Organizing Creative Professionals: Sorted

Where do you start? Part 1

It's another post inspired by a response to my call for topics! This is from my friend Angela: "How about how to keep it (paper, stuff to do, etc.) from getting completely out of control so that you are faced with a giant project and don't know where to start and it just keeps getting worse?" 

This is a pretty complex question, but I think it's also a pretty common experience. Under ordinary circumstances, stuff seems to pile up almost on its own (and even breed more stuff!). Then, when there's a big project to do, the stuff seems to accelerate its piling, and the result is overwhelming and almost paralyzing—and at the worst possible time, too.

Let's tackle the "how to keep stuff from getting out of control" part first. The boiled-down answer to this is: give all your stuff a home. Everything you own, from your clothes to your toothbrush to your files, should have a designated home. Not only does this make it much easier to find stuff (so you don't have to think every night, "Dang, now where did I put that toothbrush?"), it keeps things from piling up when they're put "to the side."

All your papers need a physical home. Your important, irreplaceable stuff should be housed in a safe deposit box. The stuff you don't need to act on right now should be housed in reference files, and the stuff you do need to act on should be housed in some form of action files until you are ready to start doing it (then it's fine to put it out on your desk).

This means, essentially, that you have to carve out a space for everything you own. Not only that, you have to carve out some time for it as well: time to put it in its home, time to do whatever action the item requires, time for maintenance, etc. 

This might sound like a lot of work, like a lot of space and time to devote to just stuff, but I assure you, you're already putting in that much space and time for your stuff. You're giving any un-homed stuff space that you need to work in and you're giving it the time it takes to find it, relocate it, work around it, etc. You're also putting in a lot of mental energy, usually in the form of stress and worry.

So the answer to the "how to keep stuff under control" question is this: be deliberate about it. Designate homes for all your stuff, and designate time (even if it's just in short increments) to put your stuff in its homes and/or do what the stuff requires. The initial investment of time and space might feel like an imposition, but you'll get both back once you've got a home for everything.

If you find yourself being reluctant or resistant to devote your finite space and time to a particular piece or category of stuff, that might be a sign that that stuff isn't that important to you and it might find a better home with someone else—or in a recycling bin. Always remember, my dear friends and readers, your stuff exists to serve you; you do not exist to serve it.

On Monday, we'll answer the second half of Angela's question and talk a bit about sinking your teeth into a big project. In the meantime, do you have a home for everything? Let me know in the comments!

Sorting out a new job

First, a big thanks to my friend Beth for suggesting this topic. I asked what I should write about, and Beth responded: "How to deal with the piles from a predecessor when you get a new job."

If you're dealing with this, first of all, congratulations on your new job! That said, it can be frustrating to drop into someone else's office, desk, computer, filing system, etc. What made sense to the person who worked there before you might not make sense to anyone else, and there might be some very important items and tasks hidden in all that stuff. To approach those piles, I recommend that you think like ... a detective.

Survey the evidence. There's no way around it: you'll have to go through those piles and at least glance at what's in them. If you come across stuff that's already due or due soon, put that into your action files or tickler file immediately.

Look for patterns. You might notice that your predecessor piled all the invoices, receipts and other finance-related stuff together. Or you might detect that they put binders together regardless of what was in them. If you can find some patterns in the way your predecessor worked, it will make it easier to anticipate what's in the remaining piles (and the file cabinets full of stuff you'll eventually have to tackle).

Interview the witnesses. The people who worked with your predecessor will have some insight on what made them tick. Ask co-workers, manager, direct reports -- as well as the people outside the company such as vendors -- how your predecessor handled paper, information and assignments. Also ask what they liked and didn't like about your predecessor's organizational systems.

Then put things to right. Once you've figured out what you've got to deal with, it's time to make it work for you. Handle any immediate items from those piles that need your attention, then spend some time moving the papers into a system that works for you. 

Depending on the workload at your new office, you might have to break this task into 15 or 30 minutes a day while putting out fires. However, your new manager might understand that the time you invest in organizing your new office will yield greater productivity almost immediately (especially if you explain it that way).

What about you? Do you have any tales from a new job and the piles you inherited? (Also, have you ever worn a deerstalker hat?) Let me know in the comments!

Manuals can make your business more automatic

Every business does something. Your business may be service-oriented or product-oriented, but unless you've discovered the goal of alchemists and slackers alike—to get paid for doing nothing—you perform some kind of activities for your business.

