Best Results Organizing

This was my view of the mountains and the labyrinth on my last day at Red Mountain Resort near St. George, Utah, where I spent my vacation last week.

“Adventure” resorts aren’t really Paper Doll‘s thing. I am not much for hiking, and “out” is not one of my favorite doors.

However, taking the better part of a week away in a completely different environment was eye-opening. I challenged myself — multiple exercise classes each day, getting up early, eating *vegetables* — and I also gave myself space — away from my computer, my client work, my committee projects, and the frustrating news stories of the day.

I’d been running on empty for a while, rushing to get things done, and get them done well and quickly. I needed to put a project away. But productivity isn’t just about getting things done quickly, just as organizing isn’t just about putting things away. The goals are to do the right things efficiently, and store only the things that are needed, and only where their accessibility is made easy. But that can take inspiration, motivation and clarity, elements we all occasionally (and sorely) lack.

I didn’t quite know it at first, but I needed a break. That might seem like a strange thing to say in my first post back after taking the summer off, but I spent the months finishing my upcoming book, 57 Secrets for Organizing Your Small Business, which the publisher informed me this morning was in the copy-editing stage and soon to be moving on to the layout stage. There were days this summer when I felt permanently welded to my desk chair. I’m not too proud to admit that there were floozies fluttering in my wake when I’d pace to try to find the right words. And poor Paper Mommy heard a lot of “I’d love to talk but I’ve got to finish this chapter…” By the time I turned in the manuscript earlier this month, my posture was wrecked and my brain was mush. (Apparently, even professional organizers fail to take their own advice sometimes.) I needed a break.

Taking a break can be scary for many of us. What if everyone realizes they’re getting along fine without you? What if you can’t get back into the work groove when you return? What if…

But no matter which mental hecklers try to boo you off the stage of your life, the truth is that just as we need sleep to recuperate from the day, we need vacations, weekends off and free time in each day to recharge our batteries. Whether it’s working out (or snuggling in), we need time to explore new vistas and get out of our own heads. In advertising page layout, it’s called white space and in organizing our schedules, we call it buffer time. We professional organizers advise our clients to fill filing cabinets and bookshelves and closets and drawers no more than 80% full; we need space to grow.

As I relearned on my vacation, sometimes, the best way to be organized and productive is to stand still and breathe deeply. Give yourself time. Grant yourself space. I did, and now I’m ready for adventure!