I have no natural gift for personal organization. Nevertheless, I have tried to impose order on my disordered life so many times that I have considered personal organization from many more angles than most people will. Consider me a deeply experienced failure. I am knowledgable because I have tried every way to do it, and uncovered every way to fail.
Thus I feel qualified to preach: Not because I am good at it, but precisely because I am bad.
So here it is, a distillation of my wisdom, as informed by trial and error:
- A bad organizational system is better than none.
- It isn't simply what you write down. It is what the process of writing down does to your brain that creates sense out of chaos.
- Pick a system and stick with it for 6 months. If you feel yourself wanting to abandon it or significantly change it, say to yourself: No, the decision has been made, my job now is to abide by it. This is a surprisingly effective way to stick to a plan. Tell yourself that your past self cannot be overruled. (This is also a form of self-love, to follow your own decisions to the letter. Isn't obedience a form of love? Of course it is.)
- When you get an idea down on paper (or in the computer) there is a feeling of relief. This comes from knowing the idea is recorded and you no longer have to devote mental energy to remembering it. Notice this feeling. Savor it, own it. You want to get addicted to it.
- You will learn how to organize your life as you go. Don't shoot for a perfect system. Settle for a deeply flawed system that you will learn to use more effectively as time passes. (This slightly contradicts precept #3, which counsels against deviation. But there is a difference between abandoning an idea and fine-tuning what is not working.)
- Aesthetics matter. A lot. A whole lot. Choose an organizer that is beautiful to you. Software that pleases the eye. A Moleskine notebook. A Mont Blanc fountain pen. That which pleases your heart will also beckon you back to your task. Use tools in your organizing that you find beautiful. It works every time.
- Time is on your side. It doesn't matter how many times you fail, as long as you allot yourself the time to start again. Patience with yourself is the ultimate form of grace.
- A todo list is a start, but it isn't the end. That is to say, your goal is not to check off items, but to bring a sense of order and control into your life.
- In the beginning, and any time you falter and think you need re-energization, set an alarm for 2 or 3 times a day to just stop and write ideas down, or check them off, or review what you have done. This re-establishes the habit.
- The most important step in establishing a new habit is to do it daily. It doesn't matter how long you spend, even 30 seconds is fine. Just do it daily. Once the habit is ingrained, you can work on spending more time at it. Expanding a habit is much easier once it is ingrained.
- It is OK to do less than you intended as long as it is more than you used to do.