Now, what if you couldn't do those things, even for a short time? What if you were hospitalized or needed to go out of town, and needed to hire someone to keep the baseline stuff running in your absence? Hell, what if your business was so successful you needed to hire someone to help you keep the baseline stuff running? Could you explain your business's processes and outcomes to another person?

If those questions make your hands go clammy or make you want to change the subject, that's a good indication that your business could benefit from a great tool with an uninspiring name: the Procedures Manual.

A procedures manual is basically a how-to guide for your business that covers the basic operational processes. For instance, if you're a web designer, your procedures manual wouldn't cover how to design or program anything, but it would cover how to send out invoices and reminders and how often to check your clients' web sites for functionality. If you run a nail salon, your procedures manual would cover opening and closing the shop and keeping all the supplies stocked, but it wouldn't cover the secrets to a perfect French manicure.

If you ever want or need to expand your business beyond you and you alone, a procedures manual can help you train new people and give your new hires a resource to check when they need reminding of how to do something. It can also provide empirical examples of how something should look or what wording should be used.

Creating a procedures manual is not a short, one-sitting project. It's a pretty important item, so take your time with it. Here are some tips for how to develop your manual:

1. Observe what you do for at least a week. Most business procedures don't occur on a daily basis; they're more like weekly or monthly items. So give yourself a chance to remember all the stuff you do and how you do it.

2. Keep a notebook nearby and write down what you're doing, how you're doing it, what your desired outcome is and how it relates to other aspects of your business.

3. Take pictures, make printouts. You can use hundreds of words to describe what a completed invoice should look like, or you can print out a correct generic invoice and write a few notes on it. Most people learn better with pictures in addition to words, so having visuals will help with training.

4. If your manual is longer than 10 pages, use a table of contents and an index. Microsoft Word has both those functions, so you can automatically generate these useful guides to your manual.

5. Once you've finished your manual, don't just put it on a shelf. Review it every time you do your procedures yourself for a while, and make sure that's how they're actually done. Whenever a procedure changes (you get a new vendor for supplies, for instance), make note of the change in your manual and print out a new page. After all, an out-of-date procedures manual is just a 3-ring paperweight.

It's a bit of an investment of time and energy to create a procedures manual that works for your business. Fortunately, you'll get that back and more if you ever ask another person to work for your business, too.

What do you think? Have you encountered good procedures manuals, bad procedures manuals or no manuals at all in your previous work? Let me know in the comments!

Got 15 minutes? Get organized! Part III

(This is yet another Inside Business column, but I've broken it into three parts.) It sometimes seems like organizing your work setup is a major undertaking, a project that will require a few hours, at least. And who has that kind of time? Fortunately, you can do a few things in 15 minutes that will make a major impact in how you work.

Option 3: Give yourself the basics of a filing system. 

Don't worry about filling dozens of those empty dark green hanging files in your desk drawer. This option just does the basics, and doesn't even have to leave your desktop.

Designate desktop trays or hanging folders in a box on your desktop as “In,” “Out” and “To File.” Make “In” the place where everything goes first—and promise yourself you won’t put anything back into “In,” that once you touch something in that box, you’ll find a home for it. Give yourself some space in “To File,” because chances are that various piles on your desk have been serving that function.

Then create some action folders for stuff that always comes up. These can be hanging file folders in a drawer or a box on your desktop. The categories will be unique to your work and circumstances, but it’s the sort of thing that keeps coming up in your work: “To Read,” “Invoices To Pay,” “Data Entry,” “Possible Purchases,” etc. If you have to do the same task every month or more frequently, give it a folder and put the necessary information in that folder.

Just spending 15 minutes giving the papers you use most a home can give you some major time rewards.

What about you? What 15-minute fixes have you found most useful in your own life? Let me know in the comments!

Got 15 minutes? Get organized! Part II

(This is yet another Inside Business column, but I've broken it into three parts.) It sometimes seems like organizing your work setup is a major undertaking, a project that will require a few hours, at least. And who has that kind of time? Fortunately, you can do a few things in 15 minutes that will make a major impact in how you work.

Option 2: Set up your desk for success. 

Toss out all the pens that don’t work anymore (you know you've got them), sharpen the pencils that need it, check your highlighters to see if they still work and otherwise prune any writing implements that no longer fulfill their purpose.

