• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Productivity
  • Technology
  • Development
  • Organize
  • Money
  • Time
  • Misc

Productivity501

Pieces of the productivity puzzle.

  • Home
  • Blog
  • About
    • Archives
  • Newsletter
  • Products
    • Courses
  • Contact
You are here: Home / Misc / Organization Mentality

Organization Mentality

By Mark Shead 3 Comments

Being organized is a cornerstone of being productive. However, there is a lot more to being organized than just having a clean desk. True organization is a mental state and a way of thinking. An organized desk is often a side effect, but too many people focus on trying to look organized instead of actually being organized.

simplify reminder

If you want to BE organized and not just LOOK organized, it requires you to spend some time really thinking about how you approach work and dealing with things. You can’t short cut this just by picking things up and putting them out of sight.

Here are some tips for becoming truly organized.

  • Recognize that being organized isn’t about trying to get more things to organize the things you already have. That doesn’t mean you can’t strategically purchase something that will help you organize, but organization needs to start in your mind.
  • You’ve probably heard the saying “everything should have a place.” While that is good advice, it is even more important for everything to have a purpose. Keeping things has a cost, and you need to make sure that the amount you invest in your things justifies keeping them around. Do you really need 5 staplers? Is it worth keeping around clothes that you haven’t worn in the last five years?
  • To really be organized, you have to be able to articulate your priorities in life. If you don’t know your priorities, you can’t determine what is important. If you don’t know what is important, you end up keeping everything you can possibly acquire. It is impossible to organize an infinite amount of stuff.
  • Being organized requires figuring out who you really are. This is not an easy question to ask. It is easier to just try to sort the things on your desk or rearrange a closet. Asking “who am I” is scary because many people are afraid to admit who they really are and don’t want to look. But if you aren’t willing to have that conversation with yourself, how can you get to a point where your things support you? If you don’t know who you are, you’ll end up being owned by your things instead of your owning it.
  • It is much easier to organize when all you have are things that are important to you. Putting effort into getting rid of things is just as important–if not more important–than organizing what you have.

Sorting things and moving them around in your office or house is easy compared to actually becoming an organized person. Becoming an organized person means doing deep reflection and then making the things you have align with who you are. Usually that means getting rid of stuff.

Getting rid of things is hard. We tend to put a great deal of our identity into what we own. That is why it is so important to really figure out who you are–separate your identity from the things you own. It sounds silly to say that, but if you watch how people act, you’ll realize that human nature makes us extremely attached to our stuff. The whole point here is to keep the things that are important and to learn to let go of the things that aren’t.

But all of that is going to be impossible unless you are able to really be honest with yourself about who you are and what really matters in your life. Without doing that, you aren’t going to be able to really be organized on anything other than a superficial level.

Filed Under: Misc

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Ally says

    February 14, 2016 at 11:54 pm

    I want to be a personal assistant but i am super disorganized, how could I improve my organisation to get my organisational skills up to par with those of a personal assistant?
    -Ally

    Reply
    • Mark Shead says

      May 7, 2016 at 9:16 am

      There are lots of books on how to be organized. I’d start by getting your life organized and it will put you in a better place to help others. On the other hand, some people are great at helping others do things that they struggle with themselves.

      Reply
    • Ellen Allsop says

      June 22, 2016 at 4:50 am

      Ally, I agree with Mark, try and make yourself more organised first and then maybe try helping a close friend or family member to be more organised :) Don’t try and become more organised in all aspects of your life first because that might be a bit overwhelming, instead focus on a few specific things first and then build up. Being organised should be a habit and come naturally rather than feeling forced in my opinion :)

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Featured Posts

The $500,000 Solution to a $12 Problem

College Degree And Income Potential

Photo Sharing Christmas Gift Ideas for Family

Minimal Minimalism

See Your Mail Before It Arrives

Finishing vs. Starting

Best Bluetooth Headset I’ve Owned

What Is Your Current Work Zone?

Social Glass Ceilings

How Much Time Do You Actually Have

Return to top of page

Copyright 2018 Xeric Corporation