live or work with!
There’s hope. I work with overwhelmed people every day and help them get focused, organized, and productive in their home and office. But, you need a plan. Studies have shown that every one minute you spend planning saves ten minutes of execution.
Step 1: Get Ready
Take out your calendar and pick the date you are going to go through your entire home or office. This will take anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours. Have a clean sheet for each room and write the name of the room down on the top of each page.
Step 2: Identify the Areas to Organize
Begin at the front door and imagine a big clock imposed on the floor. Choose where you want 12:00 and start there. Now, look around the room clockwise writing down any area that you’re tolerating or that bothers you on that room form. Before you leave each room put a * by the area that bothers you the most in each room. Go through each room in the home or office.
Step 3: Prioritize
Take a clean sheet of paper and title it “Priority Form”. Now, transfer each priority from all the room sheets onto this paper. Look at each area and decide which one you want to tackle first. You may want to pick an easy area to have a quick success story or you may want to pick a large task to get the worst out of the way right away.
Step 4: Choose a Date
Set a date to organize this area and put it in your calendar.
Step 5: Get Ready to Take Action
Look at the task that you’ve chosen to do first and decide if you’ll need any supplies. If needed, break this task down into smaller tasks and number in what order you’ll do them. Write down a reward that you’re going to give yourself when you’re done. Make it a GREAT reward!
Step 6: Do It!
The day is here and you’re ready to get started. Put on some fun music, some comfortable clothes and start organizing the area. Use my S.T.A.R.T. ™ method to get organized:
Sort
Throw
Appoint a Home
Restrict to a Container
Take Back Control
Take everything out of the area that you want to organize and START. Sort though and decide what belongs there and what doesn’t. Put the items that don’t belong there in a box and bring that away later. You need to stay focused on the area that you are working on. As you’re sorting you’ll also be throwing away items and/or putting in a box for donation or a garage sale. After you’ve sorted through everything you know that whatever is left belongs in that area. You’ve just appointed a home for those items. Now, restrict them to container if possible. Use baskets in a closet, drawer divider bins in a drawer, etc. to get ‘like’ items together into a container. Step back and look at what you’ve done! You’ve just taken control back of that area of your life and it feels great!
Step 7: Reward, Relax, and Repeat
Well done! Acknowledge yourself and enjoy what you’ve just accomplished and cross this task off your Priority Form. Be sure and enjoy your reward and when ready – tackle the next task!
It’s amazing what happens when you start to get organized in your life. You’re going to feel better about yourself, have increased self confidence, and get so much more done each day. You’ll love getting organized – I guarantee it!
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Elizabeth Hagen is a dynamic and inspiring speaker, author, and consultant who has motivated thousands to take action and get organized. She is President of ElizabethHagen.com and works with overwhelmed people to help them get more focused, more organized, more confident and more productive. Her latest book “Organize with Confidence!” is a pocket book and manual that will change your life! Subscribe to Elizabeth’s free ezine “Extraordinary Results” at http://www.Elizabethhagen.com and receive the “31 Tips to Simplify Your Life” as her gift to you.. |
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Organizing Paper Files with P.E.A.C.E.
May 29, 2008
By Marlo Nikkila
Paper is one of the biggest issues for people. There is too much of it and it is easy to get behind, often causing people to feel like they are literally drowning.
Following the P.E.A.C.E plan you will be able to reclaim your sanity for current and future paper in your life.
How does that sound?
P = Permission to let go.
Get this…80% of the paper you keep you will never refer to again!
So, you officially have permission to let go! How does that feel? A little scary?
That’s okay, because I am going to ask you to begin with the easy stuff.
Begin with the backlog of old bills, receipts, warranties, recipes, articles, and bank statements. Make sure you have your recycle bin and shredder handy. (wink)
As a quick tip, if you are overwhelmed with all the paper around your desk, turn a pile upside down and start at the bottom. More than likely these papers can be tossed.
E = Evaluate the papers you have.
Sometimes it is out of habit that we continue to file papers we no longer need. Just because there is a file for it, doesn’t mean you have to keep it. The key to evaluating paper is asking the right questions. With better questions comes easier decisions and ultimately less paper!
- Can this paper be found somewhere else?
- Is this a duplicate?
- Have I needed this information before?
- Why am I keeping this in the first place?
- Am I required to keep this? If so, how long?
- What next action is needed?
A = Act on it.
Your piles of paper probably exist because something needs to be done with individual pieces–sign, read, pay, call, research, follow-up, errand, etc.
