Like most New Year’s resolutions, the vow to “get organized” probably falls by the wayside and ends up at the bottom of one of those piles you’ve been staring at for months. Good intentions do not actions make. “Where do I start?” you ask. Well, let’s start at the beginning.

There are three basic principles of organizing.

I had hired Clara into an executive trainee program in a Fortune 500 company. She was bright, well-educated, and highly motivated. After three months, it was time for her performance evaluation from Mike, her supervisor. He was a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately guy: high expectations, rare praise.

At the meeting, Mike opened with, “Clara, you’ve been working hard but it took longer for you to finish this project than I anticipated. I was hoping for a more in-depth financial analysis.” As the negative feedback continued, Clara’s eyes dampened. Was Mike’s assessment accurate? I couldn’t tell, but it was inconsistent with what I’d heard elsewhere. However, that was of little consequence. If this was Mike’s perception, Clara had to manage it.