Streamline your success by organizing your world mentally and physically. Stop wasting time looking for the things you need to be able to get things done. Being organized is the key to reducing stress and increasing productivity.
Being Organized Is Key
To move forward effectively in our lives, it helps to get ourselves organized. Organization is the skill that turns chaos into order. A feeling of not having control causes most stress. Order reduces stress, improves creativity, saves us valuable time and gives us more personal power. We need to sort things out both externally (our environment) and internally (mentally). Getting organized gets your mental and physical house in order and gives you more personal power. It’s obviously much more difficult to operate in an environment of confusion and disarray. Sometimes we just get clogged, either mentally or physically or both. Where there is clutter and disorder, we often find confusion. When we are confused, we are more likely to have fear and procrastination. We need to get ourselves unobstructed if we are going to create channels in our lives for ideas and opportunities.
What often happens is that we have more stuff than space. We hold onto things that no longer bring value or quality into our lives. These things aren’t always material objects. They could include attitudes and habits that may keep us entrenched in mediocrity, robbing us of the time and energy that could be channeled to more productive activities. Ultimately, we can remain stuck in situations that lack the nourishment and excitement we personally desire.
So if we are hoping to see the forest through the trees, we need to commit to eliminating some of the underbrush. The word clear means to open to the sight, to understand and free from uncertainty. We need to make “headroom.” Being clear-headed will go a long way in helping us to become clear—-sighted. Getting things sorted and organized is a big step to becoming energized and more productive.
Whether or not you are organized is not a moral issue. Being disorganized obviously doesn’t make you a bad person, just very possibly more stressed and confused. It is only a matter of developing the appropriate habits. Some people also confuse neatness with organization. They really have very little to do with each other. Some ‘neatniks’ have no system or no clue where things are when they need them. Along the same line, there are people who live among piles and disorder; who really have a very effective system. It’s just that no one else can figure it out.
As you move into the art of getting organized, you may discover it’s more a psychological than an educational issue. You may lean more towards I don’t want to rather than I don’t know how to. The how to’s are right in this workshop. Improving the quality of your life is a big enough want to for most people, but your not want to may go deeper than that. Be open to some type of counseling if you find you can’t seem to break away from piles of confusion or if you’re consistently stuck behind piles of stuff that you can’t let go of.
Internal Organization — Developing Your Life Command Center Atom
The most common approach to life goals is a general wish and want list with some target dates. This process doesn’t have a lot of specific details. It doesn’t challenge us to tap into the depths of our moral intelligence. Internal organization is achieved through the Command Center Atom.
We have a tremendous amount of wisdom, all those ‘life experiences’ stored in our head. We need to stretch our ‘creative muscles’ into shape; think of it like a mental workout. Too often this list just keeps resurfacing whenever we feel the need to state a desired direction for our lives. Obviously, this approach lacks real focus. Anything deteriorates when there is a lack of focus. We need to create a more focused approach because we empower what we focus on.
External Organization— Keep Your Environment Clear and Functional
It’s a lot tougher to think clearly and creatively when our world is physically jumbled up. Disorder can create bottlenecks in our life. We can feel overwhelmed with our life just by looking around and seeing piles and messes. Sometimes it’s created by the need to hold on to outdated or relatively useless materials. We need to get out from under. Here is a step-by-step process that can help you make it happen. You may want to recruit a friend or two to help. They can be very supportive when it comes to the motivation of passing on, letting go or throwing out outdated belongings.
ACTION ITEM:
Step One: List all the places or things that need to be organized.
Step Two: Prioritize your list in the order in which you are going to attack.
Step Three: Commit to start and follow through on the list by a designated time.
Step Four: Take one thing at a time.
Step Five: Empty it and clean it.
Step Six: Go to the pile you made when you emptied everything out. Now it’s time to decide to purge, unload, toss, remove, junk, trash, give away, eliminate, diminish, disentangle, discharge, cut bait or just put it back in a systematic order.
Some questions to ask yourself…
Has anyone in my family used this in the past year?
Does this serve a worthwhile purpose in my life?
Do I need it for legal or tax purposes?
Does anyone I know love it and want it?
Would someone else appreciate it?
Step Seven: Neatly put back everything you have left. (At this point it would be very helpful to visit your local office supply store and major hardware store for organizational ideas and supplies). Keep your eyes peeled for anything clever you may come across that can organize or unclutter your life. Use multi-tiered organizers to make better use of limited space. You may also want to call a professional organizer for some expert advice.
Step Eight: Reward yourself for taking another major step in expanding your personal power.
Other Suggestions That May Help
- Create a good calendar system — one that is both thorough and convenient.
- Always carry a spiral notebook to capture thoughts, ideas and any facts you need to capture through out the day. You will unclutter your mind and always know where to look for your information.
- Write down everything; don’t rely on your memory. Pocket spiral notebooks work well, so you don’t lose what you wrote down.
- Have a things to do list for your monthly, weekly and daily goals. Prioritize your task into Urgent, Important and Miscellaneous.
- Determine how often you’re going to organize certain things. For example:
- desk may take ten minutes at the end of each workday
- office every Friday afternoon
- closets every spring and fall
- the garage every May
- filing cabinet every December.
- Deal with incoming mail daily. Develop a real love for throwing out junk mail the day it arrives. In the art of organization, the trashcan is your best friend. Always use it liberally.
- Do not use workspace as a storage area. This includes things like your desk, work tables and counter tops. Reserve your desktop for items only used on a daily basis.
- Relieve yourself of the responsibility of being the National Archives. Realize almost everything has an expiration date. This includes files, clothes and even items that may have once had sentimental value.