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Organization
Leads To Success
If one wants to achieve success, it is necessary
to plan and to be organized. This is true no
matter what you are hoping to do. There are
basic questions and steps that need to be taken as
you embark on a new endeavour and from time to
time as you are on the pathway towards success.
Often we take on new challenges without a clear
plan of action in place, just a lot of excitement
about this “new idea.” We just start and
trust everything will fall into place.
Unfortunately, it can be another kind of falling
into place - you falling into failure and
discouragement! Organization leads to
success! This article will focus on
bringing success to something you have already
been doing. However, the questions you ask
yourself are also important when launching a new
project or dream as you organize for success.
1. Assess what you have been using and doing
to fulfil your goals. Is it working?
If not, is it the resources you are using, or is
it you? Perhaps you have been just too busy
with a new baby or family crises and your
dreams have been on hold for a while. Or, it
might be that you have had no clearly defined goal
or goals.
2. An important step in the principle of
“organization leads to success,” is to take the
time to lay out your goals and objectives for the
short term (a few weeks or months), in the medium
range (perhaps a year), and in the distant
future. I recommend writing these goals down
so you can have a defined target and as a tool to
measure your progress.
3. Keep it simple. It is so easy to
end up with boxes, filing cabinet drawers, and a
full computer hard-drive of “stuff” you never
use. Choose resources that will aid you in
achieving your goals. For getting started or
adding something new ask:
a) do really I need it?
b) do I have time to use it?
c) does it fit my style and
personality?
d) will it help me reach a
goal?
Don’t ask, “can I afford it,” because if God leads
you to use something, somehow you will come up
with the money for it. What appears
expensive is often cheaper in the long run.
Much of what I use is actually very inexpensive
and plainly packaged but wow – it’s dynamite for
ease of use and quality of results! Look at
the contents, not just the packaging. Also,
beware of emotional marketing hype. Do some
research and determine if the success being
promised is actually being realized by someone
else and not just the seller who might be lining
his/her pockets on your desperation!!
4. Add only one new resource at a
time. This allows you the time to
learn how to use the resource you have purchased.
5. Make use of filing cabinets and portable
plastic file boxes for each project. Keep
the files clearly labelled. Portable file
boxes are excellent to keep items at your finger
tips and to save you much time. For
instance, for years I have done church
bookkeeping. The binder and file folders I
use were in a drawer in our dining room, the
weekly counting sheets, cheque and deposit books
were in cloth bag stored under a table, the
calculator was on my desk upstairs, the pens,
pencils and erasers were scattered, and finding
the stapler was always a challenge! My desk
is too small for doing the bookkeeping because I
need room to spread everything out, so I usually
work at the kitchen table. Gathering
everything together was enough to lead to major
cases of procrastination and, ultimately, failure
to have the bills paid on time or the monthly
reports ready for the board meetings! Although I
have portable filing boxes for other projects, it
had escaped my mind to create one specifically for
bookkeeping. I remembered, “organization
leads to success” and decided to take the time to
get organized for success with bookkeeping.
Now, after 34+ years of church bookkeeping (I am a
slow learner at times!) I have a portable
filing box on wheels that I can roll anywhere I
want to work. The cloth liner of the box has
many pockets and compartments, and, a file folder
section. It is now equipped with absolutely
everything I need and those items are not shared
with the office or any other activity. These
are “for bookkeeping only” purposes. Wow,
what a time and sanity saver!
6. Whether your project will require a full
office, the kitchen table as a work surface, or
just everything in a portable file box used at a
TV tray, being organized is essential! Stake out
your working station and make it yours!
7. Follow the rule of “a place for
everything and everything in its place.”
ALWAYS put everything back into their right
place so you can find them the next time.
8. When I used to write out and attempt to
follow a rigid schedule, I was always defeated by
the end of the first month (week!). Life
always happened differently than planned and the
plan book was a scratched out mess!!!
Flexibility allows me to have clearly defined
goals with flexible dates where practical.
On a wall in our upstairs hall we have numerous
charts listing in minute detail in point form
every step we need to do in order to complete
specific projects. We sometimes put target
completion dates in pencil beside the individual
points and the name of the project. Pencil
is easier to erase when “life happens!” Some
steps will have the name of the person who will
complete the step. As we complete a
step, we cross it off as a visible reminder of
progress. This process helps to keep
nightmares at bay so that you do not spend
sleepless nights trying to sort out what needs to
be done next.
9. Flexibility is important. However,
do not use flexibility as license for
procrastination. The best ideas and plans
will be lost if you fail to include time in your
schedule to accomplish them.
10. YOU CANNOT DO EVERYTHING OR GO
EVERYWHERE! Determine what is important to
you and your family, then prioritize your tools,
resources, time investments, and activities to
accomplish your goals.
Organization leads to success and is always an
ongoing process. So ready or not, head into
or continue on with current endeavours with a
sense of excitement and anticipation of what you
will accomplish with God’s help.
By: ©February 2008, Maxine McLellan, author,
motivational speaker, owner of JOY Center of
Learning in Ontario, Canada . See: http://www.joycenter.on.ca
http://www.hereforhealth.com
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