Enough of the headwork, give me something to do! So, start the music, waltz through this lesson, and get a plan.
Journey or a Destination? Pick a Direction!
Some folks plan exactly where they are going, no matter what they’re doing. They like to know the bottom line and get there — pronto! No side trips or diversions. No directions asked.
Others prefer a "live to ride" philosophy, delighting their senses at every turn, without worrying about exactly where they’re going or when they’ll arrive.
The point isn’t how you get there. The important fact is that everyone chooses a path every day regardless of whether we are talking about travel, work, or play. In other words, decide what you want and pick a direction. Create in your mind a clear picture of the desired results.
Some of you — the already organized — will instantly know that weeding last year’s credit card receipt file is the place to begin. For the rest of you, something about a particular closet or room, a workspace, or personal planner will call out to you ("Please, organize me!").
Perhaps the mess is so bad that you really and truly don’t know where to start. Take heart — it happens to a lot of good people. Look for directional clues. Are you entertaining houseguests soon? (Be glad they called!) That means finding room to store them in the extra bedroom. You’ve got to clear out the chaos in your cube before you lose another employee — or your own job? Are you absolutely frazzled, trying to make time for the big important things called goals, remember all the urgent (but often piddly) tasks people hound you about every time you answer the phone, and still get to your appointments on time?
Whatever screams out or smacks you in the face is your starting point.
First Stop, Kindergarten!
Surprise! The first stop on your organizing journey is kindergarten. In her book Organizing From the Inside Out, Julie Morgenstern cites kindergarten as her Number One Secret Organizing Weapon. She points out that the activity centers found in kindergarten classrooms can be successfully modeled in any organizing project you’ll ever encounter.
Enter a kindergarten classroom and you’ll see separate areas for different activities — paints, blocks, books, class pets, etc. Everything you need to paint is located in one place. The brushes are with the paints. The paints, brushes, and big paper are stored at the painting easel along with old shirts and aprons to keep you clean. Look closely, you’ll see the paints are near the sink for easy cleanup!
What’s great about "centers" is being able to focus on one thing at a time. You aren’t distracted or worried about reading books or feeding the fish while you are painting. You aren’t wandering around the room painting every surface with bright blue fingerprints while collecting your supplies. Everything you need for your activity is right there, labeled and stored in containers appropriate to the size, quantity, and type of item. Cleanup is fast, easy, and even fun.
Let’s make the jump to light speed — and the world of business — by translating our kindergarten paint station to an office activity — photocopying. Ever been in a Kinko’s copy center? These successful, one-stop copy businesses are built around one single office function — reproducing documents.
There’s a plan when you walk in the door. Check in if you need help, grab a page counter for self-service, copy, pay, and go! All the tools — small machines to big behemoth copiers that shuffle and deal, paper plain and fancy, staplers and pulls, paper cutters, trash cans, recycling bins, you name it — are visible, and available. Even the popular, upbeat music is programmed to keep you motivated, working, and having fun while keeping their space organized.
Activity Centers at Home
How about keeping your personal space organized? Everyone is different, but we all tackle the same basic tasks at home — eat, sleep, and hit the showers.
Let’s go into your bathroom. Don’t worry. We’ll have it cleaned up in no time. Aside from the obvious, what do you do in there? Most of us use the bathroom for personal grooming. We shower or bathe, shave, dry off, style our hair (or not), handle first aid and health care, and maybe dress or apply makeup in the bathroom. A few of you have branch libraries in there, too.
Take a look at your bathroom countertop. Do you really love having all that stuff out all the time where everyone can see what deodorant you use? Or that you ran out of two days ago? Could items that you use every morning be placed in one small bin or basket and kept in the cupboard under the sink? Pull it out once in the morning, put items back in as you use them, then replace the kit under the sink. Could magazines be placed all in one attractive basket on the floor? Would a shower caddy be better than having several bottles scattered around the shower, falling at your feet when your eyes are closed?
In large families or shared living situations, you may prefer to have each person keep items dormitory-style in plastic or wire bins; and store these on a shelf, closet, or outside the bathroom.
First, identify each of the activities within your bathroom. Then ask, "What items do I need for each of those activities?" Finally, scope out where you are now keeping these items and how they might best be stored for easy use, but less clutter. Remember, if it’s cluttered, it can’t easily be cleaned.
All The World’s a Stage
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts. – Shakespeare, from As You Like It
Roles You Play
Examining the roles you play can help get a handle on your use of time in the same way that identifying the activity centers in a room allows you to organize a physical space. Getting a grip on your schedule means finding time to organize, and ultimately more time for the parts you dearly want to play.
Think about the many roles you may fill. You are probably some combination of an employee, manager, business owner, customer, parent, adult child, sister or brother, friend, lover, partner, spouse, listener and referee, student, teacher, driver, caretaker, secretary, janitor, chief cook and bottle washer, gardener, or just plain handy person to have around.
Realize, too, that each one of us is a service provider as well as a customer of every other person with whom we interact.
