The words "getting organized" don't often pass my lips. Those who've seen my office know that neatness and organization are skills that I'm sadly lacking - at least within the walls and behind the door of my work space.
I try not to let the worst of the mess flow out into the rest of the house - but I frequently fail at that, too. A few years ago - when I had a bigger room for my office - I engaged the services of a professional planner to help me "straighten up and fly right". With great patience she, and her associate, helped me through a drastic purge, labeled things, sorted things, came up with a filing system and generally had me on the right track.
Through no fault of theirs I 'fell off the wagon' rather quickly. Within a very few days my desk surface, once again, disappeared under a deluge of paper, pens and electronic gadgets. Shortly thereafter, the piles reappeared on the floor, on top of the filing cabinet and on every other available surface. It seems I can't function in an organized and tidy environment. Unfortunately, I also can't function when I can't find things - like lost cheques? Not good!
Then we moved. My current office space is less than half of what I had before. It's a tiny, angular, more-or-less 8'x8' cubbyhole with a regular closet (jammed full with shelves and stuff) and a weird little triangular closet into which I stuff some of my camera gear, bags etc. (great, until I need the one at the back).
So once again I'm facing a dilemma. How to maximize the space I have to work with. I'd love to call Elaine and get her back to try again - but SURELY I learned enough to tackle this myself? Maybe?
Maybe not.
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Ceci, I think it's kind of like quitting smoking (not that I've ever had to do that, never having started). I gather you have to keep on doing it till it "sticks" - and then there's no going back (you hope).
ReplyDeleteI have a much smaller office now and I rather like it. I don't print anything I don't really have to print, and I get up frequently to consult books that are kept elsewhere, in fairly organized fashion.
Good luck with the ongoing battle.
Your organizational style is perfectly fine. It's called "pile managment" and it requires great intelligence and discipline. Intelligence to remember where things are and discipline to maintain.
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