Monday Motivation 5/8/2000

Personal Organization is a matter of arranging your life for the best use of what you have.

Unless you've got a time machine sitting in your closet, you're likely to have the same 24 hours each day to accomplish what you wish to do. Nobody has more time than anyone else. The rich man has the same amount of time as the poor man. The beggar has the same amount of time as the schoolteacher. The genius has the same 24-hour day as the nitwit. The person who calls up the psychic hotline has the same amount of time as the person who calls 911.

See also: How to Master your Time, Brian Tracy's Audio Program on the techniques of effective time management.

We all have the same amount of time, and we have the same number of days in the year. What matters is how we use that time, how we organize our lives, and how we put that organization into practice.

Let's take a simple test. Take out a piece of paper. I'll wait.

Now, at the top of that paper, write "What I need to do."

Follow down the paper, and write everything you can think of accomplishing today. The kids may need to be picked up at the school. The dog needs grooming. There is a customer who needs my personal attention. The computer in the office needs to be fixed, you've got to write out checks for all your bills, and you've got to make contact with the customer who is responsible for half of all your sales. Of course, your list will be different than this one...I hope.

Got the list? Great! Now, follow this scheme.

First off, what items on your list can be delegated to someone else? Mark a "D" (for delegated) to the side of them. Order them in the order that they need to be accomplished: D1 for most important, D2, for next, and so forth.

Second, what things on your list are of secondary importance? Mark them with a "B" and a number in order of importance. These are the things you will do if time permits.

Lastly, what is the single most important thing you have to accomplish on your list. Mark it "A1". Second? Mark it "A2". Third? A3. You get the idea.

Next, most importantly, start with "A1." Continue on it until it's finished. If you are interrupted, come back to "A1." After that, do "A2," then "A3," and continue until all the "A list" items are done. Move on to the "B" list. Occasionally check with the persons you have delegated the "D" list items to. Make certain that the "D" list items are completed as well. Mark them off when you're done.

If you don't succeed in completing everything on the list, then at least you've completed the most important ones. Transfer the action items not completed to the next day's list.

I'll be truthful with you. I was never much of a fan of this kind of stuff. I have seen too many people who organize themselves into oblivion. They organize all the time, but they never do anything with their organization. One man I knew would organize faithfully, but would never follow his plan. Another guy I used to work with spent all his day organizing his mail. What point is there in that? This guy had mail for 20 years, all neatly organized, but never opened. Such organization is useless. Eventually, the pain of this man's organization eliminated any contribution that he was making.

I only use this simple system because it works.

I'll be truthful with you: It embarrasses me that it works.

I've always been a free-wheeling kind of guy. However, I get more items accomplished when I use it than I do when I don't.

I have lost days, months, and years to lack of organization. I wouldn't recommend this if it didn't work, just as advertised.

Organization and time management is purely a matter of habits. We always speak of bad habits, but good habits are important, too. We can become slaves to a good habit just as easily as we can become slaves to a bad one. We can decide to succeed every bit as easily as we can choose to fail. It's a matter of the good habits that we cultivate, and the bad habits that we eliminate from our lives.

Succeed by the numbers: A1, A2, A3.

Copyright, 2000, by Daryl R. Gibson and WeekdayWisdom.com. All rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted for the non-commercial use of this document as long as it retains this copyright and all lines and images remain intact. This does not allow the compilation and marketing of this material, whether for commercial or non-commercial use. Join us at http://www.WeekdayWisdom.com.