Archive for Organizing Challenges – Page 4

Top 5 Series – Excuses Professional Organizers Hear for Disorganization

Posted by Carolyn on
 February 4, 2009
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This probably isn’t you, but perhaps someone you know, is chronically disorganized, forever holding everyone else up and causing deadlines to slip, and shrugs off the suggestion for help form a professional organizer or complaints from colleagues with:

  1. “I don’t have time to worry about tidy piles of paper“. You don’t, however, mind asking everyone else to wait while to try and find the quarterly report or have to reprint it because it is truly lost in your mess.
  2. “I don’t need to be more organized; I can find anything I want in my office“. Except that it takes you three hours to find a single piece of paper or file folder and meanwhile, everyone else is held up in their work.
  3. “I’m not disorganized, I just like to keep things in case I might need them, someday“. Meanwhile you keep insisting you need twice as much filing space as everyone else, your office is a stack of boxes covered in dust i.e. haven’t been touched in 5 years.
  4. “I am actually very organized. I know exactly where everything is“. Have you noticed you are chronically late for meetings, late on work submission, rushing for completion of tasks at the last minute. You think you’re organized? Have you asked your colleagues recently?
  5. “I have my own style of organization. No one else would understand it“. You might be correct – if you didn’t show up for work tomorrow no one else would be able to find any of your relevant work. Your office and your contributions to the company would be dismissed as meaningless.

When we work for someone else, the work they pay us to do generally belongs to that company: files, paper, reports etc. You have an obligation to ensure that if you don’t show up to work tomorrow, for whatever reason, someone else can step into your shoes can pick up the baton. When was the last time you asked your colleagues how they feel about waiting for you to finish reports – chronically late

Think about it.

Organizing Challenges Top 5 Series
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Client Questions – Is Backsliding Failure?

Posted by Carolyn on
 February 3, 2009
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Q I had cleared most of my desk and office and was enjoying being able to see the desk and find things again. Then we had to put a rush on a project and now, two week later, I feel like I am back where I started. In a mess! Is this normal? Will life ever be different?

A In a word, Yes and Yes. Backsliding is a normal part of trying to improve one’s level of organization and, for most people, periods of disorganization are a pretty normal part of life. The difference between the generally organized person and the generally disorganized person is there ability to respond and return to a higher level of organization when the flurry dies down. Try these tips to stay on track and return to the track when you feel derailed.

  • If you have a large project on the go, take a tip from the designers and find a container to hold all the project material. If it is paper and the project is too big for a file folder or box folder, get a box, basket, bag or anything else that suits your office and the project. Using a single container will ensure that all the pieces of the project stay together and that the project itself doesn’t spread across all your other work. At the end of each day, commit to putting all the project pieces back into its container.
  • If you find yourself backsliding, remember that this is a normal part of progressing in organization. Its ok, you’re ok. Avoid beating yourself up. Focus instead on how much you enjoyed being more organized and how much you look forward to catching up again. Renew you commitment to yourself to greater organization and move on.
  • Clear off your desk – even if you have to put everything into a big back to do it. A clear desk will help you think more clearly, breath better and generally function at a higher level.
  • Break down the problem into small, chewable chunks and pick one chunk at a time to work on. If necessary, spend 15 to 30 minutes a day sorting through the paper, regrouping the projects back into their files or containers. You may find that asking a friend or colleague to help will get the job done faster. Try offering to swap organizing time.

Organizing Challenges
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Shopping Addiction

Posted by Carolyn on
 January 28, 2009
  ·  No Comments

Professional organizers often find themselves with clients whose homes are filled with belongings. In many of these cases, the clients admit to suffering from compulsive shopping behaviour. Compulsive shopping, also known as shopping addiction , is as severe and debilitating as any other addiction. In some cases, it is even more difficult to manage; alcoholics can stop drinking. Individuals suffering from shopping addiction are still required to buy basic neseccities for their lives.

