Newsletter of the Society for Technical Communication, San Francisco Chapter October/November 2005

August 2005 Meeting -- Get Organized for Success
Presented by Emily Wilska and reviewed by Marilyn Latham

Emily Wilska wants you to get organized! She’s so committed to the concept that she started her own consulting business to help her clients organize themselves and their offices.

The concepts may seem pretty simple, but if so, why do so many of us have such a hard time putting them in place? Certainly some people are more inherently organized than others. For the rest of us, here’s what Emily had to say in her presentation to the San Francisco Chapter STC’s August meeting.

First of all, what is being organized? It’s having easy access to the things you need, use, and love.  It’s having time for people and activities, and systems for paper, stuff, and scheduling. It does not mean having things perfect, neat, catalog-beautiful, paper-free, and based on a single system. This is too time-consuming and likely to require more time for organizing than actually working!

So, what are some of the common obstacles to organization?

• Insufficient or inappropriate systems for paper, stuff, and scheduling
• Lack of clarity as to what to keep and what to toss
• Overwhelming decisions
• Too much paper, too much stuff, too many tasks

Emily provides four (count-em, just four) steps for getting organized:

• Step 1: Figure out what isn’t working, and why.
• Step 2: Get a sense of how things should work.
• Step 3: Break down the project.
• Step 4: Attack!

Let’s break these down.

Step 1: To figure out what isn’t working, and why, brainstorm and make a list:

• What frustrates and overwhelms you?
• What do you always seem to lose or misplace? What things don’t have a place at all?
• What tasks never seem to get done?
• What makes you cringe every time you look at it or think about it?

Step 2: Then, think about how things should work. To do this, you’ll need to brainstorm some more and make another list:

• What would an ideal workday be like?
• What would an organized office space look and feel like?
• What things would be easily accessible and what would be stashed far away?
• Which tasks would you focus on and which would you jettison?

Step 3: Now you’re ready to break down the project. To do this, you need some guidelines:

• What things stay and what things get tossed?
• What papers, tasks, and things are the most important?
• What other factors do you need to take into account as you organize?

Step 4: Attack.  This could be the hardest part! So, Emily has some suggestions:

• Start small and simple.
• Finish one task before starting another.
• Work from the broadest tasks (e.g., sorting and purging) to the most specific (such as labeling).
• Feeling overwhelmed? Focus on maintenance for a while.

And once you’ve finally gotten there, and achieved the seemingly impossible, here are some suggestions for staying organized:

• Remember that organization is like any other habit: it takes time and repetition to become ingrained.
• Whenever possible, Do It Now.
• Create an inspiration point.
• Focus less on the effort and more on the results.
• And finally, remember that backsliding often happens. Don’t let it discourage you.

Emily also offers some Quick Tips for staying organized. Learn them, use them, live them!

• Think twice before printing documents or taking handouts at meetings. The less paper you accumulate, the less you’ll have to deal with later.
• Standardize the categories you use so they’re similar across formats (electronic and paper) and applications.
• Whenever possible, scan reference and archive papers and get rid of the hard copies.
• Keep tabs on your information intake, and don’t be afraid to cut yourself off when you’re overwhelmed.
• Schedule 10-15 minutes at the end of each day to put away stuff you’re done using, update your task list, and get ready for the next day.

If after all that, you still find yourself surrounded by paper, clutter, and disorganized piles, and you feel like there’s just never enough time to get it all done, Emily is always available for personal consultations. It’s what she does.

Contact her via:

• The Web -- www.organizedlife.org -- Her Web site features a Tip of the Week (also available by e-mail) as well as a list of organizing links and resources.
• E-mail -- info@organizedlife.org
• Phone -- (415) 252-9779

Marilyn Latham has worked in communications for over 10 years, as a writer, editor, and project manager in various positions in corporate communications, marketing communications, and technical writing. She lives in San Francisco and has recently been doing contract technical writing, but is seeking a permanent writing and communications position.

Copyright © 2005 by the Society for Technical Communication, San Francisco Chapter (www.stc-sf.org). This article may be reprinted in another STC publication under the provisions of the chapter's copyright policy.

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