ORDERGANIZING FOR ACTION
A HUGE IMPACT ON PRODUCTIVITY
(Early versions called this "orderizing", but I though "orderganizing" was better.)
"There is no point in organizing something for any other purpose than getting a desired result. It may be the pleasant effects of being organized that is a subsidiary purpose. But, unless the organization will be used for setting up things for future action to get results, what is the point?
Organize everything when you 'finish' it, so that the next action will be started well and be easy and more productive."
The BuddhaKahuna
_________________________________________________________________
PUTTING EVERYTHING TOGETHER IN GREAT WORKING ORDER!
Orderganizing is putting everything together in the proper order "in order to" be effectively utilized and/or continued where and when needed. It is also what we do to SOLVE a problem or CREATE something new. (It's ALL the same process!)
It is not only a super-productivity booster, as it is also a huge psychological booster, for peace of mind and for confidence in one's ability to handle one's life (very) well, but it is also a tool for creating a much better future, both in terms of problem solving and in terms of having something available to refer to when needed to do something effectively.
It must be a "state" of living (being "orderganized") where you are certain of what to do, how to do it, how it will show up for you when needed, and that it will benefit you.
JUST SCAN FOR THE IDEA
You need only scan/read this page (that you are reading right now), as you do not have to study it, for, in orderganizing this I have set up the checklists and procedures to follow so that you do not have to memorize them or remember when they are to be done. For instance, the daily plan or the weekly plan will tell you what to do with regard to these (and/or refer you to a checklist of what to do).
One key part of this is that the orderganizer proceeds along in a straight line and assures completed cycles of action - and this results in a life that will be easy.
Top "life performers" and top producers in anything are constantly asking "what would increase the effectiveness and rate of gaining value in my life or in an area?" They are always "putting in order" that which one should do "in order to" get more of what one wants! They do not leave this to chance or in an incomplete state of "disorganization" or "disorder".
HUGE TIME BENEFITS
Yes, it will appear that "orderganizing" costs time, but that is an illusion, as it saves time.
It produces the opposite psychological effect of what Lennie (our primitive brain) would leave us with if it was thinking ina confused, disordered way. Lennie will often be panicked, so that he does not "think things through" as he wants to move frantically to the next things. Because of having so many things left up in the air and unsettled (and incomplete), he will think of little else, while frantically juggling the believed threats. (See, as you must understand this basic reality, The "Lennie" Of Your Mind - Using Your Brain When Needed.)
If we operate the opposite of Lennie, we will calmly hold and pace ourselves to operate in an 'ordered way', so that we go step by step to where we want to go, thinking everything out as we go - for much, much better results - and we "feel" much, much better as a result of that way of living life and assuring "order". (Note that psychological disorders are because of "disordered" non-thinking!)
If you don't do the orderganized way of living, you will have lots of open loops, unfindable references, forget where you left off on something, and lots of incompletes - and alot of time down the drain, wasted in started efforts that did not come to fruition.
(Up until I really didn't "get" this. I was a chronic victim of the "black hole" of unfindables and unfinished ideas and projects! The path of orderganizing saved me an incredible amount of time in many ways, including my seeing the overview such that I decided not to write down notes that would go nowhere and decided not to even begin projects and/or tasks that would go nowhere! That's a pretty simple idea, but I hadn't realized it before! And I hadn't realized the huge impact it would have on my time.)
WHEN TO "DO" IT
This MUST be "done" at least daily at the latest and mostly done right as you are doing or leaving a project or task or piece of paper, or it will often get out of hand and/or unwieldy. But it is a routine that will pay off in spades, make you much more effective, and save lots of time (far more than the time spent on orderganizing!). (I had trouble initially remembering to implement it, but I stuck to pulling myself back on the path, reminding myself of how peaceful it felt to have "all the loops closed"!)
"Done" does not mean that you've done all the actions or organized all the papers that are related. It means that the "open loop" has been closed so that there is a time set up to do what is needed (including organizing at some point), that what is to be done is clearly explained and detailed enough to understand what needs to be done and/or where to find it.
In orderganizing, you leave nothing in limbo. There is always a way to find things (through crossreferencing effectively) and always a clear "next" action, with clear documentation about what had been done up to that point. All the open loops are closed.
We are "complete", at least for now, not in terms of finishing all the projects yet, but in terms of
1. Knowing what is next
2 Knowing where to go next
3. Having the necessary documentation to clearly restart the task/project
4. Having guaranteed "prompters" for all the to dos as to
a. When to do the task
b. When and how to access the material when needed
This is the opposite of chaos (or insanity), but it is not the extreme of organization of a neatnik. This is the orderganizing that is "sufficient" for a person to be more productive and not lose track of what is going on AND where one is going.
