Book Review Time

Okay, this book doesn't have too much to do with organizing but I am on a health kick and this book is awesome!!! You must read it if...

• You want some new recipe ideas
• You want to learn about some new healthy foods
• You want to change your way of eating
• You want quick, simple steps to help your family be healthier
• You want to be inspired and motivated to eat "clean"

The books are called The Eat-Clean Diet and The Eat-Clean Diet for Family & Kids by Tosca Reno. My friend, Alicia, was changing the way she eats and told me about them. They are colorful, easy and fun to read AND Tosca uses such wonderful adjectives to describe clean foods through the entire book that whenever I read it my mouth was watering!

I am now drinking 3L of water every day and eating foods like freshly ground (in my coffee grinder!!) flax seed, homemade hummus, whole grains, sprouted Ezekiel bread, ground bison, yogurt cheese and much more. I am sweetening things with agave nectar not the 'poisonous' white sugar!

Okay, okay, you are right, I tend to go a little extreme...at least my kids think so! But, I am feeling great and enjoying the taste of yummy, healthy, pure foods. I shopped at Whole Foods for the first time - a tiny store in midtown Kansas City at 43rd and Main. I love small grocery stores! We do not have one up north or I would go more often. Now, I am making a recipe book on TASTE BOOK (check out their website) of all my favorite recipes for clean eating!

Let me know what you think of the book and how it inspires you! It does take some basic organizing and planning to eat right! Cheers!

Living Life with ADD

See if you can relate to any of the following:

• Do you feel overwhelmed by home and work?
• Do you find that forgetfulness and lack of planning add to our daily stress?
• Do you feel that daily life is too complicated?
• Are you often late?
• Do you find that you don't have time to relax or enjoy life?
• Is it difficult for you to reach a decision - sometimes in the smallest tasks?
• Then, compensate by avoiding making decisions or letting circumstances make the decisions for you?
• Do you tend to develop addictive patterns of stimulation seeking?
• Do you let "escape" activities interfere with responsibilities?
• Do you tend to hyperfocus and lose track of time?
• Do you live in crisis mode, reacting to the demands of circumstance?
• Do you have a home cluttered with "reminders?"
• Are you often forgetful or have difficulty remembering to do future tasks?

All of these are characteristics of an adult who struggles with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). Judith Kolberg and Kathleen Nadeau, PH.D. have written a book called ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life. It is a must read book for adults with ADD and all Professional Organizers or Coaches working with clients that struggle with ADD. The book is easy to read and provides specific organizational issues AND practical solutions. The solutions are provided in three levels:

1. Creating your own structure and support
2. Structure and support from family and friends
3. Structure and support from professionals (Professional Organizers, ADD coaches and Psychotherapists

So, you can implement the ideas immediately on your own and be guided to the support that you will need to keep on track and make changes successfully.

"SIMPLIFY" is the mantra for adults with ADD. Simplify your morning routine, your dinner menus, your laundry procedures, your kid's lunches, your closet and wardrobe options, your agenda, your information intake (newspaper, magazines, mailings...), your possessions, etc. Simplifying reduces the options available when making decisions. From there, with creative (and FUN) strategies, structure and support life changes can be made.

There is always hope for a better tomorrow. Take the first step. Read ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life and get the support you need to make some changes. Take small steps into 2009 and by the end of the year you will look back and thank yourself.

Personal Accountability

I just finished reading John G. Miller's book QBQ! The Question Behind the Question. Everyone should read this book and everyone should start applying it to their daily lives. When you read the book you will understand why that sentence is so funny.

Mr. Miller teaches us about personal accountability. He explains how the questions we ask ourselves cause us to blame, complain and procrastinate OR, if we are asking QBQ's, they help us practice life-transforming personal accountability.

On page eighteen he gives us three simple guidelines for creating a QBQ that I must share now so you can begin:

1. Begin [your question] with "What" or "How" (not "Why," "When," or "Who").
2. Contain an "I" (not "they," "them," "we," or "you").
3. Focus on action.

Lets relate this to your organization needs... You may be asking yourself, "Why can't he/she ever put things back?" Instead of that question, which places blame, you could ask yourself a QBQ like, "What can I do to better understand why it is so hard for him/her to put things back?"

Here is another example... You may have said, "Why am I such a loser? I can't even get this little project accomplished." That places blame on yourself and doesn't accomplish a thing! Instead try the QBQ method and ask this, "How can I break this project down and schedule a small amount each day?" This would be transforming! You would have an immediate focus, breaking the project down, and small goals, scheduled small steps each day, to accomplish the project.

Practicing QBQ trains your thoughts and narrows your path toward accomplishment and accountability...truly life transforming!

I will close this by asking myself, "What can I read next to make me an expert in the organizing field?" Hmmm... Organized for Success - Top Executives and CEOs Reveal the Organizing Principles That Helped Them Reach the Top by Stephanie Winston.