Continuing from where I stopped last week Monday, it behooves me to start by saying that the specific and unambiguous elements of real and bona fide order include a physical environment that is uncomplicated and easy to move around in, easy to look at, and easy to function in; a simple modus operandi and technique for dealing in actual fact—with the volume of paperwork and money business that we all must confront; and the development of a satisfying response to the fact that time is life, time is often money, and time is limited. This world takes shape as you develop sensitivity and warmth to your own needs. In fact, there is no “correct” way to order, no right way to do things—whether setting up a file or a workroom or planning time—unless it is correct for you!
In other words, order is not an end in itself. Order is whatever helps you to function effectively—nothing more and nothing less. Also, all concepts of order, from the simplest system of closet arrangement to the most complex rocket technology, share one essential characteristic: an organizing principle. The idea behind the organizing principle is that any intellectual or practical system always contains a central pole, an essential priority, around which all the other components ground themselves.
For example, historically, when the Paris peace talks to end the Vietnam War first began, there was a great fuss and ruckus about the shape of the conference table, and the whole issue clearly grew to absurd proportions. But one of the parties to the talks felt the absolute need for a meeting at which all participants had the same rank, and thus the shape of the table became critical. People at a rectangular table have different status, depending on where they are sitting, but a round table confers no status—everyone is equal.
All the expected questions—what kind of table was most efficient, which tables were comfortable, what kind of table was available—were secondary to the real issue, the question of saving face. Once status was recognized as the organizing principle in designing the peace talks, the solution of which table to choose was obvious.
This example illustrates how the organizing principle functions as the focal point. If you determine what purpose you want to achieve, practical solutions will flow fairly easily. Even more important, once the organizing principle behind an existing situation has been identified, you can decide whether it is the one that is right for you. If it is not, then you have the option of revising the principle.
Let’s consider the organizing principle in terms of the psychological factors discussed beforehand. Probably, as your life became more and more complicated over the years, you have occasionally been able to step back and say to yourself, “I am being self-destructive. I have got to stop this right away.” Whereupon you went through a period of intense, determined organizing which ended a day or two later when you discovered that nothing had really changed and you were right back where you started.
At that point, the feeling of helplessness, of life out of control, must have been intense and painful. But if you look at this whole pattern with the idea of finding the organizing principle, the hidden factors may begin to reveal themselves. In all likelihood, you are causing yourself genuine pain in the service of a powerful theme, a powerful organizing principle: defiance of authority.
You have chosen defiance as your focus, and so long as it is in operation, you will always revert to the old pattern of defiance leading to chaos. However, by recognizing that this outmoded, destructive organizing principle has been functioning quietly all these years, you are now free to bring it to the surface and change it—to devise a new principle more appropriate to your present life. Your organizing principle might then become: “The purpose of order in my life is my own ease and convenience—not domination by some impractical ideal.” With that in mind as a basic point of reference, many changes become possible. Just as your previous actions were completely and spontaneously logical in terms of your old “defiance” motif, your newer mode of behavior will, after you accustom yourself to it, become completely logical in terms of the new “ease and convenience” theme.
My goal in the thought-provoking series I started last week Monday—is not just to help you plan your personal business affairs or time or closets more efficiently, but to also help you establish a permanent way of life fitted to your own desires and goals. However, there is a considerable leap from