Organization Quest

The Great Calendar Revelation

Okay, I promised it and here it is, the Great Calendar Revelation:  only put things on your calendar that apply specifically for that day. This means doctor's appointments, dates, deadlines, parent-teacher conferences, association meetings, concerts, soccer games--things that happen on a particular day, at a particular time.  Or: special, all-day events that take place on a certain days:  birthdays, anniversaries, vacations, picnics, ski outings.  What doesn't belong on your calendar?  To-do's that aren't date-specific. Miscellaneous notes.  Grocery lists.  Names, numbers, and addresses that aren't associated with an event.  Driving directions. Recipes. And before you say, "Come on. Who would put recipes in their calendar?" let's just say there's a reason both why my calendars were always so full and why I could never find the recipes I wrote down.

As David Allen notes in his book, Getting Things Done, when you fill your calendar up with junk, you stop trusting it.  Which basically means you stop using it.

I admit, I was skeptical. It seemed practical and handy to use my calendar to jot down notes about test results or project considerations while I was on the phone. And I'm prone to scrawl lists across otherwise blank calendar pages, with titles like "10 Things I'd Rather Be Doing" or "5 Men Who Likely Wear Toupees" during uneventful board meetings. The resulting calendar graffiti becomes a testament to a particular place and time; few things can make the past present like an old calendar. The problem was, they weren't very functional.

I ended up giving Allen's calendar advice a try. At first my calendars seemed a little barren, but the result was transforming: it really does work.  I haven't missed an appointment in months, and I'm in the process of collecting birthdays and writing them down on my calendar so I won't forget those, either.  There are, however,  two exceptions I've made to Allen's strict day-specific-only policy for calendar entries:  I do like to note "progress points" or reminders for some tasks or projects, even though such a point in time is usually not specific to a particular day.  As an example, an appliance broke down a couple weeks ago.  The repairman came out, but needed to order a part, which would take 3-5 days to come in.  So I wrote on my calendar:  "earliest day for part to come in" and "latest day for part to come in" on the appropriate days, as a reminder to call on both if need be, to speed things along. 

The other exception: I'll go ahead and scribble all kinds of stuff on my calendar on that day or after the date's passed.  I especially like to note progress made towards a goal on a particular day, or the status of a project.  The resulting information can be both useful and motivating and is another way to take advantage of inherent chronological organization of information that calendars provide.

Organizing Information: A Primer

Okay, I know:  I promised we'd  go over calendars, to-do lists, and address books, and we will. But first, a primer on organizing information is in order.

In yet another former life--I've had several--I taught freshman comp at a state university.  My students were bright, creative, and intelligent, but seemed to have a hard to expressing their ideas on paper.   I saw how unfair it is to assign a topic and just assume that students intuitively know the most efficient approach to take. Many people think that writing well is a function of good "grammar".  In fact, the biggest obstacle to coherent writing is lack of organization. 

That's right, Questers:  the act of writing--any writing, including your task list or calendar item--is synonymous with organizing ideas.  If you're having troubles with your to-do list, if you can't find anything in your address book or if after a couple weeks your brand-new calendar has become wild and woolly forest of scribbles--if you're having a hard time organizing information, in other words--I'm betting the problem is that you're not using the right organizational approach for the task.

When teaching, I discovered the wonderful textbook, Writing That Works:  How to Writie Effectively On The Job, by Walter E. Oliu, Charles T. Brusaw, and Gerald J. Alred.  The thing I found most helpful is that the book explains different strategies for organizing information; it also explains when to employ which strategy. If you're writing instructions, for instance, it makes sense to use a sequential approach, while a newspaper article typically uses a most-important-information-first strategy.  I'll summarize the approaches to organizing information mentioned in Writing That Works, but give it an O-Quest spin and suggest some ways to effectively use each approach.

Alpha-numeric
What it is: Perhaps the most over-used organizational method, the alpha-numeric approach lists things in alphabetical order, numeric order, or both.  When both alpha and numeric are used in the same list, numeric usually comes first.
Why use it? Typically, phone numbers and addresses are listed alphabetically by name--an approach that works well for the big, old-fashioned Yellow Pages, but perhaps less well for an individual or family's address book.  Files, too, are almost always filed alphabetically, although again, a partial alphabetical approach may work much better for a particular individual. An index also uses an alpha-numeric approach, and it may work for guest lists, as well.

