Welcome to this month’s issue of the Professional Organizers Blog Carnival! You’ll find some great ideas here to try if you’re a right-brained, creative individual, or you work with clients who are.

Debbie Stanley is a new participant this month, so please welcome her by reading her post, Gorgeous Disorder.

Returning this month, we have:

Nancy Borg – Getting To Know The Master Organizer: Your Two-sided Brain

Ellen Delap – Organizing and Creativity

Linda Samuels – The 25-Hour Day

Julie Bestry – Organizing With Post-it® Notes: Revenge of the Floozies

Janice Russell – Get Unpuzzled about Organizing

Rivka Caroline – Organizing Tips For Creative Types

Audrey Cupo – Organize Those Crafts!

Geralin Thomas – Organizing a Creative Caricature Artist

As always, I encourage you to take time to read all of the posts, leave comments, and get to know your colleagues.

Next month’s Professional Organizers Blog Carnival will be all about Clutter, and you’re welcome to submit your post any time from now up until noon EST on Monday, November 7.

Please visit Your Organizing Business to read and comment on Professional Organizers Blog Carnival for October 2011: Organizing Tips for Creative Types.

Years before I heard of professional organizers, I noticed that time management and organizing were easier for me than they were for some of the other people I knew, and wondered if I could teach these skills to others. After completing the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator^®,(MBTI^®), I learned that I was born with personality type preferences (ISTJ) that naturally tend towards systems and order.

When I explored the subject further, I learned about the organizing profession, and discovered that many were drawn to the field because they had the same or similar personality types to mine. It made sense to me that people who are naturally organized would enjoy this type of work. It soon became apparent, however, that the kinds of systems that work for us wouldn’t necessarily be effective for people for whom organization was less comfortable. They may be able to manage it for a while, but will most likely slip back into their old ways after not too long. It’s like learning to write with your non-dominant hand – you can do it if you have to because of an injury, but you’ll go back to doing what comes naturally as soon as you’re able to.

That is not to say that only people who are born with those personality type preferences can be organized – not at all! I’ve met many organizing consultants who are successful because they have a thorough understanding of what it’s like to struggle with organizational challenges, and have developed specialized strategies for overcoming those challenges which they are able to share with their clients.

As a qualified MBTI^® practitioner and the author of Organizing Your Life, Your Way, I was invited to speak to a group of professional organizers about this topic last week. When one of them asked me the best way to convert clients to their way of organizing, I explained that rather than trying to make the clients fit into their systems, they need to adapt their systems to fit their clients. There is no such thing as a “one size fits all” organizing solution!

If your client has difficulty using a detailed to-do list and schedule, look for alternatives. One person has created an adaption of David Allen’s Getting Things Done system by using a Cambridge Wirebound Notebook with Avery removable colored write-on tabs to divide the pad into several sections representing the various projects he’s using it for, e.g., job hunting, household projects, medical notes, household repairs, shopping notes, gift ideas. If he needs more room in a section, he creates another section with a write-on tab.

In each section, he keeps Daily and Project logs with the following column headings:

Date/time             Entry: log, notes, thoughts             Next to do

By identifying an immediate “next to do” action, it is easier for him to jump back on the project or task when time allows, and keeping a running log with thoughts, notes and feelings enables him to pick up where he left off. It is important for him to remember his feelings and thoughts on a particular project to keep up the momentum, since that’s how he makes his decisions and gets motivated.

He uses colored pens and markers to keep it interesting, and to break it up. The spiral allows him to rip out and redo pages when necessary, to keep the log looking neat. Rewriting his notes helps him think things through, since he considers himself an auditory / kinetic learner who has trouble visualizing and thinking without words.

This is just one example of how a traditional left-brained organizing strategy can be adapted to meet the needs of a right-brained creative individual. For more insight on this subject, order a copy of my e-book, Organizing Your Life, Your Way, or read any of the titles listed under Learning Style / Personality Type in our Bookstore for Professional Organizers.

Please visit Your Organizing Business to read and comment on Respecting Your Clients’ Uniqueness.

Do your organizing systems work well for some clients, but not others? Organizing strategies are more likely to be effective when they take your client’s personality type into account. You can therefore do your clients a great service by familiarizing yourself with the various personality types, the challenges they face in terms of organizing, and the solutions most likely to be helpful.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is one of the most reputable personality assessments available. Based on the psychological theory of Carl Jung, it has been in use since 1942, and has been updated many times to keep up with changes in language and society. As a qualified MBTI consultant, I’m pleased to offer you a number of options for learning about this fascinating and important subject.

If you live in Ontario, or will be visiting the area on Wednesday, March 24, you can catch my popular “Organizing Your Life, Your Way” presentation at the Southwestern Ontario Chapter meeting of Professional Organizers in Canada. Attendees will have the option of ordering my Organizing Your Life, Your Way e-book for a reduced price of $20.00 (including tax) instead of the regular price of $24.95 plus tax. For location and other details about this event, visit the POC website. If you’re unable to attend, you can order a copy of my e-book right here.

If you’re an auditory learner, you might appreciate a digital copy of a seminar I presented last year on The Power of Personality Type. Although the audience was virtual assistants rather than professional organizers, the principles of personality type are the same, and you’re bound to find it informative. For $19.95, you will receive:

• A 45-minute audio recording of the teleclass
• A 28-page PDF of the accompanying PowerPoint presentation
• 7 pages of bonus notes, including Organizing Profiles for the 16 personality types and a reading resource list

This is the first time this presentation has been offered as a standalone product.

