The New York Times bestselling author, Oprah's favorite organizing expert, and America's number one problem solver presents a revolutionary book. It will help readers achieve the seemingly impossible: boost value and job security without sacrificing personal life. Morgenstern teaches innovative "grab and go" solutions that can be processed in as few as fifteen minutes to dramatically improve performance and efficiency, including: Beware of multitasking. Scattering your efforts makes for a longer day; Dance near the revenue line. Making or saving money is where your greatest value lies; Crunch your container. Shorten your workday by thirty minutes and you will get more done; Trust your truth. Never undervalue your unique self, skills, and point of view.

Julie Morgenstern, founder and owner of Task Masters, is the author of the New York Times bestseller Organizing from the Inside Out and Time Management from the Inside Out. Her column, "Getting Organized," appears monthly in O, The Oprah Magazine. A speaker, media expert, and corporate spokesperson, she lives in New York City.

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction Welcome to the New World of Work	1	(6)
Self-Assessment Is It You...or Is It Them?	7	(12)
Competency One Embrace Your Work/Life Balance	19	(26)
Competency Two Develop an Entrepreneurial Mindset	45	(26)
Competency Three Choose the Most Important Tasks	71	(24)
Competency Four Create the Time to Get Things Done	95	(20)
Competency Five Control the Nibblers	115	(26)
Competency Six Organize at the Speed of Change	141	(26)
Competency Seven Master Delegation	167	(24)
Competency Eight Work Well with Others	191	(24)
Competency Nine Leverage Your Value	215	(26)
Index	241

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Introduction

Welcome to the New World of Work

Rita

Rita is hearty and tenacious, with a powerful presence and an air of resolve. A brilliant strategic thinker with years of experience and an eye for details, she takes tremendous pride in her work. Upon starting her job as vice president of strategic marketing at a premier ad agency, she was exuberant. Her fresh perspective helped her make a visible contribution right away: within six months of her coming on board, the agency broke into a whole new market, landed four huge accounts, and created major buzz in the industry. By the end of her first year, the company had won two prestigious awards and was beginning to attract the brightest designers and salespeople in the business.

Rita loved her job and was great at it. Her coworkers and boss appreciated her efforts, and Rita felt confident and in control. Her daily activities provided an outlet to showcase her talents -- and getting the work done left her with feelings of satisfaction, fulfillment, and accomplishment. In a phrase:Work was working. Sounds great, doesn't it?

At some point, she can't remember when, Rita began to drown. Her to-do list got longer and longer, as did her days. Her family would call, sometimes at ten at night, to find her still toiling at her desk. Rita was snared in all breeds of daily details and drudgery -- solving tedious production problems and assembling complicated advertising reports. Meetings devoured her day. Sorting through her in-box required a Herculean effort. Her office became a Hoover Dam -- piles of work so literally congested her space that what went in might never come out.

No matter how long or how hard Rita worked, she could never get to the bottom of her mile-long to-do list. Rita felt sidetracked by work that didn't draw on her talents and strengths. By the time she called me in for help, her confidence had waned, her performance had plummeted, her brain was fried. Overwhelmed and pulled in a million directions at once, she asked, what more could she possibly do? In the hustle and bustle of the modern-day workplace, she felt stuck, unproductive, and hopeless. Frustrated and discouraged, Rita quietly wondered, "Is it me, or is it them?"

I am in the business of untangling messes. When a client calls me in to help sort out his work life, his head is usually swimming; he feels wound in a big knot. Like Rita, he feels a sense of responsibility but is unsure where he leaves off and where his company or coworkers come in. When work isn't working, the perplexing and commanding puzzle we are all faced with is,Is it me or is it them?Who, or what, is causing the meltdown? We wonder whether we're the ones who've somehow changed and are slipping, or if the work itself really has become impossible. Is there something we can do to correct the situation, or is it truly beyond our control?

It's not easy to succeed, much less thrive, in today's world of work. That's everyone's challenge. Change and speed are the orders of the day. The workplace is leaner, more competitive, and less secure. You may feel lucky just to have a job, let alone have time for a personal life. Workloads inflate to absurd proportions, a situation that is neither rewarding nor enjoyable nor puts you in your best light. It's easy to be gradually pulled into tasks that don't match your job description, make use of your particular expertise, or coincide with your goals. You long for the days when you could spend quality time with your family, get to the gym, feel relaxed during your time off. Like Rita, you may feel downtrodden and burned out. Work has become anything but fulfilling.

When WorkIsWorking

No matter what the industry or economic climate, there is a universal definition of when workisworking.

Happiness at work involves liking what you're doing and being good at it -- feeling appreciated, in control, successful, and in balance. When you get your work done, or at least conquer your most important tasks, you finish your day with a victorious sense of accomplishment. When you leave the office on time, and not three hours into your family's evening, or after breaking plans to go out with friends, you feel in control.

Does that seem like an impossibility?

It's not.

There are new skills and techniques needed to excel in the new world of work, and this book is dedicated to teaching them to you. My goal is to help you learn these techniques from the inside out -- so that they become a part of you and the way you approach your work.

