After more than 20 years as an entrepreneur and entrepreneur consultant, I am convinced that for many entrepreneurs, “getting organized” is an enigma. The “organized entrepreneur” can even be an oxymoron, because the same force that makes great entrepreneurs leads to a poor organization, at least to the organization as most of the world defines it.

For most of my career I called myself an organization consultant. The most frustrating aspect of that role was defending myself against people’s preconceived notions of the word “organized,” particularly as it relates to me. They envisioned me having “one sheet of paper on my desk at a time.” And as someone who lived and worked in a methodical (boring?) Way. They assumed that I couldn’t even imagine experiencing the chaos of being totally overwhelmed by my surroundings. Nothing could be further from the truth!

I was lucky enough to grow up in a very organized home. Four of us shared the top floor of a two-story farmhouse, with the bathroom on the ground floor where my father’s parents lived. As soon as I went to school, my mother started working full time. In addition, she was in charge of the normal activities of a farmer, such as gardening and canning, and was also very active in the community. Being responsible for caring for my own physical environment was an unspoken expectation, and my parents modeled it. I have no memories of panic situations, like desperately searching for car keys or lost pieces of paper. Although the house often looked messy, it could be corrected quickly, because everything had a place.

My first husband was not only organized, but annoying. We used to joke that we made a great team because he could make a mess faster than anyone he knew, but he liked to clean it up. His profession was one that involved very long-term projects, so cleaning the kitchen was something he enjoyed because he could see immediate results.

After we adopted three children, I started spending time with other mothers hearing horror stories about their struggles with the organization. Before that event, I hadn’t thought much about how I organized my life. As I sat on a playground in New York City, I heard comments like “We haven’t eaten at the dining room table in months because it’s covered in papers” or “We had to file an extension on our income tax again this year. “At the time I was looking for a way to earn extra money for our household and had read that many successful businesses were the result of entrepreneurs listening to other people’s complaints. As I thought about my own experiences, I realized that I had a history of helping other people take control of their environment. During a summer vacation, I helped my aunt, a mother of five, organize her kitchen and cupboards. In high school I organized a music library. As an au pair in college, I developed a recipe retrieval system for my boss, a gourmet chef. I even created a filing system while volunteering for a non-profit agency in the West Indies.

I soon realized that helping other people organize their environment also improved their lives. And for me, it was also quite therapeutic. As someone who suffered from frequent bouts of depression, one of my coping techniques was to take control of my environment. When my mind began to feel totally overwhelmed, I found comfort in controlling my surroundings, especially by getting rid of everything I could, so I had less to control.

As I became interested in creating a career as an organizational consultant, I began to pay attention to how I organized. I read articles on time and space management to compare how other people did it. I was often frustrated at not being able to act in the routine way that “organized” people described. Fun things like getting dressed in the morning frustrated me. I observed that I did not have a routine, and as much as I tried to develop one, after all, that is what “organized” people did, I failed. Sometimes I would do my hair first and then do my makeup, stopping frequently to do something in the kitchen before finishing. I found little time to “get ready” before taking the children to school and would often fold the laundry in the middle of the night. Nonetheless, he seemed to accomplish many things (although never as many as he wanted!), And other people often asked me how he did it.

After declaring myself an “organizational advisor,” I was determined to become the role model for organized living. An attempt stands out clearly in my mind. It seemed to me that an “organized” person would have a menu plan. So, with great diligence, I would take out my cookbooks for the weekend, plan the menus for the following week, and buy the ingredients. I soon discovered that this plan was a horror to me. The menu said Wednesday was spaghetti night, but I just wasn’t in the mood, so I grabbed the leftover veggies, some chunks of chicken, and made a stir fry instead. I finally came to the conclusion that organized cooking meant three things to me:

(1) always have plenty of staples on hand,

(2) buy a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables once a week, and

(3) prepare a meal depending on my feelings that day.

