Lehmkuhl Dorothy - Organizing for the Creative Person: Right-Brain Styles for Conquering Clutter, Mastering Time, and Reaching Your Goals

Creative, time-tested techniques and helpful illustrations and anecdotes plus sound psychological advice. Well done!

Susan Silver, author of Organized to Be the Best!

Understanding the role brain dominance plays in learning skills, especially learning organization skills, is an important breakthrough, especially for people who are chronically disorganized.

Judith Kolberg, Director, National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization

From the personal organization box to the not-to-do list, Organizing for the Creative Person provides specific steps to dig out from the clutter for those wallowing in an avalanche of paper.

Peter Jeff, Steelcase, Inc.

Copyright 1993 by Dorothy Lehmkuhl and Dolores Cotter Lamping
Illustrations copyright 1993 by Donald R. Taylor

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Published by Three Rivers Press, New York, New York.
Member of the Crown Publishing Group.

Random House, Inc. New York, Toronto, London, Sydney, Auckland
www.randomhouse.com

THREE RIVERS PRESS is a registered trademark and the Three Rivers Press colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lehmkuhl, Dorothy.
Organizing for the creative person : right-brain styles for conquering clutter, mastering time, and reaching your goals / by Dorothy Lehmkuhl and Dolores Lamping.

1. Time management. 2. Creative ability. I. Lamping, Dolores. II. Title.
HD69.T54L44 1994
650.1dc20 93-14372

eISBN: 978-0-307-78892-4

v3.1_r2

To my mother, Gertrude Gengler, who, at age ninety-four, is still my inspiration and strength. May God bless her and provide more mothers like her.

Dorothy Lehmkuhl

To the memory of Percy Mr. Bones Danforth and my parents, Mother-Mary and God-Help-Us-Andy Cotter. May they all rest in peacethey sure deserve it!

Dolores Cotter Lamping, C.S.W.

Our heartfelt thanks:

To our agents, Barbara Lowenstein and Toni Lopopolo, who made a mission out of getting our book published.

To our editor at Crown, Peter Ginna, whose tactful suggestions helped us avoid mistakes. Working with him was a joy.

To our clients and students who have shared their struggles with us. We have at times created dialogue to make a point as clear as possible. Many vignettes are composites to preserve both confidentiality and authenticity. Although the names are fictitious, the struggles are real.

And our hats are especially off to the people who led the organizing movement back in the 1970s and early 1980speople such as Stephanie Winston, Alan Lakein, Don Aslett, Dr. Dru Scott, sisters Pam Young and Peggy Jones, Sandra Felton, and others whose original books and seminars influenced us greatly and made it easier for everyone to get organized.

We also want to acknowledge Dr. Selwyn Mills and Max Weisser, M.S.W.; Jacquelyn Wonder and Priscilla Donovan; Thomas R. Blakeslee; and others who have written books pertaining to right- and left-brain dominance. (Names of books written by these and other authors can be found in our bibliography.)

In writing this book, we were ever mindful of the need to give credit where credit was due. Many of the books we have used as sources for our work touch on the same ideas, however. We read many of these books more than ten years ago, and have integrated their ideas into our personal lives and expanded upon them in our own unique way, so it has become impossible to credit every single idea. We readily admit that a great deal of our original organizing knowledge was based on learning through those books. We acknowledge that without the work done by outstanding individuals who have preceded us, this book could never have been written. Their work formed some of the steppingstones to our expertise, and we thank them for their contributions to society in general and to our work in particular.

We also wish to acknowledge individuals who reviewed our work and gave us valuable feedback: Chris Unwin, Shirley Brackett, Susie Shurr, Dr. Charles and Kaye Roth, James J. Brown, and others whose bits and pieces aided us.

And we wish especially to thank the following:

My significant other, Malcolm Mac Danforth, who has lovingly motivated, supported, and encouraged me in this project from beginning to end.

My three sons, John, Michael, and Jim, who have learned to do their own grocery shopping, cooking, laundry, and so on, while attending college full-timeso that Mom could work on this and other projects.

My coauthor, for her faith, determination, and perseverance in spite of obstacles.

Dolores Cotter Lamping, C.S.W.

My familyBruce, David, Scott, and Greggfor their patience and understanding over the months and years it took to bring this project to fruition.

My coauthor, for her insightful contributions and attention to clarity.

Dorothy Lehmkuhl

Come into my parlor
The spider wanted to invite the fly
But he just couldnt say it
Cause his web was all awry.

People often joke about disorganization, but jokes can be a screen for genuine discomforta way of covering up feelings of embarrassment or inadequacy.

For centuries, certain people have wondered why they had such a difficult time staying organized, while equally intelligent people around them seemed to have no trouble at all. Just being told how to get organized hasnt solved these peoples problems becausealthough they may not be aware of itinner obstacles prevent their use of standard organizing techniques.

Many wonderfully talented people have been able to create anything and everythingexcept order. Despite their many exceptional abilities, they have a hard time attending to details, keeping things where they belong, finding what they need, getting to places on time, following through on projects, and so on. As well explain in the second chapter, a tendency toward brain dominance or preference makes it difficult for some of them to get organized in the conventional ways.

If someone appears, outwardly, to be untidy or disorganized, that persons unique abilities and genius may be hidden, even from himself or herself. If youre one of those people, you may feel criticism acutely, and the resulting loss of respect from others may discourage you and damage your self-esteem. You may even perceive yourself as deficient. When you lose or forget something, you may ask yourself, Whats the matter with me?

Its a vicious cycle, because this discouragement robs you of the physical and emotional energy needed to attack the job of dealing with the disorder.

If you tend to be disorganized, but it doesnt bother you or the people around you, you dont need this book.

If, on the other hand, disorder presents continuing problems for you, we want to give you insights into what may be causing these difficulties and offer some tools that may be helpful.

Whether disorder is pervasive in your life or there is only one small aspect of organizing that you want to master, youll benefit from learning why you have had difficulty overcoming obstacles and how to integrate new organizing skills into your lifestyle. You will also master skills to take renewed charge of your life, feel better about yourself, and be able to relieve tensions in your relationships through mutual understanding and acceptance.