“may-bes” — containers that fall somewhere in between and are more a matter of personal preference. This time, as you scan the chart, go down the columns, and look for containers that are a yes or a maybe for both your personal style and your organizational style.
Lisa’s Lists
Three More Things to Remember
1. Every style has attributes. This is true for organizational styles just as it is for personal styles. Although the organizational styles described in this chapter fly in the face of traditional methods, each still has an element of organizational logic behind it. Working with our styles makes organizing less of a hassle, and choosing tools that make sense based on what we do naturally makes it more likely that we’ll use them on a consistent and long-term basis.
2. We organize best when we integrate our personal and organizational styles. Sound difficult? It’s not. Because both our personal and organizational styles are what we do naturally, we’ve already integrated them within ourselves. The next step is choosing the tools that work for both of our styles and purposefully using them in ways that work for us.
3. There is no one right answer. Two people could have the same personal and organizational styles but choose completely different ways of putting them to work. Style and taste preferences, available space, and a multitude of other factors will determine what shape each person’s organizational system takes.
Organizing by STYLE
Chapter 4
S: Start with Successes
Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them.
ROMANS 12:6
In part I, we identified and described personal and organizational styles and how they fit together, and took a brief look at some of the basic strategies that work for each of them. In part II, we’ll take a look at a different kind of STYLE: the process we’ll use to take ourselves from where we are to where we want to be.
Each chapter in part II will focus on one letter of the STYLE acronym:
Start with successes
Take small steps
Yes, it has a home!
Let it go
Easy upkeep
In addition to being part of a process, each step stands alone and is a strategy we can return to as we troubleshoot problem areas or systems that aren’t quite working. Keep in mind that these steps should work for you, not the other way around. They are prompts, not hard-and-fast rules, meant to remind you of your organizational goals.
Ready to dig in? Let’s move from theory to practice. Grab your Style Sheets from chapter 3 and choose a starting point. It can be as small as a closet or as big as a bedroom. It can be the space you’re proudest of, or it can be the space most in need of improvement.
At my house, if I wanted to start with a place that’s in good shape, I’d go stand in my living room. If I wanted a challenge, I’d stand in the doorway of my too-small, not-enough-storage home office or beside my dining room table, which tends to be a magnet for all things paper. Regardless of which space I choose, I will find organizational successes and, most likely, organizational challenges.
And that’s the purpose of this task.
So, there you are, standing in (or outside of) the space you’ve chosen. Glance down at your Style Sheets and remind yourself of the best part of your primary style. Then, take in the space as impartially as possible. What organizational successes can you find?
Let’s use my office as an example because it contains both successes and challenges. Under the counter, I have labeled decorative boxes containing information for the classes I teach. The boxes match, which makes them look nice, but also makes the labels essential so I can tell what’s inside. My personal style is I need to see it, which means that unlabeled matching boxes would be an organizational nightmare. The labels, which are handwritten on 1 1/2” × 2” sticky notes (sticky enough to stay put, easy enough to remove if I change my mind), allow me to see at a glance what’s inside each box. In addition, those labels nudge me to put course material for only one particular topic inside each box. Looking closely, I see that I got lazy and stuck some papers on top of one of the boxes instead of inside of it, a piece of information we’ll come back to later. For now, what’s important is that the matched boxes, usually a no-no for someone like me with an I need to see it personal style, work because they are labeled, because their pattern is distinct and attractive (a key element to containers for many of the styles), and because I have limited the contents of each box to one very specific type of material. These boxes are one of my successes.
Above the counter, I have two cabinets (kitchen cabinets selected specifically for this space, even though it’s not a kitchen). When I open the doors, I can see everything they hold. Nothing is tossed in haphazardly or in random piles. Bins that hold supplies are labeled. With one glance, I can see everything inside the cupboards. These cabinets, too, are a success.
If I were to evaluate the room completely, I could find more successes, as well as numerous things that are not working so well at the moment (like those papers I stuck on top of the boxes instead of inside them). But, for this initial assessment, we are setting the challenges aside — we’ll deal with those in a bit.
Take a moment to look at the space you’ve chosen as impartially as possible, paying special attention to areas, no matter how small, that are organized. Then, answer these three questions:
• Where are my successes?
• What makes them successes?
• How do they connect with my styles?
Go ahead. I’ll wait right here.
•••
What did your assessment reveal? Can you find any patterns? A particular system, container, or routine that keeps part of this space in order?
Your successes are the foundation of your organizational system. If something is working here, chances are you can make that same something (or something like it) work in other areas of your house as well. It doesn’t matter if the tools you’re using aren’t designed to work in other spaces; the only design rules that matter are the ones that contribute to a system that works for you. My home office has a kitchen countertop and kitchen cabinets because that was what worked with the space and for my styles. And those
