With a clear, fresh April slate ahead of us, let’s get organized!
If you were to walk into my apartment at the moment, you would see the following: coffee mugs still in the sink, piles of random papers and business cards, and too many magazines, receipts, mountains of clothing and random mismatched shoes that have found hiding places all over. It’s time to clean up and get organized. If we can live in a cleaner environment, then we can work in a cleaner environment–and think in a clutter-free space.
On a cool note, I was actually inspired to blog about this by Tamara Monosoff’s article, “Avoid Organizational Nightmares.” Her advice to get organized emphasized a few key things:
1. Protecting your electronic data. I use a Blackberry and have gotten fouled up on several occasions by not backing up my data. This weekend during my cleanup rampage, I’m going to properly install the Blackberry software on my computer and properly back up the data.
I’ve been in technical crazy land lately, and none of my equipment is working. My computer got a virus and my system was wiped–deleting all of my contacts. So now I have a computer that doesn’t even have Microsoft Office on it; I’ve been using WordPad, which is just unacceptable. So I’m trying to figure out a way to get Office on my computer but avoid the $500 expense. I’ll let you know if I come up with anything clever.
2. Organize your hard copies and your contacts. I already have a simple binder system for my Intern Queen Inc. paperwork, but I’m going to update these binders and make sure all of the corporate information is correct and up to date (I have a feeling it isn’t). As soon as I get my Microsoft Outlook up and running, I can re-enter my contact information. That might take a few decades. I refuse to type contacts in via my Blackverry–my fingers would fall off.
3. Keep one calendar. I am constantly struggling with different ways to organize my schedule. I love cute little planners, big calendar books and even my ancient wall-hanging Disney Princess calendar. But which calendar is the most effective way to keep up with a busy schedule and assure that you don’t double book yourself?
Since my day job and my Intern Queen job are separate, I don’t keep a calendar on any work computers. Since I don’t have Outlook yet on my home laptop, I don’t keep a calendar on that. I try to keep a calendar on my Blackberry, but it annoys me to type things like that into my phone…. I think I might go back to a simple “office supply-style” schedule book. I’m going to get a new one this weekend and see how that works. I’d rather write in my activities until I get my Outlook calendar set up.
So let’s all go have a great weekend and stay very organized. And remember the Awsome in April goals. I’ll report back on Monday and let you know how the Intern Queen does this weekend.
Intern Queen Favorites:
I Love Sushi on Melrose Ave. in L.A. I dined here last night with one of my best friends. We had a great time and enjoyed tasty and inexpensive sushi. I reccomend the Sunkissed roll and, if you are a fan of seaweed, try the Melrose roll. I’m a huge sushi eater and like to go to the same three sushi places over and over again.
Bloomingdale’s swimsuits. Usually Nordstrom is the only department store for me, but I happened to browse the swimsuit selection at Bloomingdale’s this week, and I have to say: very nice. I love these suits. They are a little on the pricey side, but a new swimsuit for summer is a must. My birthday party is a luau theme so I’m planning on scooping one up this week.
This entry was posted on Friday, April 4th, 2008 at 3:25 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.6 Responses to “Not Just Awesome in April, But Organized!”
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April 4th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
I love LB!
Sushi Sushi Sushi.
April 12th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
The one/two calendar tiff is what I’m struggling with, also. Especially when you have the day gig and entrepreneurism on the side.
My advice - two calendars is a must for instances such as this this. Might not be such a great idea to keep your personal affairs on the work comp. You don’t want to provoke and conflict of interests issues.
http://blog.kmelanie.com
April 18th, 2008 at 7:36 am
There is free software called Open Office (http://www.openoffice.org/) that is based on Microsoft Office. It’s very similar, and will probably be much better for you than Wordpad.
April 26th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
If you don’t want to spend the big dollars for Microsoft Office, try Open Office - it’s free! Google Docs is pretty good as well.
May 4th, 2008 at 5:00 am
Organisation is depressingly hard to accomplish and yet at the same time incredibly depressingly essential. Not sure there is really a good way around it other than to just do it.
May 19th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Love the site!
Keep it coming
http://entrepreneurandbusinessblog.blogspot.com/
Regards,
Bryan