There are plenty of people on social media and other online spaces who are talking about their apparently perfect, blissful, über-organized routines that other people should be living up to if they’re to have any hope of being happy. I’ve always been organized, and now it’s something rely on to compensate for some of the deficits from my mental illness, and it plays a very, very different role in my life from the fake reality (at least I think it’s fake) that’s shown on social media. In this post, I wanted to explore the helpful vs. unhelpful roles that trying to be organized can play.
Initial energy input for longer-term lower output
Setting up a system requires an initial input of effort to develop the system and put everything where it needs to be. I don’t think there’s any way of getting around that. But once you’ve got your organization system set up, you may be able to save time and effort on an ongoing basis moving forward without having to put in a lot of work at maintenance.
Let’s say your closet is a disaster area. It’ll take a while to get it organized, but once there’s a place for everything and everything is in its place, it doesn’t take that much extra effort to return individual things to their home rather than shoving them in haphazardly. Then when you’re looking for a particular item, you know where it’s supposed to live, and boom, it’s there. Quick and easy. That initial input of extra effort to create a system pays off regularly moving forward, as it takes a lot less time for the routine task of retrieving things from the closet. This isn’t about making your closet look Insta-perfect. To hell with how it looks; that’s not what gives you the ongoing payoff. It’s improved functionality that can reduce the energy requirements long-term.
I find routine takes a lot less mental energy than approaching life as a hodgepodge. When I get up in the morning, at the same time that I grab my laptop, I toss my journal and med dosette onto my bed where I can’t ignore them. Because that’s built into my routine, it’s automatic; if I were to rely on spontaneously thinking to do those things, I would probably regularly forget to journal and take my morning meds. In this case, my goal with my routine is not to do more; it’s to make the things I’m doing happen with less effort.
Compensating for deficits
A good system should be able to carry some of the weight you would otherwise have had to carry mentally. Brain fog and memory issues are common for people with a lot of different mental and physical health conditions. I have a tendency to forget things exist if they’re not right in front of me, but if I can slot physical items or bits of information in the appropriate place, that reduces the chance that they’ll get lost in a sea of confusion.
I get easily overwhelmed, and being organized allows me to handle more information than I’d otherwise be able to. I use my Apple Notes app quite a bit, and I have a fairly elaborate folder system. However, that system means that there’s always a home for new bits of information. I don’t even try to hold that information in my head; I can just slot it into the appropriate folder. When I later need to retrieve information, I don’t have to try to fish around in my head; I just go to the folder where any relevant information I had would live. Without having a system to manage it, I wouldn’t be able to hold on to most of that information, and the bits I did remember would be an incoherent jumble in my head if they managed to stick around at all.
Those pesky shoulds
I think where organization can get to be a problem is if it becomes an arbitrary perfectionistic standard that seems like one is expected to adhere to. Shoulds around organization can probably tie in really easily to the concept of toxic productivity, and organization could then morph into a tool that should allow you to do more, more, and always more.
Unrealistic standards on social media probably do a lot to feed into this. I make a conscious effort to steer clear of that kind of content, but based on what I have come across, it seems like there are plenty of people on various platforms showing off idealized versions of their supposedly wonderful routines. However, I have very strong doubts as to whether that apparent perfection is actually real. Instagram and TikTok influencers are probably putting massive amounts of time and planning into creating these picture-perfect routines they’re showing, which just isn’t realistic for the average person who has a life outside of social media.
If that kind of content is giving you ideas that will make your life easier or make it easier to fit in things that you actually want to do, that’s great. However, I can see it really easily becoming unhealthy to consume content that’s setting unrealistic expectations. Plus the time sink factor seems like it could leave quite a bit less time available to actually put into making various changes and setting up organizational systems.
What’s the goal?
Routine can be a means of making things simpler or more manageable, but I’m not sure how useful it is for routine to become an end in itself. So maybe “why?” is a good question to ask. If you’re thinking about trying to adopt a particular routine or other organization, why are you doing it? Is it to make your life easier or more satisfactory in some way? Or is it because of shoulds, perfectionism, or social comparison? Not all why’s are necessarily going to be good for you, and saying no to shoulds, while certainly not easy, can be a powerful thing.
