one.
I Need to See It
What it looks like: Just like the other two personal styles, the I need to see it personal style is just what it sounds like. Afraid that out of sight will mean out of mind, those with this personal style leave physical reminders for every important task out in plain sight. While leaving a backpack and lunch bag beside the door isn’t such a big deal, the I need to see it reminder plan can become problematic if those with this style have lots of interests (like Isabelle in chapter 1), have lots of things to remember, and/or fail to put away these physical reminders once the task has been completed.
The heart of the problem: attempting to use piles as a workable organizational system.
Positive attributes: optimism and categorizing. Those with an I need to see it personal style really do believe they’re going to be able to do all those things in all those piles — and some days, they do. And because their piles are their system, just one pile won’t do. Each pile represents a category or line item on a list. Tossing everything into one stack might look neater, but a single pile often defeats the purpose for those with this personal style.
Putting it to work: Keeping things visible is the key to success for those with this personal style. Containers and folders that are clear, color-coded, or labeled will beat out traditional tools such as binders, pocket folders, and file cabinets every time. Shelves work better than drawers, but subdividing drawers also works well; when a single glance reveals everything inside the open drawer, it’s less intimidating to put things in the drawer (out of sight) in the first place. File boxes with open tops also work well, especially when combined with colored file folders. The more see-through, colorful, patterned, or unique the storage, the better. The goal is to maintain the visual nudge by using something neater and more organized than piles.
So why not just make lists? If you have to ask that, you don’t have an I need to see it personal style. I need to see it folks do make lists; we just supplement them with piles. Items on a list blend together into a unified whole, causing individual items to disappear onto the page; crossing items off a list, no matter how motivating, can’t top reducing and removing piles from a horizontal surface. When the piles are gone, the I need to see it person knows she’s finished. Unfortunately, the piles are rarely gone.
Can I Have More Than One Style?
When I first share the styles quiz, I frequently get the question, “Can I be all of them?” The answer is yes … and no.
While it’s possible to have elements of each of the styles, most of us end up identifying one predominant personal style and one predominant organizational style. These styles pave the way to organizational systems that play to our strengths. But even though our predominant styles form the foundation of our organizational systems, the traits we share with other styles broaden the range of tools that work for us. Combining the tool options that work for our primary styles with those that work from other styles allows us more choices and helps us to infuse creativity into our organizational plans.
For example, even though my predominant personal style is I need to see it, I can also identify with both of the other personal styles, I love stuff and I love to be busy. Because of this, I can adopt tools and strategies from these styles, as long as they work with my primary style. No matter how pretty, cool, or unique the container, if it doesn’t give me the visual nudge I need, it will be an obstacle rather than a tool.
Confused? Here’s the simple version. Use your primary styles — one personal style and one organizational style — as the foundation of your organizational system. Then use your tendencies from the other styles to build on that foundation, adding variety and creativity while staying true to what works.
Oh — and don’t forget to have fun.
Smart organizers know when to ask for help
Dear Lord, help me to remember that my personal styles are a part of the me you created. Help me to use them in constructive ways so that I may be more at peace with myself and with all that surrounds me. Amen.
Chomping at the bit to get started, even though we’re only in chapter 2? Go for it! Check out this chart on containers by personal style. A “yes” means that type of container is a good match for the style; a “no” means just the opposite. Blank cells are “maybes” — containers that fall somewhere in between and are more a matter of personal preference.
Lisa’s Lists
Three Things to Remember
1. Every style has positive attributes. Because our styles have most likely gotten in our way in the past, it’s easy to see them only as stumbling blocks. But once we acknowledge and embrace our styles, we can use them to our advantage. When we adopt this new perspective, we unlock the potential behind our styles as tools for getting organized in a way that makes sense to us and is therefore sustainable.
2. A sense of humor is an important tool in the organizing arsenal. Because you’re reading this book, I’m assuming you have a sense of humor, but it’s been subjugated by the judgments you (and perhaps others) have made about the very styles I’m asking you to embrace. Why not try dusting off that sense of humor and taking a more lighthearted approach? At the very least, it’ll save you from expending energy on making yourself feel bad, and at best it can lead you to a self-acceptance that enables you to come up with creative ways of using your styles in ways that work for you. Either way, you’ll have smiled.
3. It’s a process. Identifying your personal and organizational styles is the first step in this one-step-forward-two-steps-back process. Some days you’ll feel like an organizational guru and other days, you’ll feel like the Queen (or King) of Chaos. Baby steps.
Chapter 3
Organizational Styles: Our Default Settings
And there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in every one.
1 CORINTHIANS 12:6
If the personal styles are the “who” behind our organizational systems, the organizational styles are the “how” — our organizational defaults, as it were. In this chapter, we’ll explore the organizational styles — I know I put it somewhere, cram and jam, and drop and run — just as we did with the personal styles in chapter 2. Once again, feel free to skip ahead to the section of this chapter that matches your style and then come back to the information about the other styles to see if you can pick up any additional hints.
Let’s start with the organizational style we identified for Gemma in chapter 1: I know I put it somewhere.
I Know I Put It Somewhere
What
