Time Management Technique: Chunk, Block & Tackle

If you have projects and clutter that are so overwhelming you just can’t bring yourself to even start them, this time management technique is for you. Does your office or garage look like the city dump with heaping piles of both good and useless stuff everywhere? This is an example of out of control clutter. All that clutter and unnecessary stuff is cluttering your mind so you can’t function like you could if you had an organized environment to work in. Now I know some of you are saying, “but my clutter is organized and I know exactly where everything is”. Bunk! You may have a general idea in which part of the room what you’re looking for may be, but you are wasting precious time and energy digging for the things you need. Plus you have things that would really be useful to you that you aren’t using because they’re under a pile somewhere.

Stop looking at the overwhelming whole. When you think about the clearing out and organizing the entire area it’s just more than you can even begin to think about tackling. So, break it up into chunks. Even if you just focus on one box or one drawer at a time you’ll be able to mark off something as completed and feel good about it.

Don’t plan on starting and completing the job in one time span. Rather block out one to two hour increments when you’ll work on it and stick to it. Don’t let yourself go overboard either. Sometimes when you start to see you’re making real progress it can be tempting to want to just get the whole thing done. If you can do it without getting over tired so you start to cut corners go ahead. Otherwise just still with the time span you blocked out and pat yourself on the back for making significant progress. Oh, and that reminds me. When you block this time you have to make yourself work on this and absolutely nothing else no interruptions allowed. If you’re only blocking an hour or two and you let yourself starting making or taking phone calls before you know it the time is up and you’ve made little progress. That’s de-motivating so when you set this time aside don’t let anything or anyone else distract you.

You’ve picked a chunk to work on and set aside a time span now it’s time to tackle. Tackle the project with a vengeance. Remember if you can get this done you’ll have more time, less clutter, a more efficient area, and less stress. As you tackle the area keep three things in mind. Get rid of or give away anything you haven’t used in three years. Prepare proper storage spaces for the things you need to keep making sure the things you need to access often are easily accessible and the things you use less often are out of sight. Re-assign the items that don’t belong in this space, but that you need. If there just isn’t anyplace to re-assign this stuff to you may need to consider a long-term storage solution where you can easily access your items. There are great facilities available that will store your items in a clean climate controlled environment for very reasonable rates. If it isn’t worth paying to store it may be time to rethink your need to keep the stuff.

A well organized space provides the potential for increased productivity and less frustration. The area doesn’t have to be pristine or organized with color coded labeled file folders you’re just striving for increased functionality. Just think how nice it will be to actually pull your car into the garage on a snowy day or how nice it would be to not feel embarrassed to invite your customers into your office. Chunk, block and tackle your way to a more organized environment and increased time efficiency.