We are bombarded with so many factors that perpetuate disorganization. Computers, fax machines, cell phones, and online services allow us to do more and require us to do more. Microchip speed doubles every 18 months, with no end in sight. There is also a heightened sense of urgency due to rising expectations. If I can email you a question in 20 seconds, why can’t you return my email just as quickly?
However, it is not as bleak as it sounds. In fact, I can help you learn to use organization skills to survive and even thrive. You will streamline all aspects of your personal and professional life simply by applying these skills. If you’ve been reluctant to organize, you may be wrong about what it means. Let me clear up any misunderstandings!
The organization is not neat. You know the old adage “A place for everything and everything in its place”. It is half correct. In my experience, stress comes, not from clutter, but from wanting to clean up clutter and not knowing where to put it. A place for everything is essential. Everything in its place depends on your needs and your personal style.
Organization is not efficiency. Efficiency is the mechanics of a task, like “What’s the fastest way to get from here to there?” If you look at your “to-do” list one item at a time, you can do each item in it. The problem arises when you try to attack them all at once.
The organization is not a destination, it is a journey. People often get frustrated because they organize some aspect of their lives, and then all of a sudden everything gets disorganized again. Organization is a continuous process. As our lives change, so do our organizational needs.
Organization is not a moral issue; Despite what your mother told you. It is a skill. Some people are born with it and some are not. But anyone can learn it, if they are motivated and have the right teacher.
So what is organization? Ask these three questions. It works? Like? “And, if what you do affects others,” Does it work for others? “
If you have trouble getting organized, you are not alone. In USA Today, a survey of 3,000 people cited that, in addition to losing weight, getting organized was their top priority. However, we keep making excuses. If you don’t have time, could it be because you’re wasting it unnecessarily because you’re not organized? If you don’t know how, have you ever taken a course on getting organized? If you don’t want to, is it because you need to try another approach?
It is time to break down the barriers that prevent you from organizing.
Here are some ideas to get started:
1) decide what really matters
Identifying a few things that are really important to you can be a great motivator to get organized. Many companies have mission statements posted on their walls. Try writing a personal mission statement.
Take a notebook and pencil and find a quiet place. List 10 things you love to do. (If eating and sleeping are two of them, write 12!). I tried this exercise and was surprised and saddened to find out how difficult it was to even think of 10 things I loved to do. Most were simple, non-monetary things, like “going for a walk in the woods” or “having dinner with my daughter.” And most of them, to my dismay, had simply been “too busy” to do so. Ask yourself a tough question like, “If you only had 6 months to live, what would you be doing?” If you are not doing it right now, why not?
2) Eliminate the unnecessary in your life
My favorite chapter of Taming the paper tiger is “The art of the trash can®”. Research shows that 80% of what we keep we never use. But we are afraid of letting go, afraid of needing it again. I have never met anyone who has said that their problem is very little. Things are our security blanket. However, all things in the world will not fill a hole in the heart. An old 17th century textbook adage read, “Don’t have anything in your home that you don’t know is useful or that you don’t think is beautiful,” and I’d like to add “or love.”
The theme of letting go is also prevalent in our offices. An important step toward better organization in the workplace is a file cleanup day. I orchestrated that day for a major association in Washington, DC several years ago. A gentleman from the office was horrified at the thought of throwing away the boxes of papers that had accumulated over the past 15 years. On my follow-up visit several weeks later, that same gentleman came up to me, “I knew it,” he said, “We threw away those old records and sure enough, someone called me and asked if we had them.” “And what happened? ” I asked. He paused and a slow smile appeared on his face. “Absolutely nothing,” he replied, “absolutely nothing!”
When you’re trying to decide whether to keep something, ask yourself, “What’s the worst that could happen if you didn’t have this?” If you can live with the results, get rid of it!
3) Try something different
I think it was an old Burma Shave sign that said “Choose your routine carefully. You’ll be in it for the next 30 miles.” Some of us have been struggling with disorganization for 30 years. Even when you go out, it’s very easy to get back in! It’s easier to keep doing the same old thing than to change, even when you want to change. But if you keep doing what you’ve always been doing, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always been getting.
4) Ask for help when you need it
We often do ourselves a disservice by assuming that everything is competitive rather than cooperative. Recently, in my own home, I frantically ran to get all the trash out before the garbage collectors arrived. I assumed that my husband could see my frustration and would help me. Finally, as he walked back through the door, he looked up and asked, “Do you need help?” “Not now,” I replied dryly. He replied, “Why didn’t you ask?” (I reminded myself that he is the same man who can trip over three pairs of shoes and not realize they are there!) It is not a sign of weakness to ask; it is a sign of ignorance not to do so.
5) Eliminate perfectionism and procrastination
I’ve always been the great procrastinator. Then I had the opportunity to work with an art therapist. I had put off creating art, feeling like I couldn’t express myself the way I really wanted to. One day the art therapist said, “Today I want you to draw an ugly picture.” I thought for a minute and then felt relief. Anyone can make an ugly picture, even I can do it. I started drawing and for a moment it looked pretty, and I started to panic, “maybe I can’t even do that right.” Suddenly, I realized that what I had always called “creative procrastination” was really fear. Fear of not being perfect. If I procrastinate long enough, my fear of not making it will become greater than my fear of failing, so I would have no choice but to do so.
6) Choose the right tools
My father used to tell me, “Half of any job is having the right tool.” Probably 8 out of 10 times, a major obstacle for the organization is not having the right tool.
Consider what happens when you don’t have the right tools in the office. In my experience, most offices have paltry filing systems. How can I say? It’s easy – just walk down the hallways and take a look at people’s workspace. If they are full of paper, I can guarantee that the filing system is not working.
One of the biggest mistakes in disorganized homes is not having a “home office,” a place (that you like!) To run life’s business.
7) If a system doesn’t work, don’t try to fix it, start over
Photographs Filling system? (No, this is not a bug, just something to think about!)
8) Manage your “to do” list instead of letting her manage you
In my early days as a professional organization consultant, I was convinced that if I organized enough I could finish everything on that list. Now I take comfort in a comment from a colleague: “A creative mind always has more ideas than the physical body is capable of carrying out. The only people who finish their ‘to-do’ list are dead.” When you get off work at the end of the day, identify the three most important tasks for the next day – and get them done!
9) Disorder is postponed Decisions®
I learned this from clothes closets! How many items do you find in your closet because you haven’t decided whether to use them again? “Maybe one day I will lose 10 pounds!”
Have you ever walked into your office one morning and said, “Okay. I’m going to clean up this mess today?” You pick up a sheet of paper, then another and another, and before you know it, the pile on the left is now on the right. There are three options with any sheet of paper: File, Act, or Throw!
10) Forgive yourself when you miss the mark and move on
Human behavior is not like computer software. It can not be installed. It has to be nurtured.
I am continually amazed at how much we can learn from children. On a flight from Los Angeles to Chicago, he was sitting next to a six-year-old boy who was traveling alone. He was doing his best to entertain himself and he was actually being very good, but I often wondered, “How much longer is it going to be?” After what seemed like the hundredth time, I replied, “Just 30 more minutes. It will just take patience.” He looked at me innocently with his big brown eyes and asked, “How long is patience?”
You have already taken the first step towards a more organized life by reading this article. But be patient with yourself and others when it comes to getting organized. Like a puzzle, take one piece at a time. Organized life in a disorganized world may be just a few more pieces of the puzzle. And then before you know it, you can see the whole picture more clearly.