How To Reorganize

Anyone that knows me is aware that I’ve been sick for the past few weeks with all manner of disease and suffering.  I haven’t stopped working once, but a good indicator of how I’m feeling can be seen in the state of my office and living space.  As things stand currently, both are entering the ‘disarray’ phase of organization very clearly.

Fortunately, I am finally overcoming whatever bug(s) I’ve been enduring, and I won’t be letting things go much further down the slope towards ‘mess’.  As always, I’ll offer a disclaimer before I continue.  I am no expert, and I’m certainly not sporting a proven record of achievement in the category of self-improvement.  This is a bit of insight into a method that has worked for me before and I hope will work for me again.  Poorly-constructed legal disclaimer stated, let’s get to the meat of the conversation.

Steps To Success

1. Get Better – This one goes without saying for me, if you are depressed or de-motivated, figure out what it is in your life that’s bothering you and take steps to resolve the issue.  For some people this involves consulting a doctor, for others just a good punch to the face.  I believe myself to be in the latter category.
2. Clean Your Space – Another that seems pretty self-explanatory.  Call it managing your Fung Sh…well whatever it is that they term it, the point remains the same.  Mentally, people work better when they’re comfortable with the space they’re working in, and this is not just a tactic for your office.
3. Set Organization Goals – One thing that I started doing last year was creating a schedule for myself.  I opened up Excel, laid out three different types of days for myself (Weekday, Weekend-day and Vacation-day), broke down the day into time slots, and decided what I’d like to be doing for those time slots.  This was helpful for me, and my immediate goal at that point was to follow my schedule.  Make this suit you (same as the with your workspace/livingspace), some people find it easier to have a goal such as “Clean room once a week”.
4. Reward Yourself – When you achieve a goal, reward yourself.  I built reward periods into my schedule that allowed me to watch a movie or play a video game for an hour.  Do something that is meaningful to you and it becomes a part of your newly organized life to get that time to play.

There are plenty of tools online to help you plan and build on your successes.  One tool shown to me by a friend was something called Joe’s Goals.  I tried using it for a bit and found that my spreadsheet was more effective for me, but give it a whirl to see if it’s your kind of thing!

 

- Andy