Well, January is almost over and that new years resolution you made to get organized is knocking on the door asking for you to pay up. Today, you don’t have to run from it anymore. I have some friends that have always struggled with getting their life and work organized. It seems this is a [...]
Well, January is almost over and that new years resolution you made to get organized is knocking on the door asking for you to pay up. Today, you don’t have to run from it anymore. I have some friends that have always struggled with getting their life and work organized. It seems this is a big need in many churches today but so many people just do not know where to start. The pile of stuff on, under, around, and in their desk is a bigger mountain than what they may feel they can climb. I believe most of the organizational woes come down to two things:
1. Not knowing where how or where to start
2. Lacking the time to get everything "fully" organized
Let’s face it… church work is not golf and relaxation. If you have worked in the church you know what I’m talking about here. It’s not always easy and it’s always 24/7 on call. The church worker/minister today pretty much falls into being a jack of all trades. Churches are in most cases understaffed, so it requires the present staff to be able to wear many different hats. Wearing many different hats sometimes makes it difficult to accomplish the task you were originally hired for… but getting organized will help tremendously to make you more efficient and less stressed.
The tools you need:
1. Buy the textbook. Go to your local bookstore or Amazon.com and buy "Getting Things Done" by David Allen. This will be your textbook for all things organization… we bought this book at Nspire and started putting Davids recommendations into practice. All I can say is it works and it feels good to have everything in its place of order.
2. Get your supplies. Go to your local office supply store and buy a few boxes of file folders, green hanging file folders, a hand-held labeler (I use a brother P-touch 11000QL) – the labeler is important; don’t try to get by writing on the file folders in pen or printing Avery labels. A labeler costs around $30.00 and it is worth every penny of it. Remember your files are not just for you, sometimes others need to be able to quickly find a file you have while you are not there and they shouldn’t have to be interpreting your handwriting… buy the labeler… you won’t regret it. Lastly if you do not have a file cabinet… get one of those too.
3. Give yourself some time. You are probably looking at your desk thinking, "this could take much more time than I have". My question would be how much are you losing now because you have not taken the time to organize everything… you will need about 2 to 3 days to really make this work.
4. Buy an inbox. You can get this at any office supply store. Take your pick, they probably have a ton to choose from that fall in all price ranges.
Tomorrow we will start into how to use all these tools to get you organized. So, in the mean time go buy the stuff you need and look over the book. Check back here at insidenspire tomorrow and I will show you how to put it all together.
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9 Responses
How timely!I JUST deep cleaned my office 2 weeks ago. I’ve done a pretty good job of keeping it MOSTLY clean — it is NOTHING like what it was 2 weeks ago.Anyway — I’m a little bit ahead of the curve. I’ll look forward to what y’all have to say tomorrow!Maybe I can even tame this beast better and really keep things this way.Blessings!
Dave, I guess the spirit is just moving…. lol.
My office here at Nspire used to be a wreck. I had papers and files everywhere and would spend much of my time looking through piles for stuff I needed. Tomorrow I will list some tips that I got from the book I mentioned in the post. I went on a organizational mission for about 3 to 4 days getting my office organized. It definitely makes a difference.
OK — so tell me the truth… is the book worth buying? I’ve purchased so many books the people say, "It changed my life." I don’t want to waste time reading something I don’t need to read because it really won’t/doesn’t change my life.
Dave, I wouldn’t say this is one of those books that changed my life. To be honest with you I did not read all of it… just the good stuff. I recommended buying the book for all those people out there that need the detailed approach to organization. It sounds like you have already started. Here’s my suggestion… wait until tomorrow, I will be summarizing some of the best parts of the book and how I put them into practice. If you feel like you need more details beyond that, the book would be a good option. Bart read through it completely and he said it was great. But you also have to think that is one more thing to add to the list.
So with all that… if you just want the meat of this topic, wait for what I post. If you want all the stuff in-between (veggies)
then go get the book. Hope that helps.
Brandon, I am looking forward to tomorrow and the info you will be sharing. Lately, I am thinking a lot about organization and I could really use some guidance. I may look at getting the book but maybe what you share will shed enough light for me.
Brandon,That does — I was wondering if you were going to touch the major topics…I much prefer getting the abridged version!I’ll be looking forward to the next post!
The post should be ready pretty soon, I’m actually putting it all together now. Thanks.
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[...] piles of papers on your desk. If you have not been following along you can start by reading the Part 1 of this series and then move on to Part 2 before coming back here. If you have already been [...]