Drowning in a sea of e-mail? Not to worry… I have discovered the solution! This weekend, I stumbled upon the coolest plug-in ever : Xobni. If you use Microsoft Outlook to read and send e-mail, you absolutely must download this free plug-in… your “eLife” will be forever changed!

Xobni is the San Francisco startup that is revolutionizing the way people manage email relationships and organize your flooded inbox.

Xobni extends Outlook by offering fast search, conversation threading, a social networking platform, and many other features designed to make email better.

The name Xobni is the word “inbox” spelled backwards. Xobni was founded by Adam Smith and Matt Brezina in the spring of 2006.

Be brave. Try it out. Then, tell me what you think. I’d love to hear about your Xobni experience!

So, how did things go? Well, as always, flexibility is key…

My week didn’t exactly play out as originally planned…

Monday

@ 8:30am : BNI 1-to-1 Meeting
AM : [ real neat ] brainstorm session
PM : tidy, dust, & vacuum apartment

Tuesday

@ 7:00pm : Toastmasters Speaker Seminar
AM : [ real neat ] phone calls, client follow-up
PM : play date for Amanda + wash, fold, & put away laundry

Wednesday

@ 7:30am : BNI Chapter Meeting
AM : [ real neat ] blog & website updates
PM : OPEN + park play date for Amanda

Thursday

@ 3:30pm : BNI 1-to-1 Meeting
AM : [ real neat ] phone calls, marketing letters
PM : play date for Amanda + [ real neat ] workshops

Friday

ALL DAY : no school for Amanda = play, play, play !!

What about you? Did your week go as planned? I’d love to hear all about it!

Plan all you want… but if you don’t write it down, it likely won’t get done. Take 10 minutes today to schedule your family’s activities and to do’s for the week. For me, it looks like this:

Monday

@ 8:30am : BNI 1-to-1 Meeting
AM : [ real neat ] brainstorm session
PM : tidy, dust, & vacuum apartment

Tuesday

@ 7:00pm : Toastmasters Speaker Seminar
AM : [ real neat ] phone calls, client follow-up
PM : play date for Amanda + wash, fold, & put away laundry

Wednesday

@ 7:30am : BNI Chapter Meeting
AM : [ real neat ] blog & website updates
PM : OPEN

Thursday

AM : [ real neat ] phone calls, marketing letters
PM : play date for Amanda + [ real neat ] workshops

Friday

ALL DAY : no school for Amanda = play, play, play !!

Now, as you plan out your family’s week, don’t forget to include plenty of quality family time, plus a bit of pampering for yourself!

So, what does your family’s week look like? Do tell (in the comments below)!

Need a girls’ night out? Wish you could have an individually-tailored one-on-one organizing consultation, but stuck with a tight budget? Love to have tons of fun as you learn new skills?

You need to host an organizing party!

How it works : You invite at least 3 friends over to your place, provide some quick and easy snacks and drinks, and then I’ll take care of the rest!

For a meager $10 per person, you will receive…

• Private shared access to organizing expertise in the comfort of your own home,
• Built-in accountability to friends who will motivate and encourage you after the party, and
• Hands-on organizing assistance from an expert.
• Bonus: Free hostess gift!

So, what are you waiting for? Schedule your first organizing party today!

The girls will love you for it!

Courtesy of Carmen Coker, owner of Clutterbugs:

A well-known Zen parable tells of a wanderer on a lonely road who happened upon a fierce stream that had washed out the bridge to cross over it.

The man, afraid to swim against such a strong current, decided to build a raft. He spent many hours cutting down trees and vines for the project. In the end, the wanderer had a very sturdy raft that brought him safely across the river.

Once on the other side, he thought to himself: This is a good raft. If I meet with another stream ahead, I can use it again to navigate the water.

And so the wanderer carried the raft for the rest of his life.

Think about the moral of this story for just a moment.

From the outside, looking in, this might seem ridiculous. Why would some guy carry a heavy raft around if he didn’t need to?!

But, often times, we do this same thing in our own lives. Maybe not a raft, but maybe something else. It’s not uncommon for people to hang onto an item because it was useful at one point or another but has since become irrelevant. Bottom line: it’s now clutter.

If this sounds familiar, I encourage you to take a few hours throughout the next week to purge these objects that no longer add value to your home, office, or life.

Don’t carry these “rafts” when you don’t need to…