Getting organized, or: Begin at the beginning

I've read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, It's Hard to Make a Difference When You Can't Find Your Keys: The Seven-Step Path to Becoming Truly Organized, Zen Habits, The Effective Executive, Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive, Time Management for Dummies, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Organizing your Life, several other related books and approximately 7,286 related blog posts on approximately 7,281 blogs. Still I'm frequently running late, I never remember a birthday, and I end up paying more -- in time, money, energy and pain -- than is necessary, all because I didn't plan ahead.

Now I've intentionally put myself in a position where I must be organized. I have to be on my game or we simply won't make it. I wanted a job and life all wrapped into one, something I could lose myself in completely and justifiably, and now I've got it. Now necessity will dictate decisions.

I first learned proper organization from Time Management for Dummies, which as I recall was based on Seven Habits. Getting Things Done clearly works well for a lot of people, and although I've failed twice in implementing it, I really like the way it simplifies things. It's also adaptable, meaning I can merge ideas from all these books into my own personal organizational system.

Marilyn Paul's verbosely titled It's Hard to Make a Difference When You Can't Find Your Keys (the subtitle is shorter than the title) suggests "learning how much time things take" by timing tasks you perform regularly, like folding a sweater or doing the dishes. I know from experience these activities often take a lot less time than I tend to imagine. Every time I do the dishes (which is quite rare, if you ask The Better Half, and TBH is always right) I'm surprised when it ends so quickly. I grudgingly settle in for a half hour of work and five minutes later, everything's done.

She also recommends setting a timer when you start a tedious task. Set a timer for twenty minutes, start going through the papers in your inbox, and you can stop when the timer goes off. It's a lot easier to commit to a task like "process inbox for fifteen minutes" than one such as "get organized."

When you don't have a timer, you find yourself constantly thinking, "I need a timer." Eyeballing an analog clock from across the room is no way to boil an egg. Doing anything "for five minutes" becomes a case study in distraction: How can you focus when you're constantly watching the clock?

Many of you probably use your watch for this, but I haven't owned a watch in a decade. I read Robert Levine's Geography of Time one week on a much-needed vacation from the most depressing job I've ever had. I took my watch off and haven't put one on since. The time is, has always been, and always will be now.

I resolve not to lose my forest-level perspective on clock time (one of the world's great marketing ideas), but a watch is now a necessity. I'm going back to Old Faithful, the Timex Ironman. Tonight we ordered a Nike Women's Triax Swift Digital LX Watch #R0090-021 for She and an IRONMAN* Triathlon® 100-Lap for me. We also ordered two cases of energy bars so we'll have something to eat.

Never again will I wander in search of a timer. At least not anytime soon. And when you're trying to use your limited time effectively, a watch comes in handy, doesn't it?

This will be my third attempt in as many years at major organizational lift-off. Without a place for everything and everything in its place, I'll never get my passport in time, let alone complete my MASSIVE, POWERFUL PERSONAL MAKEOVER. Organizational skills are as fundamental as it gets. Once the system is in place, the habits must be formed. Once the habits are formed, anything's possible. It's the first essential practice of the Effective Executive: "Effective executives know where their time goes."