All those jobs you’re doing make for a very busy — and possibly overcrowded — life. Obviously, we can’t all quit our jobs. Likewise, it may be difficult to retreat from handling certain tasks or extricate yourself from a family member’s phone call for help during your business hours. You can, however, begin to assign some of your jobs to specific activity centers or portions of your calendar.
Go With What You Know
Heed the old axiom and sage advice that says, "If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it." Structure your activity centers around what is already working for you.
For example, you may look around your home or office to see that you are consistently careful about music, replacing CDs in their jewel cases after each use and returning them to their home on a nearby shelf. This action shows you have established a home for your CDs near the player, and how you value this set of possessions.
You put your CDs away each and every time, but can’t seem to pay bills on time. Can you transfer the positive behavior? How about setting up a shelf, drawer, or filing box with your bills arranged by due date order? Make it a portable system so that you can bring it near to the CD player. Include stamps, envelopes, pens, and a pocket calculator. Then, pay your bills while you listen to the music you like.
Perhaps you aren’t always on time to appointments, but you are able to attend every one of your children’s sporting events. Does that tell you something? You make your children a priority and schedule accordingly. Try capitalizing on that attitude. Make every person you are meeting with — from your clients to your plumber — a priority. Show them that you value their time as much as your own by blocking out your time activity centers to allow more transit time before appointments.
What do you organize or do consistently well? Go back to your analysis. That’s exactly what successful business teams and athletes do. They analyze past performance on the playing field, and strategize to make good results happen again. What is one of your strengths you can capitalize upon?
Change It, Rearrange It!
Is visualizing change your strength? Can you look around and see how your office, closet, or living room could be physically rearranged to allow better use of the space? Be bold. Rearrange a space if it will be beneficial to its inhabitants. If clutter has not overtaken an area, try rearranging first. This breath of fresh air will inspire you!
Sketch out space the way you would like to see it. No drawing skills are necessary; just do a quick outline of the space. Measure the room and its furniture. Then, draw to scale. Measuring furniture determines what might be a questionable fit. No sense dragging around dead weight if it has to be moved twice. Be sure to mark the phone jacks, outlets, windows and doors, etc.
This is the time to think about taking out furniture and possessions. What goes? What stays? What might be useful in here that is currently placed somewhere else? What storage item(s) can be used or should go on your wish list? (Keep in mind that it might be preferable to hold out for what you really need and want.)
When designing your new arrangement, keep in mind a few pointers:
- You can comfortably allow for three to five activity centers in one room.
- Place storage within arm’s reach of the activity.
- Keep space around windows, doors, and air vents clear. (You would be surprised how many people block airflow and safety exits!)
- Office and desk areas are laid out to best advantage in L or U shape patterns.
- Lighting and outlet locations are relatively easy problems to overcome.
One last caveat: be sure to give yourself enough time for rearranging. Now, move it!
Are We There Yet?
One of the first questions people ask a professional organizer is "How long will it take?" What they want to know is how long it will take until they are organized and life is "normal."
How long did it take you to get where you are now? You got where you are now through habits that were formed a little at a time. Changing habits takes commitment, effort, and time.
Allow yourself the benefit of plenty of extra time for your organizing projects if the space is packed with several years of accumulation, or if you are coping with far-reaching psychological issues with your stuff (as discussed in Lesson 1).
You should greatly expand time estimates (and consider help from a professional organizer or a trained counselor) if:
- You have been assessed as ADD/ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder)
- You have been assessed as OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder)
- You are considered clinically depressed
Try to use at least 20 to 30 minutes of any organizing session to clean up what you got out and put things away in their rightful homes. The best medicine for any frustration at not going as far as you would have liked is to schedule a follow-up session — soon!
Set aside maintenance time every day. Use a timer or ask a colleague or friend to give you a 20-minute warning. Once the warning sounds, wrap up what you are working on and use the remaining 15 minutes to clear your workspace. When you return, you will have the visually relaxing benefit of starting with a clean slate.
Help Me! Resources
Remember, first, your assignment from Lesson 1. Write things down in one place — a personal planner, handheld personal assistant, or even a simple notebook. Write down your lesson assignments.
The National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) at (512) 206-0151 or http://www.napo.net can help you find a professional organizer in your area.
The National Study Group for Chronic Disorganization (NSGC) at (404) 231-6172 can help you find a professional organizer near you who works with chronically disorganized individuals.
Below are some descriptions for helping you determine if you are Chronically Disorganized.
Chronic Disorganization (CD) is:
1. Persistent, severe disorganization over a long period of time
2. Disorganization that adversely affects your life on a daily basis
3. Marked by failed self-help efforts to get organized
Individuals experiencing CD commonly:
- Accumulate large quantities of possessions beyond apparent necessity
- Have difficulty letting go
- Have many interests and uncompleted projects
- Need visual cues
- Are easily distracted
- Have weak time management skills
Information courtesy of The National Study Group for Chronic Disorganization.
Assignment: An Hour to Power
Pick one space-organizing project from work or home. Identify the "activity centers" in the space and what will be needed to organize the space you’ve chosen. Create a work schedule for your organizing plan and write it down. Decide when you can begin work. Make appointments with yourself by writing organizing sessions on your calendar.
Organizing from the Inside Out 