The Basics of Organizing
By paul | August 25, 2007
What is the secret to organization? Below are the four pillars of organizing.
- Handle it
- File it
- Delegate it
- or Throw it away
That’s it. Please see my article on organizing for more details.
On the Hunt for a Home Office Companion…
By Jeff Zbar | May 12, 2009
Three weeks ago, Riley - our nutty, crazed, 7-year-old Kerry blue terrier — died.
Yesterday, I committed to a breeder to buy another KBT.
This time, a female. A puppy. An untrained, 3-month-old bundle of unfocused energy and a thimble-sized bladder that will need emptying (hopefully in the yard) with consistency tending on insanity — or I’ll have to keep paper towels close at hand.
I sense it all slipping away — focus, organization, productivity.
And I volunteered for this job?!
Anyone who’s trained a puppy knows the chaos that awaits. Wake in the morning to an otherwise sleeping household, and its ears perk and it’s ready to play. “Free me from this crate” they say.
And you must comply. For if you don’t the whining will commence, the household will awaken, and you’ll end up freeing the animal anyway — only now, with a houseful of angry humans.
So beginning in about three weeks, we’ll start the training. And the frustration. And the piddle on the floor. And the poop in the corner.
And we’ll know that in three to four months of focused training, it all will come to an end. We’ll have a well trained puppy.
And I’ll have a new companion in my home office.
Stay tuned. And send paper towels, if you have some…
Topics: Personal Organizing | No Comments »
What to do on Mother’s Day in the Home Office?
By Jeff Zbar | May 10, 2009
What a conundrum…
If you’re an overworking work-at-home dad, it’s time to power down the PC, make some breakfast and coffee and focus on the woman in your life.
If you’re a work-at-home mom, it’s a great morning to tell the fam to make it a special morning (and to drag you away from your laptop and spend some time with the family).
Some tips for all:
- Pack a lunch and plan a day to some local site or place of interest - the park, the beach, the mountains (depending on your locale).
- Turn off the phones, rent some movies (chick flicks - defined by whatever your ‘chick’ likes to watch), draw the blinds, pop some popcorn, and do NOTHING but watch movies all day.
- Give her the hall pass to call the shots and do what she’d like to do today (a novel idea for any mom out there).
- Blog, Facebook or Tweet about her greatness as a mom. This is no time for humility.
Most importantly, enjoy the morning. Now, it’s time for me to get back to my wife before her Hall Pass is to banish her overworking hubby to the doghouse.
Topics: Personal Organizing | No Comments »
Work at Home? Where’s Your Home Office Today…?
By Jeff Zbar | May 4, 2009
I work at home. From a bona fide, tax-deductible and dedicated home office tucked into an erstwhile bedroom, where the closet is used exclusively for office supplies, books, folders, tech-stuff, a file cabinet (similarly used exclusively for, um, files related exclusively to work).
My desk is for business. My computer is for business. My two-line phone with my Plantronics headset both are for business.
Yep. This place passes the IRS’s litmus test for use “dedicated and exclusive” to the pursuit of business.
But I also work from my bed.
And the kitchen table.
And the softball diamond and hockey rink with my wi-fi laptop or simply my BlackBerry Pearl in hand.
Where is YOUR home office today? Read full entry »
Topics: Home-Office | No Comments »
Dogs & Cats & Fish, Oh My! Pets in the Home & Home Office
By Jeff Zbar | May 3, 2009
If you’re a dog or cat owner, how important is your pet to the social fabric of your home or home office?
Does it add anything significant, or is it a requisite accessory to the Urban or Suburban milieu? Is it someone whom you care deeply for, or something you feed, bathe, tend to and drop $100 or so each year in vet visits?
Is it a companion for your home office, telework or small business experience (not to mention your and your family’s lives) or just a freeloader? Read full entry »
Topics: Personal Organizing | No Comments »
Got a Mess in Your Home or Home Office? Put a Label On It
By Jeff Zbar | May 1, 2009
Kids’ projects and corporate files. Home-related documents and client projects.
So much paper and folders in the home and home office — so little organization.
Keeping track of all the stuff in the home office takes organizational finesse. It’s especially true if you have a home office for your home-based business or even your telework / telecommuting job.
Between the files and docs related to running the household, and those required to run a business, stuff gets cluttered.
The solution: File folders and a label maker. Read full entry »
Topics: Home Organization, Home-Office, Personal Organizing | No Comments »
What’s Saturday Mean to You?
By Jeff Zbar | April 25, 2009
I’m in my home office working on a Saturday morning. The sun still is low, and the family still is asleep.
But it’s quiet, and I’m able to get much done with little distraction.
The Sabbath. The day of rest. NOT the work week. Call Saturday what you will. But it’s a great day for getting stuff done - if you maximize its effectiveness and strive not to let this productive time creep into family time.
Here’s how I make Saturday anything but a day of rest… Read full entry »
Topics: Home Organization | No Comments »
Suffering Fools in the Home Office in 3 Easy Steps
By Jeff Zbar | April 3, 2009
Dogs, kids (x3), neighbors, neighbors’ dogs (x3), laundry machines, vacuum cleaners, TVs, stereos…
The home office can be one foolish place. And it doesn’t even have to be April 1st.
How do you conquer the chaos?
Simple: Tell them, “Leave Me Alone.” Read full entry »
Topics: Home-Office, Time Management | No Comments »
What’s An ‘Organized’ Monday Mean to You…?
By Jeff Zbar | March 29, 2009
It’s Sunday, and we were hanging out with some friends, when the dad said, “I really like Monday mornings.”
He’s an entrepreneur in his family’s successful business. And it was refreshing to hear a person say they dig Monday, as opposed to bemoan it.
Whether at home or the home office, the corporate office or the household, Monday can mean different things to different people. I have mixed emotions. The struggle to organize the office, maintain efficiency, boost productivity, and generally stay focused amid all the distractions is a pervasive situation. Read full entry »
Topics: Clutter Control, Family Life | 1 Comment »
Orange, Blue, Garnet, Gold: Rival Colleges in a House Divided
By Jeff Zbar | March 25, 2009
I work from home, which means I have all day to schedule details related to the lives of the home’s occupants.
And seeing as my daughter is 17, a high school junior, and is singularly focused on college matriculation around a corner that’s almost 18 months away, my job has become scheduling school visits and tours.
One of those visits is to a campus that I NEVER thought I’d see myself — or any Zbar, for that matter — stepping foot upon as long as my blood ran orange and blue: Florida State University.
But in tight economic times, we do what we must. Kids’ college accounts have whithered on the vine, leaving families once singularly focused on out-of-state schools, even Ivys, looking in-state by necessity. We always were a Florida-bound family. But the stakes just grew high and tight. Read full entry »
Topics: Family Life | No Comments »
Recession Proof Home Office? Don’t You Wish…?
By Jeff Zbar | March 9, 2009
I had a friend who once said during the wild times that were the Dotcom ’90s that running a home-based business was recession proof. She reckoned that home officers and the businesses they ran from home were so small that we flew beneath the damaging flack of some macro-economic trend.
Yeah, I wish.
We all do, right about now.
The best you can hope for is to plan, prepare, and persevere. Read full entry »
Topics: Home-Office | No Comments »