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The Benefits of Personality Testing

February 23, 2018 by Heather Filed Under: Art, Art & Design, Inspiration & Education, Organize, Organizing Projects, Photography, Systems & Techniques, Tips & Resources, Uncategorized, Wellness & Mindset 1 Comment

We are all born unique and with different personalities. Are you curious to know more about your personality and how it can affect your day-to-day life? If so, the benefits of Personality testing include giving insight into how we think, handle stress, how we process information and make decisions.

Personality tests are very popular, with many employers requesting a candidate take a personality assessment during the job application process. If you were to Google ‘Personality Test’ you would be flooded with many claiming to be the best. I will showcase a few here that I believe are the most accurate and helpful when we want to learn more about ourselves.  No personality test is the same, just as no person is the same.

Myers Briggs

The most popular and well-known Personality Test is Myers Briggs. It gives you insight into many different personality traits and identifies the 16 most distinctive personality types. It is a 15-20 minute assessment that asks you about the way that you Benefits of Personality Testingthink, how you process information, how you make decisions, how extroverted (or introverted) you are, and how you perceive information.

Once you have taken the assessment and receive your result you will also be given information on your personality type and how understandings your type can benefit you in your daily life. You can further research your personality type to help you connect you with like-minded individuals or understand those with strikingly different personalities.

Predictive Index – PI Learning Indicator

The Predictive Index, better known as the PI Learning Indicator is the go-to personality test for employers. It gives a fairly accurate insight into your personality and working style focusing on four main elements; dominance, extraversion, patience, and formality.

The PI takes anywhere from 5-25 minutes depending on how thorough you are with the test. The results might look a bit confusing at first but there are always professionals for you to speak with and a detailed breakdown on their website.

While the PI is very accurate, it is also important to take it every 6 months to a year, depending on the personal changes you are experiencing in your life. Everyone’s personality changes throughout their lifetime and it is good to recognize these changes and adapt to them.

Kolbe

Kolbe offers a variety of different tests for their users including a youth test, finance test, and a relationship test. Kolbe is also unique as they don’t measure your intelligence or your personality but more how you naturally do things in your life.

Kolbe focuses more on your motive, goals and what drives you to achieve these goals. It is a great test to help you recognize what motivates you, and how to achieve your goals.

This test is also very beneficial for business owner’s outer managers who have lost motivation, direction or are looking for ways to keep their success going. The test dives into your creative instincts and showcases how best to utilize your personality.

These tests take 20 minutes and it gives you an in-depth look at your personality and driving factors to your success. Kolbe offers a lot of information and a clear breakdown of their methods and results on their website.

Different Personalities

There are often misconceptions among people that take personality tests. On the surface, it may seem that if we don’t have the correct personality for a job, relationship or friendship that it will never work. On the contrary, personality tests can be taken to learn more about yourself, your strengths and challenges and how to better relate to others in work and personal life. They should never be considered negative. After all, it’s better to know best to have these helpful insights into future challenges before you begin new relationships or ventures!

There are many criteria that personality tests don’t measure specifically including; work ethic, kindness, interests, and ability to learning style (more on this soon!).

I recommend that everyone take at least one personality test in their lifetime. The Benefits of Personality Testing include not only knowing more about your personality but to learning how you can use it to create success in your life. It takes so little time, less time than a favorite TV show, yet can supply both new and reinforced information about yourself. Please share what personality tests you have tried over in our Facebook group.

Wrangling Donation Resources

January 25, 2018 by Heather Filed Under: Organize, Organizing Projects, Tips & Resources, Uncategorized Leave a Comment

Wrangling donation resources can feel like a huge hassle. Getting organized isn’t just about purging but it certainly helps to motivate us when we know the stuff we no longer need is going someplace it is needed and will be loved. Donation Resources

For some people getting stuff out of the house as soon as a decision is made to part with it is essential (lest you dive back into your own give away bin to take stuff back out!).Have a plan for when and where you want to haul your donations before you begin so they don’t sit around your home or car, tempting you to keep things.

So that you don’t fall into that trap I want to share some of my favorite convenient resources for donations. Some of these are local to the region I live and work in, some are national (with local or virtual options).

Choosing who to donate to…

This can be a challenge for some people, others really don’t care as long as it’s GONE! Some considerations to keep in mind when donating to any non-profit.

  • Will my donation end up in the hands of someone who can actually use it?
  • How much $ goes directly to the charity versus overhead/operations?
  • What are the causes I feel passionate about (pets, homeless, children, housing etc)?

With the above in mind here are some Donation resources for you to consider, the important thing is to make a connection between your passions and those in need. Think creatively and determine where your goods will do the most GOOD!

