Choosing to Live an Organized Life

After the initial organizing work had been done, it was up to the individual to file her papers, pay bills and in general put things in their place in the office when finished with them. A couple of years passed after the initial work to organize the office.

Somewhere along the way, the system broke down and it once again needed to be organized. This person is intelligent and a successful business owner, yet for some reason a part of the system was not working for her.

We identified two areas where the system broke down:

Bill Paying System:  It was difficult for the client to not “see” her bills. We made a minor adjustment from having them in a folder on her desk, to keeping un-paid bills in an open basked on the desk.

Filing:  Papers breed Paper. If paper is allowed to accumulate on a horizontal surface for any length of time, it is very easy to continue adding to it.

Using my PAPERS™ method, one of the following decisions can always be made regarding paper:

Process it

Act on it

Pass it on

Eliminate it

Read it

Shred it

And if you must keep for future reference it—File it!

In this scenario, the paper shredder was broken and so papers began to quickly pile up and became overwhelming. If you are feeling overwhelmed regarding any of your organizing systems, it could be for a variety of reasons:

1. You do not know how to say “NO”

2. You over-promise

3. You procrastinate

4. You set unrealistic time frames to complete projects

5. You waste time focused on things that really do not matter

Rather than setting a New Year’s resolution this year to “Get Organized in 2007", set the intention to live an organized life. A part of the process to living an organized life is the desire to change—this is the first step.

Remember, organizing is a “process” not an “event.” You will need to work at this a little each day. Just as with exercise, it is recommended that you get 20 minutes a day, three times a week. Spending the same amount of time each week on maintaining your new systems will help keep the clutter from re-appearing.