Organize your time
By BETH VRABEL
for Smart
Ever feel like Lucille Ball in the “I Love Lucy” episode where she’s in the candy factory? You know, the one where the candy comes spitting down the conveyor belt so fast that Ball is just stuffing them everywhere — the boxes, her pockets, even her mouth. If that’s how your days go, you might have missed Julie Morgenstern when she visited two York County libraries in April.
The nationally renowned organization consultant — she was even on “Oprah” — is the author of “Never Check Your E-mail in the Morning.” She was at the library to talk about how to “make work, work.”
In today’s new work reality, we’re all trying to keep up with a hyper-speed pace, increased workload and more pressure with “I Love Lucy”-esqe results, Morgenstern said.
The consultant has been around the world, visiting corporations to identify ways to increase efficiency.
Major corporations aren’t the only ones who need help with organization and motivation, as evidenced by the packed crowd at York’s Martin Library. Attendees talked about how procrastination, overly chatty co-workers, lack of focus and constant interruptions keep their inboxes overflowing and their to-do lists growing.
Morgenstern shared nine tips she said exemplify people who are surviving and thriving in today’s workplace (see Page 33 for details). Some of them, like decreasing the amount of time at work and increasing the amount at play, seem counterintuitive. But even small changes could result in dramatic results, she said.
So we thought we’d see if Morgenstern was on target. About two weeks later and again about two months after the seminar, we checked in with three women facing different organizational challenges to see if the program Morgenstern outlined at Martin Library worked for them.
The self-employed artist
One of Spring Garden Township resident Judy Orcutt’s favorite quotes is “One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making new discoveries,” by A. A. Milne.
In fact, the artist has turned the quote into one of her calligraphy pieces for her business, Quilligraphy Productions.
“She may not like that one, but I kind of do!” Orcutt said of Morgenstern.
Working from home means that Orcutt deals with constant interruptions. Some are from clients. Others are from inspiration that might hit in the middle of one task that leads to another. Which
leads to another.
Morgenstern sent ripples through the audience at the library when she said the only advantage to working from home is a short commute. To be successful, those who work from home still need an office mindset and clear boundaries. Have work hours. Don’t stay in pajamas.
Make the work space separate from home space, she said.
“Just because you’re working from home doesn’t mean you can stop and do the laundry,” Morgenstern said.
After listening to Morgenstern, Orcutt tries to bunch her chores into segments and stick to finishing one before tackling the other. This means she’s got a piece of paper in hand at all times so that if the muses speak, she can write down the idea and move on.
But the retired pharmacist also admits that she is and forever will be a multitasker. “Heck, I’m down doing framing in my basement, why shouldn’t I be doing laundry at the same time?” she said.
“I took umbrage with some of the things she said. You’ve got to be practical. I think you have to lay out your day the best you can.”
About two months after the seminar, Orcutt said she’s still organizing related tasks, but her routine hasn’t changed that much.
“I wish I could tell you it did,” she said. “I don’t check my e-mail in the morning anymore, but that’s about it.”
The stay-at-home mom
Like most stay-at-home moms, Sherry Pena of York spends precious little time at home.
“You try to do too many things but end up not doing anything,” she said.
Pena home schools her three kids, ages 11, 9 and 7, and is active in her church and around the community. She also works part time at Hair Razors, the York hair salon she and her husband, Jesus Pena, co-own.
“It’s hard,” she said. “You need to keep up with so much stuff with the children, my husband, my work.”
Although most of the lecture seemed to focus on working outside of the home, just taking the time to sit down and think about prioritizing her time helped, Pena said. Among the best pointers she got from Morgenstern was to prioritize the day’s tasks and tackle the most important first.
For Pena, the priority was clear: home schooling the kids. “We’re raising better human beings who can hopefully better other people,” she said. “If you’re going to do it, do the best you can do.”
Two weeks after the speech, she was more likely to lay aside the things that can wait to focus on her children’s lessons, which before summer break they would tackle for about four hours right after breakfast.
During the summer, Pena said, things eased up a bit, but she expected Morgenstern’s tips would come in handy as soon as the school year started again.
.
“I think we all should be more aware of how we’re wasting our time.I think our families should come first,” Pena said. “There’s God, our families and then work.”
The office worker
As secretary and treasurer of F.W. Behler Inc., a York-based heating and plumbing business of which her husband, Dave, is president, Lois Yates said her organizational skills need help.
“Let me put it this way, I struggle every day,” Yates said before the lecture. Yates’ biggest hurdle is dealing with the paper. Each morning, she has a fax of messages to deal with. Add to it that the Yateses are involved in a lot of organizations: her husband is president of York Central Market, and Yates works with York Little Theatre.
“Everyone’s got a newsletter, everyone’s got a flier, everyone’s got a file,” she said.
About two weeks after the lecture, Yates was reading her way through Morgenstern’s book and adopting her techniques. “Here’s what I find,” she said. “Personally, I’m not as bad off.”
In fact, two months later, Yates said she hasn’t quite finished the book. “She did such a good job at her seminar, I’m continuing to read her book but I haven’t really been learning anything new,” Yates said.
