My wife is the most organized person I have ever met. When I first met her I saw the signs early when we were in Denver and she laid out all the airplane snacks by size in the hotel room. I used to refer to her personality as being OCD, without thinking about how, or why, she put in so much effort to get every little thing in order.
After being married to her for almost 7 years, and becoming a student in organization, I can safely say that now, I get it. The time she saves by putting everything in order around the house, keeping handwritten lists, and committing to completing everything on her to-do list, allows her to get more done in a day than anyone else I have ever met.
Dr. Daniel Levitin explains why putting things in order around the house helps our brains function more efficiently in his novel, 'The Organized Mind'.
“One solution is to put systems in place at home that will tame the mess-an infrastructure for keeping track of things, sorting them, placing them in locations where they will be found and not lost. The task of organizational systems is to provide maximum information with the least cognitive effort.”
Marie Kondo gives a good example in her book, 'The life changing magic of tidying up',
“When your room is clean and uncluttered, you have no choice but to examine your inner state. You can see any issues you have been avoiding and are forced to deal with them.”
When it comes to making lists and keeping track of tasks, Dr Levitin explains why this is vital.
“Writing things down conserves the mental energy expended in worrying that you might forget something and in trying not to forget it. The neuroscience of it is that the mind-wandering network is competing with the central executive, and in such a battle, the mind-wandering default mode network usually wins.”
There is no ignoring the science behind why writing things down helps, and if you need proof, here are a couple articles on the science behind it all.
Ink on Paper: Some Notes on Note Taking* - Association for Psychological Science
How Handwriting Trains the Brain – Wall Street Journal
To help review and action the items on your task list you need a good system that requires constant review and prioritization. For this, the Bullet Journal is a must. This system is becoming more and more popular due to how easy it is, and how effective it is when it comes to following through. There are Facebook Groups dedicated to helping you with setup.
There are even very creative bullet journalists that I have come to call ‘organizational artists’, one of which being craftyenginerd on Instagram
See this Instagram photo by @craftyenginerd * 396 likes
If you already are an organized person then you have your systems in place, but it can get hard trying to explain this to someone else, let alone live with someone that is not as organized. They may try to shut you down when it comes to getting the house cleaned up, or call you OCD and Type-A. For these folks, just send them the above info, or just smile and laugh knowing that you will get more done in a day than they will all week…
