Posts Tagged ‘time-management’

We think we control what we do.

But the reality is that…. we just kindof end up doing what we do. A simple example is this: I go into the closet and choose what to wear today. I am not one of those people who can lay out my clothing the night before. How am I going to know what I am going to wear tomorrow until t0morrow gets here?  Sometimes I wonder why I am even wearing what I’m wearing. This happens more all the time actually and I’m grateful for it. Not for any fashion statement but for a letting go. A discovery. Oh – so this is what it is going to be today? Fine.

And before you start to argue with me about free will, think to all of those times when you said you wanted to work out and you just can’t seem to do it. Or you wanted to save that money but you bought a guitar instead. Or you were supposed to get the salad but ordered the burger. There are plenty of times when we do what we say as well. But can you really point to why? Seems almost luck if you think of it in comparison to all the times body and mind refuse to line up.

Observe yourself in your day and see how easy it is to “make” yourself do anything at all.

That is why I think with organizing, or working out, or any other change or alteration you want to make it is easier to go very  slowly with small almost imperceptible changes and implement alterations in other areas that aren’t “hot.” Telling, ordering, demanding and planning sometimes works about as well as reasoning with a 2-year old.

2010 Toyota Prius sedans (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Toyota is famous for Kaizen – not just as a philosophy but for successfully implementing it daily into their manufacturing culture to achieve consistently high quality output. Kaizen is the philosophy of continuous improvement and at Toyota each employee is invited to participate. Employees can speak to management about opportunities for improved productivity in any area of the company.

I heard more about Kaizen and Toyota’s culture on an informative and moving This American Life podcast about Nummi, the jointly run GM and Toyota plant located in Fremont, CA.  Nummi shut down on April 2, 2010 after producing cars for more than 26 years. The GM workers were transformed by Toyota’s practices but GM as a whole was not, or at least, not quickly. Still,  I am struck by how powerful Toyota’s Kaizen method and message is for anyone trying to make small changes over time.

As a professional organizer, I’m fascinated with the philosophy of Kaizen and how Toyota uses it to create an amazing product and a healthy corporate culture. They are doing on a very large scale what I’m trying to do on a small scale with my clients: Increase the client’s productivity (rather than the factory’s) in increments, creating change (rather than a car) that is sustainable over time.

I did a lot of research – probably more than I should given my current time restraints – to see if there have been many changes to Toyota’s Kaizen culture in the wake of the relatively recent Toyota vehicle recalls. Although, it seems unlikely Toyota’s recent problems are due to Kaizen practices. More likely their overly growth-centered goals are to blame.

CEO of Toyota, Akio Toyoda, grandson of the car company’s founder, announced in February of this year that he will lead a new quality committee. This is a shift from employee, internal, Kaizen-like improvements. Steven Spear, who has studied Toyota for years, wrote a landmark PhD dissertation on their production systems and in 2008 wrote Chasing the Rabbit lauding all things Toyota admitted, “We are now sadly seeing that the capacity for developing people can be overstretched.” Spear went on to say, “It was not recognizing this, and succumbing to the temptation to make growth its first priority, that led to Toyota’s current problems.”

In saying the “capacity for developing people can be overstretched” did Spear mean that Kaizen culture was pushed too far? That you can only improve systems and efficiency and productivity so much? That Kaizen reached the point of diminishing returns at Toyota? Because I do think there is such a thing as being too organized and too productive. This kind of effort can double back on itself and have the opposite effect. Like sharpening a knife to the point it disintegrates as Alan Watts has pointed out in his lectures on Buddhism.

Or did he just mean Toyota pushed too fast and too far? As in away from the center where people understood it? Spears points out in his second statement that growth became Toyota’s first priority and in order to grow they started outsourcing, sending production to other countries and getting materials from other places. Places where Kaizen was not practiced perhaps?

In my experience running a big car company…ok…well…I don’t have any experience running even a small car company. But I do have experience with growth. And with trying to grow too quickly. I have personal experience with this and I’ve seen it with my clients. It looks like working out for hours and not being able to move for days, or working in your office all night organizing and never wanting to go back in.

In fact, this is often what people want. Make change. NOW. Whenever anything grows too quickly or beyond its reach we get results similar to what we have seen with Toyota. Some overheating and then production shuts down.

