Finding a Voice

I decided that my professional development investment this year would be hiring an organizer. You know, like "Clean Sweep."

This quote clinched it:

"I found I was really good at getting things done in the shortest number of steps," she says. "Back in the '50s, they used to be called efficiency experts. I just kept doing it on a larger level." And what she found was this: "The further you got away from an individual, the less trying to organize things mattered." In other words, each individual's level of organization was the key. "Somebody, some person, was always the monkey wrench. "The biggest bang for your buck, as far as a company is concerned, is to organize the individual." http://www.orderfromchaos.com/press.htm

So on Wednesday, Diane Exner arrived at 9:00 a.m. and left at 6:30 p.m. Our main concern is my office, but we also had to consider how my office integrates with the other two offices, two storage closets, and student lounge area. It was a HUGE job!

We're still not done, but my office has been purged, most of the books have been moved to my new "library" (formerly a storage closet--I hear they use closets as offices at the White House), and the space feels cleaner, and calmer.

The catch: there are discouragingly high piles of files and papers and magazines in the lounge area. Oh me oh my. Diane is coming back tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 and I am supposed to do significant purging before then. Groan. This is the hardest part.

Watch for the before & after photos ...