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Where does the time go? You sit down at
your desk with a cup of coffee and all
good intentions, the start of another
workday and a project to get started.
You have a pretty good idea what it will
take to get the work done.
But it doesn’t work out that way … does
it? The phone rings. You spend too much
time tapping emails on your Blackberry.
You can’t find a file you know was in
the bottom drawer of your desk just
yesterday. The computer insists the
printer needs a new cartridge. Someone
stops by to chat and derails your train
of thought.
The work is going slowly and your mind
begins to drift.
Sandra Kindred knows what it’s like and
she’s trying to do something about it.
Kindred, a long-time Kyrene Corridor
resident, and two partners in 2005
created a small business they call Back
on Track! Solutions to help businesses
get organized.
In the vernacular of earlier times,
Kindred might have been called an
“efficiency expert.” On the Back on
Track! website, however, she's a
“productivity trainer” and consultant.
The answer to today's myriad challenges
of staying organized, Kindred says, is
not more technology. Instead, it is a
back-to-basics common sense way of
organizing your work.
“And the discipline to stick to the
simple things,” she adds. “When you’re
not having interruptions, you can get
way more done.”
Back on Track! uses an organizational
plan called the GO System that was
developed by Chris Crouch, author of a
book called “Getting Organized.”
A member of the National Association of
Professional Organizers, Kindred is a
certified GO Systems trainer.
The GO System looks at six areas that
Crouch believes cause disorganization in
people’s lives: Time Management; Project
Management; Handling Incoming Items;
Prioritization Issues; Personality
Issues and Psychological Issues
Kindred says the system does not dictate
to clients how to organize their work.
“I work with your style and give you
things to do,” she said.
“I also call back and see how you’re
doing.”
“I’m trying to get you to do simple,
easier things that you’re going to
follow through with,” she explained.
“It’s the simple habits of the things
you used to do. Let’s get back to the
essence.”
It takes about a month of practice to
create new organizational habits, she
said.
The end result, she said, should be
better productivity and reduced stress.
Stress seems foreign to Sandra Kindred.
She has soft jazz music playing in the
background as she talks. Several times a
week, she hits the courts as a
competitive tennis player. She uses her
marketing degree from Arizona State
University to help promote her husband
Willie’s chiropractic practice.
She started a family before beginning
her professional career. In fact, she
and her daughter started school in the
same year – daughter, Cheryl, entering
kindergarten and Sandra enrolling at
Mesa Community College before
transferring to ASU to complete her
bachelor of science degree.
“You market yourself every day. It’s
about how to get ‘em and how to keep ‘em,”
she said. “You have to get your name to
stand out.”
Kindred is not a foe of technology. She,
too, has a Blackberry on her desk.
“It’s there to enhance (productivity)”,
she said. “But it’s not going to be a
magic pill to help you organize.”
Kindred likes to tell a story about the
early days of the space race between the
United States and the Soviet Union. Both
nations learned that standard pens would
not write in zero gravity, she said.
The U.S. space program spent a lot of
money developing a pen that would write
in space, Kindred said.
The Soviets used a pencil.
“We’re not saying throw your Palm Pilot
away,’ she emphasized.
But it might be a good idea to keep some
sharpened pencils in the top desk
drawer. For more information, visit
www.backontracksolutions.com |
