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Top Five Habits of Getting Organized

Save Time and Money with These Helpful Tips

Aug 12, 2008

Getting organized isn't as difficult as some people seem to think. All that is required is commitment and a small amount of time and energy.

The payoff of getting organized is tremendous. Suzanne Litteral, a professional organizer in Indiana, says she often sees clients who feel more energy, more productive and a greater sense of control in their lives once they establish some organization in their home or business life.

“Getting organized is more about modifying behaviors and creating new, good habits,” says Litteral, owner of Litterally Divine Organizing and a NAPO member.

Getting organized might not be as intimidating as getting started. To cross that hurdle, Litteral suggests five habits that will get everyone on the path to organization.

Habit #1 – Flow

Flow refers to ongoing movement of your daily workflow. Properly managing the flow of your work is an essential skill in getting organized. For everything that flows in to your work day, everything must subsequently flow out. Instead of cluttering your mind and your office, develop the habit of making quick decisions on what to do with all of those incoming items.

In the system Litteral teaches, she works through five decisions that keep the flow of work moving smoothly:

Discard
Delegate
Take Immediate Action
Put in a Reference File
File for Follow Up

Habit #2 – Under-loading

A major culprit in disorganization is being overloaded. Solution? Start under-loading your workday. The cycle of adding more to an already overloaded plate feeds upon itself. Litteral suggests breaking the cycle by paying attention to the 80/20 rule, which says 80 percent of our results come from 20 percent of our efforts.

“In other words,” exclaims Litteral, “80 percent of what you’re doing throughout your day doesn’t matter!”

To under-load your overload:

Make a numbered, line item or bullet point list of everything you think needs to be done.
Find a creative way to eliminate at least 80% of those items. To do this, refer back to the five decisions noted in Habit #1.

Habit #3 – Unitasking

Multi-tasking is a good thing when it comes to a beating heart, blood flow and other natural human functions. You want your body to multi-task when it comes to continuing life! Multi-tasking is not so good when it comes to your workday. Your brain can only focus on one work task at a time.

“We all have to juggle in our lives,” admits Litteral. “But it can become dysfunctional at a certain point.”

She encourages her clients to become master unitaskers. What is unitasking? Doing something and thinking about what you’re doing at the same time. Simply focus on being in the present moment.

Habit #4 – Focus Time

How much of your day is dictated by others? Is that amount of time preferable to you? The 80/20 Rule may not be applicable in every work situation, especially if you’re not the boss. As an exercise, Litteral suggests taking control of 20% of your time and energy.

Schedule two blocks of non-negotiable, uninterrupted time each day. Begin your day by spending 48 minutes on your highest priorities. Repeat the process immediately after lunch. And make sure there are no interruptions – unless the building is on fire. Then spend the rest of your day making a concerted effort to stay on track with your other duties. Try this for several weeks, and see if that amount of time works for you. If not, adjust by a few minutes (more or less).

Habit #5 – Profound Knowledge

Chris Couch, developer of the GO System, says this about getting organized: “There is no substitute for profound knowledge.”

Many enter their field of expertise with a degree that says they have the knowledge to perform in law, medicine, accounting, etc. Ongoing learning comes in the form of continuing education. What many label as disorganization issues are simply competency issues, or a lack of profound knowledge.

Make it your mission to educate yourself; be willing to pursue knowledge beyond the framed degree that hangs on your office wall. Then, put that knowledge into practice.

Once you master these basic skills and make them habit, you can build on them in order to master other aspects of getting organized.

Sources:

Litterally Divine Organizing - www.ldorganizing.com

The GO System - www.thegosystem.com

The copyright of the article Top Five Habits of Getting Organized in Personal Work Habits is owned by Theresia Whitfield. Permission to republish Top Five Habits of Getting Organized in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.