Organizing Life

Postponed Decisions Find New Life in Tickler Files

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Do you have piles of papers cluttering your desk, table or countertops? Paper piles are often the result of postponed decisions. There are many reasons why you may put off a decision. Do you need more information and need to make a phone call or send an email? Or do you need to check your calendar, check with another person or just need time to think about it? Rather than making the decision do you set these papers aside “for now?” The more postponed decisions you have the higher your pile of papers becomes.

 

A Tickler File can serve as a holding place for those papers waiting for the next action or a decision that you are not ready to make right now. It can also be used to hold information for a date in the future. For example, tickets to the theater next month can wait silently in the tickler file until they are needed. Birthday cards, reminders, directions to that party, and other date specific items can be safely kept in a tickler file until needed. Want to place an online catalog order but don’t have time until the weekend? Then place the catalog in the tickler for Saturday and it will be there when you are ready.

 

The most common type of tickler file is made up of 43 pockets or file folders. The numbers 1-31 are used for the days of the month and the other 12 are used for the months of the year. The ready made ticklers work well when placed in a desktop file. This holds them upright and keeps things from slipping out of the open sides. If you prefer to set up your own you can rotate the file folders so the current day is in front and you can use a desk drawer or file box of your choosing.

 

The key here is that for the next 30 days you will need to remind yourself to look in the tickler file and to put things into the file. Connect the time you want to look in the tickler file to something else that is already a habit. Do you sit down with your second cup of coffee and plan your day? Then place the file near the coffee pot until it becomes a habit. If you use Outlook or a PDA then set a reminder. Then remember when new items show up that you will need in the future you can file them and forget them until they show up again. Remember the tickler can’t tickle your brain if you forget to use it or check it each day.

 

So if papers are taking over your life and you find yourself revisiting papers over and over again before making a decision then try using a tickler file. David Allen of Getting Things Done and Elizabeth Hagen of Fearless Organizing are just two of the many successful people advocating use of a tickler file system.  If you Google it, you will find over 89,000 entries with more information. Let me know how it works for you.

Rain, rain….come again!

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Put a couple of rainy days together and what happens? Outdoor plans change for indoor plans. This past week I had planned to move some flowers in order to get ready for the new front walkway and weed my vegetable garden, trim some bushes, etc. You get the idea. Then the rain came…..now I don’t mind a little drizzle but this was a torrential downpour with thunder and lightning to match. No hope of getting any of those things off my “to do” list. So while I was reconsidering my plan for the day, I happened to glance at a photo on the wall that was crooked again!  I decided to handle it this time once and for all. So, I used that magic hook and loop stuff called Velcro™ to make sure it never moves again. That felt good! Then I tightened the loose door knob, changed a light bulb and removed a blotch of paint on a curtain (don’t ask). I was on a roll.

 

These little things had been bugging me for some time, yet I had continued to tolerate them (some for longer than I care to remember). As I took care of each little thing, I felt better and better. So just like unfinished to dos, these tolerances were draining my energy.

 

Monica Ricci’s blog today mentioned that disorganization is about “TRYING to control what you can’t, and NOT controlling the things you can!” This is something we can control and you’ll be surprised at what a big difference it will make in your life! Let me know what you have been tolerating and how you feel when you take the time to take care of it. I’d love to hear from you. Now I can’t wait for the next rainy day!

 

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Holiday? What holiday?

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Happy 4th of July!! 

I hope you are enjoying the holiday….really enjoying it. It seems that many people see a “holiday” as just another day to get more things done. We work hard enough the other five days of the week and yet continue to work away our weekends and extra days off. Why is that?

 

Yes, I admit there are times when I shop on a Sunday but if the stores were not open, my world would not fall apart. I try to make a point of staying away from commercial businesses especially on holidays. The one thing you can depend on is that the post offices, government offices and banks will be closed. Stores, auto dealers, and restaurants will all be open offering bigger sales…what about the people that have to work in those places? Don’t they deserve a holiday too?

