J. Paul Getty:  “The individual who wants to reach the top…must appreciate the force of habit and must understand that practices are what create habits.  He must be quick to break those habits that can break him and hasten to adopt those practices that will become the habit, that help him achieve the success he desires.”

One of the excuses I often hear from people is, “I tried to get organized once, but it didn’t work.”  In this scenario there could be two factors to consider:

1. Did you really “get organized”?  In other words, did you actually create new systems or did you just clean up?  There is a difference.  Developing systems and processes means that when new items come in you know what to do with them.  If you just cleaned up, you tossed out stuff.  However when new items came in, they did not have a home and the same unorganized situation developed again, requiring another faux organizing session.
2. If you did get organized by implementing new systems, did you keep up your efforts to develop these processes over time?  We are naturally resistant to change.  It can take three to four weeks to get into the habit of using these systems. 

I am often asked about how effective time management training is.  Do people really keep up?  This is especially targeted to individuals with whom I have worked directly in setting up office processes for managing their paper, email, and space.  There is no easy answer.  It comes down to how committed an individual is in wanting to become more productive.

A person could have the perfect filing system for them, yet the papers do not just jump in.  For daily work flow, a decision has to be made on each item and then placed accordingly.  This does not take much time, but it does require the development of a habit.

Yes, time management training does work.  (See the previous post regarding sleep and training for how to get more out of your learning.)  Both audiences and individuals leave with a sense of control and feeling of relief that there really is hope.  Then it becomes a journey.  It is about making progress day by day.