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.

Chronic Disorganization

As with most states of being, there are different degrees of disorganization. One can think of a continuum from very organized to severely disorganized. Chronic disorganization, however, is considered to be a different situation altogether.

People who are chronically disorganized likely live in a state of severe disorganization. They do not typically respond to conventional organizing practicies and strategies no matter how hard they try to make them work. They have three difining features as identified by Judith Kolberg in Conquering Chronic Disorganization:

• They have been disorganized all or most of their adult life;
• Being disorganized negatively effects their quality of life in some way everyday; and
• Previous attempts to be organized have not been successful.
  

Chronically disorganized people think, learn and organize in ways that are unconventional and therefore conventional organizing strategies do not work for them. Fortunately Judith Kolberg and a number of colleagues have made it their business to understand how to help individuals with chronic disorganization. She founded the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization which now provides education to professional organizers and related individuals on working with those who suffer from chronic disorganization.

So if you think you may be chronically disorganized check out the

NSGCD website. The professional organizer directory on both Professional Organizers in Canada and National Association of Professional Organizers includes identification of those who specialize in this area.

You don't have to live with your disorganization.

Client Questions - Is Anyone Else Disorganized Like Me?

Q "Now that you have seen my disorganization and mess, tell me, are there other people that are disorganized like me? Do their colleagues know?"

A Yes. Usually.

It often takes a lot of courage for a seriously disorganized professional, manager or executive, to let a professional organizer into their office. Many of my residential clients have not had anyone into their home for a very long time. They are too ashamed. Their embarrassment and concern that they will be chastised by friends and family ensure that those friends and family will never be invited over. Their embarrassment is expressed in a desire to know they are not the worst or most disorganized people I have ever worked with. In the business environment, executives, often the highest producers, are running scared that the rest of the office, especially their boss, will find them out.

The reality is that there are many business executives teetering on the edge of collapse because their business world is so disorganized. There are a lot of people in this world with a lot of stuff they a) don't need b) don't use c) don't have room for and d) don't know how to manage or part with and e) can't manager their time. The impact on their lives is no different than the impact on the disorganization in the life of the clients that express their frustration and embarrassment in the form of today's question.

If there weren't lots of disorganized people in Canada, the country would not support the growing roster of industry professionals such as the members of Professional Organizers in Canada , now with over 600 members, or its affiliate, the National Association of Professional Organizers in the United States.

More important, however, is how each individual or family, struggling with disorganization, gets a grip on their lives so that they too can achieve their business or personal objectives without the emotional and mental stress of always covering up for their disorganization. So if you are wondering if anyone else in the world suffers from disorganization like you do, the answer is yes. Lots of people. Does the rest of the office know? Yes. The symptoms of your disorganization or visible to everyone. Now what will you do to manage it?

Why Am I Always Disorganized?

When working with a new client, one of the first challenges I face is to understand why the client is disorganized. Our first visit together is an assessment session which helps me to understand the issues that they face and why they face them. Understanding reasons for disorganization is key to overcoming it. Without an understanding of the underlying isssues, it is very difficult to help an individual, family or business implement systems, structures, process and particularly behaviour changes to achieve a greater level of organization.

Julie Morgenstern, in her book Organizing from the Inside Out, offers a clear and simple discussion of the causes of clutter. She describes the three levels or reasons for disorganization and points out that "everyone struggling with disorganization suffers from at least one Level I cause, but may also be suffering from some Level 2 and 3 causes as well". I have summarized them here for you so that you might have insight into your own reasons for disorganization.

1. Level 1: Tehnical Errors. These include the simple mistakes in your organizing systems, such things as items not having a home, inconvenient storage, more stuff than storage space, or complex, confusing sytems that are too complicated for you to use.
2. Level 2: External Realities. These include factors in the outside world over which you have little or no control. Understanding how to manage these factors will help you to create realistic expectations for yourself. They include unrealistic workload, the speed of life and technology, life or business in transition, uncooperative partners or limited space.
3. Level 3: Psychological Obstacles. These include hidden, internal forces that keep you disorganized no matter how much you might wish to be otherwise. Understanding these issues can help you either work around or through them to seek greater organization. They might include a need for abundance, craving the thrill of creating order from chaos, having unclear goals and priorities, being afraid of success or failure, feeling the need to retreat, having a need for perfection or distraction, and having sentimental attachments to items.

Top 5 Series - Indicators of a Packrat

Managing the behaviour and characteristics of a packrat may be something you assume that professional organizers focus on mostly with residential clients. The reality is that packrat behaviour is seen equally often at the office. The following behaviours and characteristics, modified from a list developed by Judith Kolberg and Kathleen Nadeau in ADD-Friendly ways to Organize your Life, may be familiar to you because of your own life or perhaps the life of someone around you:

• You hang on to things that you, or anyone else, hardly ever uses;
• You eagerly collect items regardless of whether you need them;
• You refuse to part with items because you think you will use them someday (but can't remember the last time you used it);
• You consider yourself a packrat;
• Your workspace (or home) is so cluttered it is hardly functional;
• You have difficulty making decisions about objects.

Sound familiar? The following strategies may help you get started on a healthier path.

• Try the "two for one" policy when bringing new things into your environment. If you bring a new book to your office, commit to removing two books already there that you can't remember the last time you touched.
• Ask someone you trust, a clutter companion, to commit to a day of clearing out your workspace. It will probably take more than one session but you will find even starting will be very rewarding.
• Clear a sorting table so that you have a clear space at waist height in which to sort. You will find this easy on your back and the sorting will feel easier.
• Choose items in your workspace of better quality and let the quantity of objects diminish. If you find 4 staplers, keep the best one.
• Play the Friends, Acquaintances, Strangers game. Objects that feel like friends can stay. Acquaintances may or may not stay depending on their timeliness and utility related to your or your company's strategic goals. The strangers leave your space.

