Happy February! We are on to the second month of the new year – how are you doing with your goals for this year? Have you implemented any new organizational approaches? How is it going?
I spend a lot of time on the internet looking for organization tips and tricks – something that clicks with my way of thinking – something that sounds like it won’t take too much time to implement, but will pay off in really helping me spend time on my priorities and what I value – basically, life hacks. During my searches, it didn’t take me long to stumble upon references to “Organizing from the Inside Out” by Julie Morgenstern. I was intrigued because it sounded like an approach very similar to mine – looking at how you think about life and what you value (the “inside”) to figure out the best approach to organizing (the “outside”).
Have you read it? Disclaimer, I have not read the book, but I’ve done a lot of research (book description, free excerpts, and reviews of the book) about the book’s premise, and I was so disappointed! The book starts out exactly as I had thought – pointing out how some of us try and try to get organized, but often do not succeed. But then it takes a very discouraging turn – the reason for your failure is because “you have never learned to organize”.
Does anyone else find this the most patronizing and demeaning comment ever? Never learned? From the age of two we are asked to pick up our toys, by three shown where the hamper is and where to put our dirty clothes, by school age we have had multiple life lessons in organization (art supplies, outside toys, inside toys, desks, closets, bookshelves). The assumption that we’ve spend our life under some rock with no exposure to how to organize is wrong on so many levels, it basically ruins anything that Julie has to say to us afterwards. In fact, many of the negative reviews mention how much of the “lessons” that Julie shares are just common sense – things that we have learned over the years. She actually writes, “of course you never learned organization skills, it’s not a subject taught in schools.” Um, yeah, it is! Ask any teacher, in any grade, and I’m sure they can come up with several examples of where they are teaching and exemplifying organizational skills.
I think that this book, with its ignorant statement, irked me so much because it, once again, implies that if you are naturally disorganized, there is something wrong with you. You are ignorant, you never learned how to organize, or if you did – it wasn’t the right way. All you need to do is try harder, and you too can stay organized.
Let me state this loud and clear: THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH YOU!
My own opinion is that the organizing profession cannot be successful with the naturally disorganized because they cannot relate to our point of view. Organization is such a part of who they are (and usually has been since birth), that they see our organization challenges as completely solvable – as long as you do exactly what they say to do, which is how they would do it. I know I’m generalizing here, but in the examples that professional organizers use, they usually have a big clean up effort, and then set up a system for the disorganized person to keep the area/room/vehicle/computer organized. What they don’t show is how that is working six months later.
I believe that naturally disorganized people possess the knowledge and skill for organization – or even on-going maintenance, but what we lack is the interest and/or time commitment it takes to keep up with these systems. We need to have something in it for us, we need to see the cost/benefit.
Several years ago I decided to tackle our foundation garden which had overgrown yews and a dying evergreen too close to the house. I consulted a professional at our local garden center, and I confessed that I wasn’t much of a gardener, so whatever we designed had to be low maintenance. She said she understood, but she also wanted to make it clear to me that there wasn’t a “no maintenance” option – that even a pile of dirt would require some maintenance – weed pulling and such. I understand that – and I think about organization systems the same way. I know that it requires some maintenance, but I’m not much of an organization person, so I want it to be as low maintenance as possible.
One thing on which I agree with Julie – a key to getting and staying organized is knowing yourself. Know your values and priorities, know your strengths and challenges, and then you can build on that to determine what will work for you.
I’d love to know if you’ve read Julie’s book and if you liked it. Have you read any other organization books? Which ones have you found helpful?