I’d like to remind everyone that the beautiful and brilliant Jen Hofmann of Inspired Home Office will be my special guest on tomorrow’s free teleclass.
Jen is an expert on office space and organizing, but what she does is much deeper than simply helping people color-code their files or suggesting a layout for their office furniture (though I can personally attest that her suggestions to me on both those topics have been enormously helpful in my working life!).
Working with Jen has given me a new appreciation for the effect that my workspace has on my work… and that translates into my whole life. My whole house. The space I carry with me each day.
Ever since I first came up with the Small-Business Tree, I’ve known that physical things like office furniture could be important roots (life-support systems, sustaining factors) for a home-based business. As I’ve worked with Jen to explore how my own brain works best, I’ve come to see that the alignment between physical space and core values is crucial.
Which leads to the question of the week:
What about my virtual office space?
We’ve all got email inboxes and files stored on our computers. Many of us are overwhelmed by the number and complexity of the messages and files we are “supposed to” read and keep track of each day. And there are tons of guides out there for “taming” “managing” and “conquering” your email and your file organization.
I don’t have a one-size-fits-all seven-steps-to-a-clean-desktop system to sell you. Even if I did, it would only work for those of you whose brains work pretty much like mine does — the rest of you would be bitterly disappointed.
That’s the genius of working with Jen. She’s got principles that apply to everyone, but the specific methods each one of us will use to align ourselves with our workspace and organizational system will be different, because each one of us is unique.
And isn’t it interesting how different you feel when you say things like “align” and “bring into harmony” and “depend on” instead of “tame,” “conquer,” or “zap”? It’s not just language, not just semantics. Our choice of words matters.
That’s why I think it’s genius that Jen’s new offering is called Jen and Charlie’s Work Party (yes, she’s pairing up with another of my most favorite people ever, Charlie Gilkey — it’s going to be beyond awesome)! It’s a party! It’s fun! And the name A Course in Compassion for Clutter is brilliant — you know right away whether it feels right for you.
Learning to look at your email inbox a new way, or realizing that you don’t have to organize your file folders the way you were taught or the way everyone else does it, is enormously freeing. Finding a way that works for you is a deep and true affirmation of your core values.
And that’s what tomorrow’s call is all about. I can’t promise a quick-fix solution to your overflowing inbox, or an easy way to find those missing files. I know we’ll be talking about technology and organization, about email and files and websites, and I’m certain that Jen will bring a new perspective, true compassion, and her full and generous heart to the conversation.
Oh, and did I mention that Jen has one of the most beautiful, soothing voices on the planet? It will be worth it to dial in just to hear her talk, I swear.
Plus we’re guaranteed to laugh and have fun. I’m honored to call Jen a friend, and I can’t wait to join her tomorrow!
Join us, won’t you?