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Organizing from the Inside Out

This book is one of those books that has given me a language to talk about ideas I've had all along. Julie Morgenstern is a good writer and she has good systems for organizing. Basically, you want to make sure that "everything has a home," which is something of a mantra with me in the past year or so.

She tells the story of her epiphany when she became an organized person. Basically, I think I had the same experience--you realize that the only way to get what you want is to be more organized, i.e. you have to spend less time administering crap. I'm into organization because I am continually seeking a simplified lifestyle. Cutting the fat helps me do that.

Julie's steps can also be applied to organizations. (As witnessed by the fact that she is quite successful in business and entrepreneurial circles.) For example, her "attack" strategies of sort, purge, assign a home, containerize and equalize could just as easily be used as a business tool for organizational consulting. She has other checklists that I use as metaphors for other problems I encounter.

Basically, organization is a skill that applies to everything, and this book has been useful for me as I've come to learn that.

By Julie Morgenstern
ISBN # 0805056491

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