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Organized in 10 Minutes? You Must Be Kidding!

Organized in 10 Minutes? You Must Be Kidding!

Most people want to get organized. Some actually do. Time and again. But, before they know it, they are back where they started. That is hugely frustrating and de-motivating. That's why I tell my clients: "The goal is NOT to GET organized, but to learn HOW to STAY organized."

I agree that getting organized (in the first place) is not a 10 minutes job. Depending on your level of neglect, it may take hours, days and sometimes, even weeks. That's the bad news. The good news is, that once you made that investment, you will have had to make that investment only ONCE!

Part of the investment is to create a system and to learn some habit-forming processes, which will allow you to stay organized with minimal daily effort.

Once you made the initial investment, staying organized, will, most of the time, take only about 10 minutes a day. Sounds too good to be true? Let me explain. 

  • Say, you receive new (paper) mail every day. Five? A dozen? Probably not much more. (Certainly not the kind of piles resting on your desk at the moment.)

  • You must review them at specific times of your day. It's best to mark this time in your calendar as recurring entries. As you read the mail, decide what, if any ACTION they require. There is a long document? You can decide to read it. Later! That will be an action, too! So, in that light, shall we say, 3-5 minutes to decide on the disposition of your papers?

  • In the process of getting organized, you created an effective filing SYSTEM. You file away what you need to keep for action or reference. Toss the rest. Another 2-3 minutes.

  • Enter all the actions (that you decided on) into your CALENDAR or your Task/To-Do list. Enter the locations (and/or key words) for your documents in a Database (such as the PaperTiger TM). The latter will let you find any document in seconds. Another 2-5 minutes, tops.

Now, you have a clean desk. Your documents are resting in a place from where you can retrieve them at the click of a key word. Actions are noted in your calendar (or TASK PAD). Everything will be neatly out-of-sight, yet nothing will be forgotten.

Essentially, the same process is used to process email and voicemail messages. Yes, I know, that for many people the amount of email they deal with, will require more than 10 minutes a day. And so it should. But I suggest that that's part of your job and not part of the "staying organized" (read: clutter-free), which is what my 10 minutes refer to.

Not only is your desk (and hopefully your email in-box) clean, your mind is also at peace. You can focus on your business. You can leave the office on time. Arrive the next morning rested and ready to tackle your priorities.

So, is your day going to belong to the clutter around you or will it be a productive one?  

The choice is yours.





Organized in 10 Minutes You Must Be Kidding - To learn more about this author, visit Alex Revai's Website.

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Joe Dager
Joe Dager is President of Business901, a progressive coaching company providing no-nonsense direction in areas such as Lean Six Sigma Marketing and organized referral marketing. What others say: In the past 20 years, Joe and I have collaborated on many difficult issues. Joe’s ability to combine his expertise with “out of the box” thinking is unsurpassed. He has always delivered quickly, cost effectively and with ingenuity. A brilliant mind that is always a pleasure to work with.” - James R. If you want to learn more about Business901, start a conversation with us. We can be found @ Web/Blog: Business901.com Web/Blog: FundingYourNonprofit.com LinkedIn Profile Follow me on Twitter - Visit Joe Dager's Website

John Power
John Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website


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Alex Revai
(Visit Alex's Website) Alex Revai, President of Productivity Solutions, is a professional organizer, who helps business people improve profit, productivity and peace-of-mind. An engineer by training and a seasoned business manager with over 30 years of high-tech industry experience, Alex considers himself primarily as a problem-solver. His passion is to teach individuals and organizations about best practices, systems and processes in order to restore sanity (and productivity) to our increasingly crazy, artificially accelerated, all work - no life society. Alex is a mentor, a coach and a trainer, who provides works hops and seminars, consulting, as well as hands-on services. Alex is a member of the Professional Organizers in Canada (POC) industry association. Alex may be contacted for a complimentary needs assessment and consultation. Tel.: 416-272-6972 email: arevai@productivity-so lutions.com web: Productivity Solutions P.S.:If you reprint or quote any articles, please provide full credit to the author.

Alex Revai is a Gold author on EvanCarmichael.com
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