Organizing Yourself and Your Legal Nurse Consulting Business

What is organization? Most people think of a pristine, clean space with a place for everything and everything in its place. This is not necessarily a true definition. Rather, organization is being able to find what you need when you need it, easily and quickly. Several methods of organizing are commonly found in books and on websites. Let’s review the two most common:

Out of sight.

If you are this type of organizer, you work best if items are stored out of sight. You prefer filing cabinets with files neatly hidden inside, lots of drawers and other spaces to keep most items out of sight. Only what you need to work on is out and visible. The benefit of this organizing method is that you are less distracted by other items that need your attention and can focus strictly on the task at hand. Also, to outsiders, your workspace may look more ‘organized’ (tidy).

The disadvantage to this method is that something important might get tucked away in a file or folder and forgotten about. So, to effectively use this method, it is important to have some sort of tickler or reminder system in place to keep track of what is being done and what needs doing. We will discuss tickler systems in a later post.

Out in the open.

This type of organizer prefers to be able to see everything at a glance. If you organize this way, you may have files scattered about and piles of papers. What appears to others to be chaos is actually your system. For you, if something is out of sight, it is also out of mind. The strength of this system is that everything is where you can see it, so items don’t get hidden away and forgotten. Don’t forget, though, that you, too, can benefit from the tickler systems we will cover later.

A drawback of this method is that it can be highly distracting to have numerous projects vying for your attention at once. This type of setup does not pose a problem for everyone, however. And if you work better being able to see everything at a glance, you can very well make this system work for you.

However, an out in the open system does not have to be messy. If you would like to be both neat and organized, you can do so, even with a visual filing system. One of the easiest ways to do this is to have open filing cabinets. Some of these look like milk crates, but are made to hold hanging file folders. Keeping one of these on or close to your desk for current and high priority projects can help you keep on top of your assignments. For completed projects or those with a much longer deadline, consider using banker’s boxes and label them colorfully, so they catch your eye. This way, you not only have a system that keeps you organized, you also have built in storage if you later need to keep old files off-site.

The key thing to remember is that “organized” and “neat” do not always go together. Rather, it is important to find a system that works for you, allowing you to get the work done well and on time. If others perceive it as messy, that is their problem. If you feel your system needs some work, and that it could be tidier, we will discuss ways to tackle that issue soon.