Welcome back to APODS. Are you ready to talk about organization? I hope so, because I want to share some precepts from experts in time management and organization.
This month’s post focuses on ideas from Marilyn Paul, whose It’s Hard to Make a Difference When You Can’t Find Your Keys is one of my favorite books on the subject.
Although the entire book is worth reading, I found four of her points particularly useful.
1. Have a place for everything and everything in its place
This should be self-evident, since it’s almost the definition of organization, but the simple fact is, if you can’t find a critical writing tool or even the new ream of paper you need for your printer, the time you spend looking for it is time you could have been writing. On the other hand, if you establish a place for everything you need to write and then ensure that everything is returned to that place as soon as you’ve finished using it, you’ll reduce wasted time and the frustration of having to search for something.
2. Establish your own filing/organizational system, using the KISS principle
There are two key parts to this. The first is that a filing system that works for someone else may not work for you. You need to determine what makes sense to you. After all, each of us is unique, and what seems logical for someone else may be confusing to us. Don’t be fooled into believing that just because a writer you admire uses a system means that it will be the right one for you.
The second part is the KISS principle. You’re probably familiar with it, but in case you aren’t, the acronym stands for Keep It Simple, Stupid. While I don’t particularly like the “stupid” part of it, the call for simplicity resonates with me. Why create a system that’s more complex than it needs to be? You’re setting yourself up for frustration if you do that. Save your creativity for writing itself, not filing or organizing.
These two principles have as their goal avoiding wasted time. The next two focus on minimizing frustration.
3. Learn how much time each task takes, allowing for transition time
Remember back in the Analysis phase when we charted our use of time? Among other things, that taught us how long it takes to do specific things. What we didn’t factor into the equation was transition time. It’s unrealistic to expect to finish eating dinner and go directly to writing a chapter. If you set up a schedule without including transition time, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Don’t do it.
4. Schedule “unscheduled time”
Does this sound counterintuitive? After all, if we’re scheduling our time, shouldn’t we schedule all of it? Marilyn Paul says we should, but that one of the things we need to include in our daily schedule is some time without any task associated with it. Why? Life happens. Things that you didn’t expect will demand your time. If you’ve scheduled every minute, when the unexpected occurs and you’re forced to deal with it, you’ll be behind schedule.
Furthermore, no matter how carefully you schedule, there will be times when a task takes longer than you planned. If you have no free time in your schedule, once again you’ll fail to meet your goals, and that will be frustrating. You want to ensure success, not failure, so give yourself a break … literally. Schedule “unscheduled time.”
Think about Paul’s precepts. Do they make sense to you? Can/will you implement them? I hope so. I also hope you’ll come back in August when we explore two other experts’ advice on how to organize.
(C) 2019 Amanda Cabot
Amanda Cabot is no stranger to getting to “The End.” She juggled a sixty-hour a week job with nonnegotiable deadlines and building a house long-distance at the same time that she wrote two books a year. Whether or not she kept her sanity during that time is debatable. Amanda is the best-selling author of over thirty novels, eight novellas, four non-fiction books, and what she describes as enough technical articles to cure insomnia in a medium-sized city.
Her most recent release is A Tender Hope, the third in the Cimarron Creek trilogy.
You can find Amanda at:
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Thanks, Amanda. These 4 principles are great reminders of what our priorities are and how to put them in order. I appreciate that. Cheers