Wikipedia describes the condition as oniomania and provides a summary of information and resources related to compulsive shopping. Individuals suffering from compulsive shopping may feel “good” when they shop and use the behaviour to help themselves feel better. Typically the shopping is then followed by feelings of guilt and remorse. The items are often never used and sit untouched with their tags still on.

If you think you may be suffering from a shopping addiction it is important to get help for yourself. In Canada, the Canadian Association for Mental Health can be helpful in directing you to the right resources.

Organizing Challenges
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Chronic Disorganization

Posted by Carolyn on
 January 27, 2009
  ·  1 Comment

As with most states of being, there are different degrees of disorganization. One can think of a continuum from very organized to severely disorganized. Chronic disorganization, however, is considered to be a different situation altogether.

People who are chronically disorganized likely live in a state of severe disorganization. They do not typically respond to conventional organizing practicies and strategies no matter how hard they try to make them work. They have three difining features as identified by Judith Kolberg in Conquering Chronic Disorganization:

  • They have been disorganized all or most of their adult life;
  • Being disorganized negatively effects their quality of life in some way everyday; and
  • Previous attempts to be organized have not been successful.

Chronically disorganized people think, learn and organize in ways that are unconventional and therefore conventional organizing strategies do not work for them. Fortunately Judith Kolberg and a number of colleagues have made it their business to understand how to help individuals with chronic disorganization. She founded the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization which now provides education to professional organizers and related individuals on working with those who suffer from chronic disorganization.

So if you think you may be chronically disorganized check out the

NSGCD website. The professional organizer directory on both Professional Organizers in Canada and National Association of Professional Organizers includes identification of those who specialize in this area.

You don’t have to live with your disorganization.

Organizing Challenges
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Why Am I Always Disorganized?

Posted by Carolyn on
 January 21, 2009
  ·  No Comments

When working with a new client, one of the first challenges I face is to understand why the client is disorganized. Our first visit together is an assessment session which helps me to understand the issues that they face and why they face them. Understanding reasons for disorganization is key to overcoming it. Without an understanding of the underlying isssues, it is very difficult to help an individual, family or business implement systems, structures, process and particularly behaviour changes to achieve a greater level of organization.

Julie Morgenstern, in her book Organizing from the Inside Out, offers a clear and simple discussion of the causes of clutter. She describes the three levels or reasons for disorganization and points out that “everyone struggling with disorganization suffers from at least one Level I cause, but may also be suffering from some Level 2 and 3 causes as well”. I have summarized them here for you so that you might have insight into your own reasons for disorganization.

  1. Level 1: Tehnical Errors. These include the simple mistakes in your organizing systems, such things as items not having a home, inconvenient storage, more stuff than storage space, or complex, confusing sytems that are too complicated for you to use.
  2. Level 2: External Realities. These include factors in the outside world over which you have little or no control. Understanding how to manage these factors will help you to create realistic expectations for yourself. They include unrealistic workload, the speed of life and technology, life or business in transition, uncooperative partners or limited space.
  3. Level 3: Psychological Obstacles. These include hidden, internal forces that keep you disorganized no matter how much you might wish to be otherwise. Understanding these issues can help you either work around or through them to seek greater organization. They might include a need for abundance, craving the thrill of creating order from chaos, having unclear goals and priorities, being afraid of success or failure, feeling the need to retreat, having a need for perfection or distraction, and having sentimental attachments to items.
Organizing Challenges
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What’s Holding you Back?

Posted by Carolyn on
 January 21, 2009
  ·  No Comments

When working with a new client, one of the first challenges I face is to understand why the client is disorganized. Our first visit together is an assessment session which helps me to understand the issues that they face and why they face them. Understanding reasons for disorganization is key to overcoming it. Without an understanding of the underlying isssues, it is very difficult to help an individual, family or business implement systems, structures, process and particularly behaviour changes to achieve a greater level of organization.

