Productivity & Organizing Myths Recap

Since the beginning of the year we have looked at 10 of the top Productivity & Organizing Myths. They have been collected, examined, and refuted so that you can recognize when your thinking or actions are moving into they mythical. Myths seldom serve you. Realizing you're operating in the mindset of a myth can help you to change course to reality where results really come to the front and center.

Our top 10 myths are: Advertising

• #1 - Some People are Born Organized
• #2 - One Can't stop influx of email and paper mail
• #3 - I don't have time to prioritize
• #4 - Only Handle it Once
• #5 - The right planner (tool) is all you need
• #6 - I can find anything in my piles.
• #7 - A person's office or home can get decluttered and organized in hours or weekend (or 30 minute t.v. show)
• #8 - Getting Organized Takes Too Long
• #9 - We need a lot of stuff!
• #10 - We need to be at all those meetings!

Myths are sometime easy to agree with and sometime easy to embrace. They have a bit of reason so we say they have a ring of truth for a short time or a while. As a result we end up buying into non-productive thinking. And that can get us stuck. It can get us stuck with a distracting and cluttered office, calendar, and life. It can get us in habits that mess us up and have detrimental consequences on our careers by being late and missing deadlines. Acting according to these myths can stress us out and wreck our health. Advertising

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Operating according to some of these myths can make us feel popular, needed, and integral to a department or project or company. When our presence seems considered necessary at meetings we have a value that comes from no where else. It's powerful to hear, “We couldn't have done it without you.” And, we're just not that important. If something would happen that prohibits you from contributing, the department, project, and company would have to carry on. They'd have to figure out what you were doing and how to get that done without you because the organization needs to carry on as it did before you got there. You might be replaced. You can be replaced. So, keep perspective. Advertising

Reality: the anti-myths#1 - Being organized is a set of skills.#2 - There are many ways to stop paperwork and emails from flowing at you.#3 - I don't have time to stay unpriortized.#4 - Handle things the minimum number of times but as many as it takes to stay productive.#5 - Standard operating procedures are the heart of productivity and using a tool well.#6 - It usually takes a long time to find things in your piles - that's wasted time & stress.#7 & 8 - Getting organized takes time. A little time invested every day yields huge returns.#9 - We can get along quite well with fairly little stuff.#10 - We can find alternatives to being at a string of meetings every day.

Operate according the anti-myths and see your life become easier, streamlined, and yielding worthwhile results at work and home.

Susan Sabo is an intrepid traveler who has organized her life to be out of the country for months at a time. She's visited South & Central America, Europe, Asia, 'Down Under” and traveled across North America. Susan writes at www.productivitycafe.com, consults with professionals on improving their personal productivity and presents motivating productivity programs & tips to groups. The most popular presentation topic today is, How to Get Ready for the Busy Season.

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