Getting sorted
Our dear kuini’s birthday seemed like an ideal time to get some much needed filing done. As a self-employed administrator I keep a less than glamorous shoe box of receipts and once this fills up, the idea is to file said receipts by year, creating a symphony of order.
Said shoebox started overflowing several months ago, and by June I was considering buying some pumps to solve my admin problem. Time to deal with it? June 2nd provided the perfect opportunity.
Settling in for the task, quickly the pile became overwhelming as I realised I had receipts from 2012 merrily mixing with 2014 receipts – almost three full years’ of receipts! did I really leave things that long? Four bank accounts, scraggly, hard to read receipts, and clearly not enough work space on the coffee table led to that all too familiar feeling that I’d like to close the shoe box up again.
Feeling overwhelmed and close to defeat, I had to change my approach before what seemed like an insignificant project overtook my day and left me feeling unable to achieve anything. Out came the post-it notes and a less random system of creating piles, out came the priority list, and of course a suitable beverage and snack pile.
At the end of my day, I figured I can’t be the only person that’s hit the proverbial with an organisational project, so here’s my quick list on how to approach and live through an organisational trough.
It’s not a punishment
For many of us, mundane overwhelming tasks take us straight back to childhood punishments. Filing, tidying and labelling might excite a few people, but or most of us the novelty wears off pretty quickly, if it was ever there at all. But the practice of organising close to the event when your memory is fresh, pays massive dividends when you’re trying to work out why you did what you did three years ago. Be responsible – it’s not a punishment.
If it’s overwhelming, break it down into smaller tasks
You might not be able to do all of it today, but set a goal that gets the task underway. Whether you use post-it notes, checklists or some open source software, get your tasks in order of priority and set some reasonable goals and deadlines for completion.
Be kind to yourself
Keep a cup of coffee, a glass of wine or whatever takes your fancy close by. Try some music in the background – whether it’s upbeat or mellow. Whatever helps you get the task done. Some projects are best done in a crowded café (think thesis, blogging), some jobs need the whole kitchen table for ludicrous numbers of receipt piles that are just hanging out to blow away in the wind. Set your environment for your task, and don’t make it harder than it has to be.
It’s not a competition
Every task is a little bit different, and your pinterest admin board is only going to help so much. Don’t think of it as trying to create perfection as much as enabling the real stuff to happen. Admin serves the wider purpose, which is getting you in shape to run the rest of your life. Remember: there are two types of project in this world: perfect, and completed.