ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 29, 1996 TAG: 9612310009
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CAMILLE WRIGHT MILLER SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES
Chronically late? Always searching for missing documents? Never able to put your hands on a file the moment you need it?
You aren't alone. Nor are you the only person likely considering a New Year's resolution to "get organized."
You can fill your shelves with how-to books, load any of those nifty time-organizers with reminder beeps on your computer, fill a leather-bound planner with inserts - and still find none of it is likely to make a difference. So say the experts.
Actually, they contend that the goal to get organized is doomed to failure for many people. Actually, if you're willing to settle for less than "getting organized," you can probably accomplish more.
That's because organization encompasses a broad range of daily actions and requires considerable thought and attention. So much, that many people don't have the time or energy to be so fully orderly.
Beyond time factors, it turns out that everyone operates with such differing orientations to time, routine and work that no single organizing system or set of principles can transform the chronically disorganized into well-oiled time managers.
While list-makers may swear by their master lists that neatly set goals for each day, those who are buried under a sea of paper should take heart.
Work styles and dominant brain spheres are just a couple of the inclinations which determine how organized any person is, how organized they're likely to be, and what tools and changes will move them to being - if not organized - less disorganized.
Louis Perrott, psychologist and principal of Peak Performance Consultation in Roanoke, says that "most books look at organizing as a technical piece, a how-to-do-it reduced to machine-like parts."
Those books contain "excellent ideas, but don't respond to the reality that people are different and have different styles," he said. "The world's best organizer won't work if you won't do it because it doesn't fit your style and preferences."
Dana Ackley, a Roanoke psychologist, says it's a problem when "people project themselves on others and think if this method works for me it will work for others."
He cautions being "careful about imposing our individual work styles on others."
At this time of year it's common to see people making promises to get organized. Promises that are likely, according to Perrott and Ackley, to get broken.
The promise makers are, says Perrott, "sold on the outcome, but don't know what it takes to get there." It is, he says, like "wanting to lose 50 pounds." You can want to lose the weight, but if it isn't "broken into manageable pieces it won't happen."
Smaller promises, such as "losing one pound a week" can be kept. As can promising a small step toward workplace organization, such as only to clean off the desk at the end of each day.
Ackley, also a principal with Peak Performance Consultation, says many people have the "need to promise to themselves to be organized, get a fresh start. They wish for improvement, but don't know how."
The promise of a new year and a fresh start, Ackley says, gets many in an organizing mood. "And we can remember organizing principles while in that mood, but then we get into hectic-ness and can't remember" even the intentions, he says.
It isn't, Ackley says, "an issue of motivation. It's an issue of habits. And, habits have a lot of power." The power increases depending on "how long the habit, its emotional power, and the degree it's supported by the people" around us. The more power, the more difficult it is to change the behavior or habit. |n n| Changing habits requires recognizing and understanding some basic elements of personality.
Understanding the underlying differences calls for individuals to, "hold a mirror to the self to get clear on their own style, own preferences," Perrott says. And there are a number of preferences to evaluate.
Some failure in getting organized, for example, is that people have "differing orientations to time."
Some "view time as a way of structuring the day or as a way of getting work done," Perrott says. Others don't think about time much or think much of it.
People also have varying "orientations to structure. Some like it and take to it kindly. Other people don't take to it well at all."
Perrott sees conflicts occurring when individuals have different styles. A similar conflict happens when one attempts to impose an organizing system on himself based on a style and preferences different from his own.
In identifying individual styles, Perrott also looks at differences in how we relate to other people - our levels of introversion and extroversion - as well as whether we are right or left-brain dominant.
Those who are left-brain oriented and more introverted are "thinking, analytical types. They prefer information, facts, are visually oriented, and want things laid out. They'll do well with charts and graphs."
Right-brain oriented people are "more imaginative, visually oriented in visual images. They should spend the first 15 minutes of their day creating the day in their minds. What's the day like, what gets done. They can create a beautiful day."
Extroverts are "people and relationship oriented. If you put them alone in a room, they won't do well. Put them in morning meetings, they take stimulation and structure from others."
