Here’s another shocking paradigm. I share in my seminars that after you have organized your office or home, it will only take you one minute of every hour to maintain the order. That’s right, spend only one minute every hour maintaining that order and you will never be disorganized again. People seem to think that getting organized takes a monumental amount of time, but that staying organized takes even more time. This is not true. Maintaining your organization is really quite easy once your paradigm has been shifted. Remember to allot one minute per hour for the upkeep, and you will be organized forever.

Maintaining is sharpening your axe, which reminds me of a story. There was this woodsman who was hired to cut down trees. He was paid by the tree. So early Monday morning, energized and excited, he cut down 20 trees. The next day, raring to go, he cut down another 20 trees. On Wednesday, he once again rose early and began the process, but this day he cut down only 10 trees. On Thursday, he cut down five trees, and on Friday, it looked like he was going to cut down five. What was his problem?

Most people in my seminars don’t get the right answer. They suggest that all the trees are gone, that the other trees are in his way, or that he has lost energy, he is tired, or whatever. Rarely do they guess the real reason: His axe is dull. To return to cutting down 20 trees, he must take the time to sharpen his axe. But to sharpen his axe, he must stop his producing and maintain good equipment. The problem is, he says, that he doesn’t have time, so he continues to work with a dull axe and continues to cut down only five trees a day.

Organizing is investing the time on the front end to reap the time on the back end. Whatever time you spend organizing and maintaining that order, you will get all of that time back!