Getting Organized

Rating:
Summary: Put your Life in Order
Review: When I took over the daily operation of a National Guard Armory I wasn't sure what I was getting into. The Armory had a staff of one, Me! I needed to get organized fast! The administrator whom I was replacing had his own system in place. I was fortunate, I was able to work with him before he left for his new assignment. The National Guard runs and thrives on chaos and a crisis management system. Every day there was a new crisis to cope with, mostly the making of the higher headquarters. There was always too much useless work and never enough time to get it accomplished. At least once a day I would get a phone call from higher headquarters about some useless piece of paperwork the just discovered they needed yesterday at the latest and now wanted everybody to jump through hoops! Short and long term planning were never practiced, just given lip-service. Winston's book was a great starting point. It helped me get ahead and stay ahead of the Puzzle Palace Jockeys. There is something here for everyone. If you learn just one new idea and put it to work for you, the price of the book will have been well worth it!

Rating:
Summary: This is an easy-to-follow guide to making your life easier.
Review: Whether you are an Oscar, a Felix, or something in between, there is something in this book you can use. The book itself is neatly organized into sections about managing time, money, paperwork, and your home, and is indexed so that you can locate what you need to know without reading it from cover to cover. There are step-by-step instructions for setting priorities and completing specific tasks--however, the basic organization methods outlined are very flexible, so that they can be applied to almost any untidy situation, ranging from the annoying (such as continually running out of shampoo, or not being able to find your favorite shirt) to the potentially catastrophic (you have to itemize your tax return, and you always misplace your receipts and canceled checks). Even if you have it reasonably well together, this book can be quite helpful, since Ms. Winston also offers shortcuts for onerous tasks, suggestions for living within your means, and creative storage solutions--and who has enough time, money, or closet space these days?