Organizing from the Right Side of the Brain: A Creative Approach to Getting Organized

by Lee Silber

Book Overview

Almost all the organizing books on the market today target the "left-brainer" - people who are generally disciplined, neat, and analytical. But for those who are more creative and spontaneous rather... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312318162
• ISBN13: 9780312318161
• Release Date: October 2004
• Publisher: St. Martins Press-3PL
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Best Organizing Book For Creative Types

This is a fantastic book and interesting read. You will not want to put this down. Finally someone who understands the creative mind and does not try to put a square peg into a round hole. Thank you Lee for being such a positive, upbeat, motivational author and writing real suggestions that are easy to implement in our lives! I liked this book so much I bought 3 of his other books: Time Management, Money Management and Self Promotion. This book is well worth reading and I began implementing organizational suggestions from the book into my life and it has made a huge difference! This is a fast read with creative organizational suggestions you can begin utilizing the day you start reading the book. I have read many organizational books and this is the only one I'd recommend highly!

Great book for those looking for a different perspective

I'll admit it. I've read practically every title on being more organized and all of them are now sitting on a bookshelf where they'll rest forever without a single idea being implemented. They just didn't make sense to me. So, of course, I was skeptical when I read a review about this book in one of the many monthly creativity e-newsletters I receive each month. But being the bookhound that I am, I decided to give it a read. And I'm glad I did. Lee Silber has packed this book full of useful tips and tricks for us right-brained folks. He understands that for us, organizing has been about as much as fun as a trip to the dentist. He offers sound advice on piling (no, it's not a dirty word) and filing. He understands our propensity for procrastination and, instead of chiding us for it, offers help to make organizing and staying on top of our responsibilities fun. I'm now in an organizing zone, where I handle each piece of correspondence for my small business in a manner that's natural for me but that gets done. A very liberating feeling indeed to know that I can be myself and still be organized. If you're a creative-type and want to be more organized in all aspects of your life, this is THE book for you.

The Right Book for Right-Brainers

When I learned I am OK being a pile maker, I was stunned, pleased and relieved. I have been told by friends and kin alike that I am very organized in what I produce, but a look at my workspace fails to create that impression. Now, I can live on in bliss knowing that my piles are OK as a means to an end. Do I miss paying bills? I never do. Do I have a spreadsheet or any kind of document to aid me in this process? I do not. I pile the statement stubs by date (due first stuff atop the pile) and look at it daily. When I see a due date within three days for online payments or seven days for mail-in payments, I act. When I receive statements I pile them in chronological order and flip the pile once or twice a month to actually file them. This keeps piles at a low level and helps me to know where to find something when i file it. I also keep track of orders pending, shipments undelivered, etc. Once I receive an order I verify it then file the order away. If I've sent something, I keep tracking the parcel or envelope until its delivery, then I file away the shipping receipt. This is the tip of the iceberg as to jow I've benefitted from this awesome book, but I hope you get the idea that there are many more tips for organizing well. I will give a copy of this book to other right-brainers I know (for what I paid to prove value) and tell them all the best benefit is in following the steps once can improve self esteem. I have truely benefitted in that area most of all, but I am now stress-free organizationally. Jim W, Castro Valley, CA

It's who you are, only better

This book is filled with useful tools to help all sorts of creative types get their mess under control. But I find a deeper message, and though I am not sure the author intended this, it is there. If you are a creative, right-brained thinking individual, this book will encourage you to ask the question, "How do others see me?" If you are disorganized, have a cluttered environment with stuff falling out of variuos piles from all sorts of directions, then people do not see you as creative and imaginative, they see you as someone who can't make it through a normal day. This book encourages those of us who live in the right of the brain to take a look at how others see us and to make sure the image we want to present; positive, creative, and full of ideas, is the one we indeed communicate to the outside world.

Exceptional Resource

I've read a LOT of advice on organizing, but none of it quite fit what *I* needed. Until now! Lee Silber's past books were helpful and great, but this one completes the cycle! First off, what a relief to know it is ok to PILE THINGS UP. I feel completely freed from the previous linear models of organization that have fretted me for years. Within 24 hours of reading Lee's book I was motivated to start the process of redoing my office (slowly and in stages so as not to get frustrated and quit). I have already made major headway in my filing system and feel about 100 times better about myself and my work. I still have a long way to go, but I know this book will help me get to a place where I can really change my organizational patterns, negative patterns that have held me back in my creative work. I juggle a lot of things...teaching as an adjunct, writing, grad school, projects....and I already know that this system will save me tons of time spent looking for things or trying to upkeep systems of organization that dont really work for ME. This is a MUST READ for anyone who has trouble with organizing!