If the kind of organization you’re aiming for is making your life harder, it’s probably not a bad idea to stop and reassess. It’s one thing to put in short-term extra effort for medium- to long-term payoff, but if you’re trying to add a routine that’s basically a full-time job to your life, that’s a whole other can of tuna. An article on Buffer titled “The Ultimate Guide to Becoming Your Best Self: Build your Daily Routine by Optimizing Your Mind, Body and Spirit” strikes me as a good example of a massive make-work project. Live your life the way you want, and fuck what some dude on Buffer tells you that you should do.
So, those are my thoughts as someone who finds organization and routine really helpful but also thinks these perfect routine people can fuck all the way off. What role does organization or routine play in your life?
I know I’m not completely organized, but I am for the most part. I also know that it needs a little work.
I feel like it’s the kind of thing that’s always a work in progress for me.
I am very organized because of lists, and I need them because otherwise I’ll daydream and forget to do things. I write down groceries to buy as soon as I use up an item so I won’t forget. I have a list for chores and office work too. I would be a mess without lists…
Me too.
This is amazing! Just yesterday I was looking at my main clothes closet which also doubles as storage because I live in a small apartment. I was making plans to organize it a bit better so that I can find all the treasures in it more easily😊
Thanks for your inspiring share.
Good timing! 😊
Yes!
Just the title of this blog made me think various aspect of my day to day chores. Being organized is something that’ll surely help us. Now, it’ll be time taken if there are too many things to organize.
Forex, some people have too many clothes, devices, exercise machines etc. However, same isn’t the case for people with less.
Tht’s true.
I am super organized, perhaps it’s partly my personality and partly growing up with a father who’s mantra was “A place for everything and everything in its place” and also a mother who was dubbed a ‘messy bessy’. When she was challenged with leaving/putting things where she dropped them her response was “But it’s clean”. I earned my living organizing small offices/companies and I once said in an interview “I’m super organized because I am the laziest person on the planet” I had to explain that to the interviewer. BUT – the first thing you learn about organizing other people is that you have to do it to THEIR comfort level. Which means there might be somethings you, personally, have to let go and let be if the the system is going to be usable for the person you are making it for. Organization is a very personal thing and has to suit the person, you can’t make the person suit the system.
Schedules on the other hand I’m not to crazy about – yes, certain things have to be done at certain times – like paying bills. My husband lives and dies by his schedules and it makes me batshit crazy.
Also I am not much of a list maker – when I think of it I’ll note down an item for the grocery store and I have a small pad and pencil in a kitchen drawer for that purpose tho I don’t use it often. I just have never had a life – where lists were a huge requirement. Sure at work I had a whiteboard with projects and deadlines but on a day to day basis – nope to making lists.
I don’t know anything about social media organizational stuff – I just follow cat people!
Following cat people sounds much more satisfying.
My parents are both extremely neat and organized and clean. I’m glad I’m a little mellower with it than they are.
I’m organized. It’s pathological, to an extent, something that developed out of home issues, and something I use to control certain unpleasant mental illness realities. I’m careful about it though: it can get away from you, the organizing, the lists, the maintaining.
Like you, I often use it to help manage the deficits mental illness can cause. Routine keeps me on track.
Very important, however, was the final paragraph: “what’s the goal?” I especially liked that you mentioned staying away from the dreaded shoulds.
Out, out damn shoulds!
Being fully organized is definitely a work in progress for me. I do like the concept of functional organization – setting things up in a way that works for you specifically rather than what may look more aesthetically pleasing and definitely yes to lists 🙂
Lists are a wonderful thing!
I really agree with you….being organized does have its good share of benefits but at the same time, it should not overpower us.
Yes!
