Beyond Getting Things Done There Is Efficiency


Beyond Getting Things Done There Is Efficiency

by Gavriel Shaw

For 11-years I obsessed over getting organized.

Then in 2006 I realized it was the wrong way to go about things. I will explain everything… and it will probably change the way you live:

Personal productivity has become all the rage, from Franklin Day Planners to Getting Things Done with David Allen… modern life is so fast paced full with options and choices.

And today I read this about a Professional Organizer and her client..

"…together they purged her office of unnecessary clutter, set up a system of file folders and discussed strategies that would allow Mohan to make decisions more quickly. Not only is Mohan's desk spotless, but her files are so organized she can delegate more work to her assistant. The cost of Hemphill's consultation: $5,000. "It was outrageously worth it," says Mohan.

$5,000! And yet still 'outrageously worth it'. See even high level business folk with money to burn and no time to… burn it are 1. incapable of knowing how to get organized without help and 2. can appreciate the value of getting that help.

But maybe your pockets aren’t as deep, or perhaps you prefer to do a few simple things take measures right now to get better organized before becoming so disorganized that your only course of action is to pay through the nose for professional organizer assistance.

And here's what I discovered for myself in 2006. Getting organized is impossible! And it's also not even important.

What’s really matters with regards organized living?. Forget about getting, being or staying organized. Simple example: As soon as you use the kitchen to make dinner, you've made a mess.

Surely life is meant to be lived, and our environment is meant to be lived in, which means it has to be organized just enough to be functional and enjoyable.

What I re-discovered at the end of 2006, in a word, is efficiency. I came across an old 1920s business course on efficiency from the Emerson Institute of Efficiency. The concept of efficiency seems to have been lost until the rise of the latest Web 3.0 technologies in favor of ‘getting organized’. And finally after some 90 years, we have come to realize getting organized doesn’t work.

And here's what economist Mark Zandi of Moody's Economy.com said about how to manage time, which points in the direction of efficiency as being way beyond 'organized':

"I just can't physically find another spare moment to do more, so I've reached the point where I need to ration what I do, or do what I do better".

With his BlackBerry, laptop and mobile phone, demands on his time and productivity exceed the available time.

I use the phrase ‘organized living’ a lot in my articles, only because the word ‘organized’ is still such a buzz word. But really it should be ‘efficient living’.

Organized… or Efficient means being efficient enough to get done what you want to get done, find time to enjoy yourself, and let the rest go to hell, for you needn't sweat the small stuff, right?

Through the collapse of the ‘getting organized’ straw man, some have taken up the opportunity to proclaim that chaos is better than order.

The mess-for-success advocates like Abrahamson and Freedman say that turning your life over to any "system" has a downside.

Well, what do you think about that? It doesn't stand to reason, it doesn't hold water…

And even Abrahamson, the advocate of messiness, has found he can't manage his time wisely without putting every appointment in his Outlook calendar, which he syncs to his handheld computer AND his wristwatch!

So I admit it sounds cool, that being messy and living via chaos is the solution to the get organized problem of our times, but…

Please make permanent note in your thinking that the true distinction I teach is Organized Living means more about being efficient than getting organized, because order helps successful living and happiness, despite getting organized being impossible.

So strike the balance of flexibly arranging your life and things important to you. So my friend, that is the goal of Organized Living and good lifestyle management.

Originally posted 2007-09-25 21:07:15.

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