In this series of posts, I'm debunking 4 common myths people and businesses tell themselves about getting organized. Find the other posts in this series here.
Myth #2
I can't be free/creative/spontaneous if I get organized.
What if I told you the opposite is actually true?
What if I could convince you that being organized actually frees you to be more spontaneous and more creative? And as a bonus, you feel secure knowing you are not dropping the ball or letting someone down while enjoying your spontaneity. Sounds pretty good, huh?
The key point is there is freedom within limits. If there are no boundaries, chaos ensues.
Let's take an artist for example. Whether an artist is organized or not, this person will encounter limits. The edge of the canvas is a limit, the end of a tube of paint, or the limit of their current artistic skills. While creativity is limitless, harnessing it in an artist's medium requires translating and communicating those creative ideas into some restraints, some limits.
So this artist fears getting organized will hamper creativity. However, having an organized studio allows the artist to properly see their inventory of supplies, allows the artist to access all of their resources, and creates space for creativity instead of clutter. The artist clearly sees their limits and therefore, within those limits, is limitless to create.
An organized studio also allows the artist to focus on their creative work, stay in flow and have the confidence of knowing what is at their fingertips instead of being distracted by mess and missing tools and where is that darn Yellow Ochre paint?
In regard to organizing your time, being conscious of your time commitments (limits) gives you space to be spontaneous without being unreliable. Freedom within limits.
Freedom within limits may also look like this.
You can have all the clothes you want as long as you do not have to buy more hangers or storage. Once your closet and clothing drawers are full, it's time to remove some items you no longer wear.
You may collect your whatevers, but the collection must always fit on a specific shelf or in a specific container. Once your collection outgrows the shelf/container, it's time to remove some items or decide the collection is complete.
You only keep 2 sets of sheets for each bed in your home.
All of your kids' Legos must fit in a specific container. Once it is full, no new Legos unless some find a new home.
Freedom within boundaries also applies to habits.
Your desk may get messy through the day, but at 5:00pm everyday, you tidy up and put everything in its designated place before leaving the office.
You allow some emails to stack up in your inbox, but once a week you get to inbox zero by responding to, filing or deleting all emails as necessary.
Your kids may play with any toys they want, but they must put away the toys they are finished with before getting new ones out to play with. (Most preschools and kindergartens require this process of small children! And it's a good rule for adults, too!)
Sundays are reserved on your calendar for spontaneous outings each week.
Want to experience more freedom by getting organized?
Want to learn more about freedom within limits? Contact me to get started!
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