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I have never been what you would call a naturally organized person and I was thinking about organization when I saw this bookshelf because in college, my friend Kevin used to come over and put my books in descending size for me (it really looks a lot better). It’s not that I couldn’t do this on my own…. I just didn’t. I didn’t have the time / patience / energy for things like that. Anyway, through the years I have struggled with this question: how much time should I spend trying to make myself a more organized individual / business owner?
The Case For Outsourcing: I tend to outsource my really awful paperwork, like taxes. In fact, a few years ago I sent my tax guy a Christmas gift to try to make him forget what a horrible client I am and take me on again the next year. I sort of just show up with armfuls of papers and dump them on his desk with what I imagine is a pitiful look. It’s bad. I fully expect him to one day call me and say “listen Caitlin, you’re fired from bringing your taxes here”. Truthfully, there are a lot of businesses built on people not being able to organize themselves – taxes, bill pay, invoicing, employee paychecks. These are things that are so easily available to small business owners, freelancers, and creatives that it makes sense to use them. My rule of thumb is: if there’s a really easy and affordable way to outsource then do it.
The Case For Organizing Yourself: So as we discussed, when it comes to really big systems for your business / portfolio / etc. there are cheap and easy ways to get someone else to do the work but when it comes to the day in and day out? It pays to figure it out on your own. A lot of the ways that I have learned to organize things are working because they are really simple.
An online to-do list that I absolutely adore. I am a big to-do list type and this lets you check things off. There is just no way that I’m going to be able to spend a ton of time messing around with complicated files in a million places. The key to it is that I can post things on my to do list immediately as they come up. If you are the type to forget little things like “email response to so-and-so” then this could help you.
I also really like transferr because I am always finding things online that I wish I could save without having to bookmark the site or put it into my Google Reader. I liken it to a kind of online mood board and it’s easy to send it to other people if you happen to be collaborating.
Anything supersimple that you’re using?
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Comments
05.19.10
I think it's super important to be organized. I'm reading Scott Belsky's book, "Making Ideas Happen" and one of his main points is that people that are more organized but less creative get more done. I totally agree.
This is how I organize my shit: http://www.econapps.com/2010/04/how-to-organize-creativity/
05.19.10
I think it depends on one's personality. Some people are good with systems and metric, while others are better at listening to their intuition. There's no right or wrong, just different.
05.19.10
Cameron - Thanks for the link - that's great stuff!
Kenji - you're right, it does depend on personality. I just think a lot of entrepreneurs out there don't realize that the cost of a paycheck system or even an accountant has come down enough so that it can be cost effective for even 1 person to use them.
05.19.10
yWriter5 which is a godsend piece of software. It doesn't look fancy but it does its job which is to help you organise the structure of your book even if it is only in the brainstorming stage. It also has features to determine how often to write, how many words need to be written and when and so on.
So that makes my creative writing process much easier and simpler. I used to have notes everywhere and now they are all contained within this program and I don't have to hunt them down when I am writing. I also don't have to scroll down or switch between files as I would have done if I just pasted everything into Word.
Now i just write on one pad and type everything into the yWriter5 program. The moment I type it in, I don't need the pad anymore. It's great. I love it.
05.20.10
First off, I get my spin on who is, and who is not an entrepreneur from Michael Gerber (http://www.managementconsultingnews.com/interviews/gerber_michael_interv...). From my perspective, most people who work for themselves are not entrepreneurs; they are independent technicians of their trade… but in my humble opinion not entrepreneurs. Just because you’re working for yourself, does not mean your running a business.
Entrepreneur's create/run/own businesses.
These independents: most freelance writers, consultants, plumbers... organization skills are indispensable.
To a true entrepreneur... what ever you do well, what makes you remarkable is the only thing you should worry about improving. If getting better organized does NOT corrupt your gift, go for it. But as alluded to by @cammeron... organization skills tend to stifle creativity. Remember, you can always hire someone to keep you organized if that is an area you need help with, if organization is not part of your core gift.
In short, if your version of remarkable does not include being organized, don't worry about it.
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