How To Get Organized Like Flylady

So what's a flylady? Well, anyone can be a flyguy or flylady. It is a decision to Finally Love Yourself (FLY) enough to get organized! Many of us allow ourselves and those around us to live, or I should say exist, in chaos.

Continuous chaos is damaging to the soul. It is damaging to your body. And it is damaging to your spirit. In my last Hub page, I wrote about the idea of an organized and balanced life. A life that is meaningful, with purpose and peace even in the midst of chaos. It can be a reality but it requires FLYing.

But before take any flying lessons, we have to decide who's in charge. We have to become the CEO of our time. Every 15 minutes is an opportunity for success if you take charge.

For example, who is in charge of the phone when it rings? If we are and we decide to answer it, is it an "interruption" or an opportunity?

To help with this belief system, think about the concept of "Divine encounters." Every phone call, every one you talk to in person or on the phone, is a pre-ordained connection with the most valuable asset in life - relationships. Think of it - what is the best use of your time? It is connecting with people.

Maybe you don't like that idea. If you don't, that's okay. The Organizing Principle of opportunity still works. You do not have to like being "interrupted" to reap the benefits of this organizing principle.

Even if you were not born organized, you can ABSOLUTELY still have an organized life. The trick is to realize that #1 - when people call or stop by, a 15 minute connection with that person can be one of two things - frustrating or rewarding. If you choose to make it rewarding, look at your watch, understand that this person is a Divine encounter, and GIVE them 15 minutes of your time. Give to them in a caring and generous way and you WILL be blessed. It is more blessed to give than receive. Give and it will be given back to you, pressed down and running over. (Luke 6:38)

If I wanted to keep it simple, I would say the key to an organized life is connecting with real people and scheduling around that one priority. Even email is a huge barrier to success if it is viewed as interruption. The source of email is a human being, even if it is an autoresponder.

If I were writing "Organizing For Dummies," I would include this key organizing princilple: take at least 15 minutes per day to respond to new contacts - human beings who are trying to connect with you.

$$$ Joint ventures that produce tens of thousands of dollars often begin with one isolated email.

Flylady is Marla Cilley, an organizational skills specialist. She was not born organized. Those who are born that way do not understand the trials and tribulations of those of us who are born without the naturally organized gene.

Marla understands the spirit of giving generously to all who follow her writings and wisdom. She has a subscription list of over 250,000 people! And she does it for free. She does monetize her list with products for sale, but her most valuable asset, her advice, is FREE.

FLYlady.net is packed with valuable content on having the organized life, one baby step at a time. Her focus is family life but the business fly guy or fly gal can also find gems of great advice with Marla. FLY stands for "finally loving yourself." That speaks to how important it is to our body, mind and spirit to be all that we can be. That's not possible without having an organized and balanced life.

After internalizing Organizing Principle #1 (which is basically remembering to put people first, ahead of every thing else) then it's on to the second most important thing after people, and that's time.

Let's be practical! No one has all day to make continuous improvements in how organized they are. BUT, we absolutely can make incremental 15 minute improvements off and on all day. That's one of the secrets to success in the lives of men and women who are at the top of corporate America. Here's the byline of Stephanie Winston's book Organized For Success :

"Top Executives and CEOs Reveal the Organizing Principles That Helped Them Reach the Top"

When I was the CNO (Chief Nursing Officer) over all of nursing in a full service hospital, I absolutely had so much trouble getting organized until I learned one of the secrets CEOs revealed to Stephanie Winston. She interviewed dozens of top executives and discovered a pattern in their work quite different than expected. For example, they often schedule a 15 minute task or meeting. Sounds like FLYlady, right - her anti-procrastination motto is "You can do anything for just 15 minutes."