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We think it's high time for a new standard of organization: an imperfect one.
What does it mean to be imperfectly organized? Foremost, it is a mind-set. It means making a conscious decision to let go of the notion that everything must pass inspection by the organizational police, and instead permit yourself to keep the gears of your life turning in your own unique way.
Even if it involves shortcuts and a little messiness that might horrify your mother or mother-in-law, the goal is to have enough structure in place to avoid missing important things, yet remain limber enough to handle the inevitable curve-balls that get thrown your way.
And unless you have enough time to make organization a full-time job, you'll need to embrace shortcuts and imperfect approaches to getting organized. Remember, organization is not an end state, it's an ongoing fact of life—a process.
Color-coded family schedules, name-plated toy cubbies, and pristine closets are nice to have and even nicer to look at in books and magazines; but if you don't have them, it doesn't mean you're not truly organized. Imperfect approaches to organization work.
The tips we've collected are straightforward enough to be useful to almost everybody. And even better, they've been road tested for effectiveness.
Our goal is to help you define organizing in a way that will enable you to do a better job of managing the things you love to do, not do more organizing.
Taking charge may feel strange at first—old habits die hard. But it is worth the effort. It's tempting to define organizational solutions tactically, such as "set up a filing system" or "get toy bins." But unless you take the time to (1) identify your real organizational issues, (2) understand the root causes of those issues, and (3) consciously arrive at a clear understanding of a "good enough" goal, you're likely to fall back into your old habits.
When it comes to getting organized, there is only one thing that matters: your own sense of having it together. Focus on defining what that means to you.
Adapted with permission from Pretty Neat - The Buttoned-Up Way to Get Organized and Let Go of Perfection by Alicia Rockmore and Sarah Welch, published by Seal Press, © Copyright January 2011.
