Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 21, 1992 TAG: 9201210341
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KEVIN THOMAS
DATELINE: BALTIMORE LENGTH: Medium
SOMETIMES IT TAKES A PRO TO GET US OUT OF OUR MESSES
There they were. Cupboards and cabinets and closets full of papers; a virtual blizzard of old letters, personal items and business correspondence."It snows in this house with papers," says Joan Jacobs, who found herself "surrounded, overwhelmed and humiliated" by the accumulation of papers in her home.
To solve the problem, Jacobs recently called on Bonnie Blas, owner of the Organizer and a self-professed expert in clearing clutter, managing time and building efficiency into the most disorganized of systems.
What Blas did for Jacobs was to create a filing system and force her client to confront what needed to be thrown away.
"My problem was that I didn't know how to throw anything out," Jacobs says. "Maybe I just didn't want to face throwing it out. Maybe you have to be a very surgical person."
Jacobs says the Blas system worked for her and has reduced the clutter in her home. Blas says it was just a matter of doing what people don't have time, don't like or are too disorganized to do.
"My clients can almost be anybody," says Blas, who is one of several hundred professional organizers nationwide. Blas' job assignments have ranged from balancing a personal checkbook to developing a staff reorganization plan.
"I'll get the person who's totally disorganized on one end of the spectrum, to the person who's too busy on the other end," says Blas, who works out of her home. "So the person can be very organized but not have time to do it."
Time-management consultants estimate that the typical manager has as much as 42 hours of organizational work to do within a normal week, but only 10 hours to do it. Having a better-organized system can alleviate stress and increase profits, the experts say.
When one is working with corporate clients, Blas says, the job can be as simple as offering a few consulting tips to acting as a special assistant to the chief executive. Occasionally, she says, she has been asked to improve communication among employees, a job that can demand considerable political skills.
"Sometimes my job involves getting through to the secretary because she's not doing her job properly," Blas says. "At other times, the secretaries appreciate my role because they can tell me what they feel is wrong with their boss without feeling threatened."
If the job calls for better filing, Blas follows the four-basket system, marking each basket with To Do, To Pay, To File and To Read. The To Do and To Pay baskets get top priority, while To File and To Read can be stored away for later.
Pending baskets are occasionally used, she says. But overuse can lead to procrastination.
Tips for getting organized
1. Write a list of business and personal goals.
2. Adopt a time-management system to help you track and prioritize details, deadlines and demands.
3. Develop a company-wide paper work system and well-organized filing system.
4. Regularly clean out and organize your computer files.
5. Redesign your work space to make it more comfortable.
6. Buy equipment designed to make your work life easier, including a telephone headset if you are on the phone more than one hour a day.
SOURCE: Susan Silver, author of "Organized to be the Best."\ - The Baltimore Evening Sun