Jerri Udelson, professionaI organizer, took hard look at my desk and asked, "Do you have attention deficit disorder?"
Maybe. It’s possible. Actually; though, I think I just have disorder disorder, which is why I asked Udelson, a member of the Nation Association of Professional Organizers, for help: This is, after all, National Get Organized Week, sponsored by NAPO.
Udelson said that some clients she's worked with have ADD. I could understand why she'd ask if I might have it too. My desk is a mess, full of papers, books, magazines, and all sorts of miscellaneous trash piled randomly in heaps.
I am afraid to throw out anything because there might be a column in it, somewhere. And yes, I do really need — I’m just grabbing something from one of these piles — this article from the August issue of Vogue delineating the finer points of differences between the Urban Punk look (Blade Runner revisited) and the Glam Punk look ("Edgy refinement")? And if I did need it, would I be able to find it . again without having to spend 20 minutes sorting through aJI this other trash?
Udelson sent along a press release Suggesting ways to observe Get Organized Week, including a day-by-day list ot suggested activities for simplifying your life. Monday: “Take everything off the top of your desk. Only put back items that you’ve actually used within the last week.”
It was a daunting prospect. I preferred her suggestion for Thursday: “Eat cereal for dinner. Watch Seinfeld.” That I could handle.
Udelson, who lives in Belmont (Massachusetts), agreed to come to the (Boston) Globe to give me some hands-on help. She charges $85 per hour for individuals and $125 for corporations. Shes not the sort of organizer who does wardropes and closets. Most of her professional organizing takes place in business situations, large and small. For example, recently she devised a new central filing system for a major insurance company. She also helps individuals structure at-home offices and small businesses, and hand-holds people through projects such as writing books or grant proposals.
You want to process things continually, she said, tackling one of the piles on my desk. “When you’re through with something, get rid of it.”
I told her about my fear of tossing out potential column ideas. She said she understood. But do you really need two copies of this? she asked, holding up one of a pair of Its Only a Game a book I wrote a column about two weeks ago.
We pressed on.
Out went a clip from the Palm Beach Post, Ten Things That Drive Martha Stewart Crazy (no. 1: dirty windows), a months-old invitation to observe a cosmetic surgeon demonstate anew laser techniques on tomatoes, a sheaf of information about how to achieve firmer thighs, several back issues of the National Inquirer, a column from the East Hampton Star that asked, among other things, who are the scariest newcomers that we wish would go? a) Donald Trump b) the Wilnig brothers c) the new strain of Lyme Disease.
I realized with a pang that now I might never know why the Wilnig brothers, whoever they are, are so scary. I told Udelson that I was finding it difficult, almost painful to decide what to throw away. She suggested a way to make the decision-making easier. First ask yourself, what the What is the worst thing that would happen if I threw this out? Then ask yourself If I throw it out and then find I need it, could I get the information from someplace else?
She advised setting up desktop hot files for storing current column ideas, with everything else stored elsewhere. Stuff accumulates to fill available space, Udelson said. I tell my clients the more stuff you have on your desk, the more stuff you have impinging on your consciousness.
A person in my line of work might want more stuff impinging on her consciouness than most people do, she said, but I needed to set limits. She suggested six or seven desktop files in various categories. Remember that filing systems should be designed for retrival, not sorage, she said. I tell client they should organize their files in ways that are useful to them, not to me, or anybody else.
She advised establishing files in broad categoreies. Cats. Martha Steward. And youll need a big miscellaneous, she said. Remember you should file the way you think.
That may be easier said than done, but it’s a start.