 

donation resources

National: Donation Town, Salvation Army, Goodwill, Fema and Purple Heart

Pet Causes: ASPCA Local Shelters, Pet Consignments like Animal Helpers ReTail here in Charleston (proceeds split between two shelters)

Other Special Causes: Local Homeless Shelters like 180 Place here in Charleston, Schools and Teachers Supply Closet in Charleston (specific teachers or counties offer school drives), Libraries & their book sales, Orphanages like Low Country Orphan Relief here in Charleston, various Churches, Missions and other community or spiritual centers.

When possible, take a picture and list “In Kind” items being donated if you would like to write them off for tax purposes. It’s important to include your full name and contact info, the date and a clear description of each item  and the condition they are in. More information about donation receipts can be found here.

It is ultimately up to the donor (you) to assign a dollar value to your donation.

You can determine basic values for clothing and household items using this simple Donation Calculator spreadsheet, or there are programs that will help you do this and include the deductions in your annual tax filing.

When you are ready to donate items, where are your favorite places to go? Do a little homework for national organizations at Charity Navigator so that you can be sure your efforts are gong directly where you hope!

A Household Binder can be a portable command center

August 18, 2017 by Heather Filed Under: Kids & Family Organizing, Organize, Organizing Projects, Paper management, Productivity, Systems & Techniques, Tips & Resources 1 Comment

Using a household binder is a great way to keep lots of miscellaneous and commonly referenced loose papers in one place. It can be used anywhere you need, taken with you from room to room (or when you leave home) and is an easy way share information with babysitters, family members etc.

What to Include in your Household Binder

  • Emergency contacts such as doctors, family members and neighbors.
  • Vital household information-wifi code, alarm and utility company info etc.
  • Important personal and medical information such as allergies and medications
  • Schedules including school year, holiday’s, sports and after school activities etc
  • Invitations
  • Takeout food menu’s
  • Meal Planning
  • Grocery lists
  • To Do list
  • Action items-bills to be paid
  • Chore charts/Goal Charts etc
  • Pet Info
  • House Rules (for guests etc)

household binder

How to Set up your household binder

  • Gather supplies including binder, clear sheet protectors, section dividers with tabs, labels (label maker) & markers , pens or pencils
  • Print blank forms for any of the information above
  • Type out or hand write contact info, personal /household info
  • Gather menu’s, mail, lists, invitations and schedules
  • Create sections for Contact &/or Emergency Information, household member, Schedules, Chore charts, pet info. meals, To-Do etc.

This is a great system for households that don’t’ have a lot of space for a command center but it can also be used along with a more “Visual” command center.

Photo Organizing Old-School Style

August 7, 2017 by Heather Filed Under: Kids & Family Organizing, Organize, Organizing Projects, Paper management, Systems & Techniques, Tips & Resources, Uncategorized 2 Comments

I had someone ask me to cover the topic of Photo Organizing this month so here we go! I have never gone too far into this subject here on my blog because it’s quite a HEFTY topic to cover in one post. Here are the basic’s for paper photo organizing systems, I’ll return to cover digital photo organizing another time. It’s helpful to know before you begin if you will be doing this yourself or hiring help. There is an entire trade organization, APPO, dedicated to Photo Organizing!PHOTO ORGANIZINGMost of us want to keep at least some photo’s to look at in frames, albums or loosely. But we don’t get to enjoy the photo’s we love because they are in a big jumble with the one’s we don’t care about, the duplicates, damaged photo’s and photos of people you have no clue about!

Chances are that at some point you will be inheriting old photo’s if you haven’t already.

To Digitize or Not? Since many of us don’t print photo’s anymore, at least we know the quantity of printed photo’s isn’t growing exponentially! If you’re someone who still prints photo’s, stop doing that until you have a great system in place. You may also want to digitize your photo’s but it’s best to sort and purge what you don’t want first, deciding what you want digitized as you go. If you’re beginning this process with the thought of digitizing, you may want to buy a package for this service. Companies like Legacy Box send you a box that you can fill, return and have scanned. The box is returned within 1-3weeks with original photo’s as well as your digital photo’s (on a CD).

Gather all your photo’s into one area to work on. This can be a fun project to work on when your Binge watching a favorite series:) Before you begin, have a method to sort photos into such as file folders, shoe boxes, large envelopes, plastic bags etc.Photo organizingLabel with temporary labels to keep track of what you have sorted, eventually permanent labels will be attached to bins or albums.

Handling…if you have very old, fragile or valuable photo’s you may want to wear lint free cotton gloves while working on photo’s to keep oils and moisture from damaging them. You can also wipe the photo’s gently as you go. If you find photo’s stuck in albums, don’t force them. Try prying up a corner with something like a flat spatula and dental floss! The floss can be used to “saw” the under side of the photo from the adhesive backing. If you still can’t get it, set it aside and get professional help. Don’t write directly on the backs of photo’s with anything other than an archival pen, I like these.Photo OrganizingSort photo’s chronologically and/or by event or person. Your system may be some combination of these. As you start the process of sorting and purging, think about other family members or friends who you might want to send photo’s to and set them aside (labeled) to give them when you’re done. If you’re not sure who someone is, snap photo’s of the photo’s as you go and text or email someone who might be able to help you ID them. It can be fun to share “vintage” photo’s with family and friends as you go! Keep track of what size the majority of your photo’s are and if you plan to organize into albums or boxes, this will be important to know.

