Being organized is not about hiding everything in pretty baskets or about buying the latest organizing gadgets. In fact, you stand a better chance of being organized WITHOUT adding the baskets and gadgets. Good organizing is more of a subtractive process. It’s about subtracting barriers. It’s about taking the less important stuff in your life out of your way, so you can get to your priorities.
Bound and spiral notebooks may make sense for taking notes in school or keeping a journal, but they are terrible for keeping you organized. I have seen thousands of (usually) half-used notebooks in my clients homes and not once have I seen one used as an effective organizing tool. I would add notepads to this list and exclude binders, which can be useful for reference material.
Anyone who has worked with me knows what a fan I am of Julie Morgenstern. If you want to read the best books on organizing, start with her classic "Organizing From the Inside Out." It begins with a story about her "day of reckoning" when she and her baby daughter missed out on a beautiful day because she was (then) so disorganized. I know from working with work-at-home moms that there always seems to be a nagging feeling of missing out, because of the tremendous challenge of keeping it all together.
When I work with clients with terminally cluttered desks, I always start by asking how much of the pile is stuff they have to make a point of acting upon and how much of it do they just need to be able to find? Not surprisingly, they usually tell me it ALL needs to get done. Well, there’s no way to focus on an amorphous pile of competing papers.
"A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush." I know that's how the traditional saying goes, but I think it's safe to say a bird in the hand is BETTER than two in the bush. Do you ever have one of those workdays where you're trying to juggle several different things, but you don't actually finish any of them? I sure have and it's a really frustrating feeling.
Tough goals need to be accomplished in stages, in much the same way volleyball players get the ball over the net. You may be accomplishing these goals with a team of coworkers or as a team of one. Whether your are delegating to others or doing the next step yourself, the better the set, the better the spike. When you give your team clearly defined goals and instructions, it is more likely that you will get the results you seek.
As I see it, the whole point of getting organized is to make life as easy as possible so that you can get to the things that matter most. Your organizing energy, therefore, should first go to the items you need to find and use the most.
When all is said and done on the topic of Time Management, I believe it can all be boiled down to two pains: 1. You don't have enough hours for all the things that need to be done. 2. No matter how hard you work, you feel that life is just passing you by.
Being truly organized requires a balance of three limited resources: space, time, and energy. The first two are pretty obvious, but "energy" is often overlooked. You may be working in a comfortable, productive space and you may have what seems like a well planned out schedule, but if you haven't budgeted for your energy levels, it can all come unravelled.
Originally from Matt Baier's Organizing Works Newsletter, January 2009 REACHING GOALS January is the month we like to make a fresh start. Getting organized is a very popular New Year's resolution and this month I would like talk specifically about how to stick to the goals we set. These goals can be as small as focusing on "simple" errands or as large as creating a website.
Originally from Matt Baier's Organizing Works Newsletter, September 2008 DROPS IN A BUCKET Getting the most out of your time requires many of the same principles as getting the most out of your space, including benefiting from a series of small gains rather than expecting one big one.
Originally from Matt Baier's Organizing Works Newsletter, August 2008 THE TO-DO DELUGE Last month I stated that ultimately all paper demands just two imperatives: 1. Act upon it 2. Find it
Originally from Matt Baier's Organizing Works Newsletter, February 2007 PERFECTLY DISORGANIZED It often takes 50% or more of the total effort to squeeze out the last 10% or so of quality or whatever it is perfectionists want out of a situation. Not a good investment of time. -Jeff Olson, The Agile Manager's Guide to Getting Organized, 1997
Professional Organizer Matt Baier and his team declutter and organize homes and offices in Stamford, New Canaan, Greenwich, Westport, Darien, Norwalk, Fairfield, Westchester County, and New York City.
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Professional organizer • Stamford, Connecticut
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