I think it is really sad, but I believe one of my competitive advantages is being organized. It seems like organization is out-of-style. People are on their cell phones, texting, tweeting, and multitasking with no real purpose, they are distracted and unorganized.
Teaching, at whatever level, is a profession which requires a high level of organization, in my opinion. The best classes I've taken -- and I've taken my fair share -- have been those where the class has been well-organized. The topic of the class hasn't even mattered that much. One of my best classes was Business Analytics (i.e. Statistics) because the instructor was organized. He laid out everything at the beginning and I knew what to expect. This allowed me to organize my school work to complete everything well and timely.
The worst classes I've taken in my current MBA program were those in which the instructors were unorganized. I'm finishing up one right now and it is driving me absolutely insane. These instructors changed the syllabus several times and didn't do what they said they were going to do. I've even had high hopes because the class topic was very interesting to me - but it was ruined by a poorly organized instructor.
Deadlines and appointment times seem like merely suggestions to a lot of people. To me, a deadline is a deadline; I either meet or exceed it. People complain about being soooo busy -- almost like that is their excuse for being unorganized -- but I'm busy, too. Just because I make better choices about how I spend my time and organize my time better doesn't mean I'm not busy. In my business, I take jobs I can complete and I don't over-extend myself. I organize my time so I can complete projects to the best of my ability, on time, and on budget. In my view, these should be givens, but with what I witness, they are sadly becoming things I offer that many others don't.
Happy Holidays! And here's to an organized 2014!
-The Wordsy Woman
Showing posts with label organization. Show all posts
Showing posts with label organization. Show all posts
Friday, December 20, 2013
Saturday, September 14, 2013
TO DO TODAY: WRITE BLOG POST
According to a personality/character trait test of which I cannot recall the name, I'm an Achiever. One of the qualities of this trait is the affinity for to-do lists. This description is totally accurate.
Most people keep to-do lists to help them avoid forgetting something they need to do. I do that, but I also use them for another reason. I've been making to-do lists since I was in high school and needed to convince myself I actually did have things going on in my life. (The school-mandated planner process wasn't around yet.)
It's true, I enjoy crossing items off my long to-do lists and feel a little frustrated when I have to transfer things I didn't get around to doing to future days or weeks. But I also need them to remind me that I do, in fact, have goals and things I'm working to complete. If I don't, and I'm faced with a blank to-do list, I end up staring at the wall, unable to think of a single thing I need to do. And then, yes, I end up doing NOTHING.
A lot of my projects are big, so I need to break them down into smaller step-by-step pieces. This is not a new concept. I then take it a step further by writing down all of these small pieces, whittled down as tiny as I can get them, on my to-do list on my calendar. I do this because if I start to think about the whole project and all of the options available to me, I get overwhelmed. And then I get stuck.
When I get stuck, I get nothing done and then when something comes up I HAVE to get done, I erroneously think I have much less time than I actually do. Because if I focus and work and move forward on my projects, I actually get a hell of a lot accomplished. The trick is in having the right amount of items on my to-do list. Too many that I can't complete and I feel overwhelmed about that, which makes me anxious. Too few that I have everything crossed out by Wednesday and I end up staring at that wall wasting time.
When you work for yourself, sometimes you're the worst employee you could imagine having. So you need to trick yourself. To-do lists help me do that.
May your to-do lists be full and crossed-out!
-The Wordsy Woman
It's true, I enjoy crossing items off my long to-do lists and feel a little frustrated when I have to transfer things I didn't get around to doing to future days or weeks. But I also need them to remind me that I do, in fact, have goals and things I'm working to complete. If I don't, and I'm faced with a blank to-do list, I end up staring at the wall, unable to think of a single thing I need to do. And then, yes, I end up doing NOTHING.
A lot of my projects are big, so I need to break them down into smaller step-by-step pieces. This is not a new concept. I then take it a step further by writing down all of these small pieces, whittled down as tiny as I can get them, on my to-do list on my calendar. I do this because if I start to think about the whole project and all of the options available to me, I get overwhelmed. And then I get stuck.
When I get stuck, I get nothing done and then when something comes up I HAVE to get done, I erroneously think I have much less time than I actually do. Because if I focus and work and move forward on my projects, I actually get a hell of a lot accomplished. The trick is in having the right amount of items on my to-do list. Too many that I can't complete and I feel overwhelmed about that, which makes me anxious. Too few that I have everything crossed out by Wednesday and I end up staring at that wall wasting time.
When you work for yourself, sometimes you're the worst employee you could imagine having. So you need to trick yourself. To-do lists help me do that.
May your to-do lists be full and crossed-out!
-The Wordsy Woman
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