Orderganizing includes:
Anticipating the future and laying out all the steps in a "plan" to meet a goal.
Tacking down a necessary procedure/routine/checklist so that the process runs more smoothly (and not losing what was learned and tied down when doing it earlier!).
THERE IS A TREMENDOUS POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECT
When there is nothing left 'open' and you know where to go when necessary, there will be nothing left for your primitive brain to try to solve or think about or worry about or be anxious about. Everything is tacked down and ready to go at the necessary time or to fill the necessary need when needed. There is nothing left to chance or to chaos. Nothing that will be hard to find or take time to find.
You are at complete peace.
However, the biggest effect is a sense of control, of mastery of all that is going on, and a confidence that adds power and "feeling good" in general, and also about, your work and your life. This is often called a "sense of efficacy" - and it is necessary for happiness, for without it no human being on the planet will feel "safe" enough about the future, about their ability to handle the future. (See Self-Efficacy - The Essential Sense Of Life Competency and, also, The Skill Of Fearlessness - What It Is And Why It Is Doable.)
A SIMPLE EXAMPLE OF "ORDERGANIZING"
Today, I went to the doctor and had a few things to follow up on. Instead of tossing the items in a file, I simply proceeded "in order" through all the paperwork, patiently doing all the necessary steps, entering tickles and appointments in the calendar (which automatically posted between all calendars) and putting all relevant information in the calendar "notes" if needed and then filing the rest for easy access into my personal files section in the labelled hanging file "Physical" under "6/15 Doctor" labelled manila file. I put reminders in for everything I needed to buy or do.
Nothing was left incomplete in terms of the steps needed to follow this all to completion. There was nothing left to memory and nothing to worry about. My mind was completely at peace and I could see, in the calendar, from the red color for appointments that I had plenty of spaces for other things, so I knew I would not be hurried or under pressure!
A SUPER-POWERFUL EXAMPLE OF ORDERGANIZING!
If a person understand what reality is, the person will know that everything occurs in a step by step order in the real physical world (including the insides of our brain). Every effect must have a cause and every cause has an effect. To get a result, we always have a cause-effect chain, where we can trace an effect back down the chain backwards through the steps and/or we can trace forward to see where each step will lead us.
All we need to do to "end up in the right place" is to "duplicate" what that causal chain is so that we can see where it will lead us.
If we don't put it all in order (i.e. orderganize it), in sequence, and see what will occur and/or determine how to get the end result, we will often go off on paths to nowhere (often to ruin). Most businesses fail because they fail to look at the reality of what is needed "in order to" be successful. (Over 90% are out of business in five years or less.)
If we "orderganize", we can solve any problem. Know this: Using The Full Causal Chain To Solve Problems - Better Conclusions, Better Solutions, And A Better Life. (Yes, you will need to learn "how to think", which is covered on this site, starting at Effective Thinking - The Basis For Good Decisions And A Good Life, which anyone can do, by climbing up the learning curve.)
FOR NOW, JUST DO THIS: THE CRITERIA OF BEING ORDERGANIZED
Though I'll add more standardizing and forms to this, for now you would simply
1. Wrapup everything so it is easily usable and referenceable, with lots of cross references and always a tickle or reminder (all alarmed).
2. Leave nothing open or loose, to get lost in the black hole - all would be findable in some way or by a mechanical prompter (tickles, reminders, alarms).
3. Not start anything that you will not finish (not harvest or get a good result from).
4. Eliminate everything you can that is not important or is less important and/or will not be finished.
You could simply post a big reminder, where you'll see it, that will have you simply asking if the next step is:
1. Clear as to what to do, and
2. A definite reminder
Of course, it is essential, again, that you first drop things that will not ever have a result or even a low value result!!!!!
(From here, see the sidebar and also follow the links in the text of this piece, so that you've got all the key ideas. It'll be more than worth your time! And it is one of the most useful productivity disciplines of all of them.)
ORDERGANIZING INCLUDES
(See more specifics in the sidebar.)
Having checklists, procedures, systems, and/or forms that lead you to be organized effectively to:
Plan (long term, daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly)
Set up and run any routine
Accomplish a task or project
Problem solving checklists
Clear up ambiguities that need to be defined, clarified in order for one to be more effective.
Ways of organizing information for retrieval at a particular time or by an initiating event (say, when it is needed for a project or a book or for writing something).
A procedure/system/checklist to be able to do something better (or reminds one of what to do), which pays off because it is repeated enough times to reap better results from following it.
