Douglas: Welcome to the Unleash Your Potential Blog, what question can I answer for you today?
DreamDriver: What techniques can help me stay organized?
Douglas: Thank you for asking! I suppose the first thing we need to clear up is what you mean by “stay organized.”
On one hand, you might be referring to physical organization. I struggle with this daily. If you look at my desk, either at home or at the university, you will see them in some degree of disarray at all times. I will generally claim, “It's okay, I know where everything is.” This is a half-truth. I know that everything is on my desk, beyond that, there is some sort of archeological exploration that needs to be conducted to find any one item. Periodically, I will take time to clean the space a little bit, and that cleaning will last for a few days, but it will inevitably return to its natural state of disarray.
It is not that I don’t want to stay organized, I have just not found a system that is most ideal for me. I have tried and continue to try many different structures. And in their newness they work, but in the long term, not so much. I am on a journey, I just haven’t gotten there yet. I continue the struggle, and I think that is important. Each time I try a new system, I learn something new about myself and what works for me. And perhaps the reason the system doesn’t work for me is because my needs change over time and what once worked, no longer works.
On the other hand, there is the idea of mental organization. How do we keep things organized that don’t necessarily have a physical existence (e.g. thoughts, goals, emotions, etc.)? I feel somewhat more effective at this as a general rule. I have found a calendar app has been a great help in keeping my appointments straight and reducing the number of times I double-book or over-schedule. I have a task widget on my home screen that reminds me of pressing projects that need to be accomplished (which works as long as I am diligent about putting tasks into it when I think of them). I have been very successful using timers to keep me organized in working on things, primarily in preventing me from going too far down the rabbit hole on any one project. I won’t say that my systems work great all the time, I still have moments where I get lost on a project, or one falls by the wayside, but I can look at those examples and generally point to where the breakdown happened and how to prevent it in the future.
As I write, I realize that I haven’t provided you with much concrete information about specific techniques. However, I think there is a more important message to consider here. There are as many systems and techniques for staying organized as there are people on the planet and I sense that what works for each of us is as unique as we are. What matters is that you keep looking inward and trying to figure out what might work. Don’t be afraid to try a new system (physical or mental) and be open to the fact that it might not work. You may have to toss it out and try something else. As with so many things, there is as much to learn (if not more) in trying and failing as there is to succeeding. If you want to find a system that works, you have to know yourself very well. This means that there is some self-work that you might need to do. If your current system of organization is not working, it is probably because there is some facet of who you are that doesn’t mesh with the system you are trying. Have an honest conversation, what about it doesn’t work? Why doesn’t it work? How might you do it differently for a better result?
Keep trying! There is a way of being organized out there that will work for you. You just need to be committed to the process of finding it. I have faith in you!
I hope my answer sheds some light on your question. If you want to dig into this concept further, I encourage you to reach out and set up a conversation. In the meantime, check back tomorrow for the next question in the Unleash Your Potential Series!
Be Well!
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