I’ve been waiting to write that subject line not just all year, but since the last time I was in Bali in 2002! I had the great pleasure of studying abroad in Bali for four months in 2000, and returned the following two years for a month each.

It’s not often that I see an approach to organizing that is totally novel, but it happened when I worked in LA last fall. I helped a client organize a home office that was adjacent to her master bedroom.  As I was frittering away with supplies in the office, she was slowly covering her bed and bedroom floor in at least a dozen piles of paper, each no more than a couple inches thick.

“I’ll get rid of it once I learn how to wipe it clean” is something I hear every time I encounter a laptop, phone, iPad, or any other device that’s been discarded to the bottom of a drawer or back of a closet. Thankfully, Apple just made it infinitely easier to do this by announcing their buyback program for all Apple computers and devices.

At the end of every year I compile a list of things I learned about organizing in the previous twelve months.  6 Things I Learned About Organizing in 2017 listed #5 as “Be explicit.” It was last year that I realized I had become much better at this, and that this is what the majority of my clients need from me. 

The one sentiment I hear from clients more than any other is “I should be able to do to this on my own, but for some reason I don’t.  If you weren’t here, this would never get done, and with you it’s so much more fun!”  

File this under “How did I not know this existed?” This past week a client of mine showed me where he keeps 2 very important record books for his business. The data is also recorded digitally, but since he’s been generating project numbers by hand since the early days of his company, there’s a lot of nostalgia on those pages.