Am I right?
The best solution is if it takes less than 2 minutes, just do it. If it is going to require more time and energy, go ahead and jot down the info onto your calendar or to-do list and recycle the piece of paper. The paper no longer needs to serve as your reminder. (More permission to let go!)
If you find that the paper really is needed, then I suggest a tickler system or an action book.
C = Contain & Categorize your papers.
The best way to find it in less than 3 minutes is to create a specific home for your papers in places (and names) that make sense to you.
Do you have a mail center to capture your incoming mail?
Is your filing cabinet in the area that you pay bills and process your paper?
Are you naming the files appropriately?
The best question to ask yourself when filing or creating a home for your paper is Where will I find it? This is a more powerful and appropriate question than the more common Where should I put it?, because the item will likely land on any open horizontal space.
So, when naming a file, if you would naturally look for your car info under Prius instead of Automobile then by all means label it that way.
It will also help if you think in terms of categories for your paper. Examples would be, financial, health, hobbies, owner-manuals, utilities, etc.
E = Electronic solutions.
There are also several ways you can take advantage of technology to reduce the amount of paper in your life.
- Receive electronic bank statements and utility bills.
- Use auto pay for utilities and other bills.
- Opt out of mailing lists-virtual and paper.
- Keep all you password and log-in information with SplashShopper ID on your PDA or desktop computer.
- Store important documents on a secured remote server.
My hope is for you to experience the freedom that comes with making P.E.A.C.E. with your paper, once and for all.
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Marlo Nikkila is The Organizing Coach. Claim your free “7 Powerful Ways to Simplify Your Life” Action Plan and receive a subscription to Let’s OrganizeTogether! e-zine. It is packed with refreshing tips and resources to create a simple and meaningful life, plus invitations to teleconferences and other opportunities. Receive your free action plan and subscription by visiting The-Organizing-Coach.com |
Marlo Nikkila
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Download Your FREE New Year’s Resolution Roadmap
January 1, 2008
Happy New Year!
I know heading into a New Year can feel exhilerating for some and overwhelming for others.
I have created a FREE report, called the Resolution Roadmap, 12 Steps to Making 2008 Great!
This is the perfect time of year to re examine your Goals and priorities and lay the foundation for creating the best year of your life.
A few words come to mind for creating your best year ever:
Clarity
Commitment
Planning
Momentum
Support
Follow Through
I conducted an extensive study of New Year’s Resolutions among respondents from the USA and 49 other countries and have compiled the Top 10 New Year’s Resolutions for 2008 as well as the top Roadblocks and how to navigate around them so you can reach your destination.
When you download this FREE Resolution Roadmap, you will also gain instant access to special Teleseminars and quick video tips to help you get off to a fast start and stay on track.
http://www.dotcompreneur.com/recommends/ResolutionRoadmap
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The Story of the Internet Business Blueprint
December 8, 2007
Ancient cultures believed numbers told a story.
The numbers — 10-16-247-23-6-24391 — tell
the story of The Nitro Blueprint System.
That’s because using this 10 step system,
Matt & Kevin of Nitro Marketing have…
Generated over $16,201,456.00 million dollars…
Successfully ran over 247 campaigns…
Worked with over 23 partners…
And done so, all in the past 6 years.
Their journey from flat broke, with their
credit cards maxed out — to successfully
running multi-million dollar Internet
businesses (until today they’ve been behind
the scenes making the “faces” of those
businesses Uber-Rich and Uber-Rock Stars
online)…has been one heck of a ride.
But then…a Cable Guy with no prior Internet
experience - or any prior business experience
of any kind - created a $24,391 a month online
business around his passion in life -
using the beta-version of the 10-Step Nitro
Blueprint System.
http://www.dotcompreneur.com/recommends/NitroBlueprint
Now, let me tell you about three more numbers:
29-2-500
What’s so special about these numbers?
Simply this: today, Friday December 7th,
Matt and Kevin are finally released the
“Secret Sauce” of Nitro Marketing - their
proven 10-Step Blueprint:
- 29 months in the making creating the home
study course version of the Nitro Blueprint
System.
- 2 Beta tester groups have put it to use over
the past 2 and a half years. (it had to
be highly tuned so that anybody could use
before they would release it)
- 500 “Fast Mover” Special Edition sets are
available that include a valuabble Bonus
DVD called:
“The Nitro Quattro Sales System”
How to create an average customer value of
$324.69 from a 6-year old *dead* $27 ebook”
The Nitro Quattro DVD is an advanced training
that shows you their proprietary sales funnel
they have developed over the past two years
that converts a $27 ebook customer into an
average of $324 in sales through an automated
process. That’s a 12 times increase in your
business when you implement this. It will
revolutionize any business it is implemented in.
