3 Questions before you buy (or trade or build)

1. Can I visualize it in my space? If you can’t see where it would live, then it probably shouldn’t come home with you.

I have plenty of room on top of my desk for the 10″x5″x5″ box and I can visualize it to the left of my monitor. Currently, there is just a tangle of cables that are driving me crazy, looking at the white box would be welcome upgrade.

Cord-madness

2. Will it ease my suffering? If you can’t gauge how (specifically) it will help you do something faster or make something easier, then it’s probably an impulse buy.

Since organizing is my, um- livelihood, this desktop cable problem is making me crazy. It distracts me from my work and does not reflect well on my personal organizing skills. Solving this problem will make a huge difference in how I feel in my workspace.

Tangle-town.

3. Is it in my budget? The most expensive solution is not always the most beneficial. Many a problem has been solved with a binder clip.

Pretty much everything in my office came from home, was bartered for, or was sourced from Film Biz Recycling so I feel pretty good about investing in this new product. It was on sale so it set me back $24.99. That’s more than I would normally spend on one product, but this is a very specific item that is intended to solve a specific problem.

So I took the plunge and here is the improved state of my desk:

Hide your cables, not your feelings.

If you have a similar problem, you can check out the CableBox. Also, Ikea just came out with a new and lovely looking line of office organizers called the Kvissle Series. They also have a cable box with a modern, natural look:

Ikea does it again for $9.99.

I call the items that live on these two polar ends of the spectrum:

Encouragers- items that lift you up and remind you of the good in what you’re doing.

and

Discouragers- items that are distracting, depressing or non-functioning.

I recently received an encourager via snail mail. It was in the form of a post-it that had been tagged onto a check.  I immediately popped it onto the bulletin board that lines the wall behind my monitor above my desk. As I did this, I realized that I was hyper-conscious of what I was doing. My internal monologue went, “Wow, what a nice note. Ah! This is an encourager, I must put this somewhere I can see it.” Granted, it wasn’t the most poetic monologue, but that state of hyper-consciousness was really

exhibit a: an encourager

interesting to me. It signified the difference between a mindful choice to modify my workspace and a mindless action of opening, reading and then either tossing or filing the note.

It is very satisfying when the mindful choice is the also the first choice. When I work with clients to help them create highly functional spaces, we focus a lot on creating mindful environments. Every choice is deliberate and reflects a functional goal. Posting a supportive note from a client is highly functional. No, it doesn’t sort my mail or corral my push pins, but it does remind me of why I do the work I do and that my clients actually get something out of it. This, in turn, keeps me inspired and focused. What could be more functional than that?

As you look at your primary workspace, take a moment to reflect on the mindful choices you’ve made to support your work. If you don’t see any, (or don’t see enough) make a few changes, add an encourager. If you look around and see broken tech equipment, or reminders of projects that didn’t pan out to your liking, get rid of them. Building a workspace that fuels you is within your control, and can be accomplished starting with something as simple as a post-it.

Please join us on March 16th at 1pm in front of the gift shop.

2900 Southern Boulevard, Bronx, NY

More details, and rspv info can be found at our MeetUp page.

from last year's trip

The drastic resolution

• I’m going raw!
• I’ll jog everyday first thing in the morning!
• I’m going to learn a language!

The negative resolution

• No more cheese!
• No more relationships with mean people!
• No more buying shoes!

The self-care / positive self-image resolution

• I’ll do more yoga
• I’ll meditate 3 times a week
• I’ll knit a scarf for everyone in my life who makes me feel good about myself

The altruistic resolution

• I’ll volunteer more (or at all)
• I’ll donate more money to causes
• I’ll buy less

There is nothing essentially wrong with any of these resolutions, unless you actually want to stick to any of them. The first few are specific but unreasonable. Going from zero to one hundred is not recommended by people like myself who believe in gentle, achievable goals. On the latter end they get more vague but also more hopeful, the loving spin provides a buoyant motivation, but without specificity it’s impossible to hold oneself accountable or to actually translate the motivation to action.

A new year’s resolution is really just a goal in sheep’s clothing. And a goal is something that needs to be carefully crafted in order to be useful. I suppose the reason I’m not into resolutions is because they serve as an excuse for people everywhere to shoot off badly crafted goals for the purpose of improving their lives. A badly crafted goal does more harm than good. It sets you up to fail- and then you are saddled with both the reality that you didn’t achieve it and the sensation of feeling like a failure. There is no funk like the “I really let myself down” funk, which can spiral into the “I suck” funk, which is next door to the “I’ll never accomplish anything” funk. This is not nice neighborhood, I suggest you avoid it at all costs.

So what do you do? Well, I’m in the goal setting business. I help people craft realistic goals, and then we attach them to realistic time-lines that jive with their real-life responsibilities and energy levels. This is a complicated but exciting process that results in action and momentum. So I suppose you could call me and we could do this together. But I digress, what I really want to talk about is an alternative to new year’s resolutions!

