The 60 Second Organizer: Sixty Solid Techniques for Beating Chaos at Work

by Jeff Davidson

Book Overview

"Jeff Davidson approaches organizing as an exercise in control, efficiency, and peace of mind. Jeff can tell it like it is, because he is like he tells it." --Warren Farrell, Ph.D., author of Why Men... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1598698443
• ISBN13: 9781598698442
• Release Date: June 2008
• Publisher: Adams Media Corporation
• Length: 165 Pages
• Weight: 2.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.4" x 7.2"

Customer Reviews

Solid ideas to get your life straightened around...

In the never-ending quest to be more personally productive and organized, I got the chance to read 60-second Organizer: Sixty Solid Techniques for Beating Chaos at Home and at Work by Jeff Davidson. For those who aren't ready to commit to a "system" of organization, this is a perfect place to start getting things done... Contents: Part 1 - Embracing Powerful Perspectives: Relax - Organizing Is Not So Bad; Learn Your ABCs; Capture Your Best Thoughts; Determine "Who Created That?"; Make Profound Choices; Live and Actually Learn; "Work Smarter" for Real; Heed Pareto and His Principle; Forget about the "Right Mood"; Reward Thyself Part 2 - Enveloping Provocative Practices: Forsake Excuses for Not Becoming Organized; Defeat Perfectionism; Start Simply; Organize According to Your Milestones; Handle Tough Things First; Immerse Yourself for 60 Seconds; Ask Yourself "Will It Be Any Easier Later?"; Organize Based On Your Priorities; Stake Your Claim Part 3 - Listing and Charting Your Way: Recognize Fallibilities; Mark Your Calendar; Separate Long-Term and Short-Term Tasks; Develop a Clarifying Checklist; Map It Out; Chart Your Path; Plot Your Way; Add Subtasks to Your Chart; Organize with Flow Charts; Track Your Progress Part 4 - Reclaiming Your Places and Spaces: Start from Scratch; Conquer Your Desk; Make Your Shelves Work for You; Win the Paper Chase; Face Files with Smiles; Establish Rotating Tickler Files; Pile It High; Pare Down and Win; Reduce Junk Mail; Read with Aplomb Part 5 - Organize Travel, Meetings, and Online Activities: Manage Your E-mail; Organize Online Research; Create More Organized Meeting, Really!; Maintain Effective Meetings, the Whole Way!; Meet to Achieve Results; Organize for the Road; Handle Commuting and Travel Contingencies; Be Productive on Public Transportation; Fly Friendlier Skies; Book Your Flight Right Part 6 - Making Your Home Your Castle: Destroy Enemy Outposts; Pick a Regular Day and Time; Approach Spaces Strategically; Adopt a Replacement Policy; Improvise When Storage Space Is Limited; Organize Your Gift Shopping; Organize Your Purchases and Related Paperwork; File Taxes on Time and Without Grief; Hire an Organizing Professional; Divide, Literally, and Conquer Summary; Bibliography; About the Author It seems to be all the rage to follow an organizing system these days, a system that presents a complete package of how to get and stay organized. But realistically, it takes a lot of effort to overcome that inertia, and often the system ends up gathering dust on a shelf. Davidson's book is great in that it gives you a number of tips to get organized, and it's not an "all or nothing" thing. You can start in any area that is a problem in your life, such as your workspace or your storage/junk piles. The 10 tips in that particular area of the book are quick to read, easy to understand, and you can quickly try out the recommendation. For instance, if your filing system is broken (or nonexistent), Part 4 of the book g

Sixty Solid Ideas to Drive Chaos from Your Life

This book fell upon my desk at an advantageous time. If I been busier, it may have gotten lost in the clutter. Instead, I read it. In fact, I was inspired. Jeff Davidson did me a huge favor writing it. Easy to read; hard to forget; easy to implement, his 60 ideas for eliminating clutter and chaos from your life provided me with a motivational jumpstart to re-organizing my office. I have read many books on organization. Davidson's included several ideas that were new to me. Several, I had never considered or even contemplated. The book is worth every penny you will pay for it. But beware, if you are like me, you will find yourself at your local home improvement store spending many multiples more than its cover price on book shelves and other organizational tools.

Reorganizing My Mind

Sometimes, when I am trying to concentrate on a project, out of the corner of my eye, I notice something on my desk related to another project. I start dwelling on this other task and I get distracted from my work. As Jeff Davidson will explain, it is not the other task that creates the delay, but the meandering and lack of focus that steers me away. Lack of organization costs me time and mental energy. Reading the 60 Second Organizer reorganized my mind in preparation for cleaning up my desk. The time I spent reading Jeff's advice prepared my mind for reorganizing in the same way that stretching prepares my body for tennis. This is the way Jeff approaches organizing - as an exercise in control, efficiency, and peace of mind. When you read the 60 Second Organizer, you'll learn how each of the 60 tips -- one for each second in the minute -- can help you restore order to any area of your life whether, it be your desk, car, or kitchen table. If one tip can't get you moving, you can easily and quickly flip to one that will. In seconds, you'll pick up a nugget or two and find yourself on the path to reclaiming your life.

A Word from the Author

Becoming and staying organized takes effort and thought, but it saves time and offers peace of mind. The not-so-great paradox is that you expend time to save time. If it's helpful, think of getting organized as preparation "to respond to life." Considering the sea of material goods, constant information, and endless communications that bombards everyone daily, remaining organized is a growing problem for you, and you are probably retaining too many items--you have over collected and over-filed. No one is born with organizing skills and everybody has to learn them along the way. When you attempt to get organized, however, do you quit after a while, believing it's hopeless? The key to getting and remaining organized is recognizing it's value and then making the effort. How organized are you? If you answer "yes" to any of the following, well, The 60 Second Organizer if for you! * Do you spend five minutes or more looking for a letter or document? 45 to 75 seconds is all it needs to take. More than that and you're wasting everyone's time. * Are week-old papers on your desk? A desk is not a filing cabinet (Tip #32). * Do you have trouble finding a particular item in your desk that you use frequently? Maybe it's best left on your desk. * Do you feel that you could be organized if you only had more space? More space is seldom the answer; filing or chucking the nonessential is the answer. (Tip #31). * Do you have piles of newspapers and magazines you haven't gotten around to reading? If you're thinking of reading these issues cover to cover, good luck. * Did you ever find something at the bottom of a pile that you didn't know was there? You're liable to lose anything! Break up your piles now (Tip #35). If none of the above quiz questions applied to you, congratulations! Still, I believe you'll find great benefit in reading this book.

Quick answers

I like this book more than some others that I've read on the topic of organization because it's short, it's not loaded up with a lot of text, and you can get answers in a hurry. I have trouble all the time with things stacking up and then all of them becoming more of a burden than they had been individually. This books shows you how to break up piles and break through logjams of all kinds of stuff you have to do. I think this would make a good gift book as well.