Disorganized Success - At What Price?

Many of you are successful and busy professionals in either your own company or a corporate firm. Some of you are successful despite the fact your world teeters on the edge between organizational disaster and "pulled through again" as you live with your organizational struggles.

Disorganization can be very, very stressful. Living in fear that the rest of the office, business or corporation will discover how disorganized you really are is a stress that few professionals can withstand for very long. You may have tried to be more organized and failed. Perhaps you have been disorganized all your adult life. Perhaps your disorganization permeates your private life as well as your business life - but at home the world may be a little more forgiving.

What price is your disorganization costing your life? Stress? Someone else's time to find things? Rework? Redo?

Perhaps now is the time to consider getting help before the stress takes over or the balance of your life tips in the wrong direction. The National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization is a research based education organization for professional organizers and other health care providers who are interested in chronic disorganization. The group provides resources to the public and a referral program. In the United States, the National Association of Professional Organizers also has a referral program. In Canada, the Professional Organizers in Canada can help you find an organizer with special skills in chronic disorganization in your area.

Don't pay the high price of disorganization. Your life is too valuable.

Stressing over Garbage

Clearing out a client's office with them, particularly offices with lots of paper, can be an illuminating experience. Not so much for me, but for the clients.

Typically at the end of the day, we end up with several bags or boxes of recycling mostly paper. There are usually another couple of bags or boxes of garbage. Finally, there is an inevitable collection of material that belongs to other people in the company and will be distributed accordingly or taken to a supply/equipment/archive store room. The end result is a calm and organized work space the even feels more productive, 4 - 6 bags of recycling and garbage in the hallway and a stack of stuff that is doesn't belong in the client's office.

When clients are confronted with the debris in the hallway, the illumination begins; "I can't believe I was so stressed about so much stuff that turned out to be not worth keeping or not even belonging to me!" Bingo.

Take a look around your office. Cluttered? Messy? Paper got you stressed?

I highly recommend a clear out and overhaul. You may be surprised at how much stress you are spending on garbage.

What's Your Organizing Personality Type?

Are you visual person susceptible to the noise of many different items of different sizes and colours on a shelf?

Are you a tosser who like to "toss" items into a storage bin/basket/file/drawer?

Are you auditorily inclined? Do you find yourself talking to yourself all the way through the next year's budget preparation complete with a "There, that's done for a year!" when its complete?

Much the same way we have preferences in the way we process information and respond to new opportunities, we all have organizing personalities. Your organizing personality is related to your learning preferences and generally falls into the categories of visual, auditory, or kinesthetic. There are however, many other ways to organize. Some people have a tendency to organize by time.

Understanding what your personality will help you to tailor your oranizing systems and process to match your personality. A mismatch wil lead to systems which don't get used and process which fall apart with the resulting disorganization that ensues.

To determine your personality, what and listen to how you organize at your desk. Do you talk out loud (auditory)? Do you like to sort your files by colour (visual)? So you like to sort by date? Do you prefer all your surfaces to be clear but don't care about the inside of your drawers or cupboards? Do you need everthing out where you can see it (visual). Do you like to get up and file or toss things in your office (kinetic)?

Where is Everything - Policies?

Are all your company policies in one room?
Are they all on one server?
Are they in one file cabinet/binder or e-folder?
Are they in one file?
Are they dated?
Are they current?
Do they share a similar format?

Do the employees know they exist?
Are thy accessible to all employees for reference?
Would anyone find them in a reasonable period of time?
Do they use them?
Could your employees direct a new employee to them for reference?

Does your company have an annual review date established for each policy?
Did you review them on/near that date?

Top 5 Series - Reasons that Companies are Disorganized

Why does the disorganization occur? Remember, good leadership always includes accountability.

1. Disorganization by Senior Executives
These individuals are easy to spot. They frequently ask for documents a second time. “Send me another copy, it’s probably in my email backlog.” The last thing they need is another copy of anything. Their offices are often an array of piles and may not leave you a spot to sit down. They are often late for meetings. If these individuals chair a meeting, you may be late for your next one as they likely won’t finish on time. Meanwhile direction is unclear and accomplishment is minimal. On the other hand, action - without accomplishment - is plentiful, often at the expense of others because other people work harder to keep these folks organized.

2. Insufficient Action Regarding Strategic Objectives
Once the mission, vision, strategic goals and target are set, who does the follow up? Where is the accountability and how often is progress tracked. You may have used balance scorecards, dashboards, quality management strategies or a host of other tools and still found your company falling short of its goals. Look and see what structure, systems and processes were put into place to support the accomplishment of those goals. Are they visible? Does everyone know what they are and how the company will attain them?

3. Lack of Documentation Retention Policies
I am constantly surprised the number of times I enter an individual’s office and find they have paper they have never looked at, boxes they have never opened and don’t know what to do with material that they don’t want or need any longer. Do your employees know how often your expect them to purge their files, paper or digital, and what to do with the result?

4. Failure to Understand Space Requirements of Employees/Programs
Too often when programs or employees ask for more space, they are merely moving clutter they don’t need in the first place. Unfortunately, their bosses don’t understand enough about their position, role or program to understand that before anything is moved, an new filing cabinet is purchased or a new lease is signed, a good clear out is required.

5. Unwillingness/Inability to Manage/Address Individual Disorganization
Unfortunately for employee and manager alike, too many managers are ill prepared to assess and address disorganization in an employee. Their tardiness on projects, lateness for meetings, failure to respond to email and excessive piles of paper and overtime hours are disappointing at best and very expensive for a company to support. Tackling it requires diligent performance management and all too often, managers just don’t have the skill.

Tomorrow the Top 5 continues with Actions to Make a Difference.