Set up an orderly way to proceed, such as a systematized learning program that has enough depth and excellent information to produce the best result - and nothing is "to be learned" if it is not learned "in order to" accomplish a desired result! (Duh! Of course! But... people forget about the end results and mistake the "means" to be the goal. The idea is in Confusing The "Means To" With The True Goal - A Mistake That Can Cost You Much Of Your Life.)
Thinking time devoted to thinking of
Worthwhile things to do or explore to do
Better ways to do things
Thinking time to organize thoughts in your mind and to augment the good ones
Really nailing down the important pieces of your life philosophy by assuring the beliefs and statements are beneficial and tying them into our routines and/or mind "so that" we are thinking healthily and experiencing life better. See one of the very most important elements that determine our life quality: One's Background Conversation.
Doing things such as developing the Certainty Generators in life.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Read the sidebar and begin doing your orderganizing as you see anything that needs to be "orderganized". Especially, start doing your daily and weekly planning, for without those you cannot be effective in life in getting what you want. It is one of the first fronts for orderganizing your life, along with its companion of Having A Pre-Set, Super-Commited Schedule.
Read the book suggested in the sidebar.
And the final thing involves this mandatory process for running your life well:
Note what you do not have time to orderganize and notice that that is a "sign" that you are doing more than you can handle effectively. This means (Duh!) that you should shed all the extra tasks and projects and responsibilities that that you can until you get down to only those that you have time to be effective in - and to be effective in those you must have the time to be orderganized - operating any other way and thinking you are doing the right thing and able to take on a lot more activities is pure delusion, totally out of touch with the reality of life.
_________________________________________________________
"BUT I DON'T HAVE TIME TO BE ORDERGANIZED!"
That statement results from a typical misunderstanding and insufficient knowledge about how things work in real life.
The time wasted and the screwups by not fully laying out the thread of thought and what to do next will cost you big time. It will have you spending alot more time refiguring out what to do. It will have you missing things and making more mistakes or oversights. You'll be less effective. You'll spend lots of time doing "setups" (setting up to shift to another project).
If you orderganize, you will at least have a return of 10 to 1 for your time, in terms of saved time and increased effectiveness.
And if you do the orderganizing right away before you leave the project, you will be spreading the organizing out over time, which is easier to do than to leave it for a time when you have to do alot of organizing (which is then often skipped or minimized because of emotional resistance).
So, it's easier and it saves lots of time which would be spent to repair and figure out and find the materials and... Anyway, it's hugely better! (Studies show that most worker spend 2-4 hours a day looking for things. That doesn't include the time spent re-starting and getting one's mind back to "operating focus" where one is up to speed and functioning well!)S
The thrill and the chill
"Ah, the thrill of operating on the edge!" And the inevitable big thump from falling over the edge.
Of course, the same as if we were falling from the 50th story in a building, we can say, on the way down, "well, so far, so good" until the sudden stop at the end, with a resounding "splat!"
I don't recommend this approach, as it is unsmart at the least and dangerous more often than not.
Every person should read this
Read the following book, to get the overall idea, but do not go to the extreme> I have implemented a modified easier version that works and fits my style more.
Getting Things Done, David Allen
Now, wouldn't ya think that "getting things done" might be crucial to being a success?!!
What "orderganizing" includes
Tickling everything that would not come up automatically at the right time. (Would would come up automatically, for instance, would be reference files easily findable on a topic would come up when one starts a book or paper on that topic.)
Daily, weekly montly, quarterly, yearly planning, a life plan. Some detail might include: , including something like:
Daily planning, set up the night before
___organize audio, ___reading for the day
Setting up the next day the night before might allow for one to start the day hitting the ground and ready to go!
Laying out exact sequences and/or checklists to follow for every major repeating process, saving vast amounts of time and mistakes. (See, for sure, Work The System.)
When you are going to leave a project for a day or more, write down everything necessary to get reoriented when you start on the rest of the project, so that there is zero wondering. Being "thorough" about it is key, although it takes a few minutes (but it'll save alot later!).
Of course, it includes all the elements in organizing, so that everything is in its place, in just a few minutes a day (mostly as you go, though some can be done at the end of the day).
And, the champion of all uses, is using the orderganizing process to construct how to achieve really big ideas, starting from the end point and working backwards to develop the strategies that will work, from using Brainstorming or a Mastermind Group to using regular old written plans using the standard master format (business plan outline linked from Planning Contents, Links).
___________
You would benefit from utilizing the strategies and techniques (and understanding the benefits) in the book, linked to from Books: Life Value Productivity - An Easier, Far More Happy Way To Live.