Take a minute and imagine, if every person
who bought your front end product, on average,
ended up buying $324 worth of products from
you via an automated sales system. How valuable
would that be worth to you?
In addition to the comprehensive live training
DVD, you will also receive every webpage,
email and video that was used in the example
they walk you through on the DVD as well as
their own commentary on why it works the way
it does.
They are giving you the whole enchilada!
That is…if you are one of the first 500 people.
The Nitro Blueprint system is the roadmap designed to
prevent years of frustration and build a business
with “Nitro-Powered” velocity, then this
will be the most exciting invitation you will
ever receive.
This Nitro Blueprint System course leaves no
stone unturned. You will finally know exactly
what to do and how to do it. All the guesswork
is eliminated and everything is broken down
into easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions.
Only the first 500 “Limited Edition” Nitro
Blueprint courses include the Nitro
Quattro Sales Funnel DVD:
http://www.dotcompreneur.com/recommends/NitroBlueprint
Jill Koenig
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Why Becoming an Expert Can be the Best Marketing Move You Make
November 30, 2007
What’s the marketing value of becoming an expert? It’s simple: America is celebrity-crazy. Who really knows why? Whole industries have sprung up around the personal lives of actors…athletes get paid impossible salaries…news programs claw and scratch to land the best experts-celebrities in their own right-who can comment on the latest controversies.
We’re suckers for the famous.
Whether you agree with this collective celebrity adoration of ours or not, you’d probably have to agree with this: You would have a lot easier time selling your product or service if you were a well-known expert, too.
That said, how do you become an expert? Or an authority?
How do you get to the point where the media is calling you instead of the other way around? Here’s a five-step “expertizing” campaign you may want to consider. First…
1/ WRITE A BOOK
Think about it: Have you ever seen any kind of decent expert who didn’t have at least one book behind him or her?
Probably not, right? Your book serves as your biggest credential. When the question is posed, what makes an expert an expert, the answer invariably is, “Well, they’ve written a book on the subject.” So, bottom-line, a book may be the only real expert qualification you ever need.
Writing one may seem like an insurmountable task, yet it doesn’t have to be. Let’s say you can get yourself in the habit of researching and writing a couple of pages a day. In three month’s time, you’ll actually have written a 180-page book, which is about average size for non-fiction.
Of course, if you really didn’t want to write the book yourself-and you had a few bucks set aside-you could always hire a ghostwriter to do the job for you. That’s done all the time.
The real value of a book is that it’s your admission ticket to media interviews. Could you get interviewed without a book to your credit? Possibly. But it’s so much easier with one. And it is almost a prerequisite for talk radio.
2/ REPRESENT YOURSELF AS AN EXPERT TO THE MEDIA WITH PRESS RELEASES
Okay…it takes lots of thinking, research, interviews and just plain hard work to get a book done, right? And, the funny thing is, when you do all that work and write that book, you actually do become an expert.
Once you become an expert, the last thing you’ll want to do is keep it secret. You’ll want to tell the media.
So how do you do that? What’s your first step? Well, it all begins with a great press release. Press releases are what the media runs on-they’re the fuel of talk radio, TV and/or print. And a well-written one is critical in generating media interest…and in portraying yourself in the best possible light.
3/ LAND INTERVIEW ON TALK RADIO SHOWS
A good press release could lead to several radio talk show interview opportunities, and that’s great news. Talk radio is where you want to be.
The benefits of talk radio interviews, alone, could fill a book, particularly in how they can shape the way an expert is perceived. But to summarize just a few of the points…
• The large number of specialty talk shows let you pinpoint your target audience(s). • There is no travel involved. All you need is your phone (and your cell phone is fine). • Unless you’re a walking, talking sleeping pill, you should be given enough time to tell your story. • You’ll effectively be gaining the credibility of a third-party endorsement (those friendly talk show hosts, in other words).
This is definitely a base you’ll want to touch on your way to becoming an expert.
4/ THE MEDIA FOLLOWS THE MEDIA
Ever notice how you’ll see or hear an expert on one little talk show…then, suddenly, he or she will spring up everywhere? That’s because the media follows the media. Competing shows often watch or listen to each other to get ideas for their own shows.