I have to remind myself my reminders app is for “reminders”, “Hey, eat something.” Hmm.. That reminds me lol
lol
Sigh…I am not organized. I would like to be. I can see how it would make life easier.
Is it just not something that comes naturally for you?
I love routine and structure. But there are days where I need to relax it a bit because life happens. I sleep in. I forget to do things in their normal “order”. Without any structure I would be lost, but too much dependence on it also leaves me feeling scattered and inadequate. Nimble-mindedness is a term that helps me remember it’s okay to be human within my routines and step off the curb. Live a little! 🙂
Balance is important.
Did I mention I can not ride a bike? No balance! lol 🙂
Lol
Why? Good question. Because I can’t not organize. I hate clutter, and I can’t stand wasting time looking for things!
“I can’t not organize” – yes!!!
I am all about order, structure, and routine. It comes naturally to me and I love it. The problem is when things happen (like COVID, for example) that messes up my structure and I tend to go off the rails a bit. I don’t do spontaneity unless it is planned. So, yeah, that sucks and makes things difficult for the free spirited in my life…but man I can plan things more meticulously than a serial killer and a lot of people beyond myself benefit from that. Organization and routine may sound boring, but I really think it’s the glue that holds everything together.
I used to do a lot of travelling, and being organized allowed me to do and see way more than I would have otherwise. It’s a superpower!
Absolutely! I totally agree being organized greatly enhances the travel experience. It truly is a superpower. I honestly don’t know how people survive without being organized.
Me neither.
Hi Ashley. As you know I use a ring binder diary which holds most importantly my monthly diary. This is still handy for me. I still have the to do section in there too, but mostly my to do list, if I need to create one, is o a scrap piece of paper on the table, which I use in addition to diary. I have another section just for notes. But doesn’t get used much.
I created a new file system last year as you know for my deputy work. I had to put a lot of work into it. But it’s continued to help the long term.
I create a separate to do list, just for my deputy work, so that I don’t continuously see it when I want a break from that.
I have a home file folder with different sections, which I have had a number of years. I don’t know if I ever blogged about that one on my previous blog, or not. It got tweaked in the first year and I am looking at giving it a major tweak now, when I can sit down with it, in between deputy work and not wanting to do anything.
One section will probably get separated. I am not sure yet. Or it might be I still need that while creating another for in an idea of emergency.
Other sections in the home file may be removed and so a shrunken folder. Its Its something I am playing with, when motivated.
But thats the only organising I do, other than my bills are filed accordingly in my filing cabinet until eventually moved on into labelled carrier bags, in which I keep for 10 years, then shred.
My only other organising is meds in one box and I use my pill box accordingly, with my phone set to remind me to take my inhaler.
Sounds like you’ve got a good system.
I’ve made a turnaround from being super disorganised (think bombed house bedrooms) to having ordinary levels of routine. It didn’t come naturally! The skill of being organised took sooo long – years – to build, but is a much, much easier way to live. I have heard it being described as a form of mental/emotional hygiene and would agree.
Influencers’ lives seem so foreign to me as a general rule!
I grew up in an always neat and organized home, so it came pretty naturally. I remember at one point thinking I would be cooler if I was disorganized, and my desk at school was like a bombs went off in it. I quickly decided that even if it was cooler, I couldn’t handle it.
Hahaha! That is a completely new perspective to me, thank you for making my past messy self sound slightly cooler. I would have traded places with you at school if I knew how to 😂😂
Lol
Hahaha, its why C and I don’t get along. I don’t like extreme organisation (thanks dad lol) but I like stuff to make sense for me.
C is…extremely messy. Which would be alright but it spills into the kitchen and into MY PARTS of the kitchen (as a tenant!).
Fine if folks have roughly organised piles where you know Food Tools are in the kitchen and not…near the cat litterboxes (ew!!!)… but nooooooo…
Add that with how she’d NEVER put common stuff back in its place (but ohhhh SH is dissociating if she can’t find it!), eating my freaking shelf stable food and shaming me for wasting food…
What a terrible person to live with, in so many ways.