 

 Webster defines a “holiday” as, “a day on which one is exempt from work; specifically : a day marked by a general suspension of work in commemoration of an event.”  I hope you take the time to celebrate this Independence Day in the way that it was meant to be celebrated. Take in a parade or some fireworks and wear your red, white and blue. Running low on patriotic spirit? Bristol, Rhode Island has the longest parade I have ever seen and the whole town really shows their colors weeks in advance. Sit back and enjoy and forget about that “to do” list. It will still be there tomorrow.

 

Found this fitting quote on Monica Ricci’s blog  “Plenty of people miss their share of happiness, not because they never found it, but because they didn’t stop to enjoy it.”

William Feather
American Author and Publisher
1889 – 1981

Multi-tasking Myth

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Organizing Myth #1: Multi-tasking leads to being organized and productive

Are you a multitasker? If you are trying to do two or more things at the same time you are multitasking. Now, you may think that by doing that you are getting more done in a shorter amount of time but actually that is not true. New studies have shown that the more we juggle, the less productive we really are. Some studies have shown that our IQ goes down by about 10 points when we multi-task. That is about as much as skipping a night’s sleep. Can you imagine? Dr. Gary Small, a memory specialist at the University of California, Los Angeles explains, “When we’re multi-tasking, we don’t focus our attention. So information never gets into our memory stores, and so we think we don’t remember.  We just never learned the information to begin with.” So maybe those “senior moments” aren’t so senior after all. Slow down and do one thing at a time and let me know if your productivity goes up. You might find you remember more too. Organizing Fact: Multi-tasking is not more productive.

 

 

Organization and blogging – how you can help

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For those of you that are reading this from the link I provided in your email, I would like to explain the differences between the HOPE newsletter that you subscribed to and the new Laine’s Logic Blog. As you have noticed, you are not notified each time a new blog is posted so you either have to remember to check the site weekly or you can subscribe to an RSS feed which will let you know each time I post something new. Directions for that are at the bottom of this post.

 

So, let’s begin. What is a blog anyways? Well according to Wikipedia, the word blog is short for web log. It can be a journal, diary, or commentary that is created and put on the Internet. It may contain text, video and/or graphics related to any topic. This one is related to organizing your life and helping you work smarter and not harder.

 

The fun part of blogging is that the discussion can be ongoing. Writers of blogs (bloggers) can provide information, comments or simply their opinion. Readers can then comment and ask questions and have them answered directly in the comment section or addressed in the next “post” (blog entry). This is the social side of blogging and it assures that the blog continues in the direction of its readers due to the interaction between writer and reader.

 

That’s my vision for this blog. Helping you solve organizational and time management problems that matter to you so you can save time and put more fun in your life. If you have an idea, topic or concern you would like to see addressed in this blog please send it to me by using the comment link at the bottom of this article. (It is in blue and may say no comments or a number and the word comments.) When you click on it a response box will show up. Fill it in and hit submit and it will go directly to me. I will then post it or save it for a future blog. As always, thanks for reading and thanks for your input.

 

Directions for automatic notification:

The easiest way to check for new content is to go to http://www.laineslogic.com/blog each week or you can subscribe to an RSS feed by following the link at the bottom of the blog page. If you use igoogle for your homepage you can add a link that will notify you of new content by using google reader. It is listed on the Google tool bar under “more.” It is easy to “add subscription” and paste the URL( http://www.laineslogic.com/blog ) into the box and then add the Google reader link to your homepage. Then each time you open igoogle you will see the blog listed – just click and it is ready to read.

The two minute gnat attack

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Gnats, those tiny, black, pesky bugs that seem to have innate radar for flying into eyes and mouths are out in full force this week. They are annoying and persistent not unlike some of the tasks on my to do list. I know that if I run I’ll have a moment of peace or I can wave my arms wildly swinging and clapping at the air and maybe decrease the population by …two or three. The same technique doesn’t work with my to do list. Running doesn’t make it go away and smacking the page only wrinkles it. What’s a girl to do?