Interviews do tend to blossom from other interviews. There is a magnifying effect. So one of the keys in being recognized as an expert is simply to start getting interviewed as soon as possible. It’s how the Chicken Soup authors (80 million copies in print) ultimately became famous.
5/ DO TV WHENEVER POSSIBLE
In a day when society is obsessed with the Internet, people still watch an average of 4 hours, 35 minutes a day of TV, which is what makes TV interviews such a powerful media. So, whenever it’s available, your “expertizing” campaign should include TV interviews.
Here’s where a great press release and that “media follows the media” principle comes in handy. It doesn’t take too many TV interviews before the collective “Hey-I-saw-you-on-TV” publicity starts cementing your status as an expert. Success story after success story bear witness to this.
Notice how four of the five above steps involve appearing on the media? That just happens to be one of the “expertizing” facts of life. You can be the greatest authority in the world on something…but if the media ignores you, your actual impact, sad to say, could be negligible.
That said, it just makes great sense to turn yourself into an expert. You don’t have to be an insufferable bore about it…just a practical businessperson. After all, the more “famous” you are, the more products or services you’ll sell. And that should be incentive enough to become an expert.
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Peter Giordano has been writing, ghostwriting and marketing for nearly twenty years now. Retained for long stretches and the recipient of many awards — and one of the few accomplished writers with design and direct response marketing experience — Giordano has an impressive track record of helping clients set new sales records. Visit his Website for more details. |
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Eben Pagan From $ 0 to $ 20 Million Per Year in Six years
November 16, 2007
Chart illustrating the first 5 years of Eben Pagan’s Business Growth
In October of 2007, hundreds of DotComPreneurs from 26 countries paid $ 10,000 to learn the strategies Eban Pagan used to create a multi million dollar empire started a few years ago from his tiny little apartment.
Eben Pagan has been working quietly for the past few years building web empires such as DoubleYourDating.com.
He has taken the guesswork out of the critical steps that DotComPreneurs need to take in order to get beyond the most common plateaus and achieve massive success.
Watch the videos and grab your copy of the home study course of the event at a fraction of the price paid by those who wisely attended the October event.
http://www.dotcompreneur.com/recommends/GetAltitude
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Alexandria Brown- How the Ezine Queen Turned Her Little Newsletter into a Million Dollar a Year Empire
October 19, 2007
When Alexandria Brown first started out on her quest to become a DotComPreneur, she could not afford $ 20 to go out for a drink with friends.
A lot has changed since then for the former copywriter. Because she has leveraged the power of Ezines or online newsletters, she now earns over $ 1 million dollars per year (and growing) and enjoys the ultimate lifestyle, living and working from her oceanfront home.
Ali Brown now devotes her products and efforts to teaching others how to maximize ezines by duplicating her proven strategies.
7 Ways an E-zine Will Grow Your Business — No Matter What You Sell !
Here are 7 ways that publishing a simple e-mail newsletter, or “e-zine,” as little as once a month, will help YOU increase sales — guaranteed.
1. An e-zine lets you grow a MAILING LIST to market to over and over again.
Direct marketing legend Dan Kennedy calls this “building your herd.” The value is not in gaining a customer. The value is increasing the size of your herd. Once you do this, it will change your life and dramatically increase your income potential. Another way of looking at it is getting as many people as possible into your “funnel”. Offering a free e-zine is one of the best ways to get people’s names and email addresses. This gets them in your funnel, so you can market to them over and over again.
2. An e-zine will SELL MORE services or products for you.
Instead of simply saying how great your business is, an e-zine lets you show how great you are by sharing your expertise through tips or success stories. (As my college journalism professor used to say, ‘Don’t just tell me, SHOW me!’) You’re avoiding simple bragging, and are instead offering useful information that proves you know your stuff.
3. Publishing an e-zine positions you as an EXPERT in your field.
By showcasing your knowledge and skills, you will attract more and better clients and customers. You don’t have to go say you’re an expert. Instead, your audience will assume it. If you’re still not comfortable with that term, think of yourself as a resource or a reporter. But experts can charge more and get paid more, get effortless media attention, and get speaking invitations around the world. So why not be seen as an expert?
4. An e-zine will STAY IN TOUCH with your clients and prospects for you, automatically, on a regular basis.
Unless you continually follow up with clients and prospects, they’ll soon forget about you. An e-zine keeps you on their ‘radar screens,’ in a non-obnoxious way. This constant contact makes these folks more likely to think of YOU — not someone they heard about yesterday — when they need to hire someone who provides your services or buy your products.
