Organise Me: 5 Tips for Avoiding Burn Out in the Lead Up to the Silly Season

It still might feel like there’s plenty of time before Christmas and the deadlines - both self-imposed and actual! - that come with the end of the year are upon us. But it never hurts to have a game plan going in to this crazy time, to avoid burn out and end 2013 on a high note.

Here are my tips for avoiding burn out:

• Get a to-do list note pad and a printed calendar Take 10 minutes to write down all the things you know you have to get ready before the end of the year, both for home and work. Mark them in different colours if you like, and then schedule them into your calendar. Put a reminder in your phone if it helps. It may seem overwhelming now, but better the devil you know.

• Schedule some down time As things get busier the time for fun seems to disappear. So block out time in your calendar to go do something fun that’s just for you. After a long winter it's the perfect time to get out in the sunshine and it does wonders for your health.

• Keep hydrated and well fed Try to eat properly and make sure to drink water as the weather heats up - nothing is more exhausting than feeling dehydrated in a meeting you should be paying attention to.
• Be willing to say no Around this time of year, requests may come in thick and fast for little things that aren’t really what you should be focusing on. Be ready to say no to those that aren’t the right fit, or see if you can reschedule for the new year. It won’t always work, but being ready to offer an alternative to ‘right now’ can be really helpful.
• Be kind to yourself Don’t forget to take care of you. Buy presents online if you can't fathom the crowds (even if you want to support local and handmade this year, there are many online stores that will deliver to your home or workplace!). And keep in mind that couch time is an essential part of recharging and not just wasted time.

Remembering that last step is definitely key for me. Hopefully these tips will help you to not feel so stressed as the busy season approaches and lets us all avoid that burn out that comes when we feel overwhelmed. May the warmer weather bring some time to get out and enjoy it.

Dannielle is a blogger, serial organiser and passionate traveller. She has a secret love of ’90s teen movies and can often be found on Twitter. In 2013, Dannielle packed up her life in Melbourne into one suitcase and moved to Canada to make her crazy dream of a more adventurous life happen. But she quickly found the inspiration she was searching for was in Melbourne and has returned home. She’s recently started a new project on creating a happy (organised) home which you can see here.

Organise Me: 5 Tips for Turning Big Dreams into Plans

Many creatives are also dreamers. I think it comes with the territory. To be the one who thinks out of the box and comes up with the creative solutions and ideas, you are also likely to have big crazy ideas of your own. But there’s some skill and planning involved, especially when it comes to doing things for ourselves, in making those big dreams a reality.

This is something that I’ve done myself and a topic that’s dear to my heart, so today I want to share my 5 tips for making those big life dreams a priority whilst keeping the planning process fun.

• Buy a notebook just for your big dreams - decorate it, doodle in it, be messy and just let the ideas flow. Don’t think about shoulds and coulds. Think about the possibilities and aim as high as you like.

• Start with the big crazy dream and break it down. Make dot points your friend. Think of five small steps that you’ll need to take to get to the big dream. Pick one step and break it down again into 5 steps and repeat until the prospect of achieving it is not so scary anymore.

• Do something out of your comfort zone. Take a class you’ve been on the fence about; take a drive to somewhere new; order something on the menu you usually wouldn’t; buy something you love, but wouldn’t usually buy for yourself. Doing little things that can make you feel brave or bold and will help you make steps towards your goal.

• Think about timelines and budgets and put a positive spin on them. This is where you can start to feel nervous, but think of timelines as something to keep you on track. Allow it to be as long as it needs to be, and be okay with it changing when it needs to. If you need to save money to get where you need to be, allocate a budget so you know what you’re aiming for and celebrate when you get closer to it. It’s more fun that way.

• Bring the people you love and who support you along for the ride. Share your big dreams, or a part of them with someone you can trust. Blog it, if that’s your style. Find that support network you’ll need when things seem too hard. It’s amazing the help you find when you let people in. Sometimes they’re a great hand holder and sometimes they may just have a short cut that you never considered.

Turning my big dream of travelling across the North America into a reality changed my life. I went from feeling lost, to having a goal, to living that dream and finding more dreams to chase. I truly believe that if I can do it, anyone can. I hope these tips will help you start to look at your dreams as possibilities.

