#10 WHERE SHOULD YOU START GETTING ORGANIZED?
Now prepare your mindset, because the upcoming sections are about organizing stuff. They address paper, household items, tools, and other stuff. It's not primarily about tech (more on that later.) The objective is to learn your preferences when it comes to your stuff, so you're not working against yourself.
A. REVIEWING THE BASICS:
1. Read the prior columns in this series to refresh yourself on your Access Type (start here https://lizfranklin.substack.com/p/4-what-is-an-access-type-which-is or go to Archives and look for #4, #5, and #6. https://lizfranklin.substack.com/archive.)
B. LEAVE THE “NORMAL” ORGANIZING ASIDE:
1. It's time to leave the old “normal” organizing myths aside, because they don’t work. If they did, you’d be organized by now.
a. Piles are OK, especially when they are temporary. Coming up, you'll see that piles are telling you something: where your attention is needed, how much bulk you have to put away, how long things have been stacking up, and can even tell you what you've been avoiding (and can maybe delegate?) Piles may just be proof that you're busy, or they may be your best friend in pointing out a lesson. Like pain, piles tell you something — if you listen. Learn the difference between the symptom and the underlying "dis-ease."
b. Don't worry about clearing up after work every night. You may be showing yourself where you need to start again in the morning.
c. Use lists if they work for you, and don't if they don't. If you are grown enough to choose your favorite coffee, socks, and car, you can certainly decide if you like lists or not, and if so, what kind you like.
An artist friend of mine often had wacky visual ideas. She worked at home, and was always toting clean laundry upstairs, tools to the garage, new paint down to the studio, etc. She wanted a To-Do list, but hated the way they looked at the end of the day - all crossed out and ugly; so she came up with an artistic solution: as she finished each task, she covered it with a line of white tape. Guess what she had at the end of the day? A blissfully blank sheet. That was what worked for her. What would work for you?
d. Don’t worry about repetition; some processes are actually served by it (for example, fail-safes, parallel systems, etc.) Use it if you want, ignore it if you don’t, don’t worry if you’ve done it in the past. There will be plenty of time to clean it up later; right now, stay focused on the steps you’re reading here (meaning, don’t interrupt yourself if you’re on a roll.)
e. Ignore the boring old advice to purge first. Here's why:
1) Purging stuff that's taken 20 years to stack up can take another 20 years to undo — and in the meantime, more will have piled up.
2) Putting purging first forces you to commit to outdated organizing techniques; it doesn't allow you to keep an open mind for learning new and better techniques, or for learning more about yourself (read on.)
3) Putting an emphasis on purging makes you feel guilty and throws you into the name-calling ditch: you label yourself a "procrastinator," "disorganized," "foot-dragger," etc.) and doesn't give you a clear path to constructive, preference-based long-term organizing solutions.
4) Purging is punitive; it creates pressure, anger and resentment, all of which can lead to a cycle of chronic "disorganization."
5) Purging is too drastic; it doesn't allow you to progress gently or in steps. It demands a long-term solution to a temporary problem, and it demands it now. Yuck.
f. There are a lot more old-fashioned, “normal” organizing myths, but you get the idea: unhook yourself from the “norm” (especially if you are a Cross-Dominant) and experiment until you find out what works for you. (Hint: One of your main goals in your new system is to find out how best to alert yourself – to where you’ve put things, to things you have to do coming up, to how to file, etc. More on that coming up.)
Give yourself a break; this is a chance to learn something new about yourself.
Also, hold off on purging until the end (you may find it happens naturally along the way, and will be far less work.) You might also find you simply want to keep those notes from high-school algebra after all. You don't need a reason for keeping anything you want to keep; how 'bout that! (The only effective long-term solution has more to do with how you keep it (store it, contain it, label it) than whether you do.
Got questions? Please click "Leave A Comment" below and let us know what you think!
COMING UP IN THE NEXT ISSUE:
“CREATE A CENTRAL HEADQUARTERS.” You need room to work, and all your containers are too small. Stay tuned, it get easier. And no purging; it’s counterproductive at this stage!