Disorganization is stressful — or at least adds stress to an already stressful situation. And to make matters worse — disorganization costs time and money.
Now, I’m not a disorganized person. In fact, I’m quite the opposite and most people would consider me a neat freak of sorts.
However, I’ve spent enough time around disorganized people to recognize the usual patterns.
- Excess clutter
- No sacred ‘place’ or ‘spot’ for important things
- Lack of spatial awareness
- Low awareness of time
- A general lack of systems
In this post, I’ll cover the basic fundamentals of disorganization and how to overcome them.
How to Be a More Organized Person
Excess Clutter
The first and easiest thing to tackle is excess clutter.
Having a lot of stuff takes up space and mental bandwidth. The more stuff you have, the more there is to keep track of.
Imagine losing your car keys in the middle of a garbage dump. They’re going to be tough to find versus losing them in an empty room.
I can’t stress this enough.
Owning fewer things is the easiest way to stay organized — there is no better way.
It’s hard to lose track of things when you don’t own them.
Consider pairing down to the essentials and clearing out the clutter.
No Sacred Place for Important Things
When my son was little I made sure my important things went on top of the refrigerator — up high, and out of his reach.
I’m talking car keys, house keys, my wallet, and other things I needed when leaving the house.
And 15 years later, that’s where they continue to live.
By having a special spot or place, I never lose my belongings. In fact, I have a special place for almost all my things therefore, I don’t lose stuff.
My wife on the other hand does the opposite. You never know where she is going to leave her things and consequentially, either does she. In this aspect, she’s disorganized and frequently loses her stuff.
Set up a spot for your things. Everything should have a place and everything should be in that place.
Lack of Spatial Awareness
Some people intuitively know when something’s out of place.
Other people are oblivious.
If you’re the latter, train yourself to be aware of your surroundings and notice when things are out of whack.
If there are things piled on your desk that shouldn’t be — take notice.
Pay close attention to what your surroundings look like when everything is in its place.
By practicing this habit you’ll begin to see when things are amiss.
The trick is to swiftly correct the problem.
When things are out of place, don’t wait an hour, or a day, and especially a week to put things where they belong.
The quicker you take action the likelier you’ll develop the habit of putting things away.
Low Awareness of Time
Every single disorganized person I know has no idea what freaking time it is.
And they’re often late, rushing around like a fool, with no slack left within their day.
Make the habit of relentlessly checking the time. Use multiple clocks around the house, office, car, etc.
Pay attention to how long it takes to perform certain tasks.
There’s no magic pill here besides simply paying attention.
Lack of Systems
Everything you do in life should have some sort of system.
A set order or procedure of how you do things.
McDonald’s doesn’t mess up your order when you eat there because they have a set way to make a hamburger — workers follow a system, all across the globe.
And you won’t forget to send an email or return a phone call if you have a system. The same goes for leaving the house, getting up in the morning, going to bed, and so on. Come up with a system so things aren’t forgotten or misplaced.
It sounds boring, but systems and routines for nearly every task you perform is the best way to stay organized.
My system for when I get home is to put my important things on top of the refrigerator. No exceptions. That’s the system, and my things never get lost.
I also have a system for writing blog posts and a separate system for promoting them.
I have a system for receiving bills, and one for paying them.
As you can tell, it’s about having systems for not only your most important tasks but the seemingly mundane ones as well.
Use checklists and to-do apps if you need them — or any other tools that help.
Create meaningful systems and stick to them. No matter what — be rigid.