The Key Question That Will Help You Stay Organized
“The Christian who neglects his temporal duties, neglects his duties toward his neighbor and even God, and jeopardizes his eternal salvation” (St. Paul VI, “Gaudium et spes”).
Have you ever completed a really successful process of finally getting organized, only to find yourself, a week later, frustrated at the state of your desk, inbox, closet, or hard drive? Sometimes, it seems like no matter how hard we try, stuff just piles up.
If you’ve finally found a way to get organized that works for you (which might require some trial and error), you might feel like everything should just stay that way. But the truth is, getting organized and staying organized are two different activities.
Getting organized involves creating a system for dealing with the things we currently possess and making a plan for the things that will come into our possession. Staying organized means actually dealing with things as they come into our possession. It’s an ongoing process.
Know Yourself
To successfully stay organized, then, answer this key question: Am I going to deal with each thing as it comes or deal with everything together later?
If you aren’t sure what your natural tendency is, ask yourself how you handle these routine situations:
When you collect your mail, do you go through it right away? Or is there a stack of envelopes somewhere in your house, waiting to be sorted?
When you finish a cup of coffee, do you wash your mug immediately? Or do you leave it sitting by the sink with the bowl from breakfast and last night’s wine glasses, knowing you can load everything in the dishwasher later?
Do you like to play ping-pong with your email, trying to keep it at inbox zero? Or do you let the messages pile up so you can respond to everything all at once?
You might have different approaches in different circumstances, but chances are, you’ll tend toward one way pretty consistently. Once you know your tendency, you can decide which is the best approach for your situation.
Two Approaches
Sometimes, dealing with everything as it comes is necessary for our work. For example, medical personnel, receptionists, customer service representatives, and others who have a lot of direct contact with people often have to handle each situation as it arises. Their work is reactive, so creative planning or strategic organizing has to happen between primary tasks.
Other situations lend themselves to further consideration. Does your job require you to respond to each email immediately? Do you have to answer each call as it comes in? Do you have to package and ship out every order immediately?
If not, you might benefit from being strategic about staying organized in your work. If you can designate a specific time to deal with all emails, voicemails, and orders, you might be surprised how much more efficient you become. Instead of playing ping-pong with your inbox all morning, you can decide to respond to all emails at 11 a.m., giving you a good two or three hours for deep work before the distraction begins.
Or, instead of packaging and shipping each order as it comes in, you can create a list of all orders and deal with them at the same time. If you try to answer emails, take a phone call, ship orders, and work on a project within the same short span of time, chances are that you’ll end up feeling scattered. Plus, you’ll be much more likely to make mistakes.
The other benefit of designating a time to deal with all non-urgent tasks is that it takes the mental pressure off of each one as it demands your attention. It’s a lot easier to set something aside if you know you’ve committed a specific time to deal with it all at once.
Make It a Habit
The key is having the self-discipline to actually follow through on your plans to deal with all non-urgent tasks later. Create a habit by making it easy for yourself: Block out a designated time in your schedule, set a timer, and even establish a reward system if it helps cement the practice.
Of course, each person is different, and the challenge comes in expressing our own preferences and respecting other’s natural tendencies. (Who hasn’t received staff memos about coffee mugs left in the sink?) If you’re starting a new method of getting and staying organized, it’s worth communicating with your colleagues who may be affected by it. Even good change can be challenging at first!
The “now or later” question isn’t only helpful for staying organized in the little things; it also lends itself to discussions about bigger strategic processes in your work and personal life. Do you need to enter all your expenses into your budget right away? Or is there enough room for flexible entry? If so, what does that say about how income is processed? What actually counts as an “emergency” when it comes to emails and texts? Is it really necessary for notifications to go off all the time, or can the work wait until business hours? Does the company designate any time for employees in front-of-house positions to spend some time in creative, strategic planning?
Once you’ve begun to ask yourself the key “now or later” question, the answers to the rest of these questions will fall into place, and you’ll be well on your way to staying organized.
Kerri Christopher is a life consultant. She helps individuals learn to discern well, discover their priorities, and make plans to move forward. From “what am I doing with my life?” to “why is my closet always a mess?,” she loves helping people sift through the tough questions by integrating the wisdom and truths of the Christian life with the best practices of human “self-help.” Kerri has both an MA and STL in theology and has taught at universities in the US and UK. With her British husband, she lives in London, where she enjoys discovering cozy pubs and beautiful architecture. You can find her online at Clarity Life Consulting.