You can save $10.00 by ordering a bundle which includes the Organizing Your Life, Your Way e-book AND The Power of Personality Type!

Learning about personality type and the way it influences our relationship with time and space was one of the reasons I decided to become a professional organizer in the first place, and I’m sure you will find it fascinating too.

Please visit Your Organizing Business to read and comment on Learn About Organizing for Personality Types.

One of my readers asked me the following: “I just wanted to find out from you if you were organized from the beginning? Do you believe that some people are just born organized?” In response to the first question, I’ll start with an excerpt from a speech my sister Kathy made at a party in my honour.

After working as a secretary and a career counselor, she became what our dad would say she was destined to become. A professional organizer. Why would he say this was her destiny?

Well, how many children do you know who carefully arrange their green beans in tidy rows – on their high-chair trays – before eating them, and who, years after they’ve grown to maturity, still line up french fries on their plates, in order from shortest to longest? Perhaps I exaggerate. But our dad did ask Janet recently, “Have you ever enjoyed a hot meal?”

I wasn’t aware of this tendency until I was in my 20′s, but this was still long before I considered organizing as a career. I do remember visiting a friend in her university dorm room, and she had all her shelves labelled as to what belonged on each shelf, and I thought that was pretty neat (no pun intended). In the 1980′s, I bought Bonnie McCullough’s book, Totally Organized and found it very helpful for getting my house in order, and when I went to re-read it some time later, I was pleasantly surprised to realize I had already incorporated most of the ideas into my life. I continued to read and enjoy organizing books for several years after that.

While working as a career counselor, I learned about personality type and discovered that I am a “Judging” type. In True Colors or Personality Dimensions, I’m considered a “Gold.” What this basically means is that I was born organized, and I prefer things to be orderly and scheduled. (For a more detailed explanation, I suggest you read my e-book, Organizing Your Life, Your Way!)

My short answer would therefore be “yes” some people are born organized, and I am one of those people.

However, this does not mean that if you’re not born organized that you can’t acquire the skills. In fact, I remember a very enjoyable discussion at a POC Conference about “born organizers” and “born again organizers.” A “born again organizer” is someone who has learned to become organized and now helps others to do the same.

I had the pleasure of working with a woman who lived with chronic disorganization as a result of multiple sclerosis, and she used her experience to assist others in similar situations. Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to continue with her business as her MS symptoms worsened, but she was a shining example of how someone who wasn’t born organized can become a professional organizer. Since that time, I’ve come to know many other organizing consultants who are successful because, having walked in their clients’ shoes, they have a thorough understanding of what it’s like to struggle with organizational challenges, and have developed specialized strategies for overcoming those challenges.

What about you? Are you a born organizer, or a born again organizer?

Please visit Your Organizing Business to read and comment on Were You Born Organized?.

Do you get frustrated when a client struggles with an organizing system that works perfectly well for other clients? As a professional organizer, one of the most important things you can learn is that there’s no such thing as “one size fits all” when it comes to organizing! Every person views the world through different eyes, and you need to understand your clients’ uniqueness before you can create solutions that will help them to get and stay organized.

After completing the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator^® Qualifying Program and learning about the connection between an individual’s personality type and the way he or she deals with time and space, I decided to combine my new knowledge with my longstanding passion for organizing. In addition to reading everything I could find on the subject, I conducted several surveys to learn about the typical strengths and challenges faced by the personality types, as well as the most effective organizing and time management strategies for each.

I used the information which I gathered in seminars and workshops, and while working with clients one-on-one. Now, for the first time, I’ve compiled my findings in a brand new e-book called Organizing Your Life, Your Way!

Several pages of introductory material are included for readers who are new to personality type theory, but even if you’re already familiar with the 16 personality types, you’re sure to find Organizing Your Life, Your Way a valuable resource for determining the best way to help your clients.

Your clients will thank you for developing organizing solutions that work in harmony with, instead of against, their natural preferences!

Need more information? Check out the Table of Contents to see what’s included.

I will make a few copies of Organizing Your Life, Your Way available to bloggers or journalists who are interested in writing a review. If you would like to be considered, please send me your information, including your blog URL or the name of your publication.

Please visit Your Organizing Business to read and comment on Help Your Clients to Help Themselves.

If you’ve become a professional organizer because organizing comes to you naturally, you may find yourself frustrated when some of your clients just don’t seem to “get it.” It’s so important to recognize that right-brained creative types see the world very differently than those who are left-brained, and equally important to your success as a professional organizer that you learn to adapt your strategies when you’re working with creative individuals.

Allison Carter, CPO® and owner of Organizer U, is a genius when it comes to working with “right brainies,” and she’s sharing some of her success strategies on Stephanie Callahan’s Learn from Organizing Experts. For only $25.87, you’ll receive:

• A 16 page PowerPoint ACTION GUIDE you can look at and take notes while you’re listening
• Goals Path worksheet
• Organizing Board Game Sheet
• Mind Map
• Drawn Mind Map
• The Details
• A complete recording of the 90-minute training session

The actual session will take place tomorrow, Tuesday May 19, 2009, at 11:00 Eastern time. You can take part over the phone or on the web, and if you sign up TODAY, you’ll pay only $15.45 and you’ll have the opportunity to submit a question for Allison to answer during the class.

By the way, Allison not only specializes in working with creative people in their play/work spaces, craft rooms, and whole home, but is herself a right-brainy creative who understands how hard it can be for your clients to maintain organization. Be sure to check out her organizing industry news website for additional resources to help you grow your organizing business!

Please visit Your Organizing Business to read and comment on Organizing with Creative People.