Dannielle is a blogger, serial organiser and passionate traveller. She has a secret love of '90s teen movies and can often be found on Twitter. In 2013, Dannielle packed up her life in Melbourne into one suitcase and moved to Canada to make her crazy dream of a more adventurous life happen. But she quickly found the inspiration she was searching for was in Melbourne and has returned home. She’s recently started a new project on creating a happy (organised) home which you can see here.

Organise Me: 7 Tips for Keeping Your Creativity Flowing Through Winter

Winter is creeping into its third month, and for many of us, the Winter blues are starting to take their toll. Whilst I’m beginning to embrace Winter, the long cloudy days seem to drain my creativity. So I am determined to overcome this with a little bit of organising.

Here are my top tips for keeping the creativity flowing:

• Schedule Down Time - Get out that calendar and mark out blocks of time where you will stop working on current projects and do something different that’s fun for you. You could try a self-directed project or even give yourself permission to see that movie you really want to see in the middle of a 'work day'.

• Rug Up and Get Outside - This is important for everyone, but especially for those who work from home. Get out your coat, warm boots, grab a scarf and some gloves and go for a walk. It doesn’t matter if it’s around the block or to a cafe. The fresh air will clear your head and give you time to brainstorm.

• Take Time Out to Read a Book in a Coffee Shop - The book could be fiction or something related to your field. I find that it’s hard to justify reading when you’re surrounded by work, so leave the space, warm up with a hot drink and escape into that book that you’ve not had time to read.

• Visit a Gallery - Pick an exhibition that isn’t about your line of work and allow yourself to be inspired by how other creatives work. It may bring you some perspective on your own work, or it might just be a fun day out.

• Dance It Out - The blues come easily this time of year, so when you get the chance (maybe at home) - crank up your favourite songs and dance like no one’s watching.

• Try a New Craft - Winter is a great time to learn something new that keeps your chilly hands busy. It could be crochet, knitting or even drawing. Just something that’s been on your to-try list. You don’t have to be amazing at it for it to be fun.

• Catch up with Friends - Winter is for hibernating, but it can be great to make a point to catch up with friends that you don’t see too often. Go out for dinner or invite them over for a night of laughter and catching up on the couch. If you’re feeling really adventurous you could all organise a fun weekend away.

I hope these will help keep the winter blues at bay and keep the creativity flowing. Thankfully Spring is not too far off now and the warmer weather will (hopefully) return soon!

Dannielle is a blogger, serial organiser and passionate traveller. She has a secret love of 90s teen movies and can often be found on Twitter. In 2013, Dannielle packed up her life in Melbourne into one suitcase and moved to Canada to make her crazy dream of a more adventurous life happen. But she quickly found the inspiration she was searching for was in Melbourne and has returned home. She’s recently started a new project on creating a happy (organised) home which you can see here.

Organise Me: 5 Tips for Keeping on Top of Social Media

By Dannielle Cresp

I love social media for how it’s grown my business and brought new friends and acquaintances into my life. But, there’s no denying that without some organisation, it can take over your life. I’ve been thinking a lot about how to find that balance between time spent on social media and time spent away from it now that it’s such a big part of many of our lives and businesses.

Here are 5 things I’ve found that work for me:

• Set a time limit - know how and when you’re going to allocate your time to social media and stick to it.
• Just log out - as difficult as it is, I’ve taken to logging right out of social media sites so that I’m less tempted to just open the browser for ‘a moment’ and get lost in there.
• Know why you’re logging on - if it’s for fun, or if it’s for your business - that’s cool, just be honest and know why you’re on there and spend the time accordingly. I’ve found I spend less time checking out of habit now I think about why I’m checking each site.
• Set a goal to work towards - I’ve found that setting a follower goal or looking at the engagement of my followers when it comes to my business and my projects helps me to see the value of spending time there.
• Delete the app - this one may be extreme, but if you find that the apps are distracting you from doing your to do list or from creating something amazing, consider deleting the apps during the week or only logging on when at the computer. It’s amazing what I’ve achieved now I’m not constantly waiting for the facebook app to load.

Some days are tougher than others to stay on top of this, but I’m loving having just that little more time for fun projects and not feeling that sense of guilt when I do log on to catch up with friends. I hope they are helpful to you too.

