Sticking to Your New Years Resolutions: Ten Tips for a More Organized Life

1. A calendar is an essential organizing tool ? start the year with one that works for you! And whether you use a paper or electronic version, using Post-it® notes as reminders will help you "stick" to your resolutions.

2. Identify a specific goal for getting or keeping in shape ? 10 minutes a day (yes, professional trainers say a small amount of time can make a big difference!) or three times a week. Share your commitment with someone else ? a professional trainer or a friend -- that also wants to exercise more.

3. Take steps to make it easier to eat healthy. Keep a shopping list of healthy food, and make sure there is always good food easily available. Whenever possible, go to restaurants that specialize in healthy food, but when you can't, order a baked potato instead of French fries. If you eat junk food for lunch, forgive yourself, and plan a healthy dinner.

4. Design a yearly plan for spending time with family and friends. Booking airline travel well in advance will save money and ensure your commitment to your plan. Plan a once-a-month event with friends. Keep a Post-it® Note list in your calendar or on your computer of the potential invitees.

5. Plan a yearly budget. Learning to controlling the way you spend your money is a lifetime investment. If you're not sure how, check out your local college for a continuing education or start reading on the subject. The longer you wait to learn, the more difficult it will be.

6. Make a commitment to volunteer your services to an organization that makes other people's lives better. One evening or Saturday a month won't take a lot of time out of your life, but can make a big difference to someone else. Make it a family activity.

7. To minimize the stress of daily family life, and make it easier to put things away when company is coming, put all like things together ? e.g., photos, bills, love letters and give- always ? and label them boldly. Post-it® provides a variety of colorful options. Store items according to where and how often you will use them.

8. Keep only those things that you know to be useful, think to be beautiful, or love. Put a box in an easily accessible place in your closet -- with the lid off, so you don't pile other things on top of it. Label it "Give Away" and donate the things you don't use to someone who needs them.

9. Establish an effective filing system at home and at work. File information according to how you will use it, not where you got it. Always keep Post-it® Notes handy, and jot down key words for filing papers as you accumulate them. This will save filing time later. Keep a File Index (a list of the names of your files) handy, so you won't make a file for "car" when you already have "auto."

10. Don't expect perfection from yourself in carrying out your New Year's resolutions. Remember you are in this for the long run. Use Post-it® notes to remind yourself of your commitments, and have the best year ever!

© Barbara Hemphill is the author of Kiplinger's Taming the Paper Tiger at Work and Taming the Paper Tiger at Home and co-author of Love It or Lose It: Living Clutter-Free Forever. The mission of Hemphill Productivity Institute is to help individuals and organizations create and sustain a productive environment so they can accomplish their work and enjoy their lives. We do this by organizing space, information, and time. We can be reached at 800-427-0237 or at www.ProductiveEnvironment.com

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table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/26655cid=1272842669ei=smgoSYvnLaCQ6AOR-_hAusg=AFQjCNHT0b-uooIUWZUYUsqMZmCLaLkQZwUndergraduate bOrganizing/b Committee: Explaining our sit-in/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fYale Daily News,nbsp;CTnbsp;-/font nobrNov 21, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1The Undergraduate bOrganizing/b Committee is grateful for the News’ coverage of our activities, but in the face of the accusations made by Kate Maltby and the b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/26653cid=1272842669ei=smgoSYvnLaCQ6AOR-_hAusg=AFQjCNG1adwc5pOonLo53Igi46cvNwoqwwMacey: Yale invests responsibly/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrYale Daily News/nobr/font/fontbrfont class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1272842669hl=ennobrall 2 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table
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table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifa href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/20/proposition-8-gay-marriage-californiacid=1271946116ei=smgoSYvnLaCQ6AOR-_hAusg=AFQjCNGZkvdGXGOVllU0IHgNqOPJV-aBfgimg src=http://news.google.com/news?imgefp=4Avnb7jy-GUJimgurl=static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2008/11/20/h8460.jpg width=80 height=48 alt= border=1brfont size=-2guardian.co.uk/font/a/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.latimes.com/news/local/politics/cal/la-me-prop8-campaign22-2008nov22,0,6496229.storycid=1271946116ei=smgoSYvnLaCQ6AOR-_hAusg=AFQjCNEUaIS23WAHuryj88T089iDlcasZwBoth sides in California#39;s Prop. 8 battle look ahead to 2010/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fLos Angeles Times,nbsp;CAnbsp;-/font nobr12 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1Regardless, backers and foes are borganizing/b supporters, waging a fierce public relations campaign and considering their next moves. b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/11/19/nurses-rally-to-support-marriage-equality-in-californiacid=1271946116ei=smgoSYvnLaCQ6AOR-_hAusg=AFQjCNH69TZkFko6AgubJOcoTgHE6JijEwNurses Rally to Support Marriage Equality in California/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrAFL-CIO/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_11016796%3Fsource%3Dmost_viewedcid=1271946116ei=smgoSYvnLaCQ6AOR-_hAusg=AFQjCNHJe-TsEosWjAs7a12BaTxkIUWvQwProp. 8 battle enters new stage/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrSan Jose Mercury News/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/11/20/18552391.phpcid=1271946116ei=smgoSYvnLaCQ6AOR-_hAusg=AFQjCNF0IN4-NYz0cZBPB-GLRH1vOX1UxAMassive Movement Erupts to Overturn Proposition 8/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrBay Area Indymedia/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1 class=pa href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://ontopmag.com/article.aspx%3Fid%3D2757%26MediaType%3D1%26Category%3D26cid=1271946116ei=smgoSYvnLaCQ6AOR-_hAusg=AFQjCNHFJx9LwHdXuVyk6Ynzrgi9K7VcZAnobrOn Top Magazine/nobr/anbsp;- a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2008/11/19/22160/cid=1271946116ei=smgoSYvnLaCQ6AOR-_hAusg=AFQjCNFjwxNmsJOza0qYyOSQbxOJBZgd5gnobrPrinceton University The Daily Princetonian/nobr/a/fontbr/font class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1271946116hl=ennobrall 1,503 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table
table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/opinion/story/679179.htmlcid=0ei=smgoSYvnLaCQ6AOR-_hAusg=AFQjCNGQ2JEdS4Yxn540aYD4DyMe1y4_vQColumnist mistaken about union borganizing/b/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fMyrtle Beach Sun News,nbsp;SCnbsp;-/font nobrNov 20, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1Companies intimidate, harass, coerce and even fire people who try to borganize/b unions. Workers are fired in a quarter of private-sector union borganizing/b b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table
table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.thestandard.com/news/2008/11/19/join-impact-and-web-part-ii-organizing-local-rallies-four-dayscid=1272631976ei=smgoSYvnLaCQ6AOR-_hAusg=AFQjCNGdr2YhaOQFTX4X3t3bMdSWFu_OmgJoin the Impact and the Web, part II: bOrganizing/b local rallies in b.../b/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fThe Industry Standard,nbsp;CAnbsp;-/font nobrNov 19, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1(Editor#39;s note: The following report is the second in a series about the massive online effort earlier this month to borganize/b protests around ballot b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.thestandard.com/news/2008/11/20/join-impact-and-web-part-iii-how-rally-attenders-got-callcid=1272631976ei=smgoSYvnLaCQ6AOR-_hAusg=AFQjCNE2ex_z8PC2pSRNSmmo-h90xD1CFwJoin the Impact and the Web, part III: Putting out the call/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrThe Industry Standard/nobr/font/fontbrfont class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1272631976hl=ennobrall 2 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table
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