Excerpts from Organizing for the Creative Person


By Dolores Cotter Lamping, C.S.W. & Dorothy Lehmkuhl



If you are a creative type, ACCEPT THE FACT THAT YOUR ORGANIZING STYLE WILL BE DIFFERENT. Traditional techniques and systems will not fit your needs. Creative types like to keep things in stacks, not in files; on surfaces, not in drawers; in open spaces, not in closets or cabinets; on chairs, not hung on hangers. Know that your own way of doing things is okay. It doesn't mean that there is something "wrong" with you. Seek techniques and tools that go with your own style, rather than trying to "reform" or "shape up" to fit prevailing traditional methods.

Your concept of time will also be "different." It may seem that you are "swimming against the tide," pressured, alternating between procrastination and rushing to meet deadlines. You tend to go with the flow rather than restrict yourself. You may even feel "out of sync" with the "real world," to whom time means "clock time."

You may have tried to change yourself to fit in, and this requires an extraordinary amount of energy, since it is going contrary to your nature. This effort can only be sustained for so long, before one "relapses" into more comfortable and familiar behavior patterns. This may lead to a cycle of effort, discouragement, sense of failure, effort, etc., etc., etc.

In regards to TIME, keep in mind that:
  • How you spend your time is how you spend your life.
  • Each hour you spend is a piece of your life that once spent, cannot be replaced. It is gone forever.
  • What are the three most important things in your life?
  • During the past week, how much time did you spend on them?
  • Spend your time on those things that matter most to you.
  • When you look at your life thus far, what do you regret that you have spent too much time doing?
  • What do you wish you had spent more time doing? Remember, nobody on their deathbed wishes they had spent more time at the office.
  • Taking ten minutes at the end of each hour to straighten up whatever has accumulated during that hour saves endless hours of searching for lost things among the piles of stuff.
  • If someone offered you $1,000 a day to clear off your desk, would you do it?
  • What would you do if you "only had more time?"
  • Time is democratic. We all have exactly the same amount every day.
  • How we spend our time is a CHOICE-- an exercise of our free will.
  • We are wherever we are in our lives right now as a result of all the choices we have made up to this time. We will be wherever we will be in our lives ten years from now as a result of how we choose to spend our time between now and then.
  • Every material thing we have takes time to find, maintain, put away again, etc. How may of the 2,000 items you have in your home (or office) do you REALLY need?
  • Clear the clutter and you clear your mind and your time.
  • Reading newpapers and magazines takes time. How much time do you want to allocate a day or a week to this purpose?
  • At the end of the month anything you haven't read can probably be thrown away. If you really need the information you'll have a better chance of finding it at the library, rather than in your backlog of unread journals, periodicals or newspapers.
  • Save time by opening mail beside the wastebasket. Pitch what you don't need. Make a quick note on the envelopes you keep to remind yourself what action needs to be taken on them. For example, on an electric bill use a bright marker to write the amount and date due.
  • Spend some time in stress reducing activity. This will renew your energy and enable you to then use time more effectively.
  • Time, like money is a resource.
  • Volunteer some time to help others. The rewards can be tremendous.
  • Focus on one small area when straightening. This prevents you from feeling overwhelmed.
  • Clean one small shelf, drawer, etc. a day. By the end of the year, you will have cleared 365 of them!
  • Feeling guilty about undone tasks is a waste of time. Do it or forget it.
  • What do you really WANT to spend your time doing?


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