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Paper Mountains: A book review

© Ann Kitalong

My office is a never-ending battle against paper mountains. My entire life, in fact, has become one long battle against the mounds of paper that heap themselves on top of, next to, underneath, and beyond the two desks that make up my office in the corner of our large living room.

A few months ago (well, more like last summer, if I'm going for honesty here), I finally felt my energy waning as I waged one of my daily battles. I escaped from the office and headed for the office supplies store, determined to find a way to organize my work. Along with the numerous folders, binders, and other delightful items I discovered, there, among the many business titles on the shelf, was my saving grace: a book that claimed to be, "The only organizing book you'll ever need!" The claim marched boldly across the top of the cover. Was I intrigued? You bet!

You see, I am one of the organizationally challenged. We are a small group, but we're growing in numbers, and eventually I expect that our mountains of papers will take over the world. I, quite frankly, have no talent for filing, nor for organizing the papers that I am using as I work on my clients' accounts. My cordless phone is typically buried beneath any of a number of piles of paper that is scattered over my office.

Paper is truly the bane of my existence.

So you can imagine my excitement as I scanned the title of this book--Organizing from the Inside Out (Julie Morgenstern, Henry Holt and Company, 1998). Along with the claim that had initially claimed my attention, another phrase lead me to pick up the book: "The Foolproof System for Organizing Your Home, Your Office, and Your Life." Home and office?! Foolproof?!

If the cover grabbed my attention, then my initial scan of the first two chapters held it. The book starts out by re-working the view we tend to have of organizing--emphasizing that it is a skill that can be learned, no matter how organizationally challenged one thinks one is. According to Morgenstern, "Organizing from the inside out means creating a system based on your specific personality, needs, and goals." She tells us that organizing can define who we are and that we can develop a system that reflects our personality. It's a refreshing view, to say the least, and one I was able to accept without cringing at the thought of actually sitting down and organizing. (Normally, this thought has me plucking my arm-hairs and huddling at the bottom of my closet.)

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