“You’re either born organised or you’re not”.
Do you agree or disagree with this statement?
There are those of us who are naturally more structured and organised due to our personalities but I also know that anyone can learn how to organise or to improve their organising skills.
Interestingly, many professional organisers were once disorganised and learnt the skills in order to better manage their own homes and lives.
As for me, I do have a natural bend towards organising (I think this is mostly because I’m a J on the Myers-Briggs) but honestly, I figured a lot of things out once I had my own home. And I certainly developed my love for decluttering when we started moving house and I didn’t want to pay to move things I no longer valued.
The key to organise your life effectively is to know your style so you can adapt any system to work with you, and not against you.
Today I want to talk about one particular facet of personality – structured versus unstructured organising.
It’s important to note that both of those descriptors are ways of organising yourself: you can organise yourself in a structured manner or in an unstructured manner. Unstructured people are not disorganised; they just prefer to organise themselves in an unstructured manner.
Structured
These are people who like clear goals and deadlines, they prefer closure, they love planning and following that plan.
Unstructured
These are people who feel trapped by deadlines, they are spontaneous and like lots of freedom and flexibility.
The really quick way I like to identify my clients’ styles is to ask them two questions:
1. do you work best with piles or files of paper?
Generally speaking, unstructured people work with piles of paper while structured people like files. Digitally, unstructured people have all their files in My Documents folders and structured people use (many) folders.
2. do you actually use the planning tools you buy or download?
This is a key indicator for me. If the person is a paper person (like I am), they probably have a diary. Do you actually use that diary or do you simply like the idea of having a diary? Open yours now and have a look… Digitally, do you merely download cool productivity apps or do you actually use them?
Of course, within those two really broad categories, there is a ton of variation.
I’m clearly structured but I’m a 7 in that I don’t lean very far across the scale. I love files but I keep them very sparse and thin. And electronically, I have one app I use… quite thoroughly, but only on a weekly basis. That’s the most structured I want to be.
Why is it important to know your style?
1. You’ll stop wasting money on tools that don’t work for you.
2. You can enjoy the freedom of being exactly who you are.
3. You can use your time more effectively.
Over to you.