Introverts are oriented more to the internal world of thinking and ideas.
Gloria Elliott, principal with Elliott & Associates of Roanoke, uses four categories to identify organizing styles. She says most people are "hybrids [of those categories] and need to develop a hybrid system." The basic categories include:
nThose who "love buying planning systems. They'll spend a year entering data and color coding everything." These folks often "have trouble setting priorities because everything is number one. They need to identify high-priority, high pay-off items."
nThose who multitask - or try to do several things simultaneously - so much they have difficulty staying with any task long enough to complete any single project.
Unable to "do one thing at a time," they have stacks and piles, fearing they'll forget what they can't see. "Easily distracted," they often benefit from "coming in early when there are no distractions and knowing they can last only so long."
nThose who "always pull all-nighter and are addicted to postpone, delay, and call FedEx often have a wonderful history of success at the last minute."
Elliott says this group also labors under the "fear that their luck will run out. She suggests that every time they add a new piece, they need to look at the due date and review other dates and, using a charting method, work backward for realistic deadlines.
nThose who dread detail. They are "great on the big picture but have a poor sense of how long it takes to get something done." Elliott finds those in this category are helped through "consulting with those who do plan."
Once preferences and styles are clear to an individual, getting closer to being organized requires addressing habits and creating plans. |n n| The key to changing habits, Ackley says, is getting and maintaining momentum. Don't "try to do too much all at once," he suggests. Instead, identify "little pieces, little steps." Little pieces are manageable and can be accomplished.
Perrott's advice is that any change requires making a plan and working the plan. "If you're going to get more organized, you need a systemized way - a plan - to make it happen."
It is, he says, "better to form a little plan and get good results than to create elaborate plans to take all of the disorganization out of your life."
Jacki Lucki, a trainer with the Roanoke County school system's adult education program, finds that many people also are reluctant to get organized or "take charge because they feel that to get organized means they'll have to give up having fun. If there's a list for everything, there's no room for fun."
Lucki, who teaches the workshop "Taking Charge of Your Work Day," says too many people "get so caught up in lists and checking things off the list they don't realize they're often doing only unimportant things.
Lucki recommends taking charge of your life by eliminating daily planning. Instead, she coaches workshop participants and clients to "goal set by picking out three roles they'll be performing in the upcoming week."
For each role, she asks that they "identify three goals for each role. Once those are identified, they get blocked in on the calendar. They are priorities." Those she's worked with find that they can achieve those priorities and "everything else falls in place because the priorities are taken care of." Picking a smaller number of things to focus on and building them around relationships allow us, she says, to do better.
Increasing personal effectiveness, Lucki says, requires that we work in several areas. There should be, first," harmony among the goals, plans, priorities and roles. There must, also, be balance between our personal and professional selves." She counsels that "thinking effectiveness in dealing with people" increases our personal effectiveness.
Lucki recommends that individuals remain "flexible in planning and executing tasks while maintaining a weekly, not daily, organizing" focus. Finally, Lucki, echoing the sentiments of Ackley, Elliott and Perrott, says that "planning tools should fit an individual's needs as well as be portable."
None of the experts recommended abandoning planning or striving for self-improvement.
But they all recommend chucking a grand plan to "get organized." So, cross "get organized" off your list of New Year's resolutions and substitute it with one to understand your styles and preferences, understand how to change a habit, and focus on self-management.
If it suits your style, visualize it happening instead of writing it down. Or, forget the quest and just celebrate your distinctive style.
LENGTH: Long : 180 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: NHAT MEYER. 1. Wes Cole, an employee at Staples onby CNBFranklin Road, helps Sandra Claytor find a day planner for her
daughter. 2. Gloria Elliott, a management consultant, teaches
executives how to be better organized both in their physical
surroundings and work habits. She uses many of these texts in her
classes. color. Graphics: Chart by staff. 1. Why we want to get
organized. 2. Time management matrix. 3. Getting organized. 4. Some
tips for getting organized. KEYWORDS: MGR (4)