Robin has been traveling a little for business lately.  On one of these trips, I needed to find something in his office, affectionately known at the man cave.  I hadn't been in there in a while, as evidenced by the inch of dust. (One of the many things about being blind is that things like dust don't bother you because you can't see it.) There were also piles and piles of stuff everywhere.  Trying find what I was looking for might be more of a challenge than I thought.

I started on the desk (figuring that the most recent stuff was probably there).  I found a couple of bills--wondering if he paid those.  Some reminders about appointments--do I have those on my schedule?  Some coupons--now expired--dang, I could have used those.  Finally, success!  I took what I was looking for and left.

Robin came home. 

"Who's been in my office?" he says.

"I have."

"You moved my stuff, now I won't be able to find anything" he says.

"I didn't move anything" I say "I just had to get something.  If found it and left.  How would you know anyway, you have so much junk in there."

"I know exactly where everything is" he says. "It is my pile file system."

Believe it or not, at one point in my life I went to a community college to become a medical secretary.  We actually took an entire class on filing and I guarantee you that the "pile file" method was not taught.  As you might suspect, I'm pretty picky about papers and filing.  Having a bunch of loose papers just hanging around drives me crazy (which is why I don't go into Robin's office much).  This is also why any papers that have to be kept any length of time, he gives to me.

What is the point of all this?  One of the greatest excuses not to call people, not to be on a conference call, not to read a book you should be reading, or any number of other things you could be doing to work your busines is because you are getting things organized.  You are filing away things, entering phone numbers (instead of calling them), etc.  At the end of the day your desk looks great, but what did you accomplish?  Robin's "pile file" method may be messy and you may think important things get lost, but you can't argue with his success.

Don't get me wrong, organization has its place.  Having things so out of control that you can't find anything, including the contact information for an important prospect, or that you miss appointments is also an issue.  But you definitely need to ask the question of what is a better use of your time?  What activities are going to get you to your goals?  What is your time worth to you?  Is it time to hiring someone to take care of this kind of thing for you because your time is so much more valuable?  As you progress in your business, the answers to these questions may change--so don't forget to step back once in a while and reassess. 

Of course, if you have a spouse that is obsessed with organization, you may not have to worry about--just set them loose and let them do their thing!

Thanks for reading!