Over the years, I’ve seen home offices that were disaster areas and others that needed only a bit of fine-tuning. What the owners of these home offices had in common was that they were fighting their natural working styles. Everyone works differently and falls into one of five working styles, depending upon the time of day and the activity.

Everyone works and organizes differently.

Bouncing Ball — bounces from project to project, without completing any of them. They want to accomplish everything, yet have trouble focusing on one thing at a time. (I know because I tend to be a Bouncing Ball at times.) Use some type of to-do list (paper-based or electronic) to keep you on track and focused.

Nit Picky (or perfectionist) — appears organized on the surface, yet their quest for perfection keeps them from being organized. One of the ways to avoid being a Nit Picky is to have realistic standards and attainable goals, and know that you can’t do everything perfectly.

Teeter Totter — has trouble making decisions because they fear that any decision they make may be the wrong one. When making decisions, build in contingency plans. When you start a project, make decisions and follow through. If things aren’t going as planned, change direction and then move forward.

Ima Mess — keeps things “just in case” or because they “may need it someday.” The problem is that when they need it, they can’t find it. If you’re keeping something that isn’t serving a specific purpose, recycle it or donate it. Weed through your files and get rid of anything that you know you’ll never refer to again. Add drawer dividers within drawers you use often, to make it easy to see and find what you need.

Lookout — follows the out-of-sight, out-of-mind philosophy and fears putting anything away. Files are piled on the desk, office supplies are stored on open shelves and magazines are stacked on the floor as a reminder to read them. Keep things in sight but still organized by using desktop file holders, colorful document boxes to hold supplies on shelves, and stacking bins or baskets to hold magazines.