A lot of Morgenstern’s tips are already part of Yates’ routine. Every morning, Yates deals with the most important task first off, which is the worksheets from the day before. The nature of business, however, means dealing with the unexpected. “Every phone call means you have to take action,” she said.
Right now, Yates has been focusing on leaving work on time.
Morgenstern said sticking to leaving on time will guarantee that everything — perhaps even more — will still get finished. Is that true for Yates? “I’m not sure about that,” she admits.
About Julie MorgensternJulie Morgenstern is a time-management expert, speaker and author.
What she does: Morgenstern and her staff have brought her philosophy to corporations around the world, including American Express, Microsoft, GlaxoSmithKline, The Miami Heat, Viacom/MTV and many others.
Where you’ve seen her: Morgenstern has been on “Oprah,” “The Today Show,” “Good Morning America” and National Public Radio.
Where you’ve read her: She has been featured in The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, Woman’s Day, Fitness Magazine, Cosmopolitan, Bottom Line Business. She is also a columnist for O.
What she’s written: “Organizing from the Inside Out,” “Time Management from the Inside Out,” “Making Work, Work” and “Never Check Email in the Morning.” She co-wrote “Organizing from the Inside Out for Teens” with her daughter Jessi.
Morgenstern’s tipsTrying just one or two of these tips will dramatically increase the efficiency and motivation of your work, Julie Morgenstern says.
Here’s a quick rundown.
• Embrace a work-life balance. Executives at the top have gotten there because they know how to spend their time off, Morgenstern said. If you’re sleep deprived, things take longer to do than they used to, you don’t have the energy at nights and on weekends for fun, you’ve gotten out of shape, and you have a short fuse, then you need to, well, have more fun. Morgenstern said workers should plan their weekends to include activities that improve health (like sleeping or exercising), offer escapes (things that result in instant happiness, maybe gardening or shopping), and include people. “This comes before the laundry,” Morgenstern said. “This comes before bill paying.” Having something to look forward to after work makes being at work much more efficient, she said.
• Develop an entrepreneurial mindset. What sets you apart and makes you valuable to your employer are the creativity, opportunities and ownership that only you provide your position. “You’re in a service-based industry, and your service is you,” she said. Morgenstern told audience members to think about why they are choosing to go to work each day. Develop your vision and picture success at your career.
• Choose the most important tasks. Sure, responding to e-mail and other daily work tasks are easy to check off your to-do list, but they also can keep you from finishing a looming project. Work on the most challenging, most important task first, and you’ll have a sense of accomplishment all day. Morgenstern recommends spending the first hour of work on legato issues, such as writing, designing, reports and strategy. “I’ve never seen this fail,” she said. Your e-mail can wait an hour.
• Create the time to get things done. Look at your schedule and identify times that you can focus. Even if you have to physically put up a sign that asks co-workers to hold off on interruptions, do it. Build in time for interruptions, if necessary. “Every time you send
off an e-mail instantly to someone, think about the (larger) message you are sending,” she said. Unless that person signs your paycheck, you may not want to give them that much power over your time.• Control the nibblers. These are the things like chatty co-workers, endless meetings, and daily chores that eat away at your productivity. To control it, Morgenstern said workers should “crunch their container,” or shorten each workday by 30 minutes. “I guarantee
that you will get as much or more done,” she said. This is because workers become more efficient and eliminate superfluous tasks when they know they’re on a deadline to get out of the office.• Organize at the speed of change. If your current system isn’t working, be willing to change it.
•Master delegation at work and at home. Empower others to find solutions to problems.
• Work well with others. Beware, this doesn’t mean being nice and saying yes, Morgenstern warns. It means being accessible, being reliable and being clear.
• Leverage your value. Get feedback from your boss about where you stand. Also get back from him or her what you need to maintain motivation.
Writer’s notebookThe best part of being a freelance writer is getting paid to go to events that offer insight into your own life. And I could use a little insight into organization.
But I have to admit, Julie Morgenstern’s lecture had me squirming in my seat. What does she mean that multitasking doesn’t work? If multitasking doesn’t work, I’m in serious trouble! Serious trouble.
After all, I started writing this article in the car on the way back from the National Zoo (don’t worry, I wasn’t driving). I’ve typed a quarter of it with one hand. The other has been propping a bottle in my baby’s mouth. I did have to stop twice, once to read my 4-year-old a bedtime story and another to put laundry in the dryer.
I’ve tried to hold true to Morgenstern’s advice and delegate certain times for work and others for family. But my contacts for articles just don’t seem to understand that they need to answer because it’s my “work” time. And my children, well, let’s just say that Ben, being 6 months old, has his own agenda. And Emma never fails to be struck with quick-onset starvation or an insatiable need to sing right when someone calls me back to comment on a story.
So Morgenstern’s advice doesn’t really apply to my freelancing work. It has, however, helped me focus on my priorities. My legato work, after all, is showing those two children that they are important, loved and worthwhile. Too often the staccato tasks — the laundry, the cleaning, the errands — interrupt my time with them. So I don’t mind squeezing in writing an article while they sleep in the backseat of the car or in between drying cycles. When they wake, my attention is
going to be on them.— Beth Vrabel
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