Could Efficiency Be The Key To Getting Organized

By Nathan F Shaw

11 years I obsessed over getting organized. But last year it hit me... I would never ever be caught up with everything going on in my life. I would never be organized. I will explain everything... and it will be important for everything you do from this point:

From Franklin Planners to David Allen´s Getting Things Done, productivity and organized living is becoming more and more important and desired because modern life is so fast paced full with options and choices.

And today I read this about a Professional Organizer and her client..

'...together they purged her office of unnecessary clutter, set up a system of file folders and discussed strategies that would allow Mohan to make decisions more quickly. Not only is Mohan´s desk spotless, but her files are so organized she can delegate more work to her assistant. The cost of Hemphill´s consultation: $5,000. 'It was outrageously worth it,' says Mohan.

Imagine $5,000 feeling ‘outrageously worth it’ for getting help to tidy up your clutter. Yes, even those high level business exec´s with money to burn and no time to... burn it are 1. clueless about getting organized and 2. can appreciate the value of getting that help.

Perhaps you don´t have that kind of money, or perhaps you would rather do a few simple thingstake measures right now to get better organized before becoming so overwhelmed that your only course of action is to pay for professional organizer help.

So here is what I personally realized late in 2006. Getting organized is impossible! And it´s also not even important.

What’s really matters with regards organized living?. Forget about getting, being or staying organized. As soon as you use the kitchen to make dinner, you´ve made a mess.

But to live life we need to mess things up in order to get things done, which means we should only be as organized as is necessary for our life to be functional, satisfying, and fun.

The secret then, in a word, is efficiency. I found an old 1920s business course on efficiency published by the Emerson Institute of Efficiency. But we lost touch with that concept in favor of ‘getting organized’. And finally after some 90 years, we have come to realize getting organized doesn’t work.

And here´s what economist Mark Zandi of Moody´s Economy.com said which exposes the serious need for this re-discovery of efficiency as being way beyond ´organized´:

'I just can´t physically find another spare moment to do more, so I´ve reached the point where I need to ration what I do, or do what I do better'.

With his BlackBerry, laptop and mobile phone, demands on his time and productivity exceed the available time.

I use the phrase ‘organized living’ a lot in my articles, only because the word ‘organized’ is still such a buzz word. But really it should be ‘efficient living’.

Organized... or Efficient means being efficient enough to get done what you want to get done, find time to enjoy yourself, and forget the small stuff.

Through the collapse of the ‘getting organized’ straw man, some have taken up the opportunity to proclaim that chaos is better than order.

The mess-for-success advocates like Abrahamson and Freedman say that turning your life over to any 'system' has a downside.

Well, what do you think about that? It doesn´t stand to reason, it doesn´t hold water...

And even Abrahamson, the advocate of messiness, has found he can´t manage his time wisely without putting every appointment in his Outlook calendar, which he syncs to his handheld computer AND his wristwatch!

So I admit it sounds cool, that being messy and living via chaos is the solution to the get organized problem of our times, but...

...Always always remember that the true distinction I teach is Organized Living means more about being efficient than getting organized, because order helps successful living and happiness, despite getting organized being impossible.

So strike the balance of flexibly arranging your life and things important to you. That, my friend, is the goal of Organized Living.

Article Source: http://interpret.zar.vg

About The Author
Nathan F Shaw writes extensively on personal organization, productivity, and efficiency.