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by Jackie Damrau, President
In last month's Fireside Chat, I talked about motivation and provided you with Nido Qubein's ten motivators. This month, I want to talk about organization, both personal and professional.
Let's start on the personal side of organization. Those who know me well know that I live, breathe, and value organization. Others live with chaos, can't find anything, and have little, if any, organization in their lives. For me, personal organization requires knowing where I'm going to be, what I need to get accomplished, and striving to get it done. I even have to organize my driving because I live out in the country where the nearest major store is 10 miles away. My planning, therefore, takes me in a circular pattern across the Metroplex so I can make the best use of my time.
Professional organization requires filing our documents (electronically or paper-based), knowing when to attend meetings (Palm Pilot, Outlook/GroupWise, or paper calendar), and posting project schedules. Electronic tools are great for those who can use them. To date, I have yet to convince myself that a Palm Pilot is better than my paper calendar and written notes. For me, the paper calendar is big enough that I can't lose it. I can refer back to it quickly when asked what I've done, and I use it as a daily timekeeper for the projects I've worked on and how long I've spent. Daily timekeeping is important in my current job so we can bill customers for time spent on their projects. Contractors, do you have the same requirement? If so, how do you keep yourself organized?
With the holidays nearing, we all need to bring some organization into our personal and professional lives. Personally, we should be planning our holiday gift shopping for family, friends, and co-workers. We need to keep our schedules updated with the many social events, both near and far, that we will be attending. And, for those who are planning the ultimate holiday family feast on that special day of celebration, you also will need organization to keep on schedule. Professionally, organization becomes a little more intense for those companies and employees who have year-end closings to attend to, in addition to the holiday office luncheon or other related events.
Regardless of how you keep yourself organized, try not to forget your professional organization. During the holiday season, we will be setting up efforts to collect gifts for the less fortunate, to raise funds for our own Community coffers (both Scholarship and General Fund), and to have a merry celebration at our Annual Holiday Fest on December 9th.
So, mark your calendars (or whatever organizational tool you use) and attend your holiday events.