Getting Organised

I have been known to drive my clients crazy with my language of 'systems, processes and procedures'. I am so process driven I have systems for creating systems and processes for creating processes! Some people ask me how I get the time to sit down and write or develop a process - because often the truth is that we are too busy doing whatever it is we are doing to take the time to put anything into a system. I swear by them - they simplify your life. Systems and processes have a place in our personal lives as well as in our business lives, although the business need for these are far more apparent. 'System' does not mean that you have to have a piece of machinery or a Quality Control Manual - system simply means creating structure, proper organization or a scheme, arrangement or classification for something. The first benefit of creating a system is the instantaneous time management benefits. Time management is a misnomer. We cannot manage time - time operates at the speed and rate that time operates. All we can manage is our personal effectiveness within the time we each have available to us. By creating systems in your work and business life you create structure and organization which helps everything to get accomplished more easily and effortlessly. Consider your system for paying your bills. Do you; Use your lunch hour to queue at the bank every time a bill arrives that needs paying? Jump online and pay your bills as and when they arrive? Place all your bills together in a file so that on a certain date they all get paid at the same time in one effort? Or; Have a separate bank account for bills and arrange all bills on a direct debit, depositing just enough each pay day to cover all the outgoings? We need systems for anything we do on any kind of a regular basis. How do you arrange your wardrobe? In order from business suits to casual clothes, arranged by colour so that each morning you can dive straight to the correct end of the wardrobe and colour scheme and select your outfit quickly? Shirts and T-Shirts one end, trousers and skirts the other, so you can pick the top and the bottom of your outfit? Some on the floor at the bottom of the bed, some draped over the chair, shoes wherever you kicked them off last, cleaned not yet ironed stuff in the laundry....? By now I trust you can see that the more effort and determination you put into your system the easier life becomes. How long would it take you to automate your bill payments and rearrange that wardrobe? And comparing that to how much time you stand in the bank or wait for an internet connection and circle the house looking for that 'top' or those 'trousers' how much time would you actually save. The best thing for me about systems is that you only do them once. Consider the example of 'auto responder' on emails. You type the email once and every time you receive the same type of email the same response is sent. Once systems are in place they are time saving and believe it or not - empowering!!! Here's some things you might want to consider systemizing...... How your home gets cleaned How your regular payments such as insurance and rego stay maintained How you ensure you get around to seeing all of your friends regularly How you stay fit and healthy How you show your significant other how much you value them How you keep up to date with your correspondence How you keep you spending within your budget How you fully utilize your network How you get enough 'me time' Wherever an efficient time management strategy exists - a system of some kind is behind it to support it. If I haven't yet convinced you to try systems out - if freeing up your life and your time to do more of the things you love doing is not enough to motivate you (ok you don't have to take this to the lengths that I do!)..here's the pain factor......there is a direct correlation between poor time management and stress. And you know what illnesses stress causes?