Streamline Your Success: Get Organized
Streamline your success by organizing your world mentally and physically. Stop wasting time looking for things you need to get things done. Being organized reduces stress and increases productivity.
Being Organized Is Key
Organization turns chaos into order. A feeling of not having control causes most stress. Order reduces stress, improves creativity, saves time, and gives personal power.
We need to sort things out both externally (environment) and internally (mentally). Getting organized clears mental and physical clutter, giving you more personal power.
Disorder creates confusion → fear → procrastination. Where there’s clutter, opportunities get blocked.
Problem: We often have more stuff than space—material objects, attitudes, habits that trap us in mediocrity and rob productive energy.
Solution: Eliminate underbrush to see the forest. “Clear” means open to sight, free from uncertainty. Make mental “headroom.”
Organization Myths
- Not a moral issue—disorganized people aren’t bad, just stressed and confused
- Neatness ≠ organization—neatniks can be clueless; “messy” people can have systems
- Psychological, not educational—”I don’t want to” vs. “I don’t know how”
If stuck: Consider counseling for deep resistance to letting go.
Internal Organization: Command Center Atom
Most goal-setting is vague wish lists. Internal organization uses the Command Center Atom to tap moral intelligence and life wisdom.
Stretch creative muscles like a mental workout. Vague lists lack focus. We empower what we focus on.
External Organization: Keep Your Environment Clear
Physical disorder creates bottlenecks and overwhelm. Here’s a step-by-step process:
ACTION STEPS
Step 1: List all places/things needing organization
Step 2: Prioritize attack order
Step 3: Commit to start by designated time
Step 4: Take one thing at a time
Step 5: Empty and clean it completely
Step 6: Sort the pile—purge, toss, give away, or organize systematically
Decision questions:
- Has family used it in past year?
- Serves worthwhile purpose?
- Needed for legal/tax?
- Someone else wants it?
Step 7: Put back neatly. Visit office supply/hardware stores for organizers. Consider professional help.
Step 8: Reward yourself.
Practical Organization Tips
- Calendar system: Thorough + convenient
- Spiral notebook: Capture ideas daily—unclutters mind
- Write everything down—don’t trust memory
- To-do lists: Monthly/weekly/daily. Prioritize: Urgent | Important | Misc
Organization frequency:
- Desk: 10 minutes end of workday
- Office: Friday afternoons
- Closets: Spring + Fall
- Garage: Every May
- Filing: Every December
Mail strategy:
- Handle daily
- Trash junk mail immediately
- Trashcan = best friend
Workspace rules:
- No storage on desks/tables/countertops
- Desktop only for daily-use items
Expiration mindset:
- You’re not National Archives
- Files/clothes/sentimental items expire