How I Trick People Into Thinking I’m Organized
I am not a naturally tidy person. If you know me, that might surprise you. If you really know me…that is probably not a shock to you at all (hi mom). Because I was a good student, did my homework and liked to organize my desk at school people always thought I was neat and tidy and very organized. They thought it was just a natural ability. The truth is my desk was often a mess growing up and my Mom used to make me keep the door to my room closed because she couldn’t stand to walk by my room and see the state of it. I’m that person that will go to bed and snuggle up next to the pile of clothes I am sharing it with. It won’t bother me…at least not for a little while. Then I’ll get to a point of total anxiety (though as a kid I didn’t know that’s what it was) and suddenly get in over my head cleaning and organizing.
Once I got to high school and especially university, that’s when I really had to make some changes. High school I still had some opportunities - I wouldn’t always write down the homework and I would procrastinate assignments. In university, my workload really piled up and so did my anxiety. I had to learn to be organized in order to accommodate for my heightened anxiety. I also started to understand my own anxiety a little bit better around then too. My apartment was almost always neat and tidy in university and I really started to get a handle on my organization. And so I have few tips a tricks for how I made myself an organized person.
Make a List for Everything
Are you almost out of milk? Put it on a list. Suddenly have the urge to make muffins? Put the ingredients on a list. I had a notepad on my fridge so whenever I thought of an ingredient or product I needed to buy from the grocery store, I would compile a list slowly throughout the week and by the time I did a grocery run, I had a list of everything I needed all ready to go. Have a whole bunch of assignments? Make a list not just of the assignments and their due dates, but make another list of all the tasks you need to complete in order to finish the assignment. So for example, let’s say I had to perform a song for my Performance Class. My main list might say “Learn song” but my mini list might be “1. Do Word for Word Translation 2. Write in IPA 3. Learn Melody of Page 1 4. Practice page 1 with words…..”You get the picture. Make a list for it all.
Lists also help you keep track of your progress and remind you that you are getting things done. There is something I find very satisfying in checking off tasks as I complete them. It’s very helpful when you feel like your drowning in to-do’s. It also gets all those tasks spinning around in your head out of there and onto the page into something clear and discernable.
Have a Place for Everything
The thing is…yes de-cluttering helps. But as someone who has a tendency to hang on to things longer than I need to, I’m not about to tell you that it’s been my secret. I have gotten better at this over the years but what I find really helpful, is knowing where all those things that you’re hanging on to go! In Nova Scotia everything I owned had a specific spot to go in. So when I came home my keys went in the jar. When I had a rubber band it went in the drawer in the tray with all the rubber bands. When I needed an AUX cord I checked in my box of electronics. Everything needs a spot so that it’s really easy to tidy it up right away and in the moment. That’s how I always got stuck. It felt like a lot of effort to put the item away so give yourself not only clear spots, but easy to access spots. Don’t put items you use a lot on the top hard to reach shelf or they will never get back up there. Taking them down is the easy part - putting them back up…there’s the rub.
Have a Schedule
I’ll admit that lately, I’m not so great with this one. When I feel my life is spinning a bit out of control, I have always clung to a schedule. I used to have a day of the week that was my “cleaning day” or “grocery day” and I would have a day for laundry. Perhaps a day for garbage - sometimes all in one day to get it all done…that helped me stay on track. I think I need to get back to that but admittedly I’m having a hard time with this one right now. Since the pandemic there was so much repetition to my life and I feel like my life revolves around my work so much now that I needed to change my schedule for those boring chores. I needed to have some sort of spontaneity. So I’ll be real with you - while I’m not so great at this one right now, it might be worth a shot because otherwise what happens is that laundry or that tidy or that garbage starts to pile up and then it gets increasingly overwhelming to try to approach the task. It’s a viscous cycle. The longer you wait the bigger the task gets and the harder it is to bring yourself to do it.
Break Up Big Tasks
On the note of sticking to a schedule and getting tasks done, I find it’s easier when you can take those big tasks and break them down. Maybe instead of cleaning the entire apartment, you’re going to tackle one room at a time? Instead of writing your entire essay in one night, split it up into smaller chunks - start well ahead of time so you don’t drag your feet as much. Spending 1 hour looking for sources and research is much less daunting then doing research, drafts, edits and final paper all in one evening. I used to do the same thing with studying for exams. A week before I would start writing my cue cards and going through all my notes for important info. Then I would break up chapters and study them on different nights. It makes those not-so-fun tasks easier to approach, and I found I was less likely to procrastinate because it wasn’t as big a task.
I’m sure I have more tricks up my sleeve but it’s been a while since I felt really good about it - perhaps this is my way of trying to inspire and motivate myself again? (She says sitting in bed with The Prodigal Son playing next to her, one beer in and her cat snoozing on the pillow next to her while her dishes sit on the kitchen counter).
What are your tips? How do you stay organized and on top of things? I’d love to hear what works for you!
Sending love and inspiration,
-B