Strategically controlling space and working with time; a primer on organization.
Organization is crucial to everything we utilize each and every day. Every business, sports team or hospital that is successful is more often than not, well organized. The truth is many individuals, even some successful ones are not organize well. Organization is not easy at first but once implemented you will question why it took so long to inject organization into your life.
The two chunks of organization.
Space, we all have some type of shelter, whether you are a parent with a spouse and three kids or a single online student, we all have a place we reside in and fill it with our paraphernalia. This space is ours and should be organized in a functional way.
Time, it seems to drag one minute and then vanishes the next. You will never be able to turn back the clock so the best course of action is to move with the time you are given. Learn to maximize the time you have.
Space, your residence and your kit
It is time to down size, look through your inventory and begin to get rid of that which is useless. Defining useless is up to you but typically something useless has not been touched within the year. Maximize the space and items you have, and if you require more items look to buy higher quality. High quality commands attention and care.
Now that the uselessness is out of the way it is time to lay out a path. Attempting to organize your life in one day is likely only going to lead to failure, instead play like a football team with a great running game, yard by yard. First look at where you are spending the most time, this should be your bed room. Even if it is only six hours that is still a quarter of your day. On top of the fact that it is the last and first thing you will see every day. Move through your home from high to low traffic and then move to locations outside your residence (garage, office, or anything else off site). Tech should be the last to be cleaned go through contacts and browser history and delete anything that is taking up digital space.
Bring in logic, look around, is there a reason why things are in certain places? Bringing reason to the space you utilize will bring a feeling of assurance, everything in the right place. Putting items in the proper place also allows you to put your more utilized items in easier to access locations, for example keys in the key bowel. Less utilized items are to be out of sight.
Look to utilize the Russian nesting egg style of organization, putting small containers into larger containers. This won’t be applicable in every situation. However, where it does apply, it is highly effective, a notable example is in your silverware drawer. Take a look when everything is placed in a neat compartment and those compartments are placed in a larger container.
Patch work, your perfect little world is going to come undone. Sooner or later things will get unorganized, but we know this coming, which means we can plan ahead. Look to set up reorganizing intervals to stay on top of organization. High traffic areas such as your bed room can be worked on daily whereas areas such as your basement can be a monthly activity.
Zen, everything is where it should be, enjoy the moment and understand that the environment you live in has an impact on your wellbeing. Two case studies to observe are, meditation rooms and play rooms. One space brings us tranquility, the other brings us to childhood nightmares, and you are smart enough to know which room invokes which feeling.
Time, this cannot be manipulated only worked with. Time is like swimming in a river, going against it the current will only lead to exhaustion. Because of this we should look to work with the time we are given, swim with the current and we can reach our goals less effort. Try to go back at your own rick.
Learn to say no. People want your time but you have business to attend to. Situations will arise when you cannot afford to go out to dinner, or help a friend, or attend a meeting. Do not fear no, more often than not people will understand your rationale, your friends’ want you to be successful and your employers want you to get your work done.
Organize the day and work from there. The day is really the only increments of time that nature has given us, minutes, months and everything else is manmade. Once the day is organized look to move on to tomorrow, then the week and soon time will be on your side. BUT, make sure you start with the day.
Begin timing everything, that old saying “What gets measured, gets managed.” Putting yourself on the clock will pressure you to stop wasting time with frivolous activities that chew up your day. The other edge of this blade is that you will begin to dedicate more time to important activities. Timing yourself is not going to be fun, but is a healthy dose of reality.
Find a system to organize your time, it can be something as simple as a list. Writing tasks will help you to prioritize. If a simple to-do list is a bit to disorganized there are other options, Eisenhower matrix, priority pyramid and Google calendar are a few other options. A system will help you to better prioritize your tasks, which in turn will help you put tasks in a more sequential order.
A single minded attacks. This mindset is simple, shut out distractions, devote all your energy to one task, complete task, and repeat.
Habits, this is the building block of using time to your advantage. Once a habit has taken root, it will become as easy as walking, but habits are not easy to plant (at first).First find a desirable habit, for example reading, it is advantageous to work reading into your day, every day. Set a specific time or page count that you want to read, do this every day and habits will begin to blossom. Once habits are in place you will not have to devote as much energy to them, you will simply just do them.
Once you are utilizing organization, you will find more freedom. Once you are free you now have the ability to choose what you want to do with your life. A final word of caution, you cannot control everything, only your response.
