It starts with a thought.
The signs appear in the neatness of our spaces, the functionality of our filing systems, and the likelihood that we’ll be somewhere on time. But, this nebulous state we call “organized” really is a state of mind.
I help people to achieve it by starting at the source: Getting their thoughts in order.
Thoughts and Feelings, Behaviors and Signs
Thoughts produce emotions, and both produce behaviors. Behaviors don’t directly produce organization. What they produce are signs of organization–of organized thoughts. Or, they leave evidence of a moment, a period, or a life of ongoing disorganization.
- Misplacing your keys once in a while is a sign of a disorganized moment. Most likely, something disrupted your routine right then, and you gapped.
- A desk or countertop that’s unusually cluttered signals a disorganized period: A really rough week, a recent misfortune, an especially challenging project.
- Being known for being late, teased for your messy office, in trouble for your chaotic paperwork, criticized for your cluttered home … these are signs of ongoing, or chronic, disorganization. You might not believe it can get better, but it can.
One. Or More.
For one person, becoming more organized means committing some time and attention to systems: Designing them (thoughts), liking them (emotions), using them (behaviors), revising them as needed (back to thoughts). You start with a system to solve one problem, get comfortable with it, then add another and make it compatible with the first. And so on, until you’ve met your personal definition of “organized.”
For a group, whether a family, a work team, or an entire company, organization starts with the same commitments, but it is complicated by (and possibly doomed by) the conflicting needs, priorities, and abilities of each member. One member’s organization won’t rub off on the others, but it will often rub them the wrong way and cause even more stress. In a group, emotions can easily outshout thoughts and skew behaviors. Groups challenged by disorganization in one or more members need a helper with the highest level of expertise to address the needs of the individuals and the group at the same time.
My clients start out as people who want to be more organized, who have an idea of what that would look like, but who can’t quite see how to get there. They become people who understand how their unique minds put things into order; in groups, they also learn how the others tick, and how to organize around their collective needs and goals. They come to understand what works to convert their thoughts and feelings into motivation, action, and the coveted outward signs of organization: The tidy space, the managed papers, the completed projects, the on-time arrivals.
Welcome to Thoughts In Order
This is what I do, and who I am.
Organization is my gift. Teaching it is my skill. Seeing you achieve it is my joy.