So many of my clients have one thing in common - they spend their lives in reactive mode, running from one disaster to another, never really getting on top of anything.

Here are three strategies you can implement to get into a better place. They work equally for life and for business.

• Know what you want and where you want to be. This will involve stepping back and having a good look at your life/business. Do you have a 5 year/3 year/12 month plan? What are your priorities? Where do you want to be? There are so many quotes around this step "Failing to plan is planning to fail", "A goal without a plan is just a wish", "Plans are nothing; planning is everything". Plans don't need to be set in concrete, but they do give you focus & direction to keep you on track.

Everyone is trying to achieve the unachievable.  To do more with less. 

Everyone is busy, however here are 10 simple things that you can incorporate into your life that will make things just that little bit easier.

• Try to schedule one day per week without meetings. Having one full day in the office being 100% productive gives projects a good chance of completion.
• If you’re an employee, ask your boss to reprioritise for you. He/she is your supervisor for a reason & can reasonably be expected to help out in this area.
• Schedule time in your diary for social media, & stick to it! It’s all too easy to get caught up reading interesting articles. Before you know it, you're down that rabbit hole & hours have passed.

Unless you've been hiding under a rock or living totally off the grid, I'm going to assume you have heard of Marie Kondo or the KonMarie Method.  Marie's got the world talking about organising and decluttering using introspection and asking people if an item "sparks joy".  I have to insert a disclaimer here.  I've never see Marie's television show, or read her whole book, however I have read many articles about what she does and do have many friends, family members and colleagues who absolutely love this method of organising.  Plus, it's impossible not to notice the effect she's having on social media.

As a professional organiser I think it's fantastic that people are trying to become more organised and talking about ways to do that.  Marie has bought a lot of attention to this industry - and that's a great thing!  That said, there's never one system or process that will work for everyone.  Becoming organised looks and feels different to every single person I work with.  Decluttering isn't based purely around the level of "joy" something sparks. For some of my clients, if faced with having to make a decision about what to keep, or pass on, everything would suddenly "spark joy".  If I'm working with a client who has a hoarding disorder there is no way I'd even mention this method as it'd be far too overwhelming.  I think I could have minimalistic tendencies, but that doesn't mean everyone I work with has to feel, or organise, the same way.