Don’t get me wrong. Growth is great. I’m all about it.  I’m just kindof partial to Kaizen.  It feels real and the results stick around.

Urbanic in Venice Beach, CA (Photo courtesy of Urbanic)

I’ve been having a love affair with Urbanic since 2006 when owners Joshua and Audrey Woollen opened their charming boutique down the road from me in the very design conscious Abbot Kinney neighborhood; and not just because they sell cupcakes on Saturdays.

Urbanic is a paper boutique but I’ve personally never categorized the shop that way. However, it is just because I don’t think of their cards as paper – I think of them as art.

I daresay the best cards in the whole city are found there, and by best I mean the most stunning designs. Simple, clean and modern with a touch of whimsy and wisdom.  Urbanic carries other paper goodies such as ribbon in all colors and sizes, from all over the world, and wrapping paper that anyone would reuse. I feel fine pushing paper that I know will be recycled. And don’t get me started on all of the gifts.

What does this have to do with organizing?

The best part for me, and perhaps for you, is that they have all manner of extraterrestrial office accessories and organizational products that I’ve yet to find anywhere else. Audrey explained to me that a good part of Urbanic’s customer base is made up of design-minded individuals in creative fields so she makes sure to keep up with them. It seems I am not alone. Venice loves creative, stylish organization. Just a small example, I recently had to purchase the star shaped paper clips though I have barely any paper to clip together!

They carry the goods but do they have the goods?

I asked Audrey some questions about her organizational instincts, foibles and desires and here’s the bottom line. She is one very together woman. Are we surprised? Urbanic carries amazing products, more all the time, but they also create customized invitations for weddings or parties of any kind. To deal with all of the incoming and outgoing inventory and client information they have to have solid systems.

Audrey uses color-coding and labeling in her email program to manage her inbox. She labels and tabs emails as they come in and this helps with prioritizing. For paper files she created a uniform cover page and packet for each client so they’ll always know if something is missing. As a professional organizer I love this kind of automation.

In the shop, some of her favorite tools are, hinged lid boxes to contain and make daily tools easily accessible, bins, labels to give all things a home, cute file folders because they make filing fun, and last but not least Google online calendar for custom appointments so they can set alarms and store client information in one central place.

Like most organized people Audrey is a list-maker. She says, “It is the #1 priority in my productiveness every single day….When things start to get chaotic I have to manage my time and build into my schedule doing things like re-organzing the priorities that pile up on my desk and around the store.”

Audrey Woollen at Urbanic (Photo courtesy of Urbanic)

The idea that you need to schedule time in to organize is a very key point. Things are bound to get chaotic and if you have padding in your schedule to rework your priorities you can save yourself a lot of time and energy.

For store hours and more information about Urbanic visit them online at www.urbanicdesigns.com or in Venice at 1644 Abbot Kinney Boulevard, Venice, CA 90291. You can also follow Urbanic on Twitter.

This article also published on examiner.com.

Audrey Woollen at Urbanic (Photo courtesy of Urbanic)

I think the issue of disorganization can make a 2 year-old of the most reasonable of adults. I’ve seen it many a time. We get what I call the “I don’t wanna”s. I don’t wanna go through my thousands of email. I don’t wanna go through my mail, my inbox, my voice mail etc. You know the song and you probably know the dance.

I may not have a full-proof solution, magic bullet to this problem. I do have a suggestion though. It’s called, “being reasonable.” Every now and then we just have to be a bit more reasonable about the situation we are facing. Yes, there are some productivity tools out there that can help. Some fancy, some old-school techniques too. What beats them all out every time is being reasonable. Moving an inch or two in the direction of what you know will work.

Because you do know. You may not wanna. But you know.

It’s late and I’m exhausted. But that is not the interesting part. The interesting part is that I’m still writing this blog. I committed to writing everyday no matter what and that commitment has taken on a life of its own. Now I just do it – no matter what time it is (and for better or worse quality…I’m aware of that but for now I’m working on consistency. One thing at a time!). That is the great thing about commitments.

