Do you remember the saying 'He follows the beat of a different drum'? So why do we as individuals keep playing to other people's music instead of making our own? Especially when it comes to everyday living!
I can't tell you how many organizational gurus I've listened to, bought products from, and read. All I can tell you is their system, though it sounded good and seemed easy, just didn't fit my life the way it should have. There were some good ideas, and some I could implement into my time and energy levels, but as a whole the plan was a complete failure.
And when it didn't work, I felt like a complete failure!
I was like a classical pianist trying to play Billy Joel. I might get a few of the chords right, but the tempo and inflection of the notes I was playing were horrible! I was trying to write music for my life to someone else's sheet music. It just wasn't going to work!
Then that little light bulb went off in my head- why am I trying to fit this person's lifestyle into my own? Why am I trying to put a square peg into a circular hole? And do I have to carve my life to fit this particular style of organization?
I tried this also, and all it did was make things worse.
The problem was that I should have been carving the mold itself. I need to be carving an organizational plan that fits me, not the other way around!
And I bet you feel the same way.
So how do we go about doing this? By listening to other people's music and picking out what works for us. There is nothing wrong with borrowing ideas to make your own plan! Plan number one might have a note or two that works for you, so borrow it. Write it down. Then do that with all the other plans you have stashed away on your bookshelf, computer, or wherever you keep your organizational stuff. Mine is in a neat pile on my desk- the only neat pile on my desk.
Now, take a look at your finished list. do the notes work together? Can you tweak this or that to make it work better? It might take a little time, but once you have your own personal plan in place, try implementing it to see if it works. Whatever does, keep, and whatever doesn't, toss. Pretty soon part of your organizing tasks will be to donate all those books and delete all those files.
Make your own music. Be your own guru. And dance to the drumbeat that only you can hear.
Just don't post it on Youtube!
Do You Want to Grow?
6 years ago
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