The Zone Plan – The Office

There are many ways to organize a home. I have developed what I call the Zone Plan. I take my home and divide it into 10 zones. Each month except for July and December, when I take a breather, I work on organizing one of those zones. January is my office zone. During the year the office area tends to get overflowing. Conferences have been attended and the material from those conferences are stored in the office. New organizational books have been bought. Classes have been taken and the notes are filled in notebooks in my office. File drawers have gotten packed with receipts and folders from new clients. Now is the logical time to organize and clear out areas to allow for breathing space and new growth. I take the whole month to work on the office zone. I divide my office into 4 parts and tackle one part a week. As my office has 4 walls, I use this as my way of dividing up the zone. Some walls are more time consuming than others. The desk/file cabinet wall will take much longer than the wall with the bench. I look at what else is going on during the week and put the larger task walls on the lighter weeks. I also try to attack the larger tasks early on in the month so that if I need to let some of that task bleed into the next week, it will still work. I always start with my vision. How do I want my office to look and feel. I spend a lot of time here so I want my atmosphere to be light and welcoming. I want it set up so that paper flows and does not get stagnated on my desk or floor. I tweak my plan from last year, noting what worked and what did not work. The bin idea from last year for projects works well. A couple of shelves in my cabinet need their function reevaluated. I brainstorm what I want to do and then jump in. As I work, I also clean and update my inventory. I have a new computer this year so that will need to be updated on my records. By the end of the month, I will call whatever has been accomplished, “Good enough” and move on to the next zone. I always celebrate by buying fresh flowers for the office desk.

Jonda S. Beattie Professional Organizer