By Krissy Brady in
Productivity
It’s true what they say: clutter
breeds clutter. There are so many of us who dream of running a less chaotic
household or struggle to remember what ouroffice desk looks like. We crave
order, yet at the same time resist due to the negative connotations attached to
being perfectly organized.
There are many who believe being
perfectly organized is like believing in unicorns: it’s just not going to
happen. There are also misconceptions that being “organized” means being a
control freak or a neat freak. That if you prefer to organize the food in your
fridge a specific way, you’re not being efficient, you’re being OCD. That
you’re not truly enjoying your life because you’re focusing on mundane details
you “shouldn’t” consider important.
I’m here to say that’s a huge pile of
crap! As someone who’s gone from chaotic and spontaneous to organized and
efficient, there are so many benefits to the latter this topic could be turned
into a self-help book. The top three benefits of being perfectly organized are:
· Not
being in a permanent state of “catch-up” decreases your stress level by 10,000
percent and increases your self-esteem by the same amount.
· You’re
able to work less and accomplish more.
· You
always know where your keys are!
By being perfectly organized, you’re
respecting your most valuable commodity: time. It helps you accomplish all you
set out to, both professionally and personally. It gives you the freedom to be
exactly who you are and live a life of minimal stress, not to mention how much
more enjoyable the present moment becomes.
If you’d like to feel this way too,
here are 12 habits of perfectly organized people I’ve observed, read about, and
am currently attempting to execute:
1.
They know who
they want to be.
Perfectly
organized people have an exact definition of how they want their life to be –
from how they want their home to look, to how they want to dress, to how they
spend their time – which makes it a lot easier to set goals and feel a sense of
accomplishment.
2.
They know how
to say, “No.”
Because they
know exactly what they want, it’s easier for them to say, “No”: when they’re
offered a work project or invited to a social gathering that doesn’t advance
their lifestyle in some way, they’re able to decline with confidence and aren’t
easily swayed by societal pressure.
3.
They’re
mindful shoppers.
Just because
something’s on sale doesn’t mean you have to buy it. Perfectly organized people
always ask themselves, “Do I really need this?” before every purchase. Not only
does this help keep your budget intact, it pushes you away from using instant
gratification as a tool to cope with rough patches.
4.
They’ve let go
of their perfectionism.
If you try to
do everything perfectly, it goes without saying you’ll feel like a constant
disappointment. Perfectly organized people channel their perfectionist
tendencies into their most important tasks – work assignments, remodeling their
home, exercising – and with tasks that aren’t a priority, they do what they
have to do to get the job done.
5.
They don’t
believe in labeling anything “miscellaneous.”
Though they
don’t have much to store due to their minimalist nature, when perfectly
organized people do store items, they specifically label and index where
everything can be found. Their bills are specifically filed, and their
Christmas decorations are specifically cataloged.
6.
They separate
emotions from possessions.
They don’t
attach sentimental value to everything they own. For example, I still have my
three favorite stuffed animals from when I was a kid, but not my entire
collection. (I’m a big kid now!)
7.
What they
don’t need, they don’t own.
They don’t buy
anything until they know it’s something they’re going to use right away or in
the near future. From personal experience, there’s no worse feeling than
cleaning an item more than you enjoy it. Trust me, you won’t miss the dusting.
At all.
8.
They clean as
they go.
Instead of
waiting for the dishes to pile or the recycling to take itself out, the
perfectly organized carve out chunks of time to maintain their lifestyle. This
might sound like a drag, but there’s no better feeling than having time off,
andnot having to spend it running errands or cleaning, since they’re already
taken care of.
9.
They
understand the power of one.
One checking
account. One savings account. One credit card. One email address. Perfectly
organized people understand that consolidation and simplicity equals more
freedom.
10. When it comes to planning, they’re all about the
details.
Perfectly
organized people don’t just plan in advance: they plan way in advance, and they
plan in detail. Sure, their to-do lists look like scrolls, but it’s only
because they’ve broken down each of their tasks into manageable mini-tasks. Not
only does this make each goal less overwhelming, it also helps you foresee any
potential conflicts that could get in the way of your end result. BAM!
11. They don’t procrastinate.
Because of how
much respect they have for their time, perfectly organized people don’t
procrastinate, and they have no reason to: because of their
maintain-as-they-go, to-do-list-Zorroing way of life, there’s no need to.
12. They believe in quality over quantity.
To perfectly
organized people, quantity equals clutter. They’d rather be surrounded by a
minimal amount of items, all of which they use, enjoy, and actually have time
to take care of properly. Professionally, they’d rather streamline their focus
into a specialty where they can thrive, instead of working in more than one
area and completing mediocre work.
good read
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