Chronological
What it is:   The Writing That Works authors define the chronological approach as organizing "events in the order in which they occur." 
Why use it?   As David Allen writes in his book, Getting Things Done, a calendar is nothing more than a list made in chronological order.  As such, the most frequent use for the chronological approach is in connection with your calendar:  keeping track of appointments, meetings, due dates or deadlines, and vacation days. Other uses include  list-by-the month for birthdays or a schedule of what-to-do-when for a babysitter. Use a chronological approach for organizing information if the most important thing is when something happens.

Step-by-Step
What is it:  Although the step-by-step approach is similar to the chronological approach in that the steps are usually listed in chronological order, the difference between the two approaches is that the chronological approach predicates when something is done; in the step-by-step approach, it's not so much when something is done that is important; what's important  is that things are done in a certain order.
Why use it?   This approach is great for project lists when certain things must first happen for other things to happen.  I call this the "so you can" strategy:  find the number for the carpenter so you can call him or her so you can arrange a time for a quote so you can compare that quote to another one so you can make a decision about which carpenter to go with so you can fix the wall.

Division and Classification
What it is:  As the Writing that Works authors point out, "division is the separation of a whole into its parts, [while] classification is the grouping of a number of units . . . into related categories."
Why use it?   One of the most useful approaches when it comes to home- and personal organizing, division and classification is the classic like-with-like strategy .  Organizing clothes, books, tools, or toys can all successfully use the classification method, while with division, you might take a big project and divide it into calls to make, supplies to buy, decisions to be made, etc.

Spacial
What it is:  This approach predicates the physical arrangement of things: top to bottom, side to side, inside to outside, or vice versa on any of the above, as well as room-to-room.
Why use it?   Driving directions are a classic example of this organizing principle.  For our purposes, you'll find this to be a particularly useful method for organizing all kinds of information: lists of tasks by room (aka the Flylady's "zones") or tackling a particular space from one corner to another.  When I cleaned and organized the medicine cabinets in October, I used a top-shelf down method, or spacial approach to do it. This method also works well for making lists of box contents when moving, or marking the destined room directly on the box.

Comparison
What it is:  This approach takes two or more items, options, plans, or spaces.  The comparison of these things provides pertinent information that is helpful in making decisions or understanding progress made towards a goal. Bracketology, which I discussed as a decision-making tool a couple months ago, is an example of this method.
Why use it?  The comparison method is what you use when you take before-and-after shots of your projects; it also can be used as a decision-making aid by comparing two or more potential products or options and weighing them against each-other.

 Decreasing Order of Importance
What it is:   Also known as most-important-to-least-important, this approach prioritizes information according to importance, with the most important information occurring first.
Why use it?   This is a particularly useful approach to use if you're feeling overwhelmed; all you have to do is ask yourself: if there's just one thing I have to get done today, what is it?  This is also a good approach to use when making a list of things to pack for a vacation, in that it helps ensure that you have what you really need.

Increasing Order of Importance
What it is:  Also known as least-important-to-most-important, this approach puts the least important items at the top of the list, saving the most important items for last.
Why use it?   This strategy is a variation of the desserts-first approach:  sometimes it's easier to get started with something small, in order to gain momentum.  I use it when progress is slow-going and I need a few easy things to check off my to-do list:  check email, feed the cats, water the plants.  Once moving, I often find the energy and focus to tackle the more challenging items on my list.

General-to-Specific
What it is:  This approach deals with general information or tasks first, and then moves to ever more specific concerns.
Why use it?   In organizing, if you were to use a general-to-specific approach to organize the living room, you might start by picking it up, and then move to a more specific task, such as organizing the bookshelves.  The project or task list you use would reflect this general-to-specific approach. Think of this method as the opposite of multi-tasking: the further along you are in your project, you get ever more focused in the particular area you're working on.

Specific-to-General
What it is:   The opposite of the general-to-specific approach, this is a method of organization that is built on small steps, with the sum of the parts adding up to a comprehensive whole.
Why use it?   Specific-to-general starts small and gradually builds.  In terms of organizing, it is the classic "baby step" approach in which small discrete tasks--emptying the dishwasher, doing the dishes, and wiping the counters--creates order.  I also use this method of organizing when I want to do something really thoroughly or tackle a relatively complex home project. Again, the associated task or project list reflect the approach.