Dannielle is a blogger, serial organiser and passionate traveller. She has a secret love of 90s teen movies and can often be found on Twitter. In 2013, Dannielle packed up her life in Melbourne into one suitcase and moved to Canada to make her crazy dream of a more adventurous life happen. But she quickly found the inspiration she was searching for was in Melbourne and has recently returned home. You can find out more on her blog.

Organise Me: How to Create a Happy Work Space

I’ve just returned to Melbourne after 12 weeks travelling around the USA and Canada and it’s time for me to create a happy, creative space for me to get my big ideas in order and get to work on them. I thought I’d share with you the things I found essential in creating a happy work space.

• Get a bookshelf for all those books that you use for inspiration and take the time to set it up in a way that makes you happy when you look at it and makes it easy for you to find the things you’re always looking for. Shelves make it easier to spot what you’re looking for than boxes

• Invest in pretty stationery. It’s much more fun to write your notes on a pretty notepad in brightly coloured pens, than it is to scribble everything down on the back of used envelopes and napkins. Allow yourself to get a notebook for each of your big ideas if you prefer to handwrite. It keeps everything together in one place and you can add it to your bookshelf.

• Add some artwork to your space. Having pretty cards or prints in your creative space makes it a much nicer place to be when you’re on a deadline or you’re itching to get outside.

• Have a calendar or diary (that works for you) and make it as colourful as you wish. I find it’s easier to plan a timeline on paper, so I like to have a calendar on my desk with colours signifying different things. It makes it easier for me to see how things fit together. Even if you’re more an online calendar person, most will allow colour coding for you to see how your plans and projects come together.

• Have a place for everything. If you can get creatively messy like me, you’ll know how great it is to have somewhere to put everything when the working day is over. There’s nothing like walking into an organised work space in the morning and knowing where everything is. It’s much better than one where you walk in and feel instantly overwhelmed. Having somewhere for your projects to live whilst your working on them can make your space happy and welcoming for you.

I found that these helped me to feel more at home in my new, much smaller, work space and feel less overwhelmed with getting back into a working frame of mind after 12 weeks exploring North America. Even if you are already settled in your work space these could help you to check that your space is working the best it can for you.

Dannielle is a blogger, serial organiser and passionate traveller. She has a secret love of 90s teen movies and can often be found on Twitter. In 2013, Dannielle packed up her life in Melbourne into one suitcase and moved to Canada to make her crazy dream of a more adventurous life happen. But she quickly found the inspiration she was searching for was in Melbourne and has recently returned home. You can find out more on her blog.

Organise Me: How to Stay Creative on the Road

I’ve been travelling across the USA and Canada for about 8 weeks now, and whilst my plans to stay long term in Canada have changed, I’ve been doing my best to keep my creativity flowing on the road so I’m refreshed when I get back to Melbourne after 12 weeks away.

The novelty of travelling and living out of a suitcase can get old pretty quickly, especially if you thought packing light was an amazing idea and now you’re just sick of wearing the same outfits over and over.

Here are my top tips for staying creative on the road:

• Have a packing system. Know what you’ve got and how to pack it easily. I roll everything I can and put an elastic band around it to keep it small, and keep my shoes in the dust bags they give you with handbags (then you don’t have to worry about dirt in your suitcase). A tidy suitcase takes the stress of packing a suitcase explosion on checkout morning and allows you to fit more goodies you pick up along the way.
• Walk where you can. You see more of the everyday activities that go on in a place if you walk around it. Take the time to wander. Look in the shop windows and see what you find. It may surprise you.
• If the weather is good visit the local park or garden. Take a book or sketchpad and allow your thoughts to wander. Listen to the sounds and people watch. If it’s winter and snowy, visit an ice skating rink and just soak up the atmosphere.
• Visit a book shop, an independent one if you can find one. Find your favourite section and take the time to see what titles they have on the shelves. See what’s popular, it may just spark an idea that you never would have thought of at home. If you’re feeling adventurous, pick a section of the bookshop you’d never visit at home and see what pops out at you.
• Get your camera out. It doesn’t have to be a top of the range, bells and whistles camera for you to stop, look around and see your surroundings. Use your phone if that’s what you’ve got. Make a point to see where you are and be in that moment. It’s amazing what you see when you look. Extra tip: Don’t forget to look up! (I must have walked through Flinders Street Station a million times before I stopped to look up and see the beautiful ceiling)
• Buy a local magazine about something you’re interested in. Even if you can’t read the words, it’s always interesting to see how other cultures approach things and how they present them.
• Keep your headphones off and ride the public transit. If you’re in a city with good public transportation, pick a place to go and take a ride. Listen to the sounds, the conversations and hear how the people live. Even if you can’t understand a word they say, enjoy how the sounds are different to what you’re used to.
• Take a break and be kind to yourself. Travelling gets tiring, especially when everything feels go, go, go. Pick a night or a weekend that’s just for relaxing. Put on your favourite music, grab that book you’ve had no time to read, order in something delicious and just enjoy the break.

