Methods for personal organization seem to be a never ending search for ideas that work. Depending on the individual personality, some things that work well for one person do not work as well for another. To achieve the maximum benefit from a personal organization system, there are a number of things that need to be factored into the solution. If you own a computer, there are software tools that contain everything you need to establish an effective method for organizing information, scheduling your time, and creating a custom plan that is unique to your individual needs. You can use your computer to assist with organizing things that are both on and off the system. Regardless of the combination of tools you might use to plan your day and organize your work, the most valuable, and most neglected weapon in your arsenal is your computer. The best way to start an effective plan is to adopt the working perspective that you are the creative person with all the ideas and purposes, while your computer is the mechanism for performing the repetitive, tedious memory work that would otherwise be cluttering your own brain. Using the virtual world of the computer, it is possible to get things done faster and more efficiently than in the physical shuffling of binders, calendars, and scraps of paper stuck to the refrigerator to remind you it is time to pay the electric bill. For quick reminders, computer software can produce electronic sticky notes or pop up reminder messages to keep you organized in managing the volatile day to day activities and events that require quick action and attention. For a personal organization system design, there is other calendar based software that will allow you to design a customized, categorized planning function to keep track of events, things to do, journals, appointments, contacts, documents, projects, and other time based data that can be printed out to take with you when you are away from your computer. Electronic planners also reduce your costs in time, material costs, and fumbling to retrieve important information you have recorded. For information that is not stored on your computer, you can create computer based information to track and fetch information to help you organize and recall where important things are filed or piled, so you can find them without having to search all over to locate them. You can use your computer to establish an inventory of things like supplies, videos, important files and groceries, track your buying patterns, and keep your budget on track. When you use computer programs to organize your documents, files, resources, and other information that can be brought up on command, your computer system will take its rightful place as your drudgery manager, while you sail on as the efficient, organized, and creative partner you are meant to be. Depending on your own creative approach for getting things done, it is possible for you to use your computer to design a suitable system without spending a fortune or having to attend programming classes. The programs I use for personal organization have greatly improved time management and information tracking that allows me to focus more on what needs to be done rather than where it is and how to access it. Moving to a system of electronic based organization is the next best thing to having an assistant that does all the work for me. We drive cars because it increases the distance we can travel while reducing the time it takes to reach a destination. It is much easier to travel 30 miles in a car than it is to make the journey on foot. This analogy is applicable to organization techniques as well. No matter what you are focused on accomplishing, it is faster and easier to accomplish the task electronically than it is to do the equivalent work using a physical sorting and retrieval method. No matter how effective you are in managing a paper based filing and physical organization system, anyone skilled in the electronic equivalent will have more free time to enjoy away from managing themselves and their work. |