 

Re-Thinking the Basics: Calendars, Address Books, and Task Lists or To-Dos

Back in October, I decided it was finally time to get a calendar already, considering that my family and friends were on the brink of staging an intervention for my infamous inability to remember birthdays or appointments. I scooted out to Levenger, a mostly on-line office gear nirvana that actually has two stores in Chicago.  If you need an excuse to move to Chi-town, there you go.

I went to Levenger for a calendar and came out with the weekly agenda, along with multi-colored pocket dividers, A-Z tabs, a Circa Sampler consisting of To Do Lists, Project/Goal Planner sheets, and Address pages, sheet protectors, two sets of monthly tabs, reinforcement strips, two sets of white tab dividers, the recipe book, 3 sets of recipe book refills, silver discs, a set of two covers, something--quite irresistibly--called the Simply Irresistible Kit, a Circa desk punch and an archive box.  As I patiently tried explaining to Alpay, sometimes these things just happen. 

I then spent many happy hours over the next several weekends trying out different combinations of inserts, changing the organization and the order with various results.  The system continues to be a work-in-process and has been one of the biggest delights for me as I continue to learn and experiment with different approaches.  Because paper organizing doesn't come naturally to me and so many organizers I've tried in the past have failed, I thought I'd spend a few days this week reviewing some of the things I've learned that's enabled me to create a system that I actually enjoy using.  Stay tuned for the Great Calendar Revelation, To Do List ruminations, and the approach that finally made my Address Book functional.

Charting Your Resolution's Success

After several months of organizing at breakneck speed, any progress I'e made in the last couple months seems pretty neglible.  And yet: purusing my Organization Book earlier today, I realized I really didn't do half-bad in December.  While mostly I was in maintenance mode, I did manage to accomplish one larger project, which was to organize the magnetic boards that hold my office supplies.  I also did at least a little work--digging through accumulated papers--forever my organizational Achilles Heel--12 days last month. 

Ever since I started first started organizing in earnest, I've found it useful to document my progress. I like to use blank books, which come in an endless supply of shapes, sizes, colors, and designs, to keep a casual record of projects completed and milestones met. It's a good place to take stock, write goals, and paste in before-and-after pictures, as well as to record any progress made.  Because the goals of such a book are to encourage and to celebrate, I don't have rules for what to write, or when.  I don't capture everything I do, and that's fine; it's not an official log, after all.  In other words, it's not a chore but a reward, a fun place to doodle, make notes, scan through, and plan whatever I happen to dream up.

I started my first Organization  Book almost by chance:  I'd found a blank book with a wonderful quote by Thoreau that spoke directly to the hopes I had for myself and my life, that I just had to buy it and, once bought, find a good use for it. After six years, I'm now on my third Organization Book, but I still keep the first one displayed on the bookcase, where I can see it and be reminded of its message.

The First Weekend of the New Year is a Great Time to Get Started On Your Resolution

It's soon-to-be three days into the new year--how are you doing on your various resolutions?  No progress yet?  Me neither.  Yesterday I used my lack of forward motion as an excuse to try various truffles my sister sent for the holidays.  Thus wallowing in chocolate, I decided it was Just Too Hard to call the charity of my choice to schedule a donation pick up, or to clear off and dust a few bookcase shelves. 

But as Scarlett O'Hara once said, tomorrow is another day, and with the whole weekend stretching out before us, there's plenty of time to make some progress on the new year's resolution at hand. When it comes to organizing, I've found that even one hour of work yields noticeable results.  In an hour, you can clear out a drawer or two, clean the fridge or a bathroom, tackle a couple shelves in a cabinet, or file a good stack of papers.  You can make progress on your taxes or address book, archive or get rid of a hundred--or more!--emails,  or tackle a corner of the living room or your bedroom. 

When I'm working on an organizing project, I try to put in about three hours a day, both weekend days, usually in the afternoon.  That way, I have time to enjoy the morning, catch up with family and friends, go for a walk or out to eat, and come back ready to focus my attention and energy for a while.  If I don't give myself permission to have a little fun first, I get restless and edgy, which in turn makes me crabby and resentful.  Not a good prescription for success. 

Occasionally we fall.  What will make your organizing resolution a success is consistent effort over time.  Some months will be better than others; there will be some weeks you won't move forward at all.  It's okay to have a lull; what's important is to give yourself permission to come back from that lull.  All is not lost if you don't meet your original goal: re-chart, re-start, and keep moving forward anyway.