OrGOnized
To understand what it takes to stay organized, it might be helpful to change the spelling of the word itself. The word “go” needs to be at the heart “organized.” To be truly organized, you need to be or-GO-nized. I know the definition of organizing, but I haven’t found a satisfying word origin. 1375-1425, late Middle English from the Medieval Latin organizare- to contrive, arrange— is not doing it for me.
Organizing Isn’t Fitting
Do you tend to put things where they belong or where they fit? If you put them where they belong, then you are using dedicated zones, even if that’s not what you call them. If you just put things where they fit, it can be very difficult to stay organized. Seven words I dread hearing from a client, upon gaining a clear drawer or shelf, are “what can we put in here now?” It means I haven’t done my job of explaining how being organized works.
One, Two, Four-get It!
I have a simple little theory that explains why it is so hard to stay organized. While I have never tested it scientifically, I have observed it throughout my life and in almost every home I have organized. I call it the One, Two, Four-get it! theory. It begins with two other organizing beliefs of mine. First, I believe that a clear work surface is your number one organizing tool. Second, I believe that limitations breed freedom. For example, if you limit the
The Path To Paperless
Clients, who are frustrated by all their paper, often ask me “What about scanning it all and going paperless?” I usually recommend “Let’s learn to walk before we can run.” Why waste time and money scanning in the paper that is worthless? I have never made the jump to 100% paperless myself, but recently I discovered I knew someone who has. I’m always learning surprising facts about my manager, Marlie Reid. One of those facts is that Marlie is 100% paperless.
Teeing It Up
A golf ball is placed on a tee, so that the ball is in a position that it can be struck cleanly. Teeing up is a step that is taken so the next step is easier. Effective organizing systems need to be, not only a series of stages, but a series of stages that are each “teed up” for each subsequent stage. For example, if your system for organizing the ugly mail is hiding it in a pretty basket, you have not teed up the next stage well.
Product Review: The Sticky Pad
I guess I’m kind of late to come around to the virtues of the Sticky Pad, but I have to say I’m a fan. I first saw this product in use, as I do with so many products, by one of my brilliant clients. It's so simple. Just place the Sticky Pad anywhere on your dashboard and simply rest your cell phone (or whatever) on top of it. The pad will hold stop it from slipping off, no matter what. Really!
Top 10 Dedicated Zones
Establishing and maintaining dedicated zones are essential to staying organized. Here are the top 10Read 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 bet it’s perfect.” Read More
Closet Impossible?
I have taken rather ruthless measures in an effort to get my clients' wardrobes toRead 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.
