DID you know that messy homes and work places are a source of stress? Yes, I raised both my eyebrows as well when I read about it psychologicaltoday.com.
The website said that clutter (mess) can
play a significant role in how we feel about our homes, our workplaces,
and ourselves. Messy homes and work spaces leave us feeling anxious,
helpless, and overwhelmed. Yet, rarely is clutter recognized as a
significant source of stress in our lives.
Clutter bombards our minds with
excessive stimuli (visual, olfactory, tactile), causing our senses to
work overtime on stimuli that aren't necessary or important, it
distracts us by drawing our attention away from what our focus should be
on and makes it more difficult to relax, both physically and mentally.
Clutter constantly signals to our brains
that our work is never done, makes us anxious because we're never sure
what it's going to take to get through to the bottom of the pile,
creates feelings of guilt ("I should be more organized") and
embarrassment, especially when others unexpectedly drop by our homes or
work spaces.
It inhibits creativity and productivity
by invading the open spaces that allow most people to think, brain
storm, and problem solving and frustrates us by preventing us from
locating what we need quickly ( for example files and paperwork lost in
the "pile" or keys swallowed up by the clutter).
There was a time not so long ago, certain services were deemed too Western for Tanzanian standards.
Take buying a shirt over the internet
for example or ordering and getting food delivered online. With
increased development, comes the introduction of ‘out of the box’
services and a fine example of this is professional organizing.
Professional organizing is an industry
that has been developed in order to help individuals and businesses
design systems and processes using organizing principles and
transferring skills.
Nasra Karl Mbululo is a Professional
Organizer and Member of Professional Organizer Association Africa
(POAA). Nasra is the founder and CEO of Elite Organizers Co. Ltd, a
Professional Organizing company based in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.
Elite Organizers Ltd is the first
Professional Organizing Company in Tanzania which provides organization
solutions, concepts and productivity systems for businesses and home
based business, residential and individuals.
They offer easy to follow and customized
solutions for your organizing dilemmas. Certified by Get Organized
Training & Development Institute in South Africa and has an
education background in International Business Management, extensive
experience in hospitality industry and privileged to work in Luxurious
Hotel chain, Nasra has worked in different departments and working
directly with clients, this helped her acquire organizing skills and
strong interpersonal skills.
“Having grown up in a family with a
philosophy of WASTE NOT, her mom leftovers from dinner would turn in to
yummy breakfast, tasty lunch or a meal through out the day.
My parents taught me and my siblings to
recycle everything from dresses to become skirts, trousers turned into
shorts old furniture worked on until they were as better as new.
So I guess, it isn’t really a big
surprise to me that I started this line of business,” she explained.
Nasra said that their mom was a hands-on mom, being a professional
banker she would work full time and yet return home to her hobbies,
embroidery, cooking, reading books, translating and proof reading books
gardening and all other domestic activities.
With no maids at home this environment
shaped Nasra and her 7 siblings in a way that everyone knows what to do,
when to do it, how to do it and where everything belongs. She says that
she also got her inspiration of starting the business from her constant
movements. When she was a child her parents moved a few times due to
their work requirements, and that she often saw her mom pack things into
boxes and label them by rooms and type.
“When we arrived at a new destination
she would open the boxes and place things according to names on the box.
As an adult I moved as well and found myself constantly trying new ways
to organize and new systems to setup, when one didn’t work, I’d try
again until it works. I could only relax and feel calm when I was
content with my physical surroundings,” she explained.
She says that there was a time she
changed jobs and found herself in a situation that she had the
responsibility to set up a new office; it was scary but exciting at the
same time.
During this time she visited so many
different organizations, government and private owned companies and they
all have one similar pressing issue, “luck of proper organizing
systems”, letters were misplaced, or you sit for long waiting for your
document to be found and often you are told to bring another one because
the one you submitted is no where o be found.
“I did not want my new employer to be
like them, I told myself I want all new employees to find systems which
work well for our small operation and which will grow with us. I started
to research better ways to do my work without spending so much money
and waste more time. I am firm believer of having a productive workplace
and easy work flow, for that I start searching how I can help the team
be productive and serve time and money at the same time.
“Once I figured out how to repeatedly
setup organizing systems that were actually easy to setup and maintain, I
knew deep down inside of me, I had to share all of the secrets I
discovered with others.
I had finally found my life purpose. I
finally realized the reason I was put in this universe – to show others
how to be productive and organized so they too can feel calm and be
clear in their personal and professional life.
Then I started researching how I can
learn it and be professional and recognized for that. That’s when I
started my business. Nasra says she understands the complexities of
today’s high performance families.
Having grown up in a big family, she
also knows first-hand what it takes to organize a busy family and keep a
household running smoothly. With this understanding, her focus to
clients is to teach them how to achieve professional and personal life
balance through organization habits.
She says that a Professional Organizer
is a personal consultant who provides structure, solutions, and systems
to increase productivity and reduce stress.
In simple terms, an organizer restores
order to your work and life, creating systems that support new habits
and that enable you to work and live in a peaceful, non-chaotic
environment.
Professional organizers achieve the goal
of creating and maintaining organizational systems by teaching others
the basic principles of organization.
Writer Julie Morgenstern suggests to
communicate these principals by using the acronym "SPACE" which is:
S=Sort, P=Purge, A=Assign a Home, C=Containerize and E=Equalize.
The last step ("E") consists in
monitoring how the new system that has been created is working,
adjusting it if needed, and maintaining it. This principal is applicable
to every type of Organization.
In a commercial setting, professional
organizers are responsible for the overall efficiency of the office or
other work environment. A well-designed plan from a good organizer can
save a business a substantial amount of revenue. Professional organizers
plan everything; from more efficient handling of paperwork, to time
management for individual employees, and room-by-room work flow designs.
Professional organizers also work with
clients to enhance their lives by developing custom organizing systems
and teaching organizational skills. Clients often have busy schedules
and quickly become frustrated by their own lack of organization.
Professional Organizer assists these
situations by taking control of the chaos in the client’s life and
allowing them to manage their time, paperwork and overall clutter
effectively.
“The world is changing, life style is
improving. It is time Tanzanians catch up with the rest of the world.
Looking at our government offices and private companies, many have poor
filing systems, and productivity of the employees is questionable.
Professional Organizing Services will help these entities improve their
performance in different aspects, there will be customer satisfaction
and profits will no doubt soar,” she said.
Nasra says that looking at it on
residential and personal level, life is going on a fast lane, people
today have more space, more stuff, and less time than ever before.
But with the luxury of “more” can also
come more clutter and more disorganization. Professional Organizing
Services help individuals and families to customize organization systems
which not only clamp down on the clutter but also give them more time
to spend together in harmony.
So where does this out of the box
thinker see herself after ten years? "I see Elite Organizing Service
becoming the leading, trusted and customer focused Professional
Organizing Company in Tanzania and neighboring East African countries.
We also see ourselves opening an
institute where interested individuals can come and learn this
fascinating professional. Helping them to start their own home based
business as Professional Organizers."
Nasra says that the recipe to this
business is honesty it is a challenging area, but it is doable once one
finds their true passion. People should not get into business simply
because a friend is doing it and they are successful.
They must find it in their heart what really inspires them and what they love doing.
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