Although my career as an organization consultant began organizing homes, soon I was asked by clients to help them in their office. He was terrified at the idea. How would you know what to do in a company? I trained as a musician! But I agreed to give it a try and soon found that many of the techniques that were helpful to me at home worked just as well in business. The first step was always to get rid of the unnecessary. Ask 100 employees if they know there are things in your office that they don’t need, and 99 of them would say “Yes!” But how many people go to work and say, “Well, I have nothing better to do, I think I’ll clean my files today.” In fact, if they do, they may be faced with a colleague who complains, “Why are you doing that? We have to finish that new proposal! “

Research shows that the average worker spends 150 hours a year searching for misplaced information, and 80% of what most office workers keep is never used. My presence as a “consultant” gave people permission to take the time not only to eliminate what they didn’t need, but also to discover what they had that could be useful to others in the organization. We then created systems in storage closets and filing rooms that allowed people to access each other’s information. It often eliminated the purchase of supplies and materials that already existed. Plus, it helped erase wasted time by reinventing what another employee had already created.

I’ve always been intrigued by God’s sense of humor. Now I am married to a man for whom organization is a mystery and he is totally uninterested in changing that. He would just rather have someone else do it for him! Talk about a challenging relationship. Now I not only have to deal with my own organizational struggles, but also someone else’s. However, this has made my career easier, because one of the most common questions I get asked is “What if the problem is my colleague or my spouse?”

One of the things I have learned is that there is a huge difference between inclination and motivation. If I am motivated to do something, I can. If it’s not something I have an innate ability at, it will take me longer than someone else, but it is possible, and the results are very satisfying. On the other hand, it is impossible to convince someone else that they should organize, or anything else, if they don’t see the need. I am lucky to have a husband who is the most supportive person I know. He never complains about my outrageous and often wild ideas! Without your support, I could never have turned the Hemphill Productivity Institute into a team of nearly 60 people committed to helping entrepreneurs bring their innate skills to market. One of the principles of survival in business for a disorganized person is to surround yourself with people who have skills complementary to yours. I would have been burned years ago if I hadn’t found strategic assistants who are brilliant at cleaning up the messes I create.

I have always felt, and still am, frustrated by my own lack of inherent time management skills. The idea of ​​making and prioritizing a list is still a challenge for me. For one thing, I always interrupt myself before completing the list. Deciding if something is an A, B, or C priority is a complete impossibility for me, although God knows I’ve tried! But I’ve finally made peace with myself (most of the time, anyway) by continually making lists. One of the principles I teach clients is “Half of any job is having the right tool.” When it comes to time management, I must grasp a “task” when I think about it. That means carrying a tape recorder in the car, a phone call to myself when I can’t write down my idea, and large blank pieces of paper with me when I’m sitting on a plane.

For me, the secret of time management is to categorize all the “to-dos” from various places, and then organize them according to when and how you could get them done. For example, “send a birthday card to John” goes on my calendar, because it has to be done on a specific day, “buy a new stapler” goes on a “Errand List” and “visit www.someplace.com [http://www.someplace.com]”Go to” To Do Online “. I often find that I don’t have the” To Do List “with me when I decide to run my errands, but it’s amazing how just writing it down helps me build a list in my memory. a perfect system, but it works most of the time, and I’ve been known to call my office from the supply store to ask my assistant to go through my list!

I may always feel frustrated by my difficult situation improving my own organizational skills. But the good news is that every day I feel better. In the meantime, I am fully capable of helping desperately disorganized clients take control of their lives and their businesses. From my perspective, organizing is an art, not a science. It is not about forcing our clients to adopt a preconceived notion of “organized”, but to help them develop systems and techniques, and choose the right tools that will allow them to be the best entrepreneur possible. Three questions we ask ourselves repeatedly: Does it work? You like? Does it work for others? If the answer to any of them is “No”, we have to go back and refine the systems, tools and techniques that we have designed. Organizing is a journey, not a destination. It can not be installed; it has to be nurtured. Your business success will be judged by your results, not your organizational skills. But improving your organizational skills will likely increase your chances of success and certainly make your journey that much easier.