If you can do a combination of these you may feel more inspired and relaxed while your away and carry that through to when you’re back home. I know that I have felt more inspired on this trip than I have in a long time. But even if you’re not travelling, some of these tips would work at home as well.

Dannielle is a blogger, web designer, serial organiser and passionate traveller. She has a secret love of 90s teen movies and can often be found on Twitter. In 2013, Dannielle is packing up her life in Melbourne into one suitcase and moving to Canada to make her crazy dream of a more adventurous life happen. But she quickly found the inspiration she was searching for is on her way back to Melbourne. You can find out more on her blog.

Organise Me: How to Get Organised for a Conference Like Alt

  By Dannielle Cresp

Since I was fortunate enough to attend the design and blogging conference Altitude Design Summit in Salt Lake City, Utah in January, I thought I'd start this new column off with some tips on how to get organised for a conference like Alt.

Get Ready

• Look at the schedule as soon as it's released and choose the sessions that are the best fit for you
• If you're looking to talk with sponsors: know who they are ahead of time and choose a couple to make time to speak with
• Go with an open mind. A conference like Alt is a great place learn about things you hadn't considered for your creative business or blog
• Pack your business cards and your smile. Business card exchange is a big part of Alt. It's a great way to start a conversation with other creatives and to make some new friends
• Have your elevator pitch for your creative business or blog ready. The question you will get asked most after 'Do you blog?' is 'What's your blog about?' If you're not a blogger you can read this as 'Tell me a bit about your creative business'. Have something that can get a conversation going.

When You're There

• Even if you don't know anyone, take a deep breath, smile and say hello to someone new. Ask if they've been before and about what they do.
• Take a breather when you need it. Not all conferences are the same as Alt where they have a lounge for you to take a break, but if it's getting too much, allow yourself some space.
• Take a notepad, pens or the electronic device of your choice to the sessions and take all the notes and photos that you want to. There's so much going on you'll want a memory trigger later, to remember what you saw and heard.
• Put your hand up. If you have a question for the speaker or the panel, ask it during the Q&A at the end of the session. It's your chance to ask them and there's probably someone else who wants to ask it, but hasn't found the right words.
• Go to the parties or evening events, even just for a short time. If you're shy like me, you might not want to, but the networking that comes from them makes it worth feeling a little out of your comfort zone.
• Keep non-attendees in the loop. If you're on social media share a photo or a quote from your favourite speaker. Ask your followers if they have a question that they'd love for you to ask on their behalf.

After it's Over

• Take a day or two to come down from it. It can be a really heavy feeling after a big conference, and you don't want to let the inspiration slip away, but you don't want to get burnt out either. Take some time to chill after and you will be able to turn that inspiration into something awesome easier than if you'd forced it.
• Follow up. Email that sponsor you had a great conversation with. Add your new friends to your Twitter or follow them on your preferred social media network. Email them for a catch up.
• Share your experience with others. In person, on your blog or website, on Flickr or social media. Attendees, the organisers of the conference and non-attendees alike would love to hear/see how you found the conference from your point of view

Most of all remember that being ready for a conference like Alt allows you time to have fun and soak it all in. After all, you went there for the whole experience. I hope this helps you enjoy your conferences like I enjoyed Alt.

Dannielle is a blogger, web designer, serial organiser and passionate traveller. She has a secret love of 90s teen movies and can often be found on Twitter. In 2013, Dannielle is packing up her life in Melbourne into one suitcase and moving to Canada to make her crazy dream of a more adventurous life happen. You can find out more on her blog.