Another year is almost gone! Are you in a more organized place than you were in January?

This column completes the recap of organizing and time management tips presented in this column during 2009.

1. On Sept. 14 I wrote about life coach Martha Beck's observation that your home says a lot about you and that your living space is a powerful metaphor for your life.

What adjectives describe your home? Do those adjectives describe your life, too? To make improvements in your home and life, Beck suggests her “;Decorating Leapfrog”; technique. There are four steps:

» Identify one change that would improve your home.

» Make the change.

» Watch the corresponding change occur in your inner life.

» Repeat.

If your home portrait is not what you desire, have you taken steps toward improvement? Have you seen corresponding changes in your inner life, too? Are you continuing to make improvements?

2. Many recognize the importance of exercise for physical fitness, but there's another important benefit. On Sept. 28 I shared the finding that exercise boosts brain power, from “;Brain Rules,”; by molecular biologist John Medina.

Medina says that exercisers outperform couch potatoes in tests that measure long-term memory, reasoning, attention, problem solving and the ability to reason quickly and think abstractly. Also, aerobic exercise lowers odds of Alzheimer's by more than 60 percent!

If these benefits are important to you, exercise becomes a priority instead of just a good intention. Have you made time to exercise at least twice a week? Do you take a 20-minute walk daily? Are you experiencing a boost in brain power?

3. On Oct. 12 I shared more from “;brain rules.”; With all the information we take into our brains, Medina feels that controlled forgetting of what's unnecessary is important, for it enables our brain to focus on what's left—that which is important.

Are you consciously prioritizing what you allow into your brain? Are you forgetting and eliminating brain clutter?

4. On Oct. 26 I offered three strategies that can boost well-being and help get things done. They were:

» Allow for putter-around time in the morning. This provides an oasis of calm before the busy day begins. Waking up earlier than usual allows time to do small “;nice to do”; or “;feel like doing”; things. Once the day starts, it's time for the “;need to do”; things. Have you been getting up early to start the day in a relaxing way?

» Midweek procrastination inventory. Thursday morning is a good time to ask yourself whether there's anything important you have put off. If so, you still have time to do it before the weekend. Taking a midweek inventory helps to tie up loose ends. Have you been doing this so as not to carry over important items to the next week?

» Have a catch-up day. When those odds-and-ends tasks start adding up, a catch-up day provides time to finally get them done.

5. On Nov. 9 I gave some tips to help make the holidays simpler, more enjoyable and more meaningful. Are you eliminating the unnecessary? Focusing on what's important and meaningful to you and your family? Is this holiday more of what you want it to be? I hope so, for the holidays are meant to be enjoyed and not merely endured.

I hope you can look back with satisfaction on progress you've made in being more organized and in the way you manage your time. Here's to continued progress in 2010. See you in two weeks!

Past ”;It's About Time”; columns are available at www.starbulletin.com/features/abouttime, in the archives section.