It’s hard to know when something is optimally organized, but we all see disorganization – a towering stack of dishes in the sink, a team of kindergarteners scattered across a soccer field, a choppy edit on a film, or an agenda-less meeting gone awry. We don’t just see this disorganization, we feel it.
When we are in a disorganized environment (e.g., team, physical space, relationship), we internalize it. Think about something as pedestrian as your home or office. How do you feel when you can’t find your keys in the disarray of your entryway? Or when there are 250 emails in your inbox and you just want to find the one deck related to your next meeting? Clutter or messiness leaves us feeling anxious, helpless, and overwhelmed. You may be experiencing this internalized disorganization if you…
- Have trouble completing projects and jump from one activity to another.
- Have trouble remembering to do the things you intended to do.
- Frequently rush, are over-committed, and often late.
- Feel overwhelmed and easily exhausted.
- Are easily distracted from the task you are doing.
- Go off on tangents in conversations.
But, as you most certainly know, it is not merely physical clutter. You can have mental clutter (Twitter and the current news cycle, am I right?), relational clutter (too many friends, unaddressed past relational trauma), or even organizational clutter (excessive meetings, mismanaged teams, feuds between competing departments). The problem with this clutter is it makes it more difficult to get organized.
The shelves of your life are crammed, your cupboards are running over, and your closets look like a Marie Kondo nightmare. Often, organizing begins with purging things we don’t need. Purging allows us to rightly evaluate what we have, what we need, and the optimal way to organize it.
So, as we begin this quarter, take stock of your clutter. Grab a piece of paper. Sit down and answer these questions …
- What is one thing you wish to change about your leadership but have yet to prioritize?
- What relationships are dragging you down?
- What occupies your mind each day that makes it more difficult to focus on the task at hand?
- What meetings do you attend that don’t require your presence?
- What parts of your organization are needlessly strained?
We hope that this brief “taking stock” will help you identify what needs to be purged. Then the work becomes organizing – to make choices so that our time, stuff, relationships, and organizations support us in what we want to do rather than get in the way.
Our goal with NQ20 is to help you more quickly identify disorganization and give you some ideas, tools, and inspiration to organize in the way that is most optimal for you and your organization. And in the words of the famed organizer, we hope that it brings you joy.