The ABCs of Organizing
My son can read. I realize this isn’t astounding to most people. In fact, he went through the same steps that most of us do to reach this goal:
• Age 2: Someone taught him the letter T. Ohh – that cute train phase!
• Age 3 ½: He could identify most of his letters. The “b” and “d” got mixed up a lot, but he was mostly there.
• Age 4 ½ : He could identify blended sounds in writing.
• Age 5: He could stumble through a short story and tell you what it was about.
• Age 8: He could read an entire book and write a whole page full of information about it, but it took some doing.
Today, at age 19, there’s no fumbling, no questioning which way the “b” and “d” face, no sounding words out. Reading is second nature to him, a process he goes through without even thinking about it.
Now, I ask you, what would have happened if, at age two, we’d handed him “Moby Dick” and insisted he read it? Nothing useful, right? Maybe stress, pressure, worry, intimidation, or some sort of weird reading dysfunction!
So why do we grown-ups expect ourselves to go from a cluttered desk and constant missed appointments to complete organization with one New Year’s Resolution? After years in this profession, I promise you that this is not the best method for making long-term changes to your organizational effectiveness.
Rather, becoming organized is a process. Making the switch from chaos to streamlined efficiency is a matter of mastering several small steps and practicing each of these until they become second nature, tasks that you do without even thinking about them. Sure, the first step is to make a commitment to become more organized: after that, it’s baby steps. Change one specific thing, experience the outcome, and practice it. Then, when you are really confident in that one thing, change the next. In time, you will find that you are organized and being so is second nature to you, instead of a constant struggle.
For a more concrete example, think about the Tuesday Tips that I’ve started posting. Each of these tackles one specific change that you can make, such as speeding up your filing or managing business receipts. If one of these tips resonates with you, give it a try. Keep working at it and eventually, you won’t even have to think about it. You’ll simply have your filing under control!
When you break organization down into its ABCs, starting with one little change at a time and keeping your end goal in mind, you claim little victories until you are suddenly satisfied with the end result. No longer is organization a challenge, it’s a habit. A habit that has been practiced and prepared over time – and one that is much more likely to stick in the end.
