Batching

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Batching is a retail term that means you perform all instances of an action before moving onto the next action. So instead of scanning a shirt, then removing the hanger, the anti-theft thingy, folding it, putting in the bag and starting over with the next piece of clothing, you scan all the items at once, then take them all off their hangers, then remove all the anti-theft devices one after another, etc. This idea can be applied in lots of ways, from chores (dust all the rooms before you vacuum all the floors instead of doing everything one room at a time) to workflow (respond to all your emails, then return all your calls, instead of switching back and forth). It saves time, it helps you to know what you are doing in a given moment, and it reduces the chance you’ll miss one of the steps along the way.

Creative Commons photo posted to Flickr by Andrew Morrell Photography

David Allen's desk

I saw this posted on the GTD (Getting Things Done) Twitter feed, and loved seeing David Allen's workspace. It shows how simple a desk configuration can be, and I love how it's not completely minimalistic. It actually shares many elements that make up my desk area, down to the inbox and project support vertical file holder, with different aesthetics. Here are the two for comparison. Click an image to see it larger.

Workspace inspiration

I love the blog Unclutterer, and they have a weekly feature called Workspace of the Week that highlights unique or exceptionally well-organized workspaces, usually home offices. I love looking at how real people have organized their workspaces, as opposed to the ultra-perfect spaces you tend to see in magazines. If you are looking for some inspiration for your own workspace, I encourage you to check out their archives.

Screenshot from unclutterer.com

Review: Good to Great

I finally made time to read Good to Great, the modern business classic by Jim Collins. My NAPO-LA book group made it our November pick, and we're discussing it this evening. Though I had trouble getting into it, once I got to the second or third chapter I found the arguments compelling and the anecdotes inspiring. I really liked the tone of the book and the message that we can go from good to great in any area of life, from business to personal goals to family life. Have you read it? What did you think?

Here's one of my favorite quotes: 

“I believe it is no harder to build something great than to build something good. It might be statistically more rare to reach greatness, but it does not require more suffering than perpetuating mediocrity. Indeed, if some of the comparison companies in our study are any indication, it involves less suffering, and perhaps even less work. The beauty and power of the research findings is that they can radically simplify our lives while increasing our effectiveness. There is a great solaces in the simple fact of clarity--about what is vital, and what is not.

If we organized the majority of our work time around applying these principles and pretty much ignored or stopped doing everything else, out lives would be simpler and our results vastly improved.”

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Clearing the decks

My mother-in-law is an artist and she recently sent me photos to illustrate her newly organized studio space. Previously, she had a work space that had a lot of tools and other items always stored on top of it. With the addition of shelves within arm's reach, the stuff has been removed, clearing the surface for her to work. She writes, "Now that the surface is clear, I have so much more energy (and workspace!)."

Before.

After. Shelves in place, work space totally clear!

This is a wonderful achievement, and I'm grateful for her permission to share her experience, and happy that some of her inspiration came from me and this blog.

For many of us, having a clear space on which to work is vital, no matter what type of work it may be. Empty spaces like desk tops, dining room tables, and counters are wonderful places to attack all sorts of projects, but they are also magnets for the detritus from the day to be dumped upon.

Having a regular (small) dump spot that you frequently sort through and clear off is sensible. Keeping a large open space always clear and ready for you to begin to use is imperative to creativity and effectiveness when at work.

Do you have a work space that's currently home to odds, ends and whatnots? Take a few minutes to clear it off, and resist the urge to put anything on there other than your current project. Feel the energy flow through the space and into your mind and hand.

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com. Sign up for Lelah's News, a once-monthly newsletter.

The E-Myth and organizing

The E-Myth Enterprise by Michael E. Gerber is one of several business books in the E-Myth series. Gerber is a business and entrepreneurship guru and The E-Myth is a classic book in this genre. I liked The E-Myth Enterprise, as it talks about the various traits and practices needed by a company in order to become a truly amazing one. Here's a quote that I found thought provoking:

There are three things that can be so organized: time, space, and work.

The organization of time prevents the over utilization of energy to achieve one's objectives; just enough time--and no more--within which the right action can be efficiently performed.

The organization of space produces the right tools in the right place in the right quantity to support the right action with an economy of effort.

The organization of work identifies the natural way to take action, the relationships between functions, and the coordination between the two.

When employed with skill, organization always produces a sense of great ease.

When employed unwisely, organization always produces resistance.

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com. Sign up for Lelah's News, a once-monthly newsletter.

Escape from the storage unit

In June I went to Maine charged with the task of eliminating the need for three 10 foot by 20 foot storage units. It took three days. At the end of the three days, three enormous truck loads of items had been removed to the dump or for reuse or resale by the junk man. One smaller truck load of items had been taken to auction. Several silver items had been sold for cash to the auction man. A cargo crate of forty oil paintings had been shipped across the country. 27 small boxes had also been shipped across the country for one client's new home. A fair amount of things had been integrated into the other client's nearby home. And there was no more need for the storage units.

