“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
- Albert Einstein
Some are gifted with an inherent ability to maintain a clean and organized workspace. Some of us are insane. Some are recovering.
Recently I read a post from TheNakedWoodturner. He was aggravated about the cleanliness of his shop. He commented “I was so frustrated trying to find a couple of tools in there [the shop] that I blew up two pieces.” It appears TheNakedWoodturner decided to take a couple days from being productive in order to clean up his shop.
Most of us have faced similar frustrations. How much time have you spent looking for that bit or chisel in the last week? In the last year, how much time have you spent looking for documents in the office, ingredients in the kitchen or fasteners in the garage?
Many of us live in denial, unable of seeing the inefficiencies we create in our own lives and in our own shops by being disorganized and letting clutter rule our lives. We are largely ignorant of how much these inefficiencies cost us. Cumulatively, how much time do we then waste fighting the fires caused by our disorganization?
- In August of 2004 Fast Company Magazine stated executives waste 6 weeks per year searching for lost documents.
- MyOrganizedLife.com states Americans waste 9,000,000 searching for misplaced items.
What would you do with another 6 weeks? You could make more bowls; you could take a vacation, attend some classes or just sit and relax. How much time do you waste because of clutter and disorganization?
TheNakedTurner has inspired me. It’s time for a “spring” cleaning and reflection on how to improve organization and efficiency. Life is just too short to spend it looking for drill bits.
