Creative Minds are Rarely Tidy...or Why My Lack of Organization Is Killing My Motivation

KEY #2: ORGANIZATION (with testimony from….Troy Aeby)

How many of you are "organizationally challenged"? Good. Me, too. That would explain why I found it so hard to find an expert perspective today!

Organization is critical to motivation. You might have the INSPIRATION to be a success, but if you don’t have plan you won’t be able to see where you are going or even know if you got there when you did.

But even if you have a plan and you are merrily moving along, what happens when your work space is overrun by piles preventing you from being efficient and productive?

I am NOT a very organized person. My space can become cluttered overnight and it gets to a breaking point for me every once and awhile (note to self: you are at that breaking point now!). As a child, when asked to clean my room, I used to tell my mom that "Creative Minds Are Rarely Tidy". Well, you can imagine how that went over when I was growing up. As an adult and especially as a business owner I am forced to find ways in order to make sense out of my chaos or I know that I just won't be productive no matter what.

How can you feel good about your work, when you can't find important papers or you are constantly late returning messages? Your business will falter and your motivation will suffer.
Some people just can't get organized. If you are one of them (like me…), then consider bringing in someone -- a business friend, family member a neighbor or professional -- to help you get the clutter and mess cleaned up.

When Marcia Yokers of Stevens Point Home Staging and Organization came over to my house to do an assessment, I am sure that she was shocked by my ribbon and wrapping paper fetish and my propensity for keeping every little bit and scrap for use later. But we developed a plan and I have completed most of what we set out to do in the past year, and I think that she would be proud of me…except not looking at my studio today!

You will be amazed at how this one important thing will help you get back on the motivation train. Don't stop there. It is more than just the physical reality of your work space. Really get organized by creating business systems that will help you streamline your operations.

Our perspective today is from Troy Aeby. Troy is the owner of a long-time family business called Duralum. It is no secret that he is very organized and that is what makes him a great secretary/treasurer.

For Troy, organizing isn’t a challenging task as it is for most of us. On the contrary, organizing is a priority for him. {And he even makes it sound fun...Lucky!}

Troy told us that he divides his life into major categories like work, family, physical and spiritual. He has goals, both long and short term, for each category. On a daily basis, Troy makes lists of the tasks that are necessary to complete his goals. He then selects three things off the list that are of the highest priority and he is sure to get those done first, often before he even steps foot in his business at Duralum. Troy told me that his greatest organizational secret is to write these things down and to stay focused.

Eyes on the prize, my friend! Thank you for your perspective, Troy. {Don't be surprised if we are calling in your organizational favors!}

While you need to find an organizational strategy that works, the real challenge will be keeping yourself on track by maintaining systems that work FOR YOU. For many, it is a daily challenge, but if you use your organizational systems you'll be free to think about other important issues.

And that’s good for business.

Working Words of Wisdom:

"Organizing is what you do before you do something,
so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up."
~A.A. Milne (author of Winnie the Pooh)