a path of open dictionaries on the ground displaying essential vocabulary

In my last post, I reviewed some essential vocabulary, definitions, and concepts for professional organizers. Now let’s get clear about the rest of the terms and abbreviations you will encounter most often. Here’s a glossary to help you decipher some of the words, acronyms, and ideas that pop up for professional organizers.

BOGO: “buy one, get one,” or a two-for-one offer. These can sometimes encourage a client to over-buy something they need or want.

GWP: “gift with purchase,” a marketing practice of giving something desirable (say, a makeup bag) with a purchase (for example, makeup). Some clients find these offers irresistible. They end up with an excess of things they don’t have space for or can’t use.

CPO®: Certified Professional Organizer, someone who has completed the requirements set forth by the Board of Certification for Professional Organizers. They must gain the required number of hours of experience, pass a written test, and meet annual requirements for continuing education.

CPO-CD®: Certified Professional Organizer in Chronic Disorganization, someone who has completed the Level III or higher requirements set forth by the Institute for Challenging Disorganization. The requirements include extensive training and a mentorship program.

Efficiency: the ability to do something without avoidable waste. For professional organizers, this usually refers to helping clients do something without wasting time or energy.

Ergonomics: the study of how the human body interacts with its tools to minimize stresses such as back strain or carpal tunnel syndrome. Organizers pay attention to ergonomics to help clients use their tools (desk chairs, computer monitors, and storage spaces, for example) more easily and safely.

GTD: an organizing and productivity methodology based on the book Getting Things Done by David Allen. GTD stresses keeping one’s mind clear by getting all tasks and responsibilities on paper, then prioritizing them for maximum productivity.

Hacks: an informal term meaning to find a shortcut or an easier way of doing something. Here at Metropolitan Organizing, we’re all about managing modern life with style and ease. We love hacks! (For new organizers, I have developed a set of New Organizers’ Essentials, business forms and checklists that provide lots of shortcuts to building your successful business. It’s affordable. It’s comprehensive. Consider it a great hack for starting your business with professionalism and ease.)

ICD: Institute for Challenging Disorganization, an education and research organization that oversees the awarding of the CPO-CD® designation. ICD is also an excellent source of information and training for organizers who want to serve clients with specific organizational challenges, including chronic disorganization and hoarding disorder.

Kinesthetic Sympathy: the state of having an attachment to an object when it is in hand that one does not have when it is out of sight. Organizers will see this when a client suddenly “loves” something they are holding that they didn’t remember they owned a moment ago. Often they will have an inability to let go of something once they have touched it.

Minimalism: A lifestyle that helps people question what adds value to their lives. It is usually focused on the practice of keeping possessions to a minimum. Minimalism may be connected to living with less to live a life of simplicity. Its focus is on gaining freedom from worry or obligation. Not all minimalists look the same. Minimalism for a single person may look very different for a person with several children, for example.

Pareto Principle: Named for Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who first observed its action, it is sometimes called the “80/20 Principle.” It expresses the idea that 80 percent of our results come from 20 percent of our efforts.

Pomodoro Technique: A productivity practice to help improve productivity, especially useful for computer-based tasks. Francesco Cirillo created the Pomodoro Technique and named it after the tomato-shaped kitchen timer. (Pomodoro is the Italian word for tomato.) It provides a method of pacing out 25-minute work sessions with five-minute breaks.

Perfectionism: In informal use, perfectionism is a belief that a person or thing can and should be perfect. In psychology, perfectionism refers to a personality trait characterized by striving for perfection. When it leads to unrealistic expectations or demands for performance, perfectionism can make it difficult to start or finish projects, leading to procrastination.

Prioritizing: Determining the order for dealing with a series of tasks by making decisions about which tasks are more important. Prioritizing answers the question, “what should come first?” Good prioritizing leads to doing the most important things first.

Procrastination: The act of delaying or postponing something that should receive immediate attention. Procrastination is one of the common causes of lateness, but it is not the only one.

Productivity: Using inputs in a way that maximizes the value of the output. In organizing, productivity means using time and energy to accomplish the most valuable tasks first.

Project Management: According to the Project Management Institute, project management refers to applying knowledge, skill, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements. Projects are temporary endeavors that create a new product, service, or result. So washing dishes and hanging up clothes are not projects; they are presumably done every day. But packing and unpacking for a move is a project, and project management skills can help it go smoothly, on time, and within budget. For professional organizers, some often-seen projects include helping clients move homes or offices and cleaning out and reorganizing a space such as a garage or closet.

Time Management: Traditionally, productivity was looked at as time management, or doing the most work in the time available. The focus in time management is on the limited nature of time.

Task Management: Task management takes a slightly different approach. It looks at ways to complete the maximum number of high-value tasks by considering where you perform a task (on the computer vs. in the hardware store). It emphasizes breaking projects down into component tasks, making tasks small and easy to execute, and so on.

Energy Management: Recently, some writing on productivity has focused on energy management. This method counsels readers to recognize that energy is limited. They should focus on doing the most important things early and make the best use of various times of the day. One example of this approach is the book The Power of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz. Most organizers use all these approaches to help clients accomplish the most important things and achieve optimum productivity.

Two-Minute Rule: This is a principle of good productivity. The rule states that if you can complete a task in two minutes or less, do it immediately rather than writing it on a task list. David Allen’s book Getting Things Done described this rule.

Vital Documents: There are a few documents that generally travel with someone throughout their life because they are key for establishing a person’s identity and protecting their assets. We refer to these as vital records or vital documents. (Vital here means necessary to your life.) They include birth, marriage, adoption, divorce and death records; Social Security cards; education transcripts; military records; and immigration and naturalization records. You would almost never discard these types of documents. There are several other documents in the vital record category. These include passports, titles and deeds to real property, wills, trusts, powers of attorney, insurance policies, and so forth. Keep copies of vital documents in more than one location in case of emergency.

Zoning: One basic principle of organizing is to store like with like. Another is to keep items near where you will use them. Zoning is the practice of creating zones for different types of items, ideally in one place near the point of use. So in the kitchen, store all baking supplies together in one cupboard designated as the “baking zone.” Store serving dishes in the “entertaining zone.”

In the garage, keep lawn care tools together and car repair supplies in another area. Keep make-up in one place near a well-lighted mirror in a bathroom or dressing room. In the office, keep things used daily on the desk or in close-by drawers and store seldom-used documents (think of past years’ tax returns)  further away. The zones an organizer creates will be unique to each client. Once created, zones may change over time as the client’s hobbies, age, work patterns, and activities change.

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Terms of the Trade: The Essential Glossary for Organizing + Productivity Consultants

Over 300 terms, abbreviations, and acronyms used in the organizing industry.



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