The Nine Competencies

During my fifteen years as a professional organizer, I've helped clients take control of their work lives in every industry and environment imaginable: publishing, law, government agencies, manufacturing, newsrooms, sports teams, and hospitals. I've consulted with executives and their assistants, salespeople and their managers, professors, librarians, graphic designers, and financial planners.

What I've found through my work with clients, and through careful observation of people on the job, is that the ability to thrive in the new world of work encompasses a very consistent set of skills. Together, mastering these "competencies" offer the key to surviving --and thriving-- in the new work environment:

These skills will enable you to achieve the seemingly impossible -- to boost your value and increase your job security, whilestillhaving time to have a personal life.

Recognizing the importance of these aptitudes, understanding their implications, and mastering the strategies behind each one will help you to excel in the tough new world of work, whether it's "you" or "them."

In unstable times, these competencies will ensure that you are, at the very least, the last man (or woman) standing. In flush times, they will help you seek, capture, and retain the perfect opportunity.

Competency 1 Embrace Your Work/Life Balance

Competency 2 Develop an Entrepreneurial Mindset

Competency 3 Choose the Most Important Tasks

Competency 4 Create the Time to Get Things Done

Competency 5 Control the Nibblers

Competency 6 Organize at the Speed of Change

Competency 7 Master Delegation

Competency 8 Work Well with Others

Competency 9 Leverage Your Value

The skills seem straightforward, but can be hard to implement. There are many obstacles -- some are internal (you) and some are external (them). But whether the problem is you or them, you'll come to learn that the solution always lies within you.

At its core, this book is about your relationship to your work, combining psychology and practical techniques to help you take control, accomplish more, and be happy. People at every stage of their career can benefit from every one of the competencies, not just a few. It's a book that can be read, learned from, and then referred back to every time you get thrown off balance. This is a book that should be carried with you for the rest of your working life -- no matter what position, industry, or circumstance you find yourself in.

How to Use This Book

Self-Assessment

This brief quiz and diagnostic tool is essential reading for everyone. In less than thirty minutes, you'll get a benchmark score for measuring your progress as you work your way through the book. In addition, you'll begin to diagnose the obstacles to your performance (Is ityou, or is itthem?), zero in on problem areas, and identify which chapters in the book you may want to start with, or focus on.

Competencies

Each competency is a world unto itself -- meant to be studied, mulled over, and plucked from. Each time you read a chapter, you are likely to find something new and practical, and in many cases life-changing. Mastering the competencies is an inside-out process. Small changes in your thinking or behavior can drastically alter the timbre of any situation. The adoption of even one technique, within any one competency, will make a huge impact on your work life.

The order of the competencies mirrors the individual consulting services I provide, starting on the inside, at the most basic, personal level, and moving on to more complex issues of working relationships and the job itself. Organizing yourself is always the starting point, because by boosting your own productivity and abilities first, you gain the confidence and leverage to tackle more difficult issues.

You can choose to march through the competencies in the order I've presented them, or skip around, zeroing in on what you need at any given moment. But once you have read a competency, give yourself ample time to sit with, practice, and integrate the lessons.

Real-life Anecdotes

Rita is the first of several characters we're going to follow as they wind their way through the sticky wicket of the modern workplace. Each character represents a client I've worked with (although the details have been fictionalized to spare their identities), and illustrates the real challenges we've faced and triumphed over together. As you read each competency, think about which characters you identify with and how their breakthroughs may inspire you.

Yes, But...Boxes

Scattered throughout the book are classic obstacles to implementing the skills -- individual situations, or ways of thinking, that will make it difficult for you to take action. I've included the most common points of resistance, and a diagnosis of whether the barrier is internal (it'syou) or external (it'sthem). Practical solutions are provided to overcoming the hurdles in both cases.

Sidebars to Managers

Though the focus of this book is on what the individual can do to improve his own work situation, many of the techniques can be adopted to become departmental policies and practices. Managers are in a position to change systems. Scattered throughout the book are sidebars with ideas on how to convert these individual principles into departmental or company-wide policies to help your entire staff work more efficiently.

Unraveling the Knots

When I began working with Rita, she was tied in such a tight knot that it was all I could do to loosen the strings a little in our first consultation. She felt as if she was in an impossible, desperate situation -- stuck with no recourse but to grin and bear it. As Rita and I worked to rescue her from the deluge and identify the true source of the problem, we discovered (as is common) that the answer was a little bit of both -- it was her,andit was them. Over the two years she'd been at her job, Rita's industry had changed. Advertising dollars had shrunk, clients demanded more with no guarantees of loyalty, and vendors were dropping like flies. Rita's old work habits, which had served her well in the past, were no longer quite as effective or relevant. By applying the nine competencies presented in this book (with her kicking and screaming at points along the way), she broke patterns that had been with her for years -- and entered the new world of work with an upgraded skill set that made her feel productive. Work became meaningful again.

Working from the inside out with the reliable, methodical process taught in this book will help you feel less trapped and more in charge -- you'll able to make a bad situation better, restore a formerly good situation to balance, or confidently search for a job that's a better fit for who you are. No matter what, if you read and follow even a third of the advice in this book, you will boost your clarity, confidence, and performance, and find a way to make work work.

That is my promise to you.

Excerpted from Never Check E-mail in the Morning: And Other Unexpected Strategies for Making Your Work Life Work by Julie Morgenstern
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.