Sandra Felton, Messies Anonymous Magazine, Winter, 1998
"A must for everyone who is challenged by disorganization"


Marion Hudson, OfficeSystems99, August, 1999
"If the idea of tackling paper piles are too daunting, check out Kolberg's Conquering Chronic Disorganization. It describes how conventional organizing may not be possible for some people, and teaches us the alternatives"


Pipi Campbell Peterson, author Ready, Set, Organize!, Spring, 1999
"Conquering paints a vivid and poignant picture of chronic disorganization, filled with humor and imagination...and it's fun to read!"


Sari Solden, author Women With Attention Deficit Disorder,
"Conquering is brilliant...written with great humor and warmth. I recommend it"


Debbie Williams, Editor, Let's Get It Together Organizing Ezine, August, 1999
"Living with chronic disorganization is no longer a reason for embarrassment or fear. Conquering is enlightening, refreshing, and renews the creative individual in all of us. If you've read all the other organizing books and still are disorganized, I urge you to purchase Conquering"


Nancy Birnbaum-Gerber, NextSteps Coaching Magazine, August, 1999
"Conquering is a wonderfully entertaining and useful book...unlike any other on the topic".


Melissa Perry, ADDA-SR Newsletter, Summer, 1999
"I highly recommend this book to the person who has struggled through mainstream books on organization...brief, easy-to-read, and fun"


Denslow Brown, Optimal Functioning Newsletter, January, 1999
"I enthusiastically recommend Conquering. Kolberg has a great sense of humor and a deep respect for her chronically disorganized clients. It is a great tool."


The Wellness Network,, Summer/Fall 1999
"Here's a unique book! ...a litany of simple and easy innovative methods to put an end to recurring disorganization"


Book Description
The real-life stories of chronically disorganized people and the ground breaking, easy-to-learn organizing methods used to end their chronic disorganization in the area of residential clutter, office organizing, paper management, storage, and time management. Conquerings pages includes an extensive index, user-friendly summaries, quick tips, helpful photographs, and a resource section of products and organizations.


From the Back Cover
Don't Let Chronic Disorganization Undermine Your Quality of Life One Minute Longer! All the simple and easy innovative methods you need to know to put an end to recurring disorganization are in this book. You will achieve: Long Lasting Results - Stop being frustrated by failure! Use the easy-to-implement methods to maintain organizing success over your entire lifetime. Higher Productivity - Find what you need quickly and easily. Learn to use filing, storage, and organizing systems that work the way you work. Lower Stress - Organize your possessions and papers effectively with methods compatible with your organizing style. Put order in your office and beauty in your home. Stop wasting time looking for lost items! The information in this book has helped thousands of people who have never been able to get organized before. You can be organized too.


About the Author
Judith Kolberg is the Director of the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization and Chief Organizer of FileHeads Professional Organizers based in Atlanta, GA. Her career as a professional organizer spans ten years and she is the recipient of the prestigious Founders' Award from the National Association of Professional Organizers. Formerly a professional political activist and executive level secretary, Kolberg writes, consults, and trains other professional organizers and her diverse clients.


Excerpted from Conquering Chronic Disorganization by Judith Kolberg. Copyright © 1999. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved
Chapter 1 Why Are Some People Chronically Disorganized? Most people organize conventionally. They are able to get organized and stay organized because they can respond to and benefit from conventional organizing methods. Conventional methods such as filing systems, storage systems, and time management systems have a certain logic to them. If you think, learn, and organize within the logic of those systems, getting and staying organized is possible. But chronically disorganized people are not conventional. Janette's apartment is decorated in classic chronic style. Clothing that cannot be stuffed into overcrowded closets is heaped on the couch. Magazines, mail, and the ubiquitous mail order catalogues cover every table and surface. Knickknacks of all kinds abound...."I told you I never throw anything away", Janette reminds me, half embarrassed, and half defensive. We begin...I take a skirt from the couch and hold it up for her inspection. "Out", she says unequivocally...I toss the skirt in a garbage bag. I hold up a blouse. "Maybe", she says, and I put it aside. Janette selects a belt from the pile and hardly looking at it at all announces, "Keep". A pattern begins to emerge. Whenever I touch a piece of clothing, Janette is part to discard it, or at least give it a maybe. Whenever she touches the clothing, she keeps it without exception.... I call this phenomenon "kinetic sympathy"....it is clear that touching a thing can set off an emotional response in chronically disorganized people. Perhaps touching a thing changes a simple act of throwing out into an emotional act of letting go. Janette and I establish a rule to counteract kinetic sympathy. During our organizing sessions, she may point to, comment upon, and look at things...but she cannot touch them. With this rule in place, we are able to make progress. Janette's invisible field of possession, her kinetic sympathy, is overcome by denying her ability to touch things. Using this technique....the clutter in Janette's apartment recedes...

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Based on the stories of real chronically disorganized people, "Conquering's" radical, easy-to-implement methods puts an end to long-standing paper, residential, and office clutter; and ends lifelong time management woes forever. Written by one of the nation's foremost authorities on chronic disorganization, Judith Kolberg, the Director of the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization, "Conquering" is funny, educational, and totally unique making all other books on organizing obsolete!

SYNOPSIS

Radical organizing methods proven to put an end to recurring, chronic disorganization presented in a fun-to-read, easy-to-implement format.

FROM THE CRITICS

Sandra Felton - Messis Anonymous Magazine

A must for everyone who is challenged by disorganization.

Pipi Campbell Peterson - author of Ready, Set, Organize!

Conquering paints a vivid and poignant picture of chronic disorganization, filled with humor and imagination......and it's fun to read!

The Wellness Network - Summer/Fall 1999