Happy St. Patrick's Day! If you are Irish, I am sure you will be proudly displaying your green colors on March 17th. I am married to an Irish American and loved the people and landscape of the country of Ireland when we visited (talk about shades of green!), so will definitely be partaking in the festivities (I am referring to wearing the green colors, but maybe a taste of some delicious Guinness too!) :-)

As many of you may know, I am a member of the National Speakers Association, which is a fabulous organization for professional speakers, and speaking is one of the many ways that I am able to deliver my message and share my expertise.

I have been keeping busy conducting speaking engagements near and far. Since the beginning of the year, I have presented for Glen Arden Retirement Center, the YWCA Heels in Motion program for young women professionals, the Hudson Valley Estate Planning Council, the Westchester Enterprise Development Center, and Fried Frank Law Firm just to name a few. One of the most fun speaking engagements was being the keynote speaker at the Women's Council of Realtors, Dutchess County Chapter's meeting at the Culinary Institute of America. Not only was it a great group, but the food was amazing!

I am heading out of town in early April to attend the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) Conference in beautiful (and sunny!) San Diego. This will be my 8th NAPO Conference. I am honored to be the moderator of the Golden Circle Ask the Organizer Panel and will be doing a workshop on navigating ethical dilemmas in an organizing business for my colleagues from around the U.S. and world. I always come home from the NAPO Conference with a business action plan, fresh new ideas and inspiration, new contacts, new friendships, and a renewed sense of purpose and excitement about my business and the organizing industry in general. I look forward to sharing many of the new ideas and insights about organizing, productivity, and time management that I learn with you in future issues.

This month's feature article is all about doing a Brain Dump. Many of my clients are sharing with me how much they feel like their head is going to explode as they have so many tasks, to-do's, and information to remember. I almost always advise my clients to do a Brain Dump, and it gets great results. Check out the article, try the Brain Dump, and let me know if it helps.

Warm Regards,

   
P.S. Welcome to the new subscribers. I am thrilled that you have decided to become a member of the LMOS online community!

• March 24, 2011 - Lisa is presenting Organizing and Time Management for Today's Busy Law Firm for the Washington, DC office of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP.
• March 28, 2011 - Lisa will be presenting organizing tips from her new book The Ultimate Life Organizer at the Orangeburg Library in Rockland County, NY at 1:00 p.m.  Call (845) 359-2244 to register.
• March - October 2011 - Lisa will be the facilitator for the Westchester Enterprise Development Center's Entrepreneurial Peer Exchange Mastermind Program. She will be facilitating a monthly group meeting of new entrepreneurs to assist them with succeeding in their businesses.
• April 7, 2011 - Lisa was chosen to be the moderator of the first Golden Circle Ask the Organizer Panel at the NAPO Conference to take place in April 2011 in San Diego, CA. The panel participants are top notch and consist of veterans who are true experts in the organizing industry.
• April 8, 2011 - Lisa is presenting a session called Navigating the Ethical Dilemmas of an Organizing Business at the 2011 NAPO Conference in San Diego, CA to organizing colleagues from across the country (and world!).
• April 13, 2011 - Lisa is conducting an Ask the Organizer Day for employees of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP in Washington DC. Lawyers and support professionals will sign up for slots to meet one-on-one with Lisa to work on their organizing challenges.
• May 2011 - Lisa is eagerly awaiting the official launch of her new book, The Ultimate Life Organizer: An Interactive Guide to a Simpler, Less Stressful & More Organized Life, published by Peter Pauper Press. The book will be out in time for the Spring Cleaning season, get on the VIP list to be the first to know when the book is launched & to join the Ultimate Life Organizer Book Club!
• May 19, 2011 - Lisa will be co-presenting Using Social Media to Promote Your Business for Small Business Month at the Orange County Chamber of Commerce from 1-3 pm. Visit the Chamber website for details and registration.
• June 3, 2011 - Lisa will be the keynote speaker for the International Association of Administrative Professionals Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico on June 3, 2011. Lisa will be presenting DECIDE to be Organized: Create Your Passion, Live Your Purpose.
• June 10, 2011 - Lisa will be a panelist for Boost Your Productivity, a program jointly sponsored by the Young Professionals, Consultants, and Small Business Committees of the Orange County Chamber of Commerce. The program will take place from 8-10 am at the Chamber Office. For details and registration, visit the Chamber website.

Many of my clients suffer from what I call "mental clutter." Mental clutter can be described as all of the thoughts, ideas, tasks, to-do's, projects, and reminders that are swimming around in your brain taking up precious space (or matter, to be more accurate). This type of mental clutter gets in the way of you being able to be productive, stay focused, and enjoy a sense of peace and relaxation. Mental clutter can seriously affect your sleeping and cause insomnia. Many of my clients lately have shared that they feel so anxious at night when going to bed as they have all of this mental clutter taking up real estate in their brain and they can’t seem to turn it off.

What to do? A Brain Dump!
A Brain Dump is a great way to take all of the mental clutter in your head and get it out. It is the first step in an effective time management and project management action plan. People get caught up in what system should be used to record the Brain Dump. The system you use to do your Brain Dump should be tailored to you. The main difference is whether you want to physically write your Brain Dump (paper) or record it electronically (technology).

Old Fashioned Paper Method
Many people are strong tactile learners and, therefore, still love the feel of pen to paper. It is quick and easy, doesn't require any fancy gadgets or technology, and can be implemented anywhere. I encourage my clients that are tactile to keep a pad of paper on their nightstand and dump their brain onto it at night before they go to sleep. In the morning, you can tear off the top page (do not use a spiral pad or this gets messy), and incorporate the items into your Master Project List or Daily To-Do List depending on whether they are short term or long terms tasks. The disadvantage to pa per is that it is not easily backed-up, and can be lost.

If you keep a Master Notebook where you track all of your projects and to-do's, then consider using that for your Brain Dump so that all of your project management is in one convenient location. It's better than a bunch of post-it notes or scraps of paper!

If you want something to keep by your bed that lights up, but is still tactile with pen and paper, check out the Nite Note Nightime Notepad by Dream Essentials. The pad "lights up" when the pen is removed and "lights off" when the pen is replaced. Nite Note features a pressurized Fisher Space pen used by U.S. astronauts because it writes at any angle, even upside down. Pretty cool, huh?

Harness the Power of Technology
So many people are now using powerful smart phones that come with all of the bells and whistles. If you are using such a device, this can be an ideal place to capture your mental clutter because it is backed-up or synched, can be accessed from almost anywhere, and has an amazing amount of storage space. You can use a task feature, your calendar (make a recurring daily item called Brain Dump and put items in there so that they get carried over everyday), a memo feature, or any other type of feature that makes it easy for you to dump the mental clutter, easily access it again, and keep it organized. If you prefer to use an "app," then consider applications like Evernote, Toodledo, One Note, Treepad, etc. You can even just open a Word doc on your computer, and dump your brain into that, dating each entry to be able to find them again, or organizing entries by category.

The power of a Brain Dump is to be able to keep track of tasks, ideas, and information that you are afraid you would otherwise forget if you don’t write them down or record them somewhere. There is no right or wrong way to do a Brain Dump. Determine what type of Brain Dump recording system appeals to you, and then try it. I prom ise you it will help free up some of that precious brain matter so that you can refocus it on implementing the tasks, living your life, or relaxing your overworked brain once in awhile!