Start with Organization to overcome chaos

How can you start with organization?

Organization is something many people struggle with in their lives. Chaos tends to take over as we push on to the next project. The popularity of self-help books indicates that this is a primary problem for many people.

What is my goal to get organized, keep my life in balance, and make myself accountable?

  1. Make lists wisely and then follow it. If I do this, client projects will get done, mail will be processed, and bills will be paid. I will stay on top of my financials and household projects.
  2. Kindergarten rules like put away what you take out are simple. However, many adults struggle to follow this rule. Create a place for things to go. Assuming you already have storage space, putting things away will help you stay organized. When you work on a project and then file it in any easy to retrieve place or label your computer files in a way that lets you find things, then you make progress in this area.

More tools for organization:

  1. Jason Alba’s JibberJobber is a great career management tool for job seekers and for lifelong career management.
  2. Flylady has been a help to disorganized people everywhere. Marla Cilley with her many associates motivated and led people to solutions for household cleaning, dinner planning, exercise, and overall organization. I used many of her tools through the years and still find that her “You can do anything for 15 minutes” coaching coupled using her timer gets me moving through projects I procrastinate.
  3. Whatever you decide, I think you will find that if you Start with Organization, it will help you move forward!

How to start with organization in a job search

Identify your goals. This is key to every form of organization. Define what kind of job is ideal for you. This means clarifying the job title, industry, and target area.

For example: an accountant can work in many different areas: accounts receivable, accounts payable, payroll, public accounting, tax accounting, and corporate accounting. Deep within an organization, you may be specialized to work in just one area or you may find yourself with a broad scope of functions in a smaller organization. An accounting manager may work cross-functionally to automate and improve processes. In today’s world, being a cross-functional team leadership is a widely sought out skill. You may interface with Treasury, Accounts Payable, IT, Billing, Credit, and Accounting Groups.

After you identify your target, organize your approach. Your resume should reflect not only the skills needed to do the job but what your contributions did to help the company succeed. This can take deep thinking to find accomplishments rather than job functions. You may not even see your contributions as being out of the ordinary.

As you write your resume with this new renewed focus on organization, you will create a more dynamic document than the resumes you studied in college or high school.

 

2 Comments

  1. Melissa Cooley on December 31, 2010 at 3:06 pm

    Organization is something that takes continual effort for me! I find that a to-do list is not enough; I need to actually schedule that I am going to do something from this time to that time to have a greater chance of it being completed.

    I need to make a point to really delve into Flylady. I’ve looked at the site in the past, and there are lots of great suggestions there.

    My favorite organizer is a free electronic scheduler on cozi.com. It works well for me and my family because each person gets a specific color and it’s easy to see if something I want to plan would conflict with the needs of another member of the family. Plus, with Windows 7, I can download a widget that sits on my desktop and allows me to see the schedule when I start up my computer.

    Here’s to being well organized!



    • Julie Walraven on January 3, 2011 at 3:58 pm

      Thanks for the comment, Melissa. I write posts on organization because I am also challenged. I think sometimes those of us who work solo are challenged the most because we try to do it all alone. I have changed much of that but not in the area of filing and organizing. I don’t know if anyone really could do that for me.

      You would enjoy Flylady and more so, your kids would love it. There should still be the Fairy that helps children get organized. It was so cute but wouldn’t have worked on my teens at the time.

      Everyone has to figure out their own organizer, the Daytimer suits a particular need for me to write things with pen and ink but if cozi.com works for you, it is good. I used Flylady’s calendar for years. I didn’t order it this year and now I have none on the wall. I will end up remedying it somehow.



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