It looks so innocent.

One of the storage units on the first day.

The key to our ability to that quickly pare down to just a few items being shipped to my client's new home was all in my clients' frame of mind. They no longer wanted to pay for the storage units. They were starting life in a different state, and did not want or need the physical items they'd had in the past, so they were ready to let a lot go. That attitude combined with the wonderful auction man and his amazing associate, the junk man, who were ready to take away everything on our schedule was what made the quick turnaround possible.

A lot of trash.

Deciding what to keep, what to sell and what to let go of.

It was physically exhausting work, even though the long Maine summer days were complemented by truly perfect summer weather (no bugs!), and it was mentally and emotionally draining for my clients to continually make decision after decision all day long. But at the end, there was a palpable sense of relief at having accomplished our goal and a sense of freedom at being able to start a new chapter of life unburdened by the objects of the past.

A small pile of boxes to ship.

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com. Sign up for Lelah's News, a once-monthly newsletter.

Turn on the light

Sometimes it's the simplest things that can make the biggest difference in our lives. Like ordering side salads instead of the french fries, or getting a pair of shoes that really fit and also match our wardrobe (Well, finding that pair isn't always simple, but it's amazing what it can do for the quality of your day.).

Small changes that make a huge difference can be as simple as turning on the lights. Having a well-lit workspace can make a tremendous difference to your mood, health and of course, productivity. Often I've come into a room where someone was working, and flipped the lights on, and the person reacts as if I've found a cure for cancer. It's easy enough to turn the lights on if it's so dark you can't see, but sometimes, maybe it's laziness, or distractedness, or an over-zealous desire to save electricity, if the light is so-so, we leave it off. Don't. Help your eyes out and give them enough light. If you find yourself not turning the lights on because you dislike the type of lighting, find a way to make it better. A super bright fluorescent light isn't necessarily best for your eyes, either.

Why force yourself to do things in half-light, when illumination is just a light switch away?

Creative Commons photo posted to Flickr by Luke Wisely
Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com

A year ago: creativity and organization

A year ago I was blogging about the idea that creativity can be enhanced by working in an organized environment. It's common sense that it's easier to be creative when your workspace isn't a giant mess.

In the past year, I've worked with photographers, visual artists and graphic artists who require an organized space in order to do the creative work that is their livelihood and their passion. I was able to help them by identifying what items in their spaces weren't essential to their creative process and figuring out ways to use storage efficiently, since artists tend to have lots of materials associated with current, future and past projects. One important thing I could give these clients was a sense of control over their space, so that they could shape it the way they wanted, rather than feeling overwhelmed by the stuff they'd accumulated, stuff that they thought would be a creative outlet but in a disorganized state caused them more paralysis than freedom.

Here are my posts on creativity and organization, the three elements of workplace organization and a specific case study applying my theories to organizing a writer's workspace.

Creative Commons photo posted to Flickr by gordonplant

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com

Working Clean

To me, working clean means keeping your workspace in an ordered condition as an integral part of the motions of your work, allowing you to work more quickly and efficiently. In David Allen’s Getting Things Done, he writes about the Productive State, “a condition of working, doing, and being in which the mind is clear and constructive things are happening.” Working clean relates directly to keeping one’s mind clear. It isn’t enough to have your desk space physically clear of paper, trash and knick knacks, your mind must be clear and free of errant thoughts in order to be productive on your immediate task.  Allen writes “clearing the mind and being flexible are key.” I’d argue that working clean, when employed as your default mode, makes flexibility possible. A working clean workspace refers to a dynamic and fluid space from which you are able to adapt and react to things as they come up.

This concept is adapted from something that has stayed with me for years since I read Anthony Bourdain’s fascinating Kitchen Confidential. In it, he talks about how the best line cooks are the ones that work clean, keeping their station free from food drips and spills (and sometimes blood) and bare of anything except what they need in that moment to get the dish made and out to the table as soon as possible. For them, it is a necessity when juggling hundreds of meals in a few hours, and to keep them safe(r) from accidents.

Bourdain also talks about a chef’s mise en place, and how the specific layout of tools and ingredients is specific to each chef. The repetition of a kitchen requires a line cook to rely on his mise en place. Anybody who works in the same space day in and day out, whether it be at a computer, a cash wrap, a classroom or a car has their own mise en place whether they realize it or not. In my brief waitressing career I felt naked if I went out to wait tables without three pens, the day’s specials written in my server’s shorthand inside my order book, and a clean cloth placed in the same pockets of my apron every time. 

Think about working clean and what that means for you. Would you take out only what materials you are working on in a given moment and put them away when you move on to something else? Would you want a perfectly clear space so you could project your ideas and creativity freely onto it? Would you want your computer desktop clear of all icons except what you were working on that day? Try incorporating it into you daily routine and see what happens.