Keeping to the Agenda

This post is going to make everyone else happy and give you some more work. "Oh great!", I can hear you say. But remember, when your organization makes everyone else happy, you look good.

It's not about goals - its about agendas. Do you use them for your meetings? Do you send them out ahead of time? Are they clear and concise and related to the previous meeting's minutes (if there was one)?

There is almost nothing worse for meeting attendees, even the virtual kind, than a meeting that doesn't stay focused, runs overtime and doesn't accomplish the goals for which it was set up. Your agenda, sent out in advance, will notify everyone of the purpose of the meeting, the time commitment, who will attend, what they are expected to contribute and what they can expect to get out of it.

Set up your meeting agenda. Send it out ahead of time. Stick to the agenda when you meet. Everyone will be happy to attend your meetings.

Organizing to Maintain your Sanity - 5 Ignore Criticism and Enjoy Bonus

You've heard it. I've heard it. We all know what it sounds like.

"Getting a little anal aren't you? Turning into the next Martha S. here at the office?"

Here comes the criticism from those people, usually one person in particular, who can't stand to let you reach a higher level of organization in your work. It might even be your boss. Who knows, maybe that person is jealous, envious or afraid that you might be more productive, more effective and receive the accompanying accolades that eludes them due to their disorganization.

They have every reason to be very, very afraid. Clutter gone, priorities shift and here you come with productivity in hand. Using the 15 to 45 minutes of routine, organizing maintenance that I have outlined in items 1 through 4 of this series, you will have freed up your mind away from the clutter and what you "should" be doing about it, to whatever your boss, organization or business really wants you to focus on.

If the naysayers want to focus on criticising you, let them do whatever. You've got product to sell, clients to support and staff to lead. You rock!

Organizing to Maintain your Sanity - 4 Go Home

To keep the organizing going, and the clutter at bay, every item in your office needs to go back to its home. In most organizing projects, next to purging, much of the work is in establishing a home for everything whether its paper, files, e-files or other objects. Once an item has a home, it needs to return there when you finish using it.

Again, just a few minutes a day to scan your office and put things away will take you a long way to a more organized existence. If it isn't yours, and doesn't belong in your office, take it back to its proper home. You don't need the job of keeping track of other people's clutter along with your own. If done at the end of the day, you will return in the morning to a more organized office and feel more in control of your work and your life. Keep it simple and commit to completing this task daily.

Organizing to Maintain your Sanity - 3

"If I had time", you say, "I would be more organized!" I know, me too. Unfortunately since none of us have figured out how to put an extra couple of hours into each day, we will just have to work with the 24 hours that we have.

Let's start with your calendar. Do you have one? Do you carry it with you all the time? If it is a paper calendar, can you put it into your purse, briefcase, computer bag? If it is electronic, can you carry it in your purse, briefcase, computer bag?

Since this series is about maintenance tips I am concentrating on keeping organized (as opposed to the clearing out and sorting to get organized). Ensure that today's appointments are in your calendar. Review tomorrow's appointments before the end of the day so that you have time to prepare for whatever is scheduled. If you have car service arranged, have you organized someone else to take the kids to swimming? It takes only a minute or two to review the appointments for tomorrow. It could take a lot longer to catch up if you miss something or it takes you by surprise. At the end of the week, review your appointments and plans for next week. Again, the anticipation will give you a chance to plan and prepare.

Once that is done, you can head for your evening knowing your plans for tomorrow and next week are already in place and organized. Aren't you clever!

Organizing to Maintain your Sanity - 2 The Entrance

Have you ever noticed the tendency to walk into your office and immediately put down on the first horizontal surface whatever is in your hands? It is such a common habit that we professional organizers find amongst our clients that if you are missing something, I would suggest you check the first flat surface you find in each of the rooms you have just visited.

To maintain your sanity and stay organized, the next habit to develop is to clear the flat surfaces just inside the threshold of your office. (Notice I didn't say "...and then get rid of the flat surface." Maybe later!). Take a few minutes each day - 15 to 30 should do it - and clear off those surfaces. Needless to say, once you do the big clear out the first time, each subsequent day will be easier and require less time.

Concentrate on what is just inside the door or threshold of your office. Is it a shelf, a credenza, a chair or a filing cabinet. Whichever, clear off the surface and put everything in its rightful location. Remember to take anything that doesn't belong in your office back to its rightful home. You don't need other people's clutter in your office!

This series of posts is all about maintaining organization in your work life. The idea is to tackle a little bit each day that ends up as a huge accomplishment and a calmer environment for you in the long run.

Organizing to Maintain your Office - 1 The Floor

I am committed to education. I am committed to educating my clients with new behaviours and habits to keep their lives organized. I have heard it said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. If my clients continue to do what they have always done - their lives will once again be full of the clutter that I help them control/purge/manage and they will be no more organized then before we started working together.

