Some Inspirational Reading

If you think you're procrastinating you probably are, right? Anyway, I did a quick search on the New York Times this afternoon to find some inspirational reading on getting organized.

In addition to the three articles below, I also noticed a text ad for a guy who calls himself The Organizer Guy. It looks like he's done some great work for his clients. I'm not ready to pay $75/hour for his services just yet, although it does sound reasonable.

You can read these articles for yourself, but here is what I learned.

It’s Time to Get Professional About Getting Organized

* A certified professional organizer typically charges $50 to $200 an hour, but "often pays for herself, either in found money or opportunity."

* Every house should have a launching pad where you can drop stuff off at night for pickup the next day.

* PACK (Purge, Accessorize, Categorize and Keep it up) is a system for taming lockers and backpacks, but can just as easily be applied to an office or home. Here are two choice nuggets from PACK's creator, Donna Goldberg:

• "The less you carry, the more organized you are, the easier you can find things."
• "The key to organization is never the system. It’s always the follow-through."

* Car trunks should include an emergency kit with a multipurpose tool, 12-foot jumper cables, two quarts of oil, a gallon of antifreeze, rubber gloves, bottled water, granola or energy bars, a flashlight, four 15-minute roadside flares, glow sticks, a first-aid kit and a blanket.

Dawning of a New Day to Get Organized

* "It takes four hours to get visible results, which is so important... There are so many emotional factors in getting organized."

Giving Disorganized Boys the Tools for Success

* Boys generally have more difficulty getting organized and multitasking than girls do.

The last story reminded me of something that happened during my Senior year of high school. We were supposed to turn in to the yearbook staff a form summarizing our activities while students, you know, the sports you played, the clubs you were in, etc. I missed the deadline, probably because I misplaced the form, and as a result you'll see that there is nothing listed next to my name in my Senior yearbook.

It's as if I was never really there.