You do what you are supposed to do no matter how you feel in the moment or what else comes up. Committing to a schedule is the same. I know that there are three times each week when I’ll be in the gym no matter what. There are other things I’d like to do in addition but at least those are in stone – no matter how I feel. These commitments carry you along with their own current and pay back to you in results time and again. Not immediately – over time you see the results of your consistent efforts. You just have to get the commitments in place – the ones that make sense for you, that will pay off in the right way, that carry you to the ocean you want to swim in.

I hear a lot about being present and I never ever get it. I always think that I do and then the idea slips out of my fingers … slippery, very slippery. Then I get so annoyed with the whole thing. I keep hearing about all of the Law of Attraction ideas – most relating to being in the moment (in order to get the Ferrari you want – oh and the mansion. Sorry to be snarky I’m just that way sometimes.). I’m supposed to be smart, I’m also supposed to understand productivity and time-management and still – these ideas remain a lot of ethereal, sublime bull to me so much of the time. Grrr!!

What is it that I cannot seem to grasp? Oh – this is so, so me. Trying way to hard. Thinking that it is about being smart and about being a certain something that other people have and I don’t. That in ten thousand more hours at my job I’ll know it. This leads in (somehow) to this crazy and insane fight I’ve been having with myself about getting up in the morning to exercise. Now – I usually do get to it at some point in the day to some degree but I’ve decided that smart and successful people do this task in the morning. Also, I just am happier and more sane when I do it in the morning. The back and forth of  “well, I’ll go to the gym at noon, no … how about the 6pm class” and on and on and on is just moot if I exercise at 6am. So… the other kind of argument starts at 6am.

Me: Get. Up. Now.

The other me:  No.

Me: Yes.

The other me: No.

Both of me: Oy.

Today I got to this place of – what is so bad about just putting your feet on the floor? How does that really feel in this moment? How are you feeling right now with your feet walking into the kitchen? And that was that. Because the answer was…I feel really great right now. Exercise began and there was no argument because I wasn’t in the future of how I thought exercise would feel. I was in the exact moment of now. I think maybe I got it. Almost afraid to say. Ha!

The research is in…

best way to get what you want done is focusing in on one thing at a time. It may sound like a crazy suggestion if you have 50 things on your to-do list or task list but you really can only do one thing a time. That is, if you want to avoid crashing into the car in front of you.

Isn't this fun when you focus? Image via Wikipedia

The professional organizer in me says, “make a list of 5 things you have to do today and focus on each one until they are done.” The human being in me knows this is often not going to happen. In light of this reality – whatever you are doing – attempt to give it your full attention as an experiment.

Just for a day.

See for yourself if this works better for you, if you are less stressed, if you are excited about what you are doing.  It is the zen thing – the example being that even brushing your teeth is a fulfilling activity if you do it right, that is, with attention.  I’ll go into this more tomorrow but the best case scenario is to have no tasks – that is – you love what you are doing so much you have a “get to do” list. Ohm.

Do you have mail spilling out of your inbox? Are you overwhelmed by the thought of dealing with your mail? Me too! Yes, I am a professional organizer but getting and dealing with my mail does not thrill me. But guess what? I do it. Why? Because the alternative is not pretty. But the real reason I process my mail each and every day is that I know a little secret a

bout the mail. Want to know my secret? The mail takes  2 minutes to deal with! Yes, it is true.

If you set up a mail center with a shredder, letter opener, and trash you can you can get rid of your mail problem in 2 minutes or less. If you are a little behind then you have a larger time investment. But if you stay on top of it the pain is over before you know it – quick shot and you are done! The only mail items you keep are actionable items (invoices to pay, events you’d like to rsvp to, etc)  and you shouldn’t have many of those. Why? Because you’ve made all of your bills paperless and you pay them online, or even better, with autopay through your bank.  The less mail you have coming in the less there is to deal with. If than isn’t an incentive for paperless bill/statement options I don’t know what is!

Gotta Have Backup
Don’t you hate it when you run out of toothpaste or toilet paper or your favorite mascara (ladies!)?  It can be even more dire when you run out of diapers when the baby is crying, printer paper when the presentation is due or clean under

George Clinton's backup (singers) Image by Steve DeMent via Flickr

wear – ever!

To avoid the these annoying organizational pitfalls and keep your life running smoothly – purchase items when you are 3/4 out of them. Use Evernote.com to keep lists of the products you use on an ongoing basis.

Just this small change in operating procedure will save you time, energy and precious sanity.