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Page 1 of 2  Is clutter creating chaos in your life? Here's advice on getting through your day without stress a lot more energy.
Like everyone, Frank Gelini has stress in his life. But he never feels overwhelmed by it.
The retired insurance underwriter credits his calm to organization. He has a place for everything.
| | | Stress Advice | | Organization reduces stress. | | Keep important items near you. | | Set up a system. | | Even though we can't control our world, being organized helps us "feel" control, reducing stress. | | Organization creates clarity. | | Organize as you go. If something needs to go upsairs, take it with you when you climb the stares. | | Change Frazzled to Focused | | | |
He and his wife, Doris, work on to-do lists every morning at breakfast. He has files stored neatly in a cabinet for just about everything. He keeps the things he needs all the time close by, and the things he rarely needs in a cabinet in the garage.
"When you streamline processes and organize, there is no question you reduce stress," says Diana Brock Makes, an organization consultant based in Arizona.
Getting and staying organized not only reduces stress; it gives you the feeling of greater certainty in an uncertain world. You may not be able to control whether your business will break last year's sales record, but you can ensure that you'll be able to find that dossier on your competitor.
Staying organized encourages the good kind of stress. Studies have shown that a feeling of control is the key to whether stress is an exciting motivator that stimulates creativity and optimism, or a total energy drain that leaves you feeling helpless and pessimistic.
Organization also creates clarity. A work space cluttered with creeping rows of boxes, stacks of paper, old telephone books and spare computer parts threatens clarity and efficiency. "You get distracted by reminders of the projects you haven't completed," says Makes, whose business is called The Efficiency Experts.
Case in point: Makes recalls a bakery that did a wonderful job of baking wedding cakes but a poor job of keeping track of orders.
They were getting lost. Staff was tripping over itself. The boss was getting mad at his help but the problem wasn't their fault. They were a team that wasn't reading from the same script. They needed to get organized or else risk the reputation of their business.
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