Julie Morgenstern, in her book Organizing from the Inside Out, offers a clear and simple discussion of the causes of clutter. She describes three levels of reasons and points out that “everyone struggling with disorganization suffers from at least one Level I cause, but may also be suffering from some Level 2 and 3 causes as well”. I have summarized them here for you so that you might have insight into your own reasons for disorganization.

  1. Level 1: Tehnical Errors. These include the simple mistakes in your organizing systems, such things as items not having a home, inconvenient storage, more stuff than storage space, or complex, confusing sytems that are too complicated for you to use.
  2. Level 2: External Realities. These include factors in the outside world over which you have little or no control. Understanding how to manage these factors will help you to create realistic expectations for yourself. They include unrealistic workload, the speed of life and technology, life or business in transition, uncooperative partners or limited space.
  3. Level 3: Psychological Obstacles. These include hidden, internal forces that keep you disorganized no matter how much you might wish to be otherwise. Understanding these issues can help you either work around or through them to seek greater organization. They might include a need for abundance, craving the thrill of creating order from chaos, having unclear goals and priorities, being afraid of success or failure, feeling the need to retreat, having a need for perfection or distraction, and having sentimental attachments to items.
Organizing Challenges
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Packrat Behaviour

Posted by Carolyn on
 January 20, 2009
  ·  No Comments

Managing the behaviour and characteristics of a packrat is a common reason that professional organizers are called by clients. Packrat behaviour is seen equally often at the office as it is in the home. The only difference is that at the office, there may be someone in a position of authority reminding you to keep your workspace in a professional state. The following behaviours and characteristics, modified from a list developed by Judith Kolberg and Kathleen Nadeau in ADD-Friendly ways to Organize your Life, may be familiar to you because of your own life or perhaps the life of someone around you:

  1. You hang on to things that you, or anyone else, hardly ever uses;
  2. You eagerly collect items regardless of whether you need them;
  3. You refuse to part with items because you think you will use them someday (but can’t remember the last time you used it);
  4. You consider yourself a packrat;
  5. Your workspace or home is so cluttered it is hardly functional;
  6. You have difficulty making decisions about objects.

Sound familiar? The following strategies may help you get started on a healthier path.

  1. Try the “two for one” policy when bringing new things into your environment. If you bring a new book into your home, commit to removing two books already there that you can’t remember the last time you touched.
  2. Ask someone you trust, a clutter companion, to commit to a day of clearing out. It will probably take more than one session but you will find even starting will be very rewarding.
  3. Clear a sorting table so that you have a clear space at waist height in which to sort. You will find this easy on your back and the sorting will feel easier.
  4. Choose items of better quality and let the quantity of objects diminish. If you find 4 staplers, keep the best one.
  5. Play the Friends, Acquaintances, Strangers game. Objects that feel like friends can stay. Acquaintances may or may not stay depending on their timeliness and utility. The strangers leave your space.
  6. Establish and maintain a commitment to yourself to live in a healthier lifespace. You deserve it.
Organizing Challenges
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Top 5 Series – Indicators of a Packrat

Posted by Carolyn on
 January 20, 2009
  ·  No Comments

Managing the behaviour and characteristics of a packrat may be something you assume that professional organizers focus on mostly with residential clients. The reality is that packrat behaviour is seen equally often at the office. The following behaviours and characteristics, modified from a list developed by Judith Kolberg and Kathleen Nadeau in ADD-Friendly ways to Organize your Life, may be familiar to you because of your own life or perhaps the life of someone around you:

  • You hang on to things that you, or anyone else, hardly ever uses;
  • You eagerly collect items regardless of whether you need them;
  • You refuse to part with items because you think you will use them someday (but can’t remember the last time you used it);
  • You consider yourself a packrat;
  • Your workspace (or home) is so cluttered it is hardly functional;
  • You have difficulty making decisions about objects.

Sound familiar? The following strategies may help you get started on a healthier path.

