Which type of organiser are you? Messy or Tidy? My easy system for stress free life; kids or not!

Rachael explains the strengths and weaknesses in both type of organiser and how you can best work with both, to serve your needs and get all of that rubbish out of your head!

We all knew it was going to happen; God only knows why it was left to the last minute to let schools, businesses and homes organise themselves at the last minute.

But here we are none the less!

And it’s fine. You’ll get there. Grab a cuppa and take five minutes each day to feel better!

This is how I organise my business around my kids but you can apply it to everything! (who’d a thought a business management course would give you real life skills ey?!). And although I was prompted to publish this to help all of us currently thinking WTAF!!!, you can use this with or without small humans at home!

We can roughly divide ourselves into two banks for organising our life; messy and tidy. Both work. And I firmly fall into the first one.

Tidy; you’ll know where everything is. Everything has a home and is neat and tidy. Unbalanced tidy shows as you can get a little OCD or anxious when everything’s not where it should be.

Messy; you generally know where everything is. That maybe the pile on the table. Or the papers in your bag or car. Or may take you five minutes to find it, it may have a coffee ring on it when you complete it and you may leave things to the last minute. They generally get done. Imbalanced is missing deadlines where you really needed to do something or not being able to find things. Dirty mess, hording & unopened post.

Research shows that messy organisers are just as organised as tidy ones. A desk, fit example, will have near the top or centre of a pile the important things that need to be done. Things which don’t get done, or sit at the bottom of the pile or at the edge of the desk, actually aren’t important.

We often find that organisation is a standard way is acceptable and therefore encouraged within society. What we find is that those that are naturally tidy are rewarded and it can tip the natural tidiness into OCD. And that those that are messy are reprimanded and do not see the benefit in their skill; the ability to intuitively know what does not serve them and to let go of things easier. The resulting lack in confidence in their skill or their gut instinct can have an effect on other areas of their life, but they certainly will think they are disorganised by nature; when all they do is organise in another, not typical way. So start to take confidence that you are not an unorganised mess or a total control freak; you are actually something in the middle and I hope that this will help you start to find that middle ground!

My Organisation methods!

• Grab a cuppa & sit down.

• List down everything you need to do. Remember you can make multiple lists!

• Number them in priority order.

• Pop it in a place which is easy to see.

• Add anything during the day that comes up or you have forgetten.

• Don’t worry about getting everything done in the day.

• Next morning, add anything and reprioritise.

• Remember that you can redo a list at anytime.

• Now for the magic! As things come to the bottom, on a regular basis, know that they don’t have the purpose or value in your life that you may have originally thought. (The Japanese philosophy of anything in your life must either serve a purpose or bring beautiful to it is a good one to live by!).

If you take a little from both camps then you’ll find that it’ll serve you well!! When I worked in the corporate world (something I did well, but hated and not always liked for saying the ‘right’ thing), I learned to organise myself in a different manner from what I was naturally used to.

When I came out of the corporate world and worked for myself, I researched and embraced my true nature. It was a lightbulb moment! I no understood my strengths and was then able to work with them so much better. My natural ability to choose what really needed doing and to let go of that which didn’t serve me, showed in my organisational abilities. It has been a god-send!

The basics!

Remember you can use a system which is free like Trello, (available desktop and app), your memo or notes app on your phone, or the back of an envelope! I personally like to physically write. There is something in the act of writing which makes something real and tangible.

The reason why lists work is that they are simple and they get all of that rubbish out of your head and onto a piece of paper. The more you hold onto in your conscious brain, and you can’t let go of it because you may forget it. The more you empty your brain of this detritus that doesn’t actually need to be there; the easier you will find it to relax. I often find those starting out in meditation struggle to put thoughts or chores down mentally, as they don’t trust themselves enough not to forget about it. The fact is that you are capable and you will get done what you need to, but having a safety net there while you build up your self trust is a wonderful tool.

When something is out of your head, you can look at it with perspective. And when you have your list you may find immediately when you look at the real things which are genuinely important to you and your family, and compare that to something which, in reality, is superficial, you start scrubbing stuff off the list straight away!

A list can sometimes be overwhelming, which is also why it is good to have multiple lists, often the list length is a relief!

It can really help with goal setting if you are going through a depressed period where you have no motivation. Getting the basics of getting washed and dressed and making you feel human, maybe your priority, followed by ordering some nutritious food for click and collect maybe the things that are actually going to be the building blocks on which you can start to pick yourself up. One step at a time.

If you have found this useful, please comment or like! Let me know which type of organiser you are!

Till next time!

Love as always

Rachael x