In December (2006) I printed 7 months worth of photos – all at one time.

How organized is that? You might ask and my response would be that when we are challenged with personal or professional issues the things of seemingly least importance fall to the bottom of the list – and that is where my digital photos sat for 7 whole months.

But I’m not beating myself up over it – I am rejoicing that they are now neatly archived into the photo albums, dated, and some even have mini stories on the labels beside the photos.

It was tough for me to start the whole process because after 7 months I had a lot of photographs. And I had let it go for so long that it started to feel as though it was a far larger project than it really was. You know how that happens? We ignore things for so long that it becomes huge in our mind. That happens often with things I procrastinate about.

So, here are my photo tips on how to ‘start’ when feels like the task has grown to be the size of a monster (at least in our procrastinating minds)

1. 1. I just started to plan the process – literally – I sat in front of my computer and organized the pictures by month (same can be done with hard copy prints) I would leave myself a sticky note where I left off.
2. 2. If breaking the photos into months is still too big a project start by grouping them by year
3. 3. Keep them containerized – I used folders on my desktop you can use shoe boxes for hard copies
4. 4. Keep labels and markers handy during the process – index cards are great as dividers in shoe boxes
5. 5. Buy some great photo albums – I love the three ring binder kind because I can put in plastic sleeves for larger than photograph things – like the valentines card that my daughter made me last year.
6. 6. Spend the money on the albums because they will preserve your photos
7. 7. If you are ordering on line – I recommend Blacks – it’s easy and convenient and you can pick them up from a location of your preference.
8. 8. The perfect time to put all the pictures into the album was when my little guy wasn’t feeling well – he hung out on the couch and my daughter and I created our albums.
9. 9. I like it simple – photos in groups with one white label noting the occasion or for a special comment. i.e. – “that’s us at Wonderland petting a Beluga Whale” summer 2006.
10. 10. I love creating the albums with the kids – it’s so much fun looking at the pictures and talking about our adventures. They are timeless & priceless.

(final note: I still back up all my images on the computer – just in case and I highly recommend you do the same)

I have issues with time. To put it simply there is never enough. There is also a common thread which I battle with – as I know many of you do. It called ‘stretching the truth’.

If I know it takes me 10 minutes to get to my son’s day care (including traffic) then I leave 15 minutes before hand because I need a little flex time to get to my car, get in, start it, back out of the driveway, etc, all these things take time. This is the truth about time that we generally stretch – we have convinced ourselves that the 10 minutes includes all the peripheral requirements leading up to driving the car – and it doesn’t.

My stretching the truth isn't serving me well and now it's beginning to weaken my ability to juggle everything that I need to do in a day. It’s like I’ve stretched the elastic too far and I’ve choose to stop before it breaks.

Here is how you can begin to get your time back in shape for 2007!

• Figure out how much time “it” really takes
• Add in a buffer
• Make your buffers realistic: driving the highway should have a bigger buffer time than picking up the dry cleaning from around the corner
• Plan your day – and note how much time is realistically required for each task
• Create honest time lines for all that you do
• Think of new ways to make more time - consider delegating or hiring a student or newcomer

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