Organization: What it Really Means

Most people like to call themselves “organized” - but what does that actually mean?

Being organized is more than just having a pencil case, or buying an agenda. To be “organized”, you’ll find, goes beyond your things.

I like to categorize organization into 3 main categories, each of which reaches a new level of “being organized”:

1. Organization of items

2. Organization of time

3. Organization of the mind

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1. Organization of items

This is the most basic form of organization, and the easiest one to accomplish. Organization of items refers to having a pencil come test day, paper in your binder, and all your things in their place. Outside of the school environment, this could mean a clean pantry, a de-cluttered work space, or a tidied-up drawer.

Being organized in this manner saves you time, as it’s easier to find your things and you are not mindlessly searching for anything. In fact, nowadays there are even devices, such as Tile, that serve as a tracker for items in case you misplace them.

Thus, when people say that they are organized, this is probably the type of “organized” that they are referring to. What they don’t know, is that this is just the tip of the iceberg - and that being organized actually means much more than just having your things together (though this is the first step).

2. Organization of time

One of the most difficult forms of organization, especially for students! Going beyond the first type of organization, “organization of time” refers to making sure that you have enough of it for everything on your to-do list. If you are thinking that your to-do list is too long, perhaps it’s time to reconsider your priorities - and make sure you’re devoting your time to the things that count.

Organization of time also refers to making sure you’re establishing a balance in your life - that you’re getting enough sleep, maintaining a regular schedule, and that you’re leaving some time in the day for yourself, to unwind and relax.

Recall: taking care of yourself is important :)

That’s where time management comes into play - ie., poor time management probably means that you aren’t organizing your time well enough.

If you find yourself unorganized in this manner, take a step back and evaluate where the majority of your time is going. Are you wasting it, or are you devoting it to something that’s just eating up too much of it? Try and trim back the amount of time you spend on one task, and reallocate this to another. Being efficient is one of the best skills to have, because it lets you accomplish more!

3. Organization of the mind

Finally, the last type of organization, and one of the hardest ones to master, is the organization of the mind. We’ve all heard the term “scatterbrain”, but it’s important to recognize that thinking about 30 things at once is much less productive then just thinking about 1.

Having an organized mind is important not only because it makes you a more productive person, but it’s also much better for your mental health - you’ll even be able to go to sleep with (less) nagging thoughts, meaning you’ll probably function better come the morning.

With all this in mind… are you still an organized person? You probably have one of these types nailed to perfection, in which case you can focus on improving the others. Remember, there’s no perfect example of anyone who is fully organized - everyone develops their own skills and builds up a form of organization that works for them - so it’s important to think of it in this way, rather than trying to attain “maximum organization”.

As we enter 2020, try and add in something related to organization in your New Year’s resolution.

Happy (early) New Year!