5. An e-zine will effortlessly SPREAD THE WORD about you and your business.
If you write a decent e-zine, your readers will be very likely to pass it on to friends and colleagues. Remember that old shampoo commercial that went, ‘And I told two friends, and she told two friends, and so on, and so on…’? That principle — clients passing on the word about your product or service — is called ‘viral marketing’ these days.
Most publishers begin with only a few dozen subscribers who are their clients and associates. But after several months, you can have thousands of readers on your list around the world — thanks to viral marketing mixed with some promotional legwork.
6. An e-zine is the ideal way to CAPTURE the e-mail addresses of your WEB VISITORS.
This one’s a biggie: If I visit your site today but aren’t ready to buy from you today (and there’s a 99% chance I’m not), you’ve likely lost me forever when I click away. BUT if you invite me to sign up for your free e-zine that features helpful information on the topic I came to learn more about anyway, I’ll be happy to sign up.
NOW you’ve got me to market to, over and over, as long as you continue to give me the practical content you promised. I get to learn all about your services and products while you gain my trust. This is especially powerful because statistics show that consumers don’t usually purchase a product or service until after they’ve seen 7 to 10 messages about it!
7. An e-zine is CHEAP and EASY to do — especially compared with offline marketing methods.
With an e-zine, there’s no design (unless you want there to be), no printing, and no postage costs. It costs you pennies to put together and send out. Plus, you can get the word out instantly compared with doing a traditional mailing. This is great if you are promoting teleseminars, webinars, or workshops and need to fill seats last minute.
Ready to Get Started?
We’ve got a lot of valuable and practical information to share with you.
FREE E-mail Lessons: Sign up for The E-zine Queen’s FREE award-winning weekly, “Straight Shooter Marketing,” which covers easy and low-cost marketing methods.
FREE Audio Class: Listen to The E-zine Queen’s FREE 45-minute Intro Audio Class.
Step-by-Step System: Want the entire roadmap to an e-zine that makes you money, laid out in an easy-to understand format? Then get The E-zine Queen’s award-winning “Boost Business With Your Own E-zine” system!
http://www.dotcompreneur.com/recommends/EzineQueen
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Adding Teleseminars to Explode Your Business- One Multi Million Dollar Example
October 5, 2007
Today I am excited to feature Alex Mandossian and shine the spotlight on one of his major Secrets to Success.
Let me give you a little background on Alex.
In the year 2000, Alex Mandossian was working in New York and climbing the corporate ladder. He was so successful, in fact, that he was earning $ 300,000 per year. Knowing that, you would think he had the world at his fingertips and everything he could ever want, right?
That was not the case.
In fact, after September 11th, the climate of advertising and all business in New York went into a tailspin and so did Alex’s corporate salary. In fact, his work hours were increasing and his success came at a very high price.
Alex was successful at his New York job, but he wasn’t passionate about it and he certainly wasn’t passionate about the long hours.
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7 Tips for Building a Powerful Online Presence
October 4, 2007
- Engage your site visitors—make your site both interactive and informative. Give people something to do when they come to your site and give them a reason to come back. Creating an internet talk radio show is a perfect example! You could also offer a free quiz or an online poll (check out our sidebar).
- Develop a social marketing plan. There are literally hundreds of social networking sites on the web, but if you spend too much time trying to actively participate in more communities than you can comfortably handle, you’ll probably end up spreading yourself too thin and wasting a lot of valuable time. Instead, set realistic goals for each community you participate in and concentrate your efforts until that goal is met before moving on to the next goal. For example, your goal could be to reach 1000 friends on MySpace in the next 30 days. To reach this goal, your plan could include spending 30 minutes per day sending out friend requests. Read more
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Study The Very Best
September 28, 2007
If you want to become the very best at anything, you must study the very best.For example, if you want to build a massively successful blog, study the very best blogs in the world. One great resource to study the Top Blogs is Mequoda’s Top 100 list.
When browsing the list, you’ll find that every conceivable subject is represented, from Newspapers to Magazines from Tech to Celebrity Gossip.
In fact, consistently ranked at the very top of the leader board are TMZ and Perez Hilton, two powerhouse Celebrity Gossip blogs.
Both blogs have even found a way to parlay their online success into real world television shows.
http://daily.mequoda.com/top100/top100.html
The fastest way to shortcut your success is to find an existing successful example that resonates with you, your purpose, your mission, your vision and then model it.
Regardless of your subject matter, if you are trying to build a better blog, the Mequoda top 100 will give you incredible insight and examples you can model for success in your niche.
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