A Framework For Organization

Ah, organization! A skill that can apply to our living space, schedule, goals, and even our mind...

"Man, you really need to clean your room," "Why don't you make some plans and we'll get together and discuss this project over lunch?" "I really, really need to organize my thoughts..."

Organization truly is the stitch that pulls together all of life's seams. Without good organization skills, life can feel messy, sloppy, lazy, and chaotic — all of which sound pretty bad. Being a good organizer has a surprising amount of benefits. People who are better organized often experience less stress. The ability to organize equips a person with the chance to control the outcomes in their life; rather than "drifting" through life without aim, organized people develop the habits that help them reach their goals. Even the practice of organizing itself has far-reaching benefits on other aspects of one's life. Having an organized working space, for instance, saves time. Rather than looking for items needed to perform a task, one can get to the task itself faster and easier.

As our Aspie Insiders discussed the big concept of organization, it became more and more clear that being organized has an exponential rate of effectiveness. The more organized a person becomes, the less time they have to devote to getting organized — makes sense, right? Well, it works the opposite way too: the less organized a person is, the more time they have to spend getting organized. This all sounds like common sense, but in practice things get a bit more complicated. With that said, here are some reasons people resist the organized life:

• In many cases, there's a feeling of hopelessness one experiences when faced with the daunting task of getting organized. Staring at a ridiculously messy room has an effective way of breaking that drive to become organized.
• Many people complain that they don't have the time to organize their busy life or cluttered space. For this, we refer back to the idea that getting organized saves time instead of eating it up, especially in the long run. If a big project will occupy 3 hours of one's time every week for 5 weeks, that's 15 hours of time total. If it takes 30 minutes just to get started on the project each time, that's 2.5 hours of wasted time. Even with 2.5 hours spent on getting organized, it's a break-even proposition (except it's really not, since any future projects will be done quicker as well).
• There's often a fear that presents itself with greater organization, the idea that a person will slip into old habits quickly and ruin the good habits they started. In many cases, using reminders can help out in this area.

In many cases, an effective strategy can help bridge a person from those fears to becoming successfully organized. Being prepared can help to ease fears, build confidence, and provide a visible framework for what needs to be done. With this, the Insiders worked to develop a step-by-step framework for successful organization, included below!

A Framework For Organization

STEP 1: With any clutter or items that occupy too much space, determine whether you want to keep it, trash it, or give/donate/sell it (Pro Tip: lots of things hold memories but still cause clutter; for these items, you can keep a memory with a picture, then let the item go by selling or giving it away)

STEP 2: For any space, decide what its function is (ex: this bedroom will serve as a laundry room, crafting space, and art studio). Then, take away everything that doesn’t serve that function. (Note: this might cause clutter elsewhere; in this case, go back to the first step and determine which items you want to keep, trash, etc.)

STEP 3: Once things are in better shape, maintain these three guidelines for any home:

1. A place for everything. (If the item doesn’t have a place, go back to step 1 and determine whether you want to keep, trash, etc.)
2. Don’t put it down, put it away!
3. If it will take you 2 minutes or less to do, do it!

IF YOU HAVE ADDITIONAL TIPS FOR ORGANIZATION, LET US KNOW IN THE COMMENTS SECTION BELOW!