Begin by Eliminating Distractions
What is the principal organizing predicament in your laboratory? Do you have a large amount clutter on benches, the floor, in the refrigerator or cabinets or are you restricted on valuable workspace? Are there regions in your lab that are unsafe or are chemicals stockpiled inappropriately or unsafely, undated and unsorted? Is chemical refuse accumulating to dangerous levels and can you unearth supplies when and where you require them?
If you said “yes” to any of these questions or have your own long list of opportunities for creating a perfect lab, you will find help in this article and the ones in months to follow.
The first phase to having a perfect lab, and yes, it can be perfect, is figuring out where to start.
Trying to figure out where to start has stopped many organizing attempts dead in their tracks, simply because of the perceived vastness of the mission, but you don’t have to worry about that happening anymore. You can and will have a starting place to get your laboratory, office and home, neat clean and organized – easily, but first I need to ask you a couple of questions.
It’s Monday morning and as you progress through your regular work routine where is the very first time you encounter distraction from your intended activity? Is it finding your lab coat, a pen, lab book or the right chemicals or reagents to start a project or is it knowing where your meeting is or what is on the agenda so you can be prepared for your responsibilities?
These minor interferences are distractions but give you one major handicap. They impair focus that reduces accomplishment and thus reward including scientific, monetary and personal.
Look for the distractions as you attempt activities as you move throughout your day and find the culprits to the disorganizations in your life.
Now to get these distractions under control, first, imagine how much consideration you give to one of your most routine tasks such as brushing your teeth in the morning, driving to work, or documenting a procedure in your laboratory notebook. How much effort does it take to accomplish these activities or are they a habit, an almost effortless practice you learned and then integrated into your lifestyle years ago? Being on autopilot minimizes the energy it takes to accomplish habits like preparing a sample, wearing safety glasses or putting on protective gloves. Being organized will be undemanding because you will be on autopilot and you will just be able to do it almost without thinking about it and here is your first assignment.
As a start, as the beginning, for the next month, until the next issue of Laboratory Equipment is published, spend five minutes per day correcting distractions that you identify during your workday. These five minutes may be spent throwing out trash or disposing of expired chemicals. It may mean reorganizing a drawer, filing papers, relocating supplies from one part of the lab to another, cleaning out a shelf in the refrigerator or a hood.
This is where it starts. The five-minute tradition is like igniting a stick of dynamite; it is easy to do but produces powerful, incontrovertible results. You'll find that spending these five minutes a day correcting a distraction in your laboratory is as effortless as brushing your teeth. Just consider it brushing your laboratory's teeth with all of the rewards therein, including a personal sense of power, control, relaxation, respect and calm while creating a maxanized* laboratory.
As you practice this new five-minute pattern this month please email me details about how you spend your five minutes, your progress, challenges and comments at suetripp@trippnt.com.
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