Then tackle your writing surfaces by choosing one target for notations: one notebook or one source of scrap paper. Designate that one thing as your only place to make notes and remove all other possibilities from your desktop. Keep a spare in a drawer or on a nearby shelf, but keep it out of your immediate vision.

If you don’t have a trashcan, a recycle bin and a shredder within easy reach of your desk, now’s the time to move them there. If you don’t have a personal shredder, but use a company-wide device or service, you’ll have to create a holding location. Designate a desktop tray as “To Shred,” or put that label on a hanging file folder and put the folder in the front of a file drawer you use frequently.

Take a minute to put your phone on the side of your nondominant hand, and to clear some desktop space on the side of your dominant hand. Put your writing implements and paper on your dominant side as well. (And if you've got a minute or so left, take everything off it and give the surface a good clean with something in a spray bottle.)

This is one 15-minute fix you'll probably have to do every few months, just because paper and pens keep running out. But it makes a noticeable impact for such a short time. Next time: Fast filing.

Got 15 minutes? Get organized! Part I

(This is yet another Inside Business column, but I've broken it into three parts.) It sometimes seems like organizing your work setup is a major undertaking, a project that will require a few hours, at least. And who has that kind of time? Fortunately, you can do a few things in 15 minutes that will make a major impact in how you work.

Option 1: Set filters for your email. 

Your inbox has vital notifications from your manager and co-workers. But it almost certainly also has emails of the company newsletter that you’ve never read, jokes your aunt sends you and even a bit of spam. Using filters can remove the worst offenders from your inbox altogether, eliminating visual clutter, decreasing that sense of overwhelm a full inbox gives you and potentially preventing you from getting the dread “your inbox is over its size limit” email.

If you’re in Outlook, go to the “Tools” menu and select “Rules and Alerts.” If you’re in Gmail, click on “Settings” in the upper right-hand corner, then click on the “Filters” tab. You can set filters based on the source of the email (such as your aunt), the recipients (the whole company), the subject matter (“Funny!”) or the importance level, among others. Some emails can be sent straight to trash, while you might want to create a folder for others so you can read them later.

To eliminate that trickle of spam that still gets by your company’s firewall, spend a couple of minutes unsubscribing from any mailing list that has your name. If it doesn’t have your name, it’s more likely that an unsubscribe request will just trigger more junk mail, so delete it outright.

These 15 minutes will ultimately save you hours in email. Next time: Your physical desk.

Ten steps to more tolerable meetings

This is another column that I've written for Inside Business magazine, with some changes. Since most of you meet with clients rather than co-workers, I've made some adjustments.

Meetings have something of a bad rep in the world of business. They’re often seen as a waste of time and energy and something to be avoided if possible. But not only are meetings necessary to many projects, they can be useful and productive – if they’re managed right.

1. Ask yourself what you want your meeting to accomplish. It could be that a meeting isn’t necessary at all; perhaps a conference call, mass email or posting on a shared site will serve the purpose. But if you want to communicate information to a group, get information from a group, use a group to make a decision or otherwise harness the collective brainpower of a group, a meeting is your best bet.

2. Pick a time. Be aware of the needs and concerns of your attendees. Keep other folks' deadlines in mind and try to schedule around those. Also, avoid times when nobody is likely to be productive, such as Friday afternoon or the very first thing in the morning. (Morning meetings are best scheduled at least 15 minutes after the day’s official start time.)

3. Pick a place. The needs of the attendees also come into play when selecting a place. One of the biggest disruptions to a meeting is the simplest to avoid: not having enough chairs. Make sure there’s enough seating ahead of time so the meeting can begin promptly. Also, make sure there’s a writing surface in the room and working markers for that surface.

4. Write an agenda. The two biggest pitfalls for meetings are not having an agenda, and having an agenda but putting the wrong things first. Your meeting must have an agenda, and that agenda must not begin with housekeeping issues. That may seem counterintuitive; there’s a tendency to start meetings with minor details before delving into the big issues. But if you’re having a meeting to accomplish something, put the most important thing on the agenda first. Better to spend an entire meeting discussing something that’s mission-critical than to spend it discussing how to schedule the next meeting.

5. But don't over-write the agenda. Strive for a middle ground between broad and detailed. If the purpose of your meeting is to make decisions, break agenda items into each separate decision that needs to be made. If the purpose is to give information to or get information from a group, break agenda items into takeaway lessons you wish to impart or questions you wish to ask.