And to that I do have an answer you can take away with you right here, right now!

I give you…

THEMES!

Ok, it sounded more exciting in my head. Themes are not goals. Themes are ideas that recur in or pervade anything from a work of art to a restaurant. So instead of a new year’s resolution, howabout choosing a new year’s theme? For example:

Possible themes for 2012

• generosity
• self care
• family
• professional development
• travel

Post your theme somewhere visible to you and use it as a filter throughout the year to help you make decisions. “Should I donate money to my friend’s Kickstarter campaign for their new film?” you might ask. To which you would respond, “Yes! The theme of this year is generosity, I will give them what I can afford- every bit helps.”

You can’t fail at a theme, and chances are you already do things that are related to your theme. So, whether you try really hard or not you may have moments where you accidentally succeed at your theme. That is the opposite of failing. For example, if your theme is self care and one night you leave a party early to get a good night’s sleep…surprise!!! You’re living your theme! Magic.

We began at the Mirror Carousel, swirling around at a turtle’s pace which allowed us to really take in the Singing Canaries Mobile (yes, real birds- hung Alexander Calder style) and the line of people waiting to get on the slide. The slow rotation of the carousel encouraged conversation as well as observation.

Next, we got in line for the slide. That’s right, the slide. A two-story slide built into/through the floors of the museum providing a fast, adult-sized ride. Great photos of this here. You get a small rectangular blanket with a pocket for your feet, don a helmet and away you go, erupting (to applause, in my case) with a soft bump onto a cushion on the second floor. I yodeled my way down the tube that was half-clear, half stainless steel and immediately wanted to go back upstairs for a second run.

heading down the slide

My second run was put on hold as soon as we discovered  the Aquarium, where you could recline on your back and insert your head into an aquarium full of fish. A brilliant design that allows you to breath comfortably while looking at the underbellies of aquatic life.

breathing underwater, sort of

underbellies

From here we continued our exploration up a back stairway that revealed a number of other mini-exhibits and finally made our way downstairs to the Giant Triple Mushrooms.

giant mushroom in threes

We closed the trip with some delicious cookies and hot chocolate in the museum cafe and were able to take advantage of my favorite part of the Field Trip experience, getting to know new folks and talking about what we do.

In this first example we put some of the existing empty bins to use and took advantage of the coat hooks already installed on the right side. By attaching zip ties to the ends of some frequently used tools we hung them up to keep them handy. Once the tools were organized and condensed, they opened up a lot of space to move in items from other areas. We only added some shelf risers ($5.99-11.99).

We removed the wire shelf that had the clothing rod attached completely and replaced it with an $10 rod. By moving the shoe storage unit down to the floor we were able to make space for a second shelf. We avoided buying a new shelf by using the front slat of the original shelf (which was just three planks of wood resting on braces) and installing it as a second (more shallow) shelf on top.

First, the exhibit we came to check out was really amazing. Maybe I shouldn’t call that a surprise, but with exhibits, you never know. The last exhibit I went to that was this well curated was the quilt exhibit last year at the Armory. I digress.  Cecil Beaton, The New York Years was beautifully presented, colorful, and informative on every level. The exhibit really reflected both the artist’s genius and his variety. One particular section was devoted to his flair for self-promotion, where he came off as a man way ahead of his time- since he was sharing his thoughts, diaries and biting commentary with the masses way before the dawn of social networks and blogs. As you can see the walls were covered in wall-paper using his own designs. The exhibit was airy and whimsical, and a joy to meander through.

Cecil Beaton Exhibit

The second surprise was found upstairs at “Timescapes, A Multimedia Portrait of New York.” This 20 minute film on three screens was so engrossing that we all agreed it would be worth a second viewing. Tracing the history of the city from it’s settlement by native peoples on up through the latest waves of immigration, it was a moving (literally and emotionally) journey that shed light on everything from our transit system to our parades. Granted I cry watching Antiques Roadshow, but I was heartily moved by this sweeping mini-doc, and came away with (if it’s even possible) more love and compassion for these 300 square miles than when I walked in.

The third surprise was the little red ticket they gave us when we bought our admission that was good for 1 free ice cream sandwich in the cafe! A simple gesture but the result was that we all went downstairs and had a great chat over ice cream and took some time to discuss what we had seen.

The only low point of this trip occurred after the fact when I learned we missed a few people when we met up and they weren’t able to join the group. As this has never happened before I will troubleshoot for next time. I’m thinking T-shirts, name tags and possibly breaking out my green umbrella!

Across the street in the park before heading in.

Outside at dusk.

A beautiful building for a brilliant museum.

SHARPIES AND TAGS

a perfect marriage!

also check out Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 and Part 4!

GLISS CONTAINERS from IKEA

in the bathroom for hair clips and samples

for useful, little things around the house

also check out Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3!

PORTABLE WIPE-OFF BOARD

Capturing thoughts and ideas all around town.

also check out Part 1, and Part 2!