Top 10 Dedicated Zones
Establishing and maintaining dedicated zones are essential to staying organized. Here are Read More
Product Review: Neat Desk for Mac
I have to admit that when I took the Neat Desk One Month trial offer, I was planning on returning it. I didn’t. Don’t get me wrong. The Neat Desk is not without its problems, it’s not cheap, and it’s not for everybody, but I have concluded that for me it is worth the investment.
Post Post
The other day I rushed home from work and jumped straight on the computer. My wife walked by my office and said “Take off your coat and stay a while!” You might wonder what this fascinating story has to do with organizing. A while back I wrote a post called “Envel-nope”, about why un-shed envelopes have no place in the home.
The Barrier of Perfection
Several clients have told me, “I’d like to see your house. I’ll Read More
Closet Impossible?
I have taken rather ruthless measures in an effort to get my Read More
Read vs. Review
The key to preventing an accumulation of mail is to do a FAST sort into simple categories, as soon as it comes in. Two of those simple categories are READ and REVIEW. So what’s the difference? Read. “Read” is for items you need or want to take your time with. It’s really important that when you are sorting your daily mail, you don’t stop and read a magazine or letter.
Compelements
I think I just invented a new word. Com•pel•e•ment |comPELement| (noun) 1 element used to compel one to action. So many organizing efforts are focused on containing items out of sight and out of mind. There are, however, things that we need to make a point of acting on, that should NOT be hidden. Quite the opposite. We need things to stick out like a sore thumb to compel us to action. Those are the compelements. Here are some examples.
To File Is To Find
It’s all too common to think of a file cabinet as a place to make paper go away. It’s not. It should be a safe place to store files where they can be FOUND reliably. Don’t put things you want to make a point of acting on in your file drawer. They will be out of sight out of mind. Instead, they need to be out where they are more compelling.
The Weekly Round Up
I have touched upon my system of Project Corrals in past posts, but today I am going to go into it in more detail. As always I believe a good system is an EASY system. This system involves an easy habit I call the weekly round-up, which I will demonstrate using my own projects and tasks as an example. The most important takeaway I got from David Allen’s Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress Free Productivity is this.
Read MoreMy Case Against Paper Clips
This isn’t the first time I have attacked a familiar office convention. There was the accordion file, the spiral notebook, and the rubberband.Today, I take issue with the apparently harmless paper clip. Let me start by saying I do use paper clips myself. I believe they have their place. It’s just that I find they are grossly over-used.
January 2012, Connecticut Magazine
Professional organizing expert Matt Baier of Stamford beams when asked how to set up an efficient home office; he lives for this.