6. Send the agenda out. Distribute your agendas at least 24 hours before the meeting, if the person(s) you're meeting with doesn't have to present or report anything. If attendees are expected to bring or do something, distribute the agenda at least two full working days in advance. If distributing your agenda via email, select “return receipt” to make sure everyone has at least opened the message. Also, bring paper copies to the meeting.

7. Follow the agenda. Once you’ve put all that effort into creating and distributing your agenda, be sure to follow it; otherwise, you’ll lose credibility as a leader and planner. Using the agenda as a blueprint gives you an objective authority in leading your meeting and makes it easier for you to bring meandering conversations back on track. This also shows that you value your clients' time.

8. Write it down. As you move through each item on your agenda, use the writing surface in your space to record the results of each agenda item. Not only does this provide a record that can be used for future reference, it’s a good way to make sure everyone in the meeting understands and agrees with the results. This can prevent those legendary misunderstandings that can happen with clients.

9. Review it. Finish your meeting by reviewing what’s been accomplished. If the meeting has produced any action items or next steps, be sure to record them on the writing surface, including deadlines and responsible parties. Finally, send out a written copy of the results of the meeting to all attendees within 24 hours, while the meeting is still fresh in their minds.

10. What did I leave out? This isn't the actual tenth step; it's an invitation for you to let me know what you'd add to the list in the comments!

What's important... and what isn't

This is in response to Sue, who posted a question a couple weeks ago. First of all, thank you, Sue, for letting me know how I can be of help!! I totally welcome any questions or suggestions for blog posts (and not just for altruistic reasons; sometimes, I just plain run out of stuff to write about!).

Sue's question:

I'd like to hear more about focusing on what's important. I find that given time (sometimes only two weeks) more than 80% of the 'paper work' I've gathered becomes irrelevant.
Ideas about how to accumulate less in the first place would be helpful.

This is a great question in many ways. For one thing, Sue recognizes how much better it is to avoid accumulating stuff than dealing with stuff that's already piled up. Also, this question goes to the heart of paper management: figuring out what you truly need.

Of course, what's important and what you need are both unique to you, your work situation and your goals. But there are two general categories of paper-saving, and knowing which one you're falling into can help pare down a potential paper avalanche.

If you find yourself collecting paper that falls into the "possibility" category ("oh, hey, this sounds like something I might want to do"), one way of reducing the load of paper would be to get really clear about what you truly want, and what your time situation is actually like. 

Every day, dozens of possibilities float into our offices on the wings of paper: seminars, classes, meetings, articles, ideas, etc. And they all sound good, usually because the paper contains the work of a professional copywriter. Plus, if you have a creative bent, you tend to want to say "yes" to possibilities.

But a funny thing happens when you say "yes" to a lot of options: you have to say "no" to yourself. Usually, that takes the form of less time for yourself, less self-care and, at the very least, less space for the stuff that you really want to keep. So while it might seem like you're cutting off possibilities at the root, saying "no" to anything that doesn't immediately captivate you is actually saying "yes" to the value of your time.

If you find yourself collecting paper that falls into the anxiety category ("if I don't hold on to this, I'll find that I need it at the worst possible time"), the best way to reduce that anxiety is to study yourself for a while. Create a designated space such as a bin for every piece of paper you keep for this reason; if the paper has an "expiration date," note that on the paper. Then, every week, go through and remove all the papers it turned out you didn't need.

It sounds like Sue has already done this part and has realized that there's a lot she doesn't need to keep. The next step is to note the patterns and use them to create new rules. For instance, if you keep a certain type of coupon or offer and yet you consistently don't use them, that's a new rule you can institute: I don't use these coupons, so it's okay to get rid of them. 

Each person's rules will be different, and the relevant patterns might not emerge immediately, so you'll want to be extra patient and non-judgmental with yourself during this process. But eventually, you can understand and anticipate your paper needs so well that you can avoid some of your paper pitfalls.

Does this sound helpful? I'm asking Sue in particular, but I also want to hear from everyone else. Let me know in the comments!

Project management and organizing your projects

 One of the classes I took this spring was Project Management, which I loved—possibly because it's so organization-oriented in the first place. Here's a version of a column I wrote for Inside Business about how project management principles can be applied to organizing your desk.

