Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Working around my weakness

Anyone who walks into my office can see that I have a weakness. It's usally a mess of papers and books.

Sarah, my darling wife, likes an organized life. She survives my home office by deeming it as not part of the house and, therefore, not part of her responsibility to organize.

Focus is one of my strengths. I can walk into my office, totally ignore the clutter, and focus deeply and productively on a writing project.

In Evergreen Leaders workshops we teach you to go with your strengths and work around your weakenesses.

Usually I work around my weaknesses by organizing my office once or twice a year.
Recently I've tried a new tactic. I've invited Louise Stahnke, a woman at Plow Creek with a knack for organizing things, to spend an hour a week helping organize my office.

Organizing is draining work for me but an hour a week of Louise's help may be enough to work around my weakness.