Posts Tagged ‘organizing’

I was having an interesting discussion with my mentor the other day in which we got on the subject of organization.  This was the same mentor who taught me the necessity of having a good way to keep track of my to do list.  This was in no small part due to the fact that I reported directly to him at the time and he was an amazing delegator…

That being said, we were talking about keeping ourselves organized and he told me that he spends 30 minutes every night before he goes to bed organizing himself for the next day.  These 30 minutes had become so ingrained into his routine that if did not spend the time to organize, he would not sleep well.  I found this to be interesting and quite different than my approach of taking 15 minutes at the start of everyday to rewrite my task list and prioritize my to dos.

Perhaps I am simply too set in my ways or perhaps he and I just attack our work differently, but I do not see myself switching anytime soon.  However, I do see that his method offers several distinct advantages.

1. The value of the time spent.  Normally, the 15-30 minutes before I go to bed are not billable, whereas the 15 minutes at the start of my work day could be (since I always do my organization at my desk where I am in the work mode.)
2. The urgency of the workday.  There are many days when the first thing that greets me in the morning is some fire I have to put out or some client call I need to take or an email I have to answer.  This can delay my organization time by a few minutes or a few hours.  During that time, I always feel less in control of my day because I am being reactive instead proactive.   Managing my day by addressing whoever is screaming the loudest is a poor way to be ultimately successful.

Still, spending my 15 minutes organizing in the morning (or as close to it as I can) works for me.  But I would like to know, what works for you?