One Year to an Organized Work Life: From Your Desk to Your Deadlines, the Week-by-Week Guide to Eliminating Office Stress for Good

This is a just ok book about organizing one's office and work-related spaces and tasks.I found the content to be spotty - the strength was in the chapters about physically organizing objects. Unfortunately the author doesn't seem to have as much expertise with organizing digital content (files, emails, contacts), or with software for various purposes, thus the chapters that touch on those subjects are very weak, half-hearted attempts to include the topics. Example: regarding email she gives a few very general and obvious sorting tips (like make folders), and then just advises that the reader look for other experts to consult for specifics (I don't mean that she references specific experts - I mean she tells you to go google up you own experts!) I would have preferred that those chapters either be omitted entirely or that the author would have enlisted a co-author to help with more in-depth, worthwhile content.The chapters that provide guidelines for filing papers, what to keep in one's work bag, and how to organize and de-clutter an office were all helpful - though in those chapters she's so very, very specific about precisely what types of labels and folders to purchase that I couldn't help but wonder if certain office supply companies may have paid for those mentions. I found the general organizational strategies helpful but I didn't want to run out and buy a pile of new office supplies (that seems counter-intuitive to the goal of reducing clutter!) so I adapted her systems to what I had on hand and it worked out fine despite not having extra-capacity box-bottom folders, special long label tabs for my hanging folders, or the particular brand of vinyl folders she says I should be carrying around in my bag.Most get-organized-in-a-year books by this author and others start off the year with one or more chapters mostly about getting off to a fresh start: organizing your mind, sleep habits, keeping a journal, etc. This may work for some people but I always get impatient with that type of content because I'm ready to get to the actual organizing of "stuff". So I skimmed through January and skipped right ahead to February. If I ever write an organization book it's going to start with a big messy project - because January is when people are fired up with new energy to carry out their resolutions to get organized! All that journaling and sleeping might be more welcome to me around October.There were a lot of diversions into anecdotes about the author's life and her clients. The self-promotion of her personal organizing business did become grating, and some of the stories just seemed like space filler - not particularly instructive stories that one could use as examples to follow. I'm not sure why authors feel such a need to provide a lot of stories to assure you of their expertise when you've already bought the book. I'd rather have more organizing tips and fewer stories.At the end of the year I was somewhat better organized, and somewhat tired of this book, so I promptly de-cluttered my office by getting rid of it.

There are many things to love about this book. It is relatively short and concise, and well organized itself! Ms. Leeds is good at summarizing big ideas and getting to the heart of how to put them into action. I liked that this book focuses mainly on actions, and simple ones at that. As far as the "action orientation" goes, Ms. Leeds breaks down what you need to do into small, easily managable tasks and gives them to you a little bit at a time, which is going to be key in your ability to implement them. And I liked that this is an integrated program, meaning Ms. Leeds recognizes that there isn't some fortress between our personal lives and our professional ones, and between our minds and bodies, so she integrates them very well, without straying too much from the work domain that this book addresses. Ms. Leeds has developed a concise strategy for implementing organizing concepts for the reader to follow in a way that will make them actual life habits instead of just brain fodder. That's really what I need most in an organzing book, is for someone to develop a program that will work for me that I can follow, rather than having to take the time to think and plan it all out myself. On the other hand, it is perfectly easy to pick and choose from this book and use what works for you and discard the rest. In fact, Ms. Leeds has also integrated that kind of flexibility into the book as well, suggesting several alternative ways of doing the program. And you can pick it up at any point, you don't have to wait until January to start, and you don't have to be in a particular month of the year to use the tips for a particular week or month, they work together but also work separately. Bottom line is you get a lot of bang for your buck with this little book.

Thank you for this book. To begin a program of real reform, you have to work from the ground up, include all the boring nuts and bolts parts. Whoever complains about the importance Leeds places on a calendar, I'll send my mother to you to babysit for a week. She's a perfect example of the NON-rational human reason for Leeds's insistence on "tried and true" methods.

Regina inspired me to make some big changes in my life -- I became a vegetarian and started practicing yoga -- and I now have more energy,zest for life and confidence. My stress level is at an all-time low, even though I still have the same job, financial challenges, family circumstances, etc. Thank you, Regina, for your wisdom and compassion!

Great ideas, thank you! A good book for helping organize this part of your life.

Got this because the author really hit home with the 8 minute organizerthis takes it to a new level and breaks it down moregood plan and book arrived in waterproof packaging and in great shape

Love all of Regina's Books!! Must reads! I am a very very unorganized pack rat and so glad I found these books! I recommend checking out all of her books!

Great book!Thank you Regina for all of your help.

This book is amazing in helping people get organized! It is an easy step-by-step guide to getting your office organized.