To All... Question of the day....how do YOU define being organized? (this question is open to organizers and non-organizers alike <s>)
Paulette Ensign
I define being organized as the ability to carry out the activities in your life (from locating the directions to the event you agreed to attend to the management of your time) without spending more than a minute or two doing it.
A lofty goal, however, I believe that if one spends a very small amount of time each day maintaining organization, then "being" and staying organized is easy. Having said that, this requires that one is beginning with some systems in place (i.e filing system, calendar system, mail processing system, etc.).
I am always confronted with the "complaint" that being/getting organized takes too much time. I disagree. Staying organized, for me, takes about 10 minutes a day. Getting organized in the first place requires some time, but being DISORGANIZED it truly the time guzzler.
Mikki Lesowitz
>> how do YOU define being organized? <<
Positioning the trash cans so nothing important falls into them by accident.
:-D Charles Smith
<< Positioning the trash cans so nothing important falls into them by accident. >>
I gave up on that a long time ago. Now I just keep a sign on my trash can that says "IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS".<g>
Mike
To me, being organized means that your environment is set up to support you. It means that you can take care of routine tasks on automatic pilot and concentrate on the important stuff.
For those who tend toward the dramatic, it means that you will have to look harder for your crises; they won't materialize automatically from the papers piled throughout your office. Hey, it's a sacrifice, but it's worth it. I love organization!
-Carol Crespo, NAPO Member
I'd have to say it's when you have things arranged so that they are easy to find and to get to and having it _stay_ that way!
Sandy
Good question, Paulette. I'd say it means being able to get dressed in the morning without resorting to the laundry room, having a real dinner every evening, being able to find a phone number in 2 minutes, having all your tax receipts in order...always, not receiving dunning notices, meeting appointments at the scheduled times without lame excuses about flat tires and having time to pursue the things that add quality to your life. It should also mean not spying those dust thingies in the corners of the ceiling, wayward fingerprints or an aging paint job as you're seating your guests....but doesn't for me yet.<g>
-Shelby Norris
>> So, not into dustball art, huh? <<
Not really as much as I should be, Paulette, considering how many we seem to have. <g> That's the hardest thing in the whole organization game, finding the necessary hours to get *everything* done without sacrificing all enjoyment. Supposedly, when you're organized there's never any way anything can get out of control and one has no dust balls.
Okay, but could being able to tolerate dustballs in the scheme of things be a part of the definition of organization? Sort of a, "I am organized, therefore dust doesn't bother me," philosophy? Or does it *always* mean never getting them in the first place? I'm happy tho, does that count as part of the definition?
-Shelby Norris
Dear Shelby,
*Never being out of control*???? Au contraire...no one ever said that. My own definition of being organized is the ability to find what you want when you want it. AND, on a very humanistic level, any system has a basic infrastructure that has ongoing 'tweaking' done to it, a certain level of reliability that has ongoing modifications. Organizers take the human condition into consideration throughout! <s>
As to tolerating the dustballs, well, yeah, at a a certain point it does come down to priorities, and that dust may have a different pri priority at one moment than at another. I hear rumor that this life is here to enjoy as well as to get things done <vbg>.
Paulette Ensign NAPO President
>> My own definition of being organized is the ability to find what you want when you want it. <<
Okay, then I'm very nearly to that point in all areas of my life, so that's a good thing!
>> any system has a basic infrastructure that has ongoing 'tweaking' done to it, a certain level of reliability that has ongoing modifications. <<
Cool, then there's no need to be thought of as a failure for constantly changing precarious systems. I *like* the way you put that, Paulette.
-Shelby Norris
Shelby,
Congrats and thanks, on all counts. Judging (i.e. a good thing; failure) are concepts that often stall people rather than forward them, tho confirmation can often be a source of motivation, inspiration, etc.
Barbara Hemphill (immediate past-prez of NAPO) uses the definition of "does it work for you and do you like it". So, these are examples of current generation's thinking about being/getting organized. If it's useful, great. We're not in the business of judging or we would have b been dead in the water as an industry a long time ago! <s>
Keep those cards and letters comin'.
Paulette Ensign