Organizing and Over-collecting

Becoming and staying organized is desirable. Being organized, however, is not the same as being neat. Neatness is just a virtue. Being organized is done for the practical purpose of creating breathing space. What good is information if you spend all morning looking for it?

The recurring problem with staying organized is holding on to pieces of the past. Overcollecting, or packratism, can create huge pile of junk at home and in your office. Reexamine what you retain and practice creative trashing. If you must hold onto items you no longer need, put them in a special box and hide it in the attic or garage. If you can go two years without missing it, then throw it out.

Flip and Strip

When you receive newspaper or magazine subscriptions, flip through them immediately, tear out the articles of interest, and toss the rest. You’re now left with a smaller, lighter, manageable pile that you can tackle more easily or take with you as needed.

For more Breathing space tips, visit the Breathing Space Zine.

Pare Down and Win

My book, Breathing Space which has been translated into Japanese, French, Italian, Chinese, Malay, and Spanish, introduces "paring down." It's a means of discarding what does not serve you, what does not support your work, what does not make your home life more pleasant, what gets in the way, or what you've been hanging onto for too long.

Where in your personal or professional life can you pare down? Check the items below that you suspect require attention. Use this list as a starting point, since many areas may not be of concern to you or you may need to add some of your own areas.

Where else can I pare down?:

[ ] Front hall closet
[ ] Kitchen cupboards
[ ] Bedroom closet
[ ] Under kitchen sink
[ ] Den closet

[ ] Under bathroom sink
[ ] Other closet
[ ] Medicine cabinet
[ ] Linen closet
[ ] Attic

[ ] Laundry room
[ ] Basement
[ ] Garage
[ ] Bookshelves
[ ] Back porch

[ ] Other shelves
[ ] File drawers
[ ] DVD collection
[ ] File folders
[ ] Cassette collection

[ ] Hard drive
[ ] CD collection
[ ] Other collection
[ ] Clothing drawers
[ ] Coats

[ ] Shirts, blouses
[ ] Ties, scarves
[ ] Pants, Skirts
[ ] Handbags, pocketbooks
[ ] Footwear

[ ] Briefcases, valises
[ ] Magazines
[ ] Duplicates, triplicates
[ ] Newspapers
[ ] Other piles

[ ] Newsletters
[ ] Other assemblages
[ ] Items I haven't used in years
[ ] Items I've never used
[ ] Items I can donate

[ ] Anything else I can think of!!

Institute a Replacement Policy

Here’s how to institute a replacement policy: If you bring in something new, something else that you don't need anymore has to go. (Be honest, most of what you're retaining is obsolete or
confirms what you already know).

In your office, regard all of the pieces of paper in your information kingdom as mutineers, capable of overthrowing the whole kingdom at a moment's notice.

Intelligent Design

Items that you use at least twice a day, such as a dictionary, thesaurus, or style handbook, should be within arm's reach or in a nearby drawer. Other items that you use less frequently may be stored in an adjacent drawer, or in a filing cabinet that's not in the way when you're working. Periodically consider different devices, such as computer trays, hanging lamps, and swivel mechanisms that could make you feel more comfortable and be more productive at your desk. Your work day is too important!

Caregiver "Emergency Kit"

From Bottom Line Personal , a publication of Boardroom Reports, comes a most useful list:
a Caregiver's "Emergency Kit"

* Personal basics:
Social Security number (original card or a photocopy).
Keys (home, car).

* Health information:
Photocopy of Medicare cared.
Copy of Medigap policy or policy number and agent contact information.
List of current diagnoses. Up-to-date list of current medications with dosage schedule.
Primary care physician and specialists with phone numbers and which conditions they are treating.

* Legal documents:
Living will (if they want extraordinary measures taken in a medical emergency).
Power of attorney for medical and/or financial decisions.

* Financial information:
Co-signing power for bank and brokerage accounts and safe-deposit box
Savings accounts numbers
Investment information
Stock broker
Loans information
Pension, etc.