Every project starts with a need. Ideally, there’s not just a need, but a drive, a sense of why you’re doing the project in the first place. If you’ve managed people, you know “it’s what I have to do” is a lousy motivator. Well, that applies to you as well. If you’re organizing your desk because you feel you have to, you’re hobbling your project from the outset. But if you can give yourself a compelling reason and a goal to strive for, that will help keep your project on track.

The first stage of project management is always planning, and a small organizing project is no exception. If you dive into a pile before you know where you ultimately want it to go, you’ll soon be overwhelmed and probably even more disorganized. 

Projects are broken down into work units to keep things manageable. In the case of organizing your desk, the work units would be planning, selecting a file management system, implementing the system, then putting a certain number of files into that system. Breaking down the project not only makes it less daunting, it allows you to track your progress and recognize earlier if things are getting off track.

Breaking the project down into milestones also lets you acknowledge and celebrate each achievement. This might sound silly for such a small undertaking, but you’ve probably seen the positive effects of encouragement on larger teams. Well, the principles of leadership and motivation apply to “teams of one,” too. You’ve also probably seen the negative effects of pressuring a team to complete a project, or threatening or scolding people in the name of getting the job done faster. You know that doesn’t work in the long run, and that applies to you, too. Lead yourself the way you’d lead others.

In every project there’s a certain amount of risk. Projects never work 100% perfectly, and your desk organization project probably won’t, either. Don’t beat yourself up if things don’t go the way you had envisioned them. Instead, approach that risk the way you approach risk in larger projects: build in back-up plans, add in wiggle room, have additional resources on hand.

Project managers match resources and skill sets to the tasks that need performing, and that applies to your project, too. You know your own skill set, limitations and preferences better than anyone. Your desktop project will probably involve a lot of physical labor, so have a friend, admin or intern on hand to help with that (think of it as outsourcing). If there’s an aspect of the project you don’t know much about, don’t be afraid to ask for help or seek advice or coaching from others. Projects frequently involve subject matter experts, after all.

What about you? Are there any project managers out there? (Better still, is anyone looking for a project manager?) Does this ring true to you, and would you add or change anything? Let me know in the comments!

How I did it: My car

Throughout the spring semester, I am proud to say, I never once had that unnerving feeling of "Oh, crap, I left my book at home," or the even more unnerving "Dude, where's my parking permit?!" And that wasn't an accident.

Two days a week, I attended classes at a campus 50 miles from my house, and four nights a week, I attended classes at a campus 25 miles from home. (Fortunately, both were in the same direction.) I knew from the outset that I'd be driving a lot, and I recognized the crucial role my car would play in organization as well as good ol' transportation.

I decided that my books would "live" in my car to reduce the chance of leaving one of them at home. If I needed to take a book into the house (or coffee shop) to read and take notes from, I'd consider it a furlough and get the book back into the car as soon as possible. (Sorted principle: Stuff lives where you're likely to need it.)

To hold all seven courses worth of books, I got a backseat car organizer. The product seems geared toward kids, what with the water bottle holders and the rigid top to facilitate game playing. I ignored both those features and used it as a big box that a seat belt could go through. 

Of course, a milk-crate-type box will also work fine, as long as you can get the seat belt through it to hold it in place. If you drive like I do, the last thing you want is a big, heavy object sliding around the car.

I also did a kind of triage in deciding which books would get taken into the business school building from the car. For instance, the book for my Business Law class was one of the heaviest objects I have ever encountered. Seriously, I think they used an aqueous coating made of the remnants of a white dwarf star to coat all 1297 pages.

Therefore, the Business Law book did not get put into my actual bag to attend class. Instead, I read my assigned chapters and took organized notes on them at home, before class. This not only kept me informed and up-to-date; it saved significant wear and tear on my back muscles. (Sorted principle: consider the impact on your comfort and health when determining if you need something.)

Because I treated my car as a sort of backpack on wheels, I always had access to the books I needed when I needed them. Giving my books a designated home ensured that I'd return them to that home. Same thing with my hanging parking permit: it stayed in the little cubbyhole under my radio when it wasn't dangling from my rearview mirror. There was no reason to put it in a bag or even the glove compartment where it might be forgotten. 

Of course, I was fortunate in that I didn't have to share a car with anyone and could essentially use it as a rolling school locker. But hopefully you might find some tips in here to help you use your car as an organizational tool.

What has your experience been with cars and organization? Let me know in the comments!