GETTING ORGANIZED

... and Getting Stuff Done

by Joelle Steele

When I think back to how disorganized I once was, it makes me cringe. I can't even imagine living that way ever again. I used to say that I was a disorganized mess because I was a "free spirit." But I have since learned that there is nothing "free" about being disorganized. In fact, it's just the opposite. Doing things randomly is no asset when it comes to living your life and getting things done. Being organized has helped me to make long-range plans, achieve my goals, get things done, and save time and effort along the way.

As a child, I was always neat and somewhat organized, at least to the best of my ability as a kid and a teenager. Then came my mid-20s, and disorganization wasn't working for me at all. I was extremely busy working 9-5 as a creative director for a book publisher, and working after hours and on weekends as a co-owner and producer of a recording studio. And I was a freelance writer and photographer. And I was an artist. I didn't keep a calendar. I relied on my memory to get me through each day, each week (… wasn't I supposed to be somewhere today? … isn't Jan's birthday this month? … what was that idea I had the other day? …). My brain was very, very busy. Overly busy.

In those days I was getting over a relationship that had ended tragically, so I went to see a therapist. I told her about the relationship, but I ended up mainly talking about what a hard time I was having remembering what I needed to do and holding up my responsibilities at my two jobs, my freelance writing assignments, and my painting. She suggesting that I was "clouding," which is when you have a reduced awareness of your world and have difficulty concentrating as your mind struggles to keep track of too many things and ends up forgetting them. Today, it's called "brain fog." She suggested I start by getting a calendar.

No one in my family ever kept a calendar. My mother would keep things in her head, and she would also remind my father of things he had to do in his business by writing it on a scratch pad and then attaching the note to a long strip of tape which she hung in the doorway to the back porch that led to his car in the driveway. That was not going to work for me. I got a calendar. It was the big-size Week-At-A-Glance, and I crammed it full of everything I needed to do, adding more and more stuff every year. I became totally dependant on that calendar. I tried using a computerized calendar, but it didn't work for me at all. I eventually downsized to a slightly smaller one as I fine-tuned my business, and I still rely on my calendar for everything..

When I started the first of six small businesses in 1983, I wanted to be organized. In fact, I had no choice but to be organized. My first "office" was a desk I built into a small nook in my tiny studio apartment. It was organized within an inch of its life. It was in this little office that I got my first computer and printer. Having a computer was the best thing that ever happened to me. In addition to learning how to use all the various software programs, I also learned right away how to organize my files, because as a writer I generate an enormous number of files – more than 58,000 as of 2024. You can't create that many files and remember where they are if you don't put them in some kind of logical order.

So how do you organize that many files? It's actually quite easy. First, you create your own folder in the root directory. Don't store files in any folders that are created by Windows or any other software. They are vulnerable to hacking. For the past 20 years I've had a partitioned hard drive, so all my programs are on the C: drive and everything I create is on the partition. I also make a file folder called TEMP which is where I put everything that I download or that I'm working on but not finished with yet.

You can't keep everything in one folder, so you have to start with the biggest common denominators and work your way down. For example, I created a file structure that looks like this:
IMAGES
Photos-Family
Photos-Friends
Photos-Travel
Photos-Houses
Photos-Nature
PUBLISHING
Articles
Advice Columns
Blogs
Books
Research

I have even more folders (and many have subfolders) than above, but that's just to give you an idea of how important organizing your computer can be. I once worked a part-time job at a law office where I couldn't find a thing on their computers. Total chaos. I asked for half a day to organize the computer and they were kind of surprised, but I got all those files put away in easy to find locations by anyone who needed them.

But back to my office. Unfortunately – or maybe it was fortunately since my business was growing – I had to move from my tiny studio apartment to a slightly bigger studio apartment in the same building about four years later. My office was now in the small dining area where I also built in a desk and lots of shelves. That was my office for almost ten years, and I learned how important it was to be organized at that time because I was running several small businesses and I needed a lot of space for two computers (a PC and a Mac) and all my files and works in progress. I eventually moved my art table and supplies to a space behind the sofa in my living area to provide some more space in the office.

I left that office behind in 1997 and lived in three houses after that. I had sold most of my businesses before I moved into the first house where my office was a large L-shaped desk in my bedroom. In the second house, I had the second bedroom for my office and I had two L-shaped desks side by side and put my four big file cabinets in the closet. I built shelves that lined the walls of my office up to the ceiling. I had additional electrical outlets installed to accommodate two computers, a fax machine, a photocopy machine, two scanners, and three printers. This was the most carefully organized and efficient office I had ever had. I loved it. I never lost anything. I had plenty of room to work and was happy working in that space.

But I wanted to move to another state to be near my family. My first big decision was that I didn't want to drag so much stuff around with me. So, before I moved to the house I've been in for fifteen years, I went paperless. This has been the best thing I ever did for myself in the way of organization. I did it gradually by emptying my four big file cabinets in increments of 12" stacks of files that I went through in front of the TV every night. I sorted things that I definitely did not need into the trash, and made two piles: scan and type. It was quick and easy. The next morning I would scan the stuff from the night before and store it on my computer. Then I would type up the other things into my computer's research files where I could find them easily.

My office is in the dining room of my house, and I have two bigger L-shaped desks and two four-drawer storage cabinets on casters where I keep everything I need. And, I have a third bedroom that is now my art room, complete with an eight-foot-long work table and one wall full of cabinets that hold canvases, paper, frames, etc.
I love being organized, and I have organized everything in my house so that I can find it NOW. This has helped me think differently about things. Do I need it? Do I use it? Should I donate it? Can I make it work better or differently? People aren't born organized. It's a skill that can be learned like anything else. You just have to see the advantages of doing it and then start doing it.