Matteson Avenue - Clutter Article

How To Eliminate Clutter and Regain Control and Productivity and Peace of Mind in Your Life!

Ben Franklin wrote over 200 years ago, “We procrastinate for two fundamental reasons, the job will take longer than 45 minutes or the direction is unclear.”

That timeless aphorism explained why I put off organizing my office for over three years. It’s amazing how much crap I saved in that short period of time! But, hey, I must be honest; there is more to it than that. It’s much deeper. You’ve heard me say, “Good Habits are hard to form but easy to live with?” That’s part of excuse mechanisms I had firmly in place. Hey I had lots of excuses, but not one good reason to tackle this giant project!

(If you work out of your home, and never have visitors, you know that the motivation for “having a nice office” diminishes as each month passes.)

I had a giant whale on my hands, Moby Dick and I was Captain Ahab. I was staring in the face of the great beast: 1200 books, hundreds of files, boxes of papers, ideas, stories, pictures, CD’s, audio tapes, floppy disks, manuals, seminar binders, the pile was growing. Denial is not a river in Egypt and I am not Mark Anthony (hey, isn’t he married to J-Lo?)

“Ask yourself periodically,
'What is the worst thing that would happen if I threw this out?’
When in doubt, toss it out!”

So where to start? I was fed up. I had recently experienced what I like to call “Inspirational Dissatisfaction”, I was ready for a change. With the holidays coming up, perhaps it was get real time.

I believe all meaningful change starts first on the inside and works its way out. This was one of those evolutionary processes. What is the hardest part of a project like this? Admitting I had a problem with CLUTTER!

There, I gave it a name, Clutter; Or if you will, Clutter-bug, Packrat, Gatherer, Collector, Saver, Researcher (feel free to jump in any time with your own pet name!) You see, my self-image was in the way. Listen to my OLD self-talk:

“You just have to start!” Donna Smallin

My friend Charlie Morgan installs state of the art sound systems. He is one of the best in the industry. He was sitting in a pastor’s office one day, in a huuuge church. It was one the most impressive offices he had ever seen. Charlie commented on how organized the man was. “Oh,” the pastor replied, “I wasn’t always like this.

One day an associate pastor asked me for a document, it was an emergency. An hour and half later, I STILL hadn’t found it. I fell to my knees and asked GOD for help with my problem. He led me to a book, then a seminar, then a change in philosophy, habit, discipline and priorities.”

Charlie shook his head in amazement. The pastor concluded, “If you can’t find something you need in 60 seconds or less, you have an organization problem.”

Now, up to this point, I must admit, I haven’t asked GOD for help, though now I ponder it, it can’t hurt having HIM in your court! Charlie’s story has been a rock in my shoe for the last few years. To shamelessly mix my metaphors, that seed took root and grew. It was time.

Two days after Christmas, I sat down with my journal and created a mind map on the blank side of my journal. (To find that kind of journal, go to www.mattesonavenue.com, click the “Purchase” tab, click the “Journal” tab, and peruse. It’s the perfect tool for this kind of thinking on paper!)

I asked myself, “What are the vital elements to an effective office? (What do I REALLY need?)” I put that question in the center of the page like the sun and began placing planets around the sun. The answer consisted of:

3. Books shelves, only three with my Top 100 Books (reference and otherwise (see “Mark’s Reading List” tab at www.mattesonavenue.com for a partial list in specific categories)

“80% of all office paper that gets filed never gets referred to again!”
Stephanie Winston

What was the next phase of “Project Moby Dick?” As some of you may know by now, it is my nature to turn to books (see the complete list at the end of this special report). I began to read, study, take notes in my journal, 25 pages in all.

All of us share some things in common. We are motivated to take action for two fundamental reasons:

I needed to identify what was in it for me? I also realized there was another process going on. In order to insure I succeeded, I needed to do four things:

§ Model the behavior I want in my teenage boys (then I can say to them, “Hey go look at my office, THAT’S how I want your room to look!)

If you haven’t written it down, you haven’t thought it through.
Patricia Fripp – American Speaker/Writer

As began carving out the time to read and study, some insights began to emerge. The first draft of a new vocabulary and realistic timeframes began to emerge. The women that wrote the books I was reading spoke and understood very differently than I did. Here is a sample:

These five new words would provide for me the Liberation from the Tyranny of Clutter! I had to re-think how long this thing would REALLY take!

Then came the part of change I like the least, brutal honesty. The questions to be answered! It suddenly dawned on me. This was a case of “Physician heal thyself!”

Julie Morgenstern in her fabulous book “Organizing from the Inside Out” asked me some questions:

Beginning this project was something to feel good about! I wasn't taking the time to enter names into a database regularly, but I did have lots of boxes of business cards and my file cabinets had some semblance of order and logic.

"Strive for consistency!” Pat Dorff

§ Piles and Piles. (The “I’ll do it later” syndrome…tomorrow never comes!)

§ Upon returning from trip, not making the time to unpack and equalize my things. (I can hear my mother’s voice saying, “A place for everything and everything in its place!”)

A lack of a solid system, a poor philosophy, habit, indifference, a lack of consistency, and time. My Packrat habits. Believing I needed to save everything. As the piles grew, so did my anxiety.

