Clutter Doesn't Have to Take Over Your Life!
Written: Apr 12 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Entertaining speaker, easy to remember tips and acronyms
Cons: None
The Bottom Line: Clutter is costly. This excellent program can help you put an end to it in your home, your office, and your life.
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| KateTPZ's Full Review: How to Organize Your Life and Get Rid of Clutter (... |
My friend Tracy is getting ready to move, so this past weekend I went over to help her do some packing. In the "junk room" of her house - the room things somehow end up in - amongst a lot of clutter, I found this two-cassette audio book, How to Organize Your Life & Get Rid of Clutter! After we joked about the message of finding it amid clutter, she told me she had always meant to listen to it but hadn't gotten around to it. I was without an audio book so I borrowed it and listened to it for her.
I'm so glad I found it! Ab Jackson is the trainer for this audio book and his passion for teaching, organizing, and communicating comes through brilliantly. The sound quality is excellent, better than many audio-tapes, with no hiss or crackle. It is short, however, with a total running time of only two hours and sixteen minutes. Those 136 minutes, though, are packed with excellent information and tips.
What's So Bad About Clutter?
As Ab Jackson points out, and I unfortunately can confirm from my personal experience, clutter is costly. It costs us time, looking for things we cannot find and moving unnecessary "stuff" from one inappropriate place to another. The frustration and feelings of shame that go with it can be overwhelming, and our working life can suffer due to the stalling that often accompanies our inability to find important information.
This CareerTrack training program addresses organizing and getting rid of clutter in both the business and home environments. It is full of helpful acronyms and each section includes a "dirty dozen" quick tips.
T-R-A-S-H
Section one of How to Organize Your Life & Get Rid of Clutter deals with the paper that clutters up our lives. Paper is, in my case, enemy number one! If only everything came as digital files I could be perfectly organized! But we're still a paper-using society, so learning how to deal effectively with paper to prevent clutter is important for me. To that end, Ab introduces the "TRASH" system.
T - Throw It Away
R - Refer it - if someone else needs it, refer it to them
A - Act on it - if something is required, do it
S - Store It (where you'll want to find it - not where you want to put it)
H - Halt it (stop junk mail, get off mailing lists, etc.)
To handle the paper that makes its way into your home or office, Ab recommends a tickler system, a very specific tickler system. In his system, you'll need 45 file folders; one for each day of the month, one for each month of the year, one for next year, and one for things you simply don't know what to do with.
Four Boxes and a List
Part two deals with organizing the home and office, using a system he calls "Four boxes and a list." One box is for things that need to be discarded; the next box is for things that belong somewhere else; the next box is for things that can be given away or donated to charity; the final box is for things that must be kept, although he advises caution in keeping things that really are not needed. The list is to note anything you realize needs to be done while you are working, so that you don't get distracted.
U-G-H
Part three talks about time management, which Ab Jackson calls "self management." He speaks of the importance of using a planner, but one that is not so complicated or complex that using it takes away from the time you have to do the work that must be done. He introduces the "UGH" system to describe planners/time management system requirements.
U - it must be usable
G - it must be garbage free
H - it must be handy (which also means portable)
Five Year Look-back
For goal setting, Ab recommends looking five years into the future and getting a picture of where you'll be - personally, professionally, financially. Next identify the obstacles you're likely to encounter, then decide on the techniques you'll use to overcome those obstacles.
I'll give the tapes back to Tracy once she's settled in her new home. Then again, maybe while she's packing would be a better time!
If You're Like Me, You Need This Tape!
Clutter has made aspects of my life frustrating, annoying, and ineffective. I'm great at work (those wonderful digital files help) but at home it's been a different story. Now armed with the wonderful information from this tape, I'm ready to change that. I'm ready to organize my life and get rid of clutter. You can be, too!
Recommended:
Yes
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KateTPZ
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Member: Kate
Location: North Carolina
Reviews written: 126
Trusted by: 80 members
About Me:
40-something Mom of two great kids and aspiring author in my "spare" time.
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