After more than 20 years as an entrepreneur and consultant to entrepreneurs, I am convinced that for many entrepreneurs, “getting organized” is an enigma. “Organized entrepreneur” may even be an oxymoron, because the same strength that makes great entrepreneurs makes organization poor, at least organization as most of the world defines it.
For most of my career I considered myself an organizational consultant. The most frustrating aspect of that role was defending against people’s preconceived notions about the word “organized,” particularly as it relates to me. They envisioned me having “one sheet of paper on the 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 to grow up in a very organized home. Four of us shared the top floor of a two-story country house, with the bathroom downstairs, where my father’s parents lived. As soon as I went to school, my mother went to work full time. In addition, she took care of the normal activities of a farmer, such as gardening and canning, and she was also very active in the community. Being responsible for taking care of my own physical environment was an unspoken expectation, and my parents followed suit. I have no recollection of panic situations, like frantically searching for car keys or losing papers. Although the house often looked messy, it could be corrected quickly, because everything had a place.
My first husband was not only organized, but meticulous. We used to joke that we made a great team because he could make a mess faster than anyone he knew, but he enjoyed cleaning 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 began spending time with other mothers listening to horror stories about their struggles with the organization. Before that event, I hadn’t given much thought to 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 paper” 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. Thinking 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 closets. In high school, I organized a music library. As As an au pair in college, I developed a recipe retrieval system for my boss, a gourmet chef, and even created a filing system while volunteering for a non-profit agency in the West Indies.
I soon realized that helping other people to organize their environment also improved their lives. And for me, it was also quite therapeutic. As someone who had frequent bouts of depression, one of my coping techniques was to take control of my environment. As my mind began to feel totally overwhelmed, I found comfort in controlling my surroundings, especially getting rid of as much as I could so I had less to control.
As I became interested in creating a career as an organization consultant, I began to pay attention to how I organized myself. I read articles on time and space management to compare how other people did it. I was often frustrated that I couldn’t act in the routine manner described by “organized” people. Fun things like getting dressed in the morning frustrated me. I noticed that I didn’t have a routine, and as much as I tried to develop one, after all, that’s what “organized” people did, I failed. Sometimes I would do my hair first and then do my makeup, often stopping to do something in the kitchen before finishing. I found little time to “get ready” before taking the kids to school and often folded clothes in the middle of the night. However, I seemed to accomplish a lot (although never as much as I wanted!), and other people often asked me how I did it.
After declaring myself an “organization consultant,” I was determined to become the role model for organized life. 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 pull out my cookbooks over the weekend, plan menus for the following week, and shop for ingredients. I soon discovered that this plan was a horror for me. The menu said Wednesday was spaghetti night, but I wasn’t in the mood, so I grabbed the leftover veggies, some chicken pieces, and made stir fry. I finally came to the conclusion that an organized kitchen 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 organizing consultant began by organizing homes, clients soon asked me to help them in their office. I was terrified at the idea. How would you know what to do in a business? I trained as a musician! But I agreed to give it a try and soon discovered that many of the techniques that worked for 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 their office they don’t need, and 99 of them would say “Yes!” But how many people go to work and say, “Well, I don’t have anything better to do, I think I’ll clean up 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 looking for lost information, and 80% of what most office workers keep is never used. My presence there as a “consultant” gave people permission to take the time to not only weed out what they didn’t need, but also to discover what they did have that might be useful to other people in the organization. We then created systems in storage closets and file rooms that allowed people to access each other’s information. He often eliminated the purchase of supplies and materials that already existed. Plus, he helped erase wasted time by reinventing what another employee had already created.
I’ve always been intrigued by God’s sense of humor. I am now married to a man to whom the organization is a mystery and he is totally uninterested in changing that. He would just prefer someone else to do it for him! Talk about a challenging relationship. Now I not only have to deal with my own organizational struggles, but also those of others. This, however, has made my career easier, because one of the most common questions I am asked is “What if the problem is my colleague or my spouse?”.
One of the things I have learned is that there is a big difference between inclination and motivation. If I am motivated to do something, I can do it. If it’s not something I’m innately skilled at, it will take me longer than someone else, but it’s possible, and the results are very satisfying. On the other hand, it is impossible to convince another person that he should organize, or anything else, if he does not see the need. I have been blessed with a husband who is the most supportive person I know. He never complains about my outrageous and often wacky ideas! Without your support, I would never have been able to grow the Hemphill Productivity Institute into a team of nearly 60 people committed to helping entrepreneurs bring their innate skills to market. One of the business survival principles for a disorganized person is to surround yourself with people who have complementary skills to your own. I would have been burned out years ago if I hadn’t found strategic assistants who are brilliant at cleaning up the masses I create.
I have always been, and continue to be, frustrated with my own lack of inherent time management skills. The idea of making and prioritizing a list continues to be 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, though 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 capture a “do” when I think about it. That means carrying a tape recorder in the car, a phone call when I can’t write down my idea, and large blank sheets of paper when I’m sitting on a plane.
The secret to time management for me is to categorize all those “to do’s” from various places, and then organize them by when and how you might get them done. For example, “send John a birthday card” on my calendar, because it has to be done on a specific day, “buy a new stapler” on an “errand list” and “visit www.someplace.com [http://www.someplace.com]” goes in “On-Line To Do’s”. I often find that I don’t have the “To Do List” with me when I decide to run errands, but it’s amazing how the mere act of writing it down helps create a list in my memory. It’s not 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 check my list!
I may always be frustrated by my plight of improving my own organizational skills. But the good news is that I feel better and better every day. In the meantime, I am fully capable of helping clients who feel hopelessly disorganized 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 “organization”, but about helping them to develop systems and techniques, and to choose the right tools that will allow them to be the best entrepreneurs they can be. Three questions we repeatedly ask ourselves: Does it work? You like? Does it work for others? If the answer to any of these is “No,” we need 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 on your results, not your organizational skills. But improving your organizational skills will likely increase your chances of success and will certainly make your journey that much easier!