I concluded it would take 24 to 28 hours. Three days. If you ask any seasoned Project Manager, they will tell you any major project will take twice as long as your best estimate and cost 50% more than planned. (That would certainly prove to be the case with Moby Dick!) I began to form a plan. Quotes, ideas, strategies began to emerge. Like focusing a picture with a nice camera, the picture went from fuzzy and out of focus to crystal clear. Julie gave me permission to let go with a simple list:

“Enter names into your database every day from business cards you receive.
Do it that day without fail!”
Ronni Eisenberg

I pulled everything out of my office. I painted the walls with a fresh coat of paint. I had the carpet steam cleaned. I installed shelves and put the new smaller speakers up on the shelves. A fresh start. I was feeling better already! I took a before and after picture! I was into it. It’s like running or working out. Once you get going, you say “Man, I am glad I did this!”

As my research continued each morning (I made a commitment to read 1-hour each day for a week in these fine books, another system emerged.

In “Organize Your Office” by Ronni Eisenberg and Kate Kelly, they suggested on filing:

1. Invest in good quality files. Sift through your old ones and toss the wrinkled, crumpled ones. Invest in some labels and keep the good ones.

2. Invest in “Square Cut Bottom” hanging folders. (NOT the “V” type I had in my cabinets.

7. Keep a Master List of all files that have been created and stored outside the file. Number the file cabinets to cross reference with the Master List

11. Equalize files on a regular basis. Make an appointment with yourself each week for maintenance.

Wow, now I had some rules, a system, and a strategy! But there was more! A Four-Step Process was suggested:

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
Aristotle

§ As you begin, stack papers and files in piles, understanding and trusting that a pattern or grouping WILL emerge.

Once the Whale was dead, I realized some things; I would need to commit the daily disciplines needed to maintain this new effective habit. Plan each day to “Equalize” and “File” not pile.

“Close your eyes and shake hands with the person you will be in five years…
Design a rich and exciting life. A life well designed will pull you to the future!”

“If you have a difficult time throwing something out, consider this:
put it in a box and put a date on it, one year from today.
If you haven’t used it, opened it or needed it,
then toss it out or give it to Goodwill or the Salvation Army.”

“Before you leave for home, finish the project, finish cooking dinner, put it all away.”

In the end I also realized I had to change my “Self-Image” if I going to sustain this growth and support all this work. If I didn’t, the risk was to slip back into old ineffective habits, the kind that are easy to form and hard to live with. So I wrote out a new word picture to affirm over and over until I believed it and acted accordingly:

“I am an organized and highly effective businessman.
My office, files and desk are consistently neat and clean!
I am disciplined each day.
It feels great to free of the tyranny of clutter!!!”

Visualize what you want in your minds eye. Affirm over and over again what it is you want. List the benefits and what will be in it for you. The Great White Whale is dead. As this whaling ship cruises into port, I am content.

My true hope is some of you recovering packrats will profit from my tale of woe. It did have a happy ending. By the time I was 75% complete, a sense of power and confidence began to grow in me. It definitely helped when Evan, my fourteen year old walked in my office and said, “Whooaaa DAD!

Tight!” (Tight is a good thing, much like “Snaps”, an affirmation of a job well done. Just don’t try to use in front of your kids in an effort to fit in or be hip, it will only make you look and sound foolish!)

If you make the time for this kind of extreme makeover, you will glad you did. Ben Franklin would most certainly be proud of me. Now I have time to fly a kite in an electrical storm!

A sundial in Carnation…

“The moving finger writes and having written moves on; Not all your good intentions or wit shall lure it back to cancel half a line, nor all your tears wash out a word of it.”

“Organizing From the Inside Out” by Julie Morgenstern – 262 pages – Owl Books, 1998. “There is no magic, no mystery. Getting organized is a skill anyone can learn. Honed from her experience assisting others in as a professional organizer, she provides you with an organizing plan based on your individual goals, natural habits and psychological needs” Now that’s what it says on the back cover. She taught me a new language, gave me a compass and asked me questions that led me want to change for MY reasons! My favorite book out of the stack I read.

A proven filing system for Personal and Professional Use. Imagine a book on just FILING! Yep. Just what I needed…Do you think it’s just a coincidence that all these books are written by WOMEN! Hmmmm….

“Organize Yourself!” by Ronnie Eisenberg with Kate Kelly – 273 pages – Collier Books – 1986 - This one really helped me with organizing my library. What to do with thousands of books? An elephant by itself.

“The One-Minute Organizer (Plain and Simple)” by Donna Smallin
282 pages – 2004 Storey Publishing – A great bathroom book that reads quickly and easily. I picked it up and opened to any page and read for 10 minutes…there are nuggets inside.

“The Organized Executive” by Stephanie Winston – 345 pages – Warner Books - 1983 New ways to manage time, paper and people. This one is a self-help classic. Targeted to the business man or woman, it deals with opportunity cost, time management, and overcoming procrastination. Equip your office to be both time and cost effective.

“Organize Your Office (Simple Routines for Managing Your Workspace)” by Ronni Eisenberg with Kate Kelly – 175 pages – Hyperion – 1998

“I went to a bookstore and asked the clerk behind the counter where the
self-help section was. She gave one those looks…
then she said, ‘If I told you, that would defeat the whole purpose!’ ”
Mark Matteson

“Is it time to get real with yourself?” Stephanie Winston

Pinnacle Service Group
Raising the Bar in Organizations Nationwide
Mark Matteson
Telephone Toll Free 877.672.2001
Fax 425.745.8981
Email mark@mattesonavenue.com