I Need a Better System
I’ve tried various plans for organizing my office and files but they generally don’t work for me and instead of filing I start stacking papers and eventually it’s completely out of control with years of papers piled up around my office. The result is forgotten deadlines and missed opportunities.
I’m great at making lists but I tend to have several lists going on different scraps of paper and some online and they are never complete so my brain spends a lot of time trying to remember what I need to do. I’ve decided it’s time for a change. I couldn’t deal with the clutter anymore and I was tired of forgetting important things.
Getting Things Done
I’ve read several organization books in the past and none of them really worked for me. Until this month, I finally read David Allen’s Getting Things Done.
I love it.
It’s about writing everything down so you can forget about it and relax. Everything has a clear category (can you take action on it or can’t you) so everything is in an obvious place. It’s probably not for everyone as he’s got a flow chart for how to determine what to do with a piece of paper, but I’m finding it extremely helpful. Once I got going it’s not as complicated as it seemed when I read about it.
One of the things I love about it is he’s not selling a day timer or electronic gadget. He’s just explains his ideas and leaves the reader to implement it in a way that works for them.
I spent the first week of March (the week before my kids came home) organizing my office. Tossing out huge piles of papers and redoing my filing system.
- I now have a real world in box and my desktop is cleared.
- My email inbox is at 0 at the end of most days.
- I don’t have stacks of papers without a home.
- At a glance I know all the balls I have up in the air at any time and which ones need action.
Important but Not Urgent
As a result of identifying all the projects I was working on and the next steps I needed to do on them I’ve made some big progress in completing some of the projects. Projects that I’ve always wanted to do but haven’t tackled because they aren’t the most urgent things in my life.
As an example I knew I wanted to get some limbs cut off of a tree so my garden would get more light but it never made it onto a list as it was never urgent. With this system I wrote it down and in a few free minutes at work I found someone to do the work on craiglist and they came out that day and did the job.
It feels great to be making progress on more than just the things with a deadline this week.
Ready for the Big Breakthrough
I’m now in a position to tackle a really big project and bring it to completion – getting a professional portfolio pulled together along with a rewrite of my website as I’m ready to start looking for gallery representation.
This is a pretty big project and instead of going it alone I’ve signed up for Alyson Stanfield’s Artist Breakthrough Program (on the classes tab, it starts in April). [This course is no longer available although I can definitely recommend her Art Biz Accelerator Program which ha some similar components – including the group support. [affiliate link]
After working with a coach, I know the value in having outside support. And I love the amazing benefits of group energy. I’ll be holding myself accountable to completing these projects by working with a group and setting some deadlines.
I’m excited about getting this work finished and moving to the next level with my art career.
Blog Book Tour
Speaking of Alyson, I’m going to be hosting her on my blog on April 1 as part of her blog book tour. Stay tuned!