June 2002 Anticrastination Tip Sheet
What's the opposite of Procrastination?
THE ANTICRASTINATION TIP SHEET
A monthly Idea and Tip Sheet to
Help You Avoid the Procrastination Habit
From Rita Emmett
Author of THE PROCRASTINATOR'S HANDBOOK
June 2002
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If you are receiving this email, you are either a colleague,
client or friend of Rita Emmett (or in some mysterious way,
you ended up in her email address book.)
Feel free to spread the word. Forward this to anyone you
think might be interested in receiving short, quick tips once
a month to help you master the art of doing it now.
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about it, we will remove your name from this mailing list.
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QUOTE FOR THE MONTH:
God created company so the house would get cleaned.
--- from THE PROCRASTINATOR'S HANDBOOK by Rita Emmett
(Editor's note: Since this book was published, people all over the
world have sent "variations" on this quote. Here are a few you
might enjoy: God created company so the house would get DONE.
Others have said "so the wallpapering, the bathroom tile, the
kitchen floor, the landscaping, the basement, and the room
addition would get done." Also, "so the clutter, the papers on
the dining room table, and the stuff on the office floor would get
sorted and put away." From Japan, a woman emailed: "God
create company so husband would get going." I wonder - did
he "get going" on a project or did she kick him out??)
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WANT TO SEE RITA IN PERSON? If you live in the Chicago
area, and would like to see Rita's presentation on procrastination,
here's the info:
Date: Monday, June 24, 2002
Time: 8 till noon (registration, coffee & networking 8 till 8:45)
Program: Rita and another speaker, Jana Stanfield, will each
present a program during the 8:45 till noon time slot
RITA EMMETT: Blast Away Procrastination (8:45 - 10:15)
JANA STANFIELD: Everyday greatness
Place: Lindner Conference Center
660 E. Butterfield Road
Lombard, IL
To register & for directions: call NSA-IL
(National Speakers' Assoc. - IL Chapter)
630-971-1600
or visit website: www.NSA-IL.org
Cost: $59.00
Rita usually speaks to corporations that do not welcome
"outsiders" to attend, so this is a rare opportunity to hear
her present. She promises to include the story of how she
landed an endorsement for her book from Pulitzer Prize
Winner Frank McCourt, author of ANGELA'S ASHES, plus
quick, easy, proven strategies to break the procrastination
habit. Everyone is welcome. Bring your favorite clients, your
friends, your staff and your family.
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At the end of this tip sheet are more great ideas from our Conquer
Clutter Contest
(Yes, they are still arriving.
Yes, the contest ended last month.
Yes, these people are great at procrastinating)
but first, here is
PART THREE of our CONQUER CLUTTER CAMPAIGN:
GET RID OF THAT PAPER CLUTTER
START WITH YOUR FRIEND THE WASTEBASKET
From Chapter 8: Clutter Busting in
THE PROCRASTINATOR'S HANDBOOK by Rita Emmett
To conquer paper clutter, change your attitude about your
wastebasket. It is not an enemy who gobbles up all your important
data. It is your friend who needs to be nurtured and fed. So feed
your wastebasket.
In fact, buy several wastebaskets -- one for every area where
paper accumulates. They come in attractive colors and styles, but
don't buy little bitty dainty ones unless you have little bitty dainty
stacks of papers. Mega-paper clutter requires mega-wastebaskets.
Lots of them.
As you start streamlining your paper accumulation, you can
apply the same principles to computer clutter. You'll begin to find
it easier to put old, unnecessary E-mail, files, directories, jokes,
cartoons, and poems in the trash can. Once you accept that your
world won't end when you courageously throw out paper clutter,
you will no longer be overwhelmed, immobilized, and catapulted
into procrastination by all that reading material coming into your
life. And you will have something new to look forward to: the joy
of feeding your wastebasket.
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ELEVEN TIPS TO CONQUER PAPER CLUTTER
Another excerpt from Chapter 8: "Clutter Busting" in
THE PROCRASTINATOR'S HANDBOOK by Rita Emmett
- Feed your wastebasket
- Get rid of what you don't need
- Skim material as soon as it arrives
- Don't even skim junk mail; just toss it
- Pass on to the appropriate person any papers someone else can
handle
- Find a place for everything worth keeping and put the papers where
they belong
- Realize the world won't end if you get rid of it
- Recycle it
- Ask yourself: Do you really want to be caretaker of this paper?
- Do you really want to devote precious space to this?
- Handle each piece of paper only once
- Get rid of it
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CONQUER CLUTTER CONTEST WINNERS
Here are more great tips from our readers. Each will receive a copy
of the 2 newest tapes on the Product page of our web site
(www.RitaEmmett.com):
- CONQUER YOUR CLUTTER - a one hour interview with Carolyn
White asking Rita about all aspects of getting rid of clutter
- BLAST AWAY PROCRASTINATION - this is Rita giving a
presentation that includes humor, stories and proven strategies
to break the procrastination habit.
Plus they each receive a giant thank you from Rita, because many
of YOU wrote to say you loved those ideas. So here are
MORE BRILLIANT IDEAS FROM OUR READERS TO HELP US
CONQUER CLUTTER
Tip #1
Dear Rita,
Everyone in our Durkin family suffers from what we call
"Durkin Disease", which seems to involve clutter of all kinds,
especially papers. We spend hours shuffling through papers,
moving papers from one stack to another, and then from one
box to another.
My most successful "cure" so far has been this: Now everything
I pick up, I either put it away or throw it away. Then it's done.
Bill Durkin. Professional Speaker
Tip #2
Hi Rita,
I love the clutter tips.