 

As a David Allen (author of Getting Things Done) fan, I like to use the two minute rule. David says, “If the Next Action can be done in 2 minutes or less, do it when you first pick the item up.” Even if that item is not a “high priority”, because it takes longer to store and track any item than to deal with it the first time it’s in your head. (p. 131, “Getting Things Done”)

Every now and then I let those two minute tasks pile up usually because something else more important needs my attention. That’s when those little tasks begin to feel like a swarm of gnats. You can’t really see them, but you know they are there and they really “bug” me. So today, I set out to see how many two minute tasks I could complete in 30 minutes. I worked for two minutes on my email inbox, responding with a few quick replies, and then two minutes on deleting emails. Then it was on to sending a card, paying a bill and making a phone call. Two minutes of filing was followed by refilling the printer paper and clearing my desk. Then I had to fit in another two minutes deleting emails since it was so much fun. You get the idea, the more I did the more I wanted to do and having that timer go off every two minutes and switching to another activity made it much more like a game than work.  The result – I crossed off a number of tasks on the list, freed up some “psychic ram” (brain space) and probably lowered my blood pressure. Cost = 30 minutes, resulting feelings = priceless. Give it a try and let me know how you do by clicking on the comment link below. Ready, set ….go!

Plan for an organized life

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What does it mean to get organized? For many people it means de-cluttering or tossing things they love and “hiding” most of the other stuff. They think that when their house is in a perfect state (which only lasts for a short time) and they are “organized” then all will be right with the world. I think there is much more to getting organized and so I call it organizing life.

 

Organizing life goes beyond having a place for everything and everything in its place. It is also about being able to find what is needed when it’s needed, doing what needs to be done (before it is due) and still having time to do what you want to do. It’s about gaining control over all your responsibilities (big and small) and it is a major juggling act unless you have a plan.

 

Making a plan takes about thirty minutes. Sunday afternoon or evening works well for many. Taking the time to plan can make a big difference in the stress level of your week. Do you want to bring a sense of calm to your typically hectic week? Then I suggest you start with your calendar, planner or pda (dust it off if you must) and check the upcoming week for appointments or promises you have made. Now gather all the sticky notes, napkin doodles and little scraps of paper that you have written reminders on. Schedule anything you can. Is there a birthday, graduation or wedding coming up that you need to shop for? Schedule it in.

 

When is that report due and how much time will it take you to write it? Work backwards to schedule when you need to start work on it so it will be finished a day ahead. Then plan enough time (double your estimate) and schedule the days and times you will work on it. Now when are you going to do the weekly things like grocery shopping, laundry, etc?

 

Last but not least, what would you like to do this week? Find a place in the week for whatever it is that will make you happy and schedule it in. Then be sure to do it.

 

Review your plan of the week to make sure your time estimates are realistic and your plan doable. You will still need to be flexible as life is often unpredictable, but having a plan will help minimize the surprises and the stress.  

 

And the benefits of an organized life?  Monica Ricci (known for her role on HGTV’s Mission Organization)  says it best in her recent blog….” the most important benefit of living an organized life is this… it allows you the freedom, the mental and physical space, and the energy to live the life you were meant to live, and do the work you were put here to do. When you’re so bogged down in the minutiae and overwhelmed by the day to day chaos of your own life, how in the world can you tune into your purpose and put your life’s work into action?”

Here’s to an organized week and an organized life!

Organization ≠ Perfection

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I recently celebrated an anniversary of sorts. It quietly went by without balloons, gifts or fanfare. Yet it marked a memorable event – it is a day etched in my memory as the day I changed my life! I decided to get organized! A lot has happened since then, some good, some bad, some memorable and some forgettable (or at least I wish I could forget it) but all worthy of celebration because of where I am today.

It took time, it didn’t happen overnight and it never got to the “perfect” stage that I dreamed of. What I learned is “perfect” is a figment of the media’s imagination, it is not reality! At least if you are taking steps, even baby steps, in the right direction then you are on the right path. As Oliver Wendell Holmes said, “The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving.”

I hope you are moving towards making more time for yourself and living the life of your dreams. So pause today to celebrate how far you have come and join me on the path toward greater freedom and less stress….one blog at a time.