Do you waste much time in searching for things? Many people spend an inordinate part of their lives merely looking for things - their keys, glasses, purses, wallets, personal articles, important papers...
the list is endless! Hardly a day passes without the familiar words, "Now, where did I leave my _____?" In many cases, the missing object could be sitting quite conspicuously in the open, hiding as it were in plain sight.
Just because there was no designated place for the object, its location becomes a mystery.
Have you ever seen a room that looks as though a tornado passed through it? The old joke goes: "Did someone ransack your house?" "No, this is how it usually is.
" Looking for anything in such a room is the same as looking for a needle in a haystack.
And it is a colossal waste of time! If, on the other hand, there was a place for everything and everything was in its place, can you imagine how quickly you would be able to put your hands on anything you needed? And can you imagine how much more you could achieve in the time you would save? In another article, I have elaborated on the value of routines.
When something becomes a routine, it is achieved without conscious thought so that the precious "thought bandwidth" can be spent on other, more important ruminations.
Likewise, if there were a designated place for everything, and if putting things in there place became a routine, there would be no conscious thought in putting things away.
And when you look for something in its designated place, you would find it right there! On the other hand, you may say, "It may look like a mess, but I know exactly where everything is.
" If so, congratulations.
You don't have to waste time looking for things.
But how would you instruct someone else to fetch something for you? Would you state the location of the item in azimuthal coordinates? If things were organized, you could tell someone, "Get me the Warner account file from my filing cabinet.
It will be filed in the third shelf under 'W'.
" In other words, if things were placed in their designated locations, you could delegate the fetching and carrying of trivial things.
Otherwise, you will have get everything yourself.
A waste of time.
Related to this is the concept of preparing yourself for every task.
I use the example of putting together a desk from the kit you would get at IKEA.
You could be prepared and collect every tool you need for the task before you begin, or go for each tool as and when you need it.
The latter, obviously, would be a waste of time.
More so if you had to search for every item.
Now, about the cost of clutter and the benefits of personal organization: The cost of clutter is not only the time, effort and thought lost in searching for things.
Clutter without reflects clutter within.
An organized mind is more prepared to handle situations, crises and stress.
Clutter also brings down your self image and reduces your performance in most activities.
An organized mind is more confident and effective.
Clutter brings down your reputation.
An organized person is expected to be more reliable.
Finally, clutter can be a distraction.
I have written in the past on the time management impact of distractions.
Clutter has the same effect.
An organized mind is free from distractions.
Sometimes, clutter exists only because there is a great reluctance to change the status quo.
It has been said that many people would rather die than think - imagine the thought that goes into designating places for everything.
You don't have to organize everything on day one.
It is enough to get started by setting aside broad spaces for general categories of things and work down to levels of granularity.
After all, Rome wasn't built in a day.
The Chinese have the saying, "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
"