  • Try the “two for one” policy when bringing new things into your environment. If you bring a new book to your office, commit to removing two books already there that you can’t remember the last time you touched.
  • Ask someone you trust, a clutter companion, to commit to a day of clearing out your workspace. It will probably take more than one session but you will find even starting will be very rewarding.
  • Clear a sorting table so that you have a clear space at waist height in which to sort. You will find this easy on your back and the sorting will feel easier.
  • Choose items in your workspace of better quality and let the quantity of objects diminish. If you find 4 staplers, keep the best one.
  • Play the Friends, Acquaintances, Strangers game. Objects that feel like friends can stay. Acquaintances may or may not stay depending on their timeliness and utility related to your or your company’s strategic goals. The strangers leave your space.
Organizing Challenges Top 5 Series
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Top Five Series – Reasons for Procrastination

Posted by Carolyn on
 November 26, 2008
  ·  No Comments

And you thought you could duck under the radar screen! Sorry my friend, upon review of the posts this year I realized it has been a long time since I confronted the big, ugly enemy of procrastination. Are you a procrastinator? (“Oh yeah” – I can hear you whisper under your breath.)

You are wondering why and what you can do about it? The following list is an adaptation from the book Making Time Work for You, by the Time Guru himself, Harold L. Taylor.

  1. A procrastinator’s view of time is distorted. With 2 weeks before the due date, you think yo have lots of time to get that report finished. The reality is, no where in those two weeks do you have the 9 hours of time free to actually finish the report. The solution: as soon as you know the report is due – book in the time to complete it. Now book in extra time since we both know it will take twice as long as you think it will.
  2. A procrastinator is often a perfectionist. The perfectionist is often afraid to start something for fear it won’t be perfect. The solution: get started to that you have lots of time to make it good enough which is much closer to perfect than not done at all.
  3. A procrastinator often sees tasks as overwhelming. Solution: just do it. Start with any small piece of the project even if it is just five minutes. Break the rest of the project down into bite size pieces that you can manage.
  4. A procrastinator is often someone who thrives on the adrenaline of crisis and deadlines. If you work in the publishing industry you likely have a busy, rewarding life. For the rest of us, it is important to understand that always running late is inefficient, disorganized and often problematic for everyone else around you. Solution: learn to get your adrenaline kick by getting the project done early.
  5. A procrastinator is often just plain disorganized. Some individuals avoid starting projects because they are too disorganized to arrange the information and material they need to get it done. In the meantime, they are still scrambling to find the information and material for the previous project or report which is late. Solution: plan ahead. Plan your year, months, weeks and days by blocking time to accomplish your goals and projects.
Organizing Challenges
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Organize with the Blues at Holiday Time

Posted by Carolyn on
 November 25, 2008
  ·  No Comments

This is a follow up from my earlier post on Organizing with Depression. Holiday time can be, for many, many people far from a joyful celebration of anything. For many people it becomes an overwhelming time of year that they learn to dread and fear. Celebrating holidays both and home and in the business environment comes with many expectations that some people simply can not meet. Does this sound familiar and contribute to your feelings of overwhelm? Hlidays come with:

  • extra food that maybe you have been trying to avoid all year to loose weight
  • expectations of gift giving that maybe you can’t afford or don’t have the energy to arrange
  • visits with family that perhaps aren’t your favourite friends
  • multiple distractions (lunch/parties/people collecting for gifts) at the office interrupting attempts to put together projections for next year

Whatever contributes to your blue mood and feelings of overwhelm, the first step is to acknowledge the problem. Next take a good look at what you can control and what you can’t. Can’t avoid the office party? Can you control the length of time you are there or whether or not you nap before hand to ward off fatigue and frustration. With the downturn in the global economy, gift giving is going to be a very serious financial trial for many, many people. Can you pear down your list? Consider making a contribution to a charity in lieu of sending gifts to clients – then send them a card that discribes your gift on their behalf.

Take back control of what you can. It will help that blue be a little more rosy.

Holiday Organizing Organizing Challenges
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