Too Busy to Exercise?

Edwin Bliss once wrote that if you are too busy to exercise, you are too busy. In your hierarchy of values, nothing can have higher priority than health, and if you find time for watching television but not for tennis or golf or jogging, you are violating the most basic rule of time management, which is to do the most important things first.

Maintaining Control

A reader asks: Many days I am in control for most of the morning and part of the afternoon, but then all of the sudden, like a train derailment, everything seems scattered and out of control.

I suggest that you take mental pauses throughout the day, particularly as new developments occur. The best laid plans often go astray and those people who are able to maintain control know when to let go of one activity and redirect their focus towards another.

Remember as well that being in control is more related to how you feel about the situation than the presence of evidence. Keep reminding yourself that you are, in fact, in control. Ten minutes before the end of the day if your boss springs a one-hour assignment on you that must be done immediately, you can regard this as a major intrusion in your day or you can see it as a professional challenge or an opportunity to demonstrate your overall value to your company. Make a note of the times you have taken on such challenges and bring them up particularly at raise times.

Before, during, and after handling the late assignment thrown on your lap, keep considering the many benefits of completing it. These include learning something new, practicing maintaining grace under fire, and serving as a reminder for you to discuss this type of situation with your boss so that it doesn't happen too frequently.

Feeling in Control

A Reader Asks: In your books you write that we are control and responsible for how our time is used each day, but I don't feel that way. How do I increase my feeling of control and sense of responsibility for how my time is consumed?

Begin to recognize your routine, time-guzzling behaviors such as ceremoniously arranging the items on your desk, over-reading the newspaper, or scouring the web. Next avoid playing the victim. Stop believing that external circumstances cause you to be time-pressed while not acknowledging your participation and willingness to be a victim. Finally take ownership; that is, lay claim and accept responsibility for what occurs in your life. "Own" your time.

A Book Offer You Can't Refuse

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1. promote honesty and candor as you tell yourself the truth about how your organization is viewed and what is standing in the way of its success

2. pursue the best over the easiest in every decision and action

3. leverage the power of partnerships both internally and externally

4. focus the energy to make the main things the main thing and execute flawlessly

5. continuously learn, grow, and improve because past success proves you were right once

6. show the courage of accountability personally and promote a culture of accountability with others

If you purchase at least one copy of Results Rule! this week, the author will give you more than $75 worth of special gifts including:

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Tickler Files

If you're overwhelmed by what crosses your desk, it's worth considering the benefits of having a file folder for each month of the year and a file folder for each day of the month. This idea, the "tickler file" system, has been in practice for years.

Create a file for days 1-31 of the month, and place it at the front of one of your file drawers. Behind that, have a file for each month of the year. If it's the second day of the month, for example, but you receive something that you won't need to deal with until the 15th, then put it in the file for, say, the 13th to allow yourself some slack. If anything comes in that you don't need to handle now, put it in your tickler file. This yields some immediate benefits. It keeps your desk clear and eliminates a lot of worry about where things go.

As the days and months go by, you continually take files that were in front and put them in the back. Once you get this system in place, you'll find that many of the things you file may not need to be acted on later. The benefits of this system are immediate.

Spinning out of Control

Early warning signs when you’re heading for an "out of control" situation: Control is always based on your perception; still any time you start stacking horizontal piles on your desk you are operating in a malfunctioning mode.

If you find yourself perpetually 5 to 10 minutes late for meetings and always handling activities up to the last minute before turning your attention to what is next, you are leaving yourself wide open for some anxious moments. Also if you don't give yourself enough physical space to handle a task you are also likely to feel out of control.

Filing: Divide and Conquer

If you're facing volumes of information, divide and conquer. You may be facing a ten-inch pile of information. Put it into file folders, and group like items together. Eliminate duplicates and prioritize the important items in a given file. It's harmful to ingest too much information
at once. At least half the job of dealing with most information is simply dividing it into piles, categorizing, or putting it into various directories on your hard drive.