Organization

When I was writing a resume during the summer 2006 job search, I spent a lot of time thinking about what I was good at. I was an administrative assistant for about 15 years, but I did a lot of different things.

I don't know how I got good at being organized, (a public school education? a controlling mother?) but I thought about some basic concepts of being organized. That seemed to be the constant in all my jobs.

In truth, I'm not the most organized person in the world. I have my "secret closets" (ok, not that closet!, but other ones.....) and have been known to sweep everything on my desk at work into a drawer in emergencies. But a lot of administrative assistant work boils down to being organized. Your boss usually isn't - he or she is way too busy - and looks to you to be the organized one. The dreaded filing system, that annoying application for something that must be filled out, so-and-so's cell number, meeting times, doctor's appointments, etc. - that's your bailiwick.

I never got any formal training as a secretary. Maybe I'm just a left-brain guy.

So - here's a first pass at some organizational gems: They are all simple concepts, which is, I think, what makes them so useful.

1. Alphabetical order and numerical order. A very simple way to get stuff in order. When I don't know where to start in organizing a bunch of papers or files or data, this is what I use.

One thing an admin asst does is lots of typing of big presentations. The different parts may show up from different writers, or from 1 writer in pieces, and it can get confusing. Somewhere I read to just put the sheets of paper in order, and then number them in the lower right hand corner. Funny how helpful that was.

When confronted with a mess (paperwork, especially), I still consider alpha and numeric order first.

2. Throw away the trash. This seems obvious but I get tripped up with this one all the time. You might be surprised how much "stuff" you actually have, once you get rid of what you don't need.

If it's paperwork, just make 2 piles - 1 to save, 1 to throw away. If you have a tendency to get hung up about whether to save something ("what if I need it later???"), just save it. If it needs throwing away, that'll be obvious next time you make your 2 piles.

Don't neglect data - computer files, for example, in your housecleaning. True, they don't take up much space physically, but psychologically they can bog you down ("I can never find the right file when I need it"). It feels great to have things cleaned up.

2. Like with like. Put similar stuff together. If you're organizing bills, put all the utility bills together, put all the restaurant bills together, etc. If you're organizing your email-box, come up with some categories and make folders for each - project names or people's names or client names. If you're organizing a spice rack, put the spices for sweet foods (allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon) together, and the "savory" herbs like basil and cilantro together.

3. Do a little every day. (Or hour/week/month, etc.) Don't wait until Jan 2 every year, or April 15, or until your boss gives you "the look", or you can't find anything on your desk at home. Once a week, or month, or first thing every day, just throw out trash. Then put everything left over into neat piles.

4. Consider visual clutter. Creating neat piles can go a long way towards making things more manageable.

More on this topic later.