We are so excited to be celebrating a fabulous business milestone that is only happening because of you - Harmony At Last turned 5 this month! The name “Harmony At Last” actually has two meanings. It refers to our focus in helping our clients find harmony on their professional and personal journey.  It also reflects our desire to live in harmony and balance by sharing our passion with others. With heartfelt gratitude, we thank each of you for all of the joys in these last 5 years. Here’s to many more!

With our 5 year milestone came the announcement that Julie just received Golden Circle Membership.  This is a prestigious designation available to NAPO members who have worked as a professional organizer for 5 or more years and have been a NAPO member for at least one year.

We are so proud of these milestones and so grateful for the support we have received from each of you.

Thank you!

Alphabet Soup Part 1… I achieved my Certified Professional Organizer® (CPO®) designation in January 2008 from the Board of Certification for Professional Organizers (BCPO^SM). This required me to have completed over 1,500 hours of paid work experience and pass a written exam. I was excited to be one of the first to receive certification in the organizing field.

Alphabet Soup Part 2… In April 2008, I achieved my Certified Professional Organizer in Chronic Disorganization® (CPO-CD®) through the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization (NSGCD). This achievement culminated 80 hours of specialized study, training, and directed coaching in addition to passing a peer review board over an 18 month period of time.

Right about now you may be asking… so what?!?!?

I am now one of less than 10 individuals in the United States to have achieved both certifications (and I’m the only one in the state of Vermont). More importantly to my clients, though, is my continued desired to learn and develop myself professionally. I’m passionate about helping people say goodbye to chaos and hello to calm in their work, home, and life. Continuing to develop my skills adds value to my clients every day as I can share new learning and ways to approach challenges.

My clients are my inspiration and I’m thankful for each of you in allowing me to support you on your journey. Thanks!

Julie Cubino was recently featured in a Lowe’s For Pros article by Dennis McCafferty entitle “For the Record, Yes, You Should Consider Hiring a Professional Bookkeeper.”

Check it out to get tips on when to hire a bookkeeper and how to utilize them effectively!

“Fuzzy goals, fuzzy results.”- Julie Cubino

I really like this quote because too often we meander about, not sure of what we really want and yet somehow we seem surprised when we get random results.

To really achieve your goals, you need to know what you want. Some questions that can help you to refine your vision are:

* What do you want?

* Why do you want it? (ie What’s motivating you?)

* How important is it to you to achieve it?

* What actions are you willing to take to achieve it?

True motivation comes from within you. No matter how many cheerleaders you have, you need to find that personal motivation and have a belief that you can succeed.  Here are some tips to help you find your inner motivation and achieve success:

1. Know what you want. You need the clarity of what you want and what success looks like to you, in order to reach your goals. Set your intentions and you’ll be amazed at how the path starts to open up for you. Recognize where you may have been displaying intention deficit and transform it to intention abundance.

2. View roadblocks as opportunities for growth. When a challenge arises, it is an opportunity to grow, adapt, and ultimately become stronger than before. If you see a problem as unsolvable, you freeze up your creative juices to come up with a successful solution.

3. Form a mastermind group. Meet with others that have an intense desire for success and personal growth. You’ll share ideas with them, receive feedback, and get strength from their energy and enthusiasm. You’ll also be able to give encouragement and support to them as they pursue their goals.

“There is a different between interest and commitment. When you are interested in doing something, you do it when circumstances permit. When you are committed, you accept no excuses, only results.” Anonymous

A very important and sometimes very forgotten part of career growth…

“Make sure that the career ladder that you’re climbing is up against the right building.” Julie Cubino

Here’s a workplace scenario that you may be familiar with…

There is so much to-do during the workday and you can’t seem to get it all done. So you dutifully pack up your laptop and a stack of papers to bring home with you each evening. You end up some days carrying home several bags and they can get pretty heavy. Some evenings you end up getting some things done. On other evenings, the work simply lingers in the bags as the evening unfolds. You have so many other things going on in your evening that you just can’t seem to get to all the professional work you thought you would. The next morning arrives and you carry those same bags back to work. You feel guilty that the papers didn’t get touched. The to-dos weigh on your mind (and on your back as you carry them back and forth.) The cycle repeats. And repeats. And repeats.

How many bags do you carry back and forth to work? How frequently do you get to all of the work you brought home? How weighed down do you feel about the lingering to-dos in your bag? How would you rate your ability to get your work actions done efficiently?

Let’s lift the weight from your shoulders (both literally and figuratively)!

Try a simple step. In any given evening, decide what (if any) tasks that you are sure that you will complete. Be realistic. Some evenings it’s just not going to happen. (Your spouse is running late from work, you’re in charge of picking up the kids from childcare and then preparing dinner… you get the idea.) Other evening you may just choose to complete one or two tasks. Only bring those tasks home and leave the rest at work. Then make time to actually get the tasks you brought home complete. Find success in doing what you committed to yourself to do rather than failure at what you didn’t do.

Now try an even bigger step. Periodically give yourself the opportunity to leave your work at work. No bags, no papers, no to-dos. Total freedom for the evening. Does this step scare you? If you decide to give it a try, take note as to how it feels.

If you feel like delving even deeper into getting to-dos done efficiently, we’re offering a teleclass this Thursday, March 6th from 8-9pm EST.

“If it’s not fun, don’t do it.” Have you ever heard that statement before?

“No pain, no gain” is another common one.

So how do you reconcile the difference between the two? The first statement seems to tell us that we should only do things that are fun for us while the second statement says that there is some pain if we want to get ahead. The statements could seem to be polar opposites. Or not.

I have witnessed people who continue to do things that are hard and not enjoyable just “to get ahead”. Maybe they are trying to advance their career, get to-dos done, or finish an organizing project. Most certainly they are following the “pain for gain” concept. I have even caught myself in those situations at different points in life as well. In these situations, the question that must be asked is where do you want to get ahead to? What is the destination? Does one ever really arrive or is it just all about the journey? When do you get to start having fun?

What if we can have fun and enjoy ourselves even when we are doing things that are challenging? Where our energy is passionately focused on reaching our goals, individually or with a team, even if there are roadblocks along the way. Maybe we just don’t view things as painful roadblocks. Maybe they are little speed bumps instead. Maybe we can have fun along the journey and still enjoy fabulous achievements.

Maybe it’s really our perception that makes all of the difference.

It’s easy to get caught up in wanting someone to do something faster, better, smarter, etc. In those times, we have passed judgment on another that where they are today is not good enough. It takes a person of strong character to step back and appreciate that each person is on their own unique journey and is doing the best that they can. Deepak Chopra says it well…

No one is wrong.
In the eyes of Love,
All people are doing the best they can
From their own level of consciousness.

It is a lifelong process
To become patient,
And make peace with the notion
That every person
Is just where he or she
Needs to be.

So when we begin to undertake that organizing project, to focus on improving our work/life balance, or to develop new time management strategies, we will recognize that we are on a journey and have patience with ourselves as we learn new skills and develop new habits. We’ll welcome each day as an opportunity to grow and to do our best. And celebrate each other’s journey with patience and encouragement.