subject: Time Management Notes: Organizing For A Fresh Start [print this page] Contemplate back to your elementary school era, to your first day in a new school year. Regardless of what happened the semester before, you had a chance for a fresh start. There were no time management problems following you. You were dressed in your finest clothes, with new supplies, and you walked into a well-laid-out, neat classroom, prepared to have a productive year. A desk was assigned where you carefully put your supplies. Books were passed out, and you added those to the desk contents. You were in control, with no distracting mess anywhere.
At this point, leap two months into the school year. Take a look at several of those desks again. Which one most closely resembled yours?
Were you the one whose desk still had all the books stacked inside, big textbooks on the bottom, smaller ones on the top, pencils directly at the edge inside of the desk for quick access?
Were you the one who seemed to own more books and papers than anyone else in the class simply because your desk was overflowing? There were books dropping on the floor all of the time, wrinkled papers sticking out, no pencil or crayons to be located without a big overhaul.
Go ahead several years to present day. When you walk into your office in the morning, what is your first reaction? Is it thrills about the prospects for the day or anxiety at having to cope with all of the daily demands while operating in disorganization?
Regrettably, you don't often have the chance to make a fresh start each year as children do. Rather you often keep on accumulating more and more year after year without the opportunity to clean out your space at the end of a term.
You may begin to appear to be the kid with the overflowing desk. As he pulls out a book, a number of other items crash to the floor. Now the class has to wait while he gets his things together. He is using up useful time, and he is also leading others to lose valuable time.
The first point of entry into your workday is usually the desk. You'll never be an effective time manager if you don't have control of the paper and clutter around you.
Even though your personal area is organized, you're directly disturbed by the disorganization of co-workers. When they don't have appropriate systems, they end up interrupting you to ask for a report or to question a date. They may show up late for meetings or not continue on an important project. Their deficit of organization leads to numerous inefficiencies, and then to stress and subsequent health problems. All of these can have a direct impact on you and those around you.
Think about tucking away time once or twice a year to stop, catch up or reorganize, and give yourself a fresh start. Your approach on entering a clear, well-laid-out space will add a positive slant to every day and much more hours of productive output. It is also an excellent lesson for kids.
