Every Friday afternoon, I end my week by making sure everything is filed away and my desk is ready for a productive start on Monday. It just takes a few minutes and clearing my desk helps me wrap up the week and be ready for a fresh start next week.
Clint Refsnyder and I worked toghter at Hexcel back in the 1990’s and I learned this habit from him. Every day before he left work, he would make sure his desk was perfectly arranged. I mean perfect. The stapler was set at a certain place and the post-it notes were stacked just right. I used to walk by after he left and move them ever so slightly just to mess with him. (Remind me to tell you about the time I changed his auto-correct to spell his name as Cliff every time he wrote Clint.)
Anyway, I am not into being that organized just for the sake of being organized, but over the years of leading leaders I have learned that it takes less energy to keep things in order than it does to put them back in order. I don’t walk away Friday night looking at my desk and say how pretty it looks, but when I sit down Monday morning, it is a tool ready for me to use without the distractions of where I left off Friday night. Your desk is often a representation of how organized your life is, and I have seen how NOT being organized can affect my entire life.
On the flip-side of being organized, I can remember working with a manufacturing company in California that scheduled and tracked production using post-it notes on the wall in the shop area. If I wanted to know if my job was going to ship on time, I had to ask them to walk out to the wall and see how close my post-it note was to the front of the line! By the way, they are out of business now. Surprised?
Where do you line up in this area?
Our REF Groups had an Educational Component earlier this year on Time Management, and having a clean desk was part of it. I was pleasantly surprised when I had follow-up meetings with our members at their offices, and they wanted to show off their recently organized desks! We then moved past our desks and looked at how we organize our lives in general.
Being organized does not take away your creativity or identity, but it actually allows us to enjoy life more. This may seem obvious to you, but you’re probably a well-organized person. However, for the rest of the world that struggles with being organized, let me give you a few good reasons why being more organized can add value to your life.
The Real Value of Being Organized
Providing More Space
Reorganizing your office or warehouse will produce more space even if you don’t throw anything away (but you probably should). An organized person plans ahead and doesn’t need as much “stuff.” Life is always made simpler with less to manage.
Gives You More Control
You will feel more control and less stressed by a de-cluttered world and organized schedule. Being late, forgetting things, and wasting time looking for things that are not where they should be, causes stress for you and those who are counting on you. “A place for everything and everything in its place” means you will be able to find something when you want it, and by the way, so can others when they need to find something while you’re gone.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ma90D3-X9cY&w=420&h=315]
Save Time and Money
You won’t need to pay to express ship things or end up buying what you already have (somewhere) but can’t find right now. If you’ve ever bought something just to find later that you already have it, you know what I mean.
Set a Good Example
You will make a favorable impression on your team, your clients, your Banker, and your family. People will respect your ability to be on time and fulfill your commitments, and you will set the example you really want from others.
More Time and Balance in Your Life
Too much time is wasted redoing, reorganizing, running late because it took longer to complete because things were not organized. Getting projects done quicker, delegating and finding things quickly gives you more time for the things you want to do. You will have more time for yourself, your family and your friends.
An organized person is in control of their time and is able to schedule time for the things that count. An unorganized person runs late to events and forgets about important issues because the have way too much on their plate to see what’s really going on.
Achieve Your Goals
We all have the same 24 hours in a day. Your don’t need more time, you need to focus on doing the right things in the right order as part of your plan to reach your goals. Organized people focus on the important things to get more done, and reach their goals. You will achieve more by eliminating the barriers that prevent you from achieving your goals and by streamlining processes that take too much time. With this extra time, you can launch a new project, invest in relationships that matter most, and enjoy life.
De-Clutter Your Business
Our members work hard to be the best leaders they can be. We meet each month to find new ideas on how to reach our goals by learning from the success, and even the failures of each other. We share resources that can help us be more productive and shorten the learning curve. We challenge and motivate each other to stay focused on what matters most to us, and then hold each other accountable to stay on track. If this sounds like something that would add value to your life and leadership, come join us!
Need more info? Call or email me at (469) 269- 5148 and RobertH@REFDallas.com
by Robert Hunt
ABOUT ROBERT HUNT
I am a Business Owner and Forum Leader for REF Dallas. My role is to find the best members for our Executive Peer Groups, then lead each meeting so that our members become Raving Fans. You can connect with me on LinkedIn, Google+, Twitter, and Facebook.