A Place for Everything

One of the first things that many people notice about me is that I'm organized. They hear me explain an idea or they see me run an event and are amazed at the details that I've thought through and how smoothly things go.

However, there is another side of me that really struggles with putting things away where they go. For one thing, I'm often too lazy to put things away. For another, I actually prefer having everything in sight because sometimes when everything's put away, I can't remember where I put it.

You've probably heard the phrase, "A place for everything, and everything in it's place." I have not cared much for this wisdom until recently because I was just focusing on the second half. I had not been interested in putting things in their place for the two reasons I listed above and the fact that several things did not have an official place to be in.

Tonight I spent about 2 hours finding official places for many of my items that had previously been scattered about. During the process it hit me that something can only be in its place if it has a place to be in. Wow--how profound!

As I write this blog entry, I am resting from my efforts over the past 2 hours and pleased at where everything is. I have high motivation to maintain the order that I created tonight because if I know where I can find things, I'll want to put them there.

The Most Important Container

When we clean a room, a desk, or a car we tend to use one or more containers to organize the stuff. Think through the different kinds of storage containers you might use for cleaning. You've got a lot to pick from, including boxes, bags, files, albums, and drawers. So what is the most important container? I'd like to suggest that the most important type of container is a trash can.

Today I was staring at the piles of stuff on my desk. I knew that I needed to put them away--somewhere. Then I asked myself three questions:

1. 1. When have I last used some of this?
2. When will I next use some of this stuff?
3. Why do I even need some of the stuff?

Some people's mindset toward organization is packing more and more stuff into the same space. When the space is completely full, they purchase more storage units or even rent space. But how much of our stuff do we really use?

Now, I'm not suggesting throwing out everything that we own. I'm also not suggesting throwing out sentimental things that we may look at every few years. But we have many things that we no longer use and really should get rid of. We think that hanging onto them will somehow make us happy, when in reality hanging onto them often leads to stress with figuring out where to store them.

The same concept applies to other areas of life, like time management. Some of us try to keep cramming more and more activities into a week. I know several people who are definitely overcommitted with several activities, but they don't have time to stop and enjoy the things they're doing.

The well-known quote "Less is More" is simple, yet profound, and yet I find myself needing to be reminded of it over and over again. I would encourage anyone to schedule a time every couple of months to re-evaluate the stuff and activities they we are trying to hang on to. Although it is difficult to let some things go, there is usually a feeling of relief after making our lives simpler.