A spider built a web outside my kitchen window last night.  This afternoon I watched with utter curiosity as a beetle made the mistake of flying into the web.  The spider sprang into action and furiously began working to wrap the beetle up.  I looked on in amazement, not at how quick and agile the spider was, but at the beetle.  He was squirming around, moving all of his legs, trying to flap his wings, making it as difficult as possible for the spider.  I kept thinking, does he know the spider is wrapping him up?  Does he know the spider will win?  The beetle did not seem to feel he had lost anything yet; he kept fighting. 

The beetle did eventually win, at least in my mind.  He fought so hard, the spider could not make the web strong enough, fast enough, and the beetle fell to the ground.  He scurried off as quickly as he could while trying to rub off the sticky web.  It really made me wonder how many times in life I have given up because of a presumed inferiority.  I like to think I am more like the beetle; a fighter.  However, I know there are times when all of us see something as too difficult and give up without a fight.  It’s a good thing that beetle did not share my misconceptions about the spider, he may have been dinner!

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!

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.

“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.

In part 1 of this series, I discussed overcoming self-limiting beliefs with the use of affirmations.

When I first talk with a new client, I am very interested in understanding their goals. I typically ask questions such as, “What are your goals for our work together?”, “When the project is complete, what will your space look like and what will it feel like to be in it?”, and “How will we know that we successfully completed this project?”

All too often, I get answers to these questions stated in the negative context…

* I don’t want to be overwhelmed.

* It won’t look like a tornado just came through.

* I don’t want to be spending so much time dealing with the clutter.

* I won’t be arguing with my boss all of the time.

My response is always the same. “That describes what you don’t want, now tell me what you want.” The client then creates his/her responses in a positive light and I now hear statements of “I want to feel peaceful in my office.”

The positive statements are much more helpful in reaching one’s goals. We can then focus on what is desired as opposed to what is not desired. The energy around the project changes and we can really rally around the wonderful benefits that will be achieved.

Next time you are asked a question about your goals, describe what you want!

Is negative self-talk getting in the way of you accomplishing your goals? Do you even realize when you are bombarding yourself with this kind of talk? Negative self-talk can take the form of any statements which tend to hold you back, put you down, or otherwise keep you from achieving what you want in life. For example, you may have heard someone say (or maybe caught yourself saying) things such as:

* All businesses are struggling like this one.

* I’ll never get this right.

* No matter what I do, I always mess things up.

* I’m horrible at …

* No one likes me.

* I’m a hopeless case.

Many times these types of self-limiting beliefs are so ingrained in your pattern of thinking that you don’t even recognize that you are saying them.

To get past this type of self-talk, the use of affirmations can be very helpful. An affirmation is a statement of a goal that has been achieved. For example, overcoming of the negative belief that “All businesses are struggling like this one”, you may create the affirmation, “I am celebrating the success of my business with having grown revenue 15% this year”. You can read your affirmations several times during the day (preferably out loud), visualize yourself as having achieved your goal, and even post the statements around your home or office.

If you are interested in learning more about affirmations as well as other success techniques, I highly recommend Jack Canfield’s and Janet Seitzer’s book, “The Success Principles”. They have an excellent section related to affirmations in Principle 10.

It’s time to overcome the self-limiting beliefs and create the life you want. Affirmations are a great way to start today!

A parable describing what happens all too often in the workplace is listed below (not sure who the original author is)… The questions for you to ponder is when there is a task to be done, whose responsibility is it to do it? Does the person know that they’re responsible for it? Has the person actually committed to do it? How will completion be tracked? This is not an exercise in creating a overly laborious structure for getting things done. It is an exercise in communication, taking the initiative, verifying assumptions, and ensuring that the entire team is on the same page.

Whose Job Is It?

This is a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was asked to do it. Everybody was sure Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody though Anybody could do it but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

Please note, the previous parts to this series can be found here: Part 1 & Part 2

“Is There Really a Human Race?” is a great question and one that Jamie Lee Curtis and Laura Cornell explore in there fantastic book by the same name. When I first stumbled across this book at the bookstore with my children, the title caught my eye. I was intrigued at this “adult” question packaged in a colorful children’s book.

Why do we run this race each day? The term “rat race” comes to mind and it’s not a vision that’s very appealing. I’d like to consider myself not to be a rat so participating in a “rat race” doesn’t seem like much fun. If I were a rat on my way to winning a delicious meal of cheese I might be convinced to participate but… I digress! When we spend the day running… to childcare drop-off, to work, to a never-ending day of meetings, to child care pick-up, to make dinner, to get the kids to bed, to pick up the house, to do more work, to flop into bed exhausted, to do it all over again… what are we accomplishing? Asked in a different way, what are we missing?

In our haste, we may have missed love, laughter, and life.

Curtis and Cornell question the race with insights such as: “Is it a sprint? A dash to the end? Am I aware of the time that I spend? And why do I do it, this zillion-yard dash? If we don’t help each other, we’re all going to CRASH.”

Just for a moment, let’s reflect on our past few days and on our work / life balance. How much racing did we do? How much of it sped by in a blur? What were the treasured moments? How can we get more of these precious times?

When communicating with someone, it is easy to hear them. It is a much more evolved person who can truly listen.

When we simply hear someone, we are receiving the words they’re speaking. At the same time, we may be formulating our response or having our mind wander to a totally different topic altogether. Or we too focused on delivering our own message that we don’t leave an opportunity in the conversation for the other person to say much of anything. Or the questions we ask are an “either/ or” in nature (ie “Do you like red or blue?”) and limit the answer rather than giving the other person the opportunity to respond to an open-ended question (ie “What is your favorite color?”)

Listening is an art form and developing that skill allows for a depth of personal and business relationships that you can’t achieve otherwise. When we listen, we receive the complete message, are receptive to body language and tone of voice, and detect that which is unspoken. We may also ask for clarification using open-end questions and focus on understanding the other person’s perspective. We are pausing after the other person finishes speaking and asking a polite “anything else?” question instead of jumping right in with our own agenda. We are comfortable with silence.

If we want to develop our listening and communication skills, there are a few techniques that we can put into practice immediately.

(1) Leave an opportunity for others to share their opinions without you telling them what to do and what to think. Ask an open ended question such as “what are your goals for this project?” and then stop. Let the other person speak.

(2) Maintain eye contact, nod at appropriate times, take notes when needed, watch for body language cues.

(3) When the person stops, consider counting to five in your head before you even begin to speak. (This is especially important on the phone because you do not have visual cues to guide you.)

(4) Consider reflecting on their points with a statement such as “If I understand you correctly, you want… Is that correct?”

(5) For those of us who really like to jump in and have a challenge with silence, consider holding a squishy ball (or other non-distracting tactile object) and giving it a squeeze when you need to remind yourself to hold on and listen instead of jumping in.

A valuable quote (source unknown) regarding this listening art is:

“Listen a hundred times. Ponder a thousand times. Speak Once.”