Storage can be decided on once you have finished sorting and you know what size collection you have. If you plan to digitize, send the photo’s off at this point. Do your research before you buy storage containers. Look for Archival quality boxes and albums. If your photo’s are standard 4×6 or 5×7 you will have a lot of options to choose from. Remember that larger boxes will get very heavy. Use archival paper dividers to further separate photo’s by category or date and label the cards with detailed information about events, family members etc. Don’t use sticky notes or clips that can damage the surface of original photo’s. If you have negatives that correspond to the photo’s you are keeping, label the plastic sleeves they come in to correspond to the storage system you are creating and store negatives separately. Keep your photo’s in climate controlled, low humidity and light conditions to best preserve them.PHOTO ORGANIZINGCross reference storage-Note in your photo box what negatives and digital photo’s you have copies of and where they are stored (on CD’s, cloud, external hard drive, separate bins etc).

Maintain your system on a regular basis if you are adding to your paper photo collection or if you inherit photo’s. I’ll share tips for organizing your digital photo’s in a later post. This is a great time of year to work on photo organizing and perhaps create some beautiful books with some of the old and new photo’s you come across. Have fun traveling down memory lane!

 

 

3 steps to stop clutter before it starts!

July 25, 2017 by Heather Filed Under: Organize, Organizing Projects, Systems & Techniques, Tips & Resources Leave a Comment

If you can recognize personal patterns in these 3 key areas of your life, you will be on your way to stop clutter before it starts! These are ongoing aspects of life that require practice to create lasting change. With a level of self awareness and a plan, we can stop clutter before it starts and begin to live a more simple life.

Stop Clutter

Stop Clutter before it starts by sharing experiences not things.

We want people to know how much we care about them, often this is expressed via the exchange of gifts. Some people love to buy gifts, some people love to wrap and give gifts, some people cringe when they see a gift because they feel they already have too much stuff. Whether you are the person giving or receiving, it can be challenging to know what “Stuff” is worth to someone else. We need to have more open and candid conversations about the consumption of stuff and let people know when we prefer to receive less. When it comes to the art of gift giving, we can eliminate unneeded clutter and hurt feelings and give more thoughtful gifts by sharing our feelings openly and honestly. One way to give meaningful gifts that don’t create clutter is to share experiences and events, meals, concerts, vacations etc rather than buying actual things. This is my personal favorite way to stop clutter when it comes to the art of gift giving.

Another clutter trap that can stop us in it’s tracks is memorabilia. This might include kids artwork, handmade gifts (from family or friends) or things you associate with an event or occasion. This can be tricky, especially when you know someone spent minutes, hours, days or longer creating something for you. Maybe you can use it, maybe you know someone else who would love it more. You do not have to announce to the gift giver that you have sold or donated their masterpiece, you can discretely let it go when the time is appropriate.

Greeting cards and correspondence…Keeping every card you were ever given, just because you love someone doesn’t really help you remember the special moments! Keep a few special letters, cards and photo’s, take digital photo’s of a few you might be on the fence about and recycle the rest.

Memorabilia is more meaningful when you can easily access it rather than have to sort through a lot of clutter to find it.

Is your kids artwork clutter? It might be! Is this their first handprint or their fiftieth? Are they better at playing music than painting and putting together crafty creations? Create an artwork gallery wall, display things on rotation, snap photo’s of their art and as with above, only keep what is really unique, lets their personal creativity shine or helps you hold onto a very special memory. You are still an awesome parent even if you don’t keep every drawing, painting or artwork they ever made.

Before you buy, get to know your shopping triggers. This is not the post to cover addressing deeper issues with shopping addiction, yet I’m not making light of a situation that can be a big problem. Shopping for things we don’t need and spending more than we want can be a not so healthy pattern for the average person. Bring awareness to what you tend to shop for and when you find yourself wanting to spend. What are your patterns and traps? Do you love an estate sale, shoes, online shopping at 2am when you can’t sleep? Look for your traps and stop clutter before you buy. Find ways to distract yourself from shopping when you know you could easily fall into that trap. Delete the sale emails, don’t keep your tablet or phone by the bed, reward yourself for not shopping and use the one in, one (or more) out rule if you must shop. Buy things that you need, buy good quality but don’t buy for the sake of buying.

Want to learn more about what you really need and what you really use? Read this great article about the Pareto Principle.

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