This week's posts will address basic, simple habits to help you keep the clutter at bay. Organizing does not have to be complicated. In fact, the less complicated your routines the more likely anyone - you, your spouse/partner, your children - are likely to follow them. Keep it simple and focused - keep the clutter away.

Habit 1 - Clear the floor.
Spend 15 minutes at the end of each day clearing away the debris off your floor. Refile the file folders that you dropped their. Pick up the paper and recycle or file. Return the books to the book shelf. Look under your desk. Is there an old pile of shoes? Throw out the ones you no longer wear and put the others in the closet with your coat. Anything that doesn't actually belong in your office can be returned to its rightly location.

If you are doing this exercise at home, and you have children, they can easily help. Bear in mind, it does not need to be a lengthy process. Give the children 15 minutes to run through the house and pick up/put away their toys, books, homework items, sports equipment. Consider giving a reward when they are done like reading them an extra chapter of their book or a Popsicle.

There may be lots of clutter on the floor when your first start. That's OK. Try this for 28 days without a break and I guarantee you that by day 29 your house will be tidier and you will feel more organized and in control of the clutter.

Declutter the Feeder

Hop on over to my colleague Marcia Francois at Organizing Queen. Tomorrow she will walk you through an online decluttering exercise - like those feeds to which some of us are addicted but really never use. Sound familiar? Lean and clean to be productive and effective.

Home Office - Not to Abound

If you are working in a home office, you may have already identified that it is important for your work life balance to set up a form of boundary or border. Separation of work and home life is essential for good organization, good health and productivity. Here are a couple of ways to accomplish these borders:

• Use screens, room dividers or use a bookcase/filing cabinet or other furniture as a room divider.
• Use an office in a cabinet set up so that you can close your office at the end of your work day.
• Have a separate phone line installed for your business.
• Ensure that family and clients understand when you are available and when you are not. What are your working hours and when are you home for your family?
• Get dressed each day for work. Establish a ritual for "entering" your office. Do you have your coffee/tea/water in hand?
• Ensure that you have a storage closet or other space for supplies so that they don't end up all over your home.

These tips will help you to maximize your focus while at work and minimize the intrusion while at home.

Recession Strategies

"Who has time to organize?" you ask. "My boss has just been let go and a dozen colleagues have been downsized. A neat office is not on my priority list."

While a neat office may not be high on your priority list, A1 performance ought to be. In these difficult economic times, you want to be sure your high performance is facilitated by your organization level and not hampered or impeded by your lack of organization.

And if you think you have hidden your disorganization from your colleagues and boss for these past years - think again. Most managers have a pretty good idea of who is well organized and who is not. For one thing, organization and performance are frequently related - your colleague next door with the clean desk doesn't waste any time in getting your boss the report he/she needs or following up on that very hot sales tip.

If there were ever a time to commit to improving your organization level, now would be it. Start with either your desk or the floor. Get rid of the extra paper, shoes, garbage, recycling and boxes. It will speak volumes to those in charge about your commitment to productivity.

Books - Enough Already

Peter Walsh's most recent book Enough Already is now available on Amazon. I highly recommend this to those of you who are overwhelmed not only by your clutter, but by your life in general. True to his character, Peter handles not just the stuff in our lives but the issues of emotional and mental clutter.

Whether you are tackling little clutter, big clutter at home or at work, I recommend this read to you.

Quiet Hour for Executives

How often do you book a meeting with yourself in order to get time alone to work on a priority item? All too often, we feel guilty for booking time to ourselves rather than making ourselves available to the people in our business world. Consider, however, whether or not those priority items are in fact getting done on a timely basis with the number of distractions coming into your workspace during your regular work day.

Booking a quiet hour whether for a project, a task, or to think can be a very effective organizing tool for managers and executives. It is especially effective for planning time at the end of the day. The best time to plan for tomorrow's agenda is at the end of today. Taking a quiet hour to review your priorities, plan out your day and block in your activities will increase your effectiveness as a leader and as an employee.

It may take a couple of times before the people around you realize that you really do mean to be left alone. Don't answer the phone, email or door. Pretend that no one is in the office. Concentrate for that quiet hour on the task at hand. Pretty soon other people will learn to respect your time and need to work alone. Especially when they see the productivity that results!

More on Labelling E-files

You have no problem handling file names with dates attached but now you are wondering "How do I label files so that my most frequently used items come to the top of my list when my computer only files by number or alphabet?"

Use letters like numbers to help your computer file by frequency of use. If you use a file often, start the file name label with an A (or AA, AAA depending on the number of files you are labelling). Start the file name of those files used least often with a Z (ZZ or ZZZ etc.)

Your computer will obligingly file alphabetically reading those letter first and your files will be listed according to frequency of use.