Why oh why, have you had such a hard time getting organized? What is it about the PAST that’s made organizing a challenge?

To answer this, I came up with the acronym PAST. Why have you not been able to get organized in the PAST?

1. P stands for Personality

    a. Clutter Personality Types

• Sentimentalist “Oh, the little darling. Isn’t that cute? I saved every single drawing each of my 16 children made from preschool up through college.” A sentimentalist needs to become more selective with the mementos they choose to save. Select the very best photos or trip souvenirs. Take a picture of the rest. Remember, memories are intangible. You will remember that trip to Hawaii, you don’t need to save the napkin, key chain, etc.
• Hoarder “I might need this someday”. If your cabinets are stuffed with egg cartons, margarine tubs, and many duplicate items, you may have Hoarding tendencies. Hoarding comes from feeling like you may not have the resources to buy what you need when you’ll need it-even for the littlest item. These feelings may show up in a household that grew up poor or during a financial depression. Hoarders need to remind themselves that they can always get what they need if and when they need it. There is soooo much stuff everywhere-yard sales, antique shops, the library. You will be able to replace the item, so take the plunge and dump it.
• Procrastinator “I’ll do it tomorrow.” Procrastinators and perfectionists often go together. A Perfectionist wants to do everything perfectly. So if you haven’t thought of the perfect organizing system yet, then you don’t organize at all. Perfectionists and Procrastinators need to think about just doing 20% to start with. Tomorrow is not going to bring any more energy or perfection. Start today.
• Rebel “I don’t want to and you can’t make me!” It’s our parent’s fault right? We had to tidy up all of our lives so now we don’t want to do it anymore. Not only that, it’s an internal war! Rebels have to tell themselves, “Your parents don’t live here anymore. This is your house and you deserve to live in a nice house. The war is over, no one is MAKING you do anything you do not want to do.”

There is a major difference between sophisticated accounting software used by larger businesses for financial control purposes than is required for small business where a simple bookkeeping spreadsheet is sufficient.

Accounting software is used by accountants to enter many complex financial transactions and invariably based upon double entry bookkeeping principles. A major advantage to those companies and the finance staff is the extent to which financial information contained in the database can be queried for financial control purposes. Simple bookkeeping spreadsheets are adequate for small business.

The answer is: Always!

You have to keep working on your business to keep building your business...or it will become stagnent and die.

By doing things such as coming to the website and reading up on topics that interest you, you are already on the path to success!

But just reading is not enough. You need to put those ideas into action. When you go out with the intention of building your business you have business cards in hand, and you are going through different sales scenarios in your head...but what about those times when you are just "out" for some free time?

People decide to start a home based business for a variety of reasons. Some people want to be home when their kids get home from school. Some people are caring for a sick parent and wish to be home. Some people just can not conform to the 8-5 mold.

When you work at home, you are in charge of your time. You will decide how much time is spent talking with customers, how much time is spent marketing your business and how much time is spent doing the laundry.

It is so easy to run out to the grocery store, or do a load of laundry, or finish up those dinner dishes; however none of those activities are contributing to your business.

Networking is a way of reaching out and increasing your visibility by letting people know who you are and what you do. By effective networking, you can make it so that people remember you and what you do. As they go about their business they may find that they or someone they know may need someone of your particular talents. If you have successfully made an impression, they'll seek you out.

Why not sit down for at least 10 minutes today and create a 5 year personal development plan for yourself. Where would you like to be in five years? What do you want to have accomplished? Visualize yourself as successful and write down your passions of what it is you want to be do have in your life. Remember you can do anything the only limitations we have are the one's we place on ourselves. Most people realize that personal development is a positive step in the right direction of improving one's life in any area of your life. However many people do not take control of their lives and have no idea of what they would like to accomplish in the next five years.