My only good clutter reduction tip is to make friends with all the
veterans agencies that pick up donations every six to eight weeks
or so. Last February, I had two scheduled to arrive the same week.
For each agency, I had a "try this on and box it up if you're too fat
for it" event, focusing on one portion of my closet at a time. I'd
gained enough weight to lose at least a third of my clothing by
the time the second agency was on its way. Seeing as how I
would NEVER have a leaner closet than THAT, I decided it was
time to rescue that slowly dropping closet bar (its central support
had gone through the drywall and was now leaning on the stud)
and get some serious organizing done.
I went to the Container Store's website - they'll help you make a
closet plan online - and started to feed in my information. Only
cut myself once on the metal tape measure. I printed out what I
could and took it to the store that weekend. Come to find out, Elfa
(the company that makes all those nice closet organizer thingies)
was having a 30% off sale that weekend! I met with a planner and
got a $400 closet for $280. I won't go into the crowds, waiting,
etc. Seems there were many of us in closet panic just then.
I brought everything home, emptied the closet the next morning
and got to work. The best part was that after I pulled down the
old closet bits, there was just one rail that had to be mounted to
the wall, and everything hung off of that. It was actually a breeze!
And while replacing the stuff that lived in there, I unearthed another
boxful of goodies for the THIRD veterans charity folk!
Now there are no "stray anythings" on my lean, mean, clean
closet floor. Everyone is delighted, except the dog... who counted
on dropped clothing as a place to bury his rawhide chews. And
I'm proud to say it's STAYED that way for over six weeks!!
Carolyn Jonasen
Tip #3
James Viking Sanford, a Starlight leader in Las Vegas, told of
helping to move some friends and using a dumpster (those big
things that look like the back of a truck that construction guys
use to haul away debris when they "gut out" or demolish a house).
This gave him the idea for a tip - rent a dumpster, park it in
your driveway, and after investing all that money, you won't want
it to go to waste, so you'll use it by filling it up with all the
clutter that has accumulated at your house.
I thought he was just kidding, but Patrick Murphy, the "Irish Oakie"
down in Oklahoma City told me this story.
For his parents' wedding anniversary, his brother rented a dumpster
for them and gave them a week of his time to work on emptying their
basement of 40 years worth of accumulated "stuff". And - so Patrick
claims - his parents were delighted. Hard to believe, but he swears
the story is true.
Let me know if anyone out there actually does this some day. And of
course a set of tapes have been sent to both James and Patrick.
Tip #4
(Editor's note: Now here's a variation on James and Patrick's
tip from Susie in Minnesota.)
Dear Rita,
I was just looking through your tips on getting rid of clutter -
we cleaned out Mom's garage for Mother's Day, and we had so
much fun. I would say, "Specifically, Mom, what are you intending
to use this for?" or "If you really love this, how are you enjoying it
out here in the garage?" If she protested 3 times or more, we knew
she really wanted to keep something, but if not - we'd throw it or put
it in the donation pile. We really got lucky for about 1/2 hour,
because she had a phone call - so we were all saying, "throw it
quick - she'll never miss it!"
Thanks for all you do!!!
Susie Nelson
Tip #5
(Editor's note: We had many comments on the odd phrases used
by Robert Jordan of Ireland. He talked about "to tidy clutter" and
nailing up "a length of 2x1". One person emailed "We all call it a
1x2. Is Robert Jordan being dyslexic, backwards, or simply Irish?"
The answer is that he is all three, and he's also a good friend who
we enjoy teasing. So here's some more of Robert's unique phrasing.
You're gonna' love his ideas about "dockets, spikes and credit card
flimsies".) Here's Robert's email:
Rita, Rita, WELL DONE.
I have two tips about the office.
1. For Credit card receipts and petty cash dockets etc for out of
pocket expenses I use a spike. About 5 or six inches long. It collects
and holds all those tiny pieces of paper that blow around your
desktop or drawers. So once a month (or whenever the spike fills
up) I set aside an hour or a morning, and clear the spike, sticking
(using a glue stick) the credit card flimsies to the monthly credit
card statement, writing the out of pocket details into my "Petty
cash book" and filing these by threading them on a treasury tag
(piece of string with a stopper on the end.)
2. To encourage myself when the office clutter gets too bad, I
get one plastic rubbish bag and say "I'll fill this today". then I
sort, tidy, etc until the bag is full. Then it goes in the bin. Done.
There you go, Rita. All my secrets.
I trust you are well and that Bruce continues to grow stronger after
his surgery. Tell him, he can try a different pool every day when we
meet in Orlando!! I'm going to do that, while giving my pale white skin
a sun-tan boost.
Love y'all.
Robert Jordan, Professional Speaker ("The Rut Man")
Ireland
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Next month: In July, we celebrate the creation of our nation. We
will celebrate ways to power up our creativity for those projects
we've been MEANING to create but have procrastinated about.
Rita Emmett - Recovering Procrastinator
Author of THE PROCRASTINATOR'S HANDBOOK:
Mastering the Art of Doing It Now
PROFESSIONAL SPEAKER: Keynotes & Seminars on Increasing
Productivity & Conquering Procrastination; also strategies to
Prevent Burnout such as "While You Take Care of Others, Who
Takes Care of You?" and "Are We Having Any Fun Yet?"
http://www.RitaEmmett.com
Emmett Enterprises, Inc.
2331 Eastview Drive
Des Plaines, IL 60018
Phone: 847-699-9950
So much time, so little to do. Scratch that, reverse it!
--- Willie Wonka
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