How to get yourself organized without all the fuss and cost, Part 1

Often we go for 18-20 hours a day trying to incorporate home, work, family, errands, and cleaning.  We don’t seem to have a moment to ourselves.  We don’t seem to have a moment for those little things that mean so much, like a restful, and much earned, glass of wine after the kids have gone to bed.  And, because our lives are so rushed and complicated, we rarely get a good night’s sleep because we are thinking of all the things that will have to be done the next day because we didn’t have time today. We need time to ourselves so we can slow down our brains, calm down our heart rates, and relax, but often demands make that impossible.

Is there hope?  Yes!!!!!  There is hope and I’m here to help you find it.  When you don’t find time to relax and rest your thoughts and your body, you are basically building a time bomb inside yourself.  Eventually that bomb will go off.  When that happens, you will get even more stressed and worried because the things you usually handle during your 18 hour stints are now being handled by those with no experience, or worse, aren’t being done at all.

All it takes is a moment of your time, just a quick moment--what you might take to fill your coffee cup, or get paper for the copy machine--and you will be well on your way to being organaized.

I know it seems like it, but it only takes minutes a day, honest.  Impossible, you say, no one can clean up THIS mess in minutes?  Nonsense.  Anyone can get organized AND it really does only takes a few minutes of your time a day to create hours of restful relaxation for yourself. I know that it  seems like it will be impossible because it is so hard to focus when you know you have so much you have to do, but after only a few short practice runs, you will be organizing like a pro.  Just one thing--it won’t happen overnight.  You have to keep at it and in just one short week you will already begin to find time to yourself, I promise.

It could be the kitchen, the living room, your office, your sun room, your garage, it could be anywhere.  Just think--where do you spend the majority of your day?  For most people that is in their job.  Now go to that area.  All of your tools for your job need to be relatively close by while still allowing for easy movement so the job can get done.  Are you right handed?  Then all of your WORK items would go on the right.  For a business person that would be the phone, the pens and pencils, the stapler, etc.  For a mechanic (for example) it might be their tool box, the testing equipment used most often, and the information book.  On the left should be your FLOW items.  For an office it could be the in/out box, the decoration for the desk, the candy dish for visitors, etc.  For the mechanic it would be the equipment and tools that are used for special jobs.  The center of your work area would have the things you need for both busy and slow times.  For the business person it would be their calendar or their ToDo list.  For the mechanic it might be their list of jobs for the day, or their safety belts.  This first step should only take you about 5, maybe 10, minutes of your time.  Perhaps you could come in a bit early so the boss won’t get angry that you seem to be playing and not working. 

Your work area is neat, clean, organized, and easy to work with.  And you have become a hit with the boss because you always have your tasks done on time.  Is that it?  Are you organized now?  Hardly, but you now have the basics to move into the next phase.  I hear the moans out there, bear with me, it won’t be as hard as you think.  The hardest part of this whole process is……..drum roll please……if you pick it up, put it back where you found it.  That’s it!  No great secret.  No hard work or process.  No gadgets that you have to pay 100’s of dollars for, nothing but a one sentence line--if you pick it up, put it back where you found it.  It sounds so simple, doesn’t it?  Way too simple to be effective, yet it is.  Follow that 'secret' and you will be a winner!

All you have to do for the next step is to begin organizing the rest of your areas.  Organize your car so you can find things without searching (and put a trash bag in place so you aren’t digging through a ton of trash to find the charger for your phone).  Organize your kitchen, living room, bedroom, bathroom, everything using the same process.  Put the items where you need them the most and once you have an easy flow, put all items back when you are done.  How hard can that be?  Well, you use a comb for your hair in the bathroom, you toss it on the sink when you are done, but the container that holds the comb is only 1” from where you actually set down the comb, you couldn’t move that 1”? 

Get yourself motivated, and keep yourself motivated, by the fact that you now have so much more time at work and your breaks and lunches are much more relaxed; aren’t they?  No tall stories now, this is your teacher you are talking to.  You don’t have to search for that elusive report to finish your presentation, and you don’t have to search to find out where your next appointment is located.  Life is easier and quicker.  Proudly, you CAN finish on time. And the boss is now using you as an example to the other employees about how efficiency works.  The ease of your office is now the focal point of everyone.  Psssst:  don't tell them how you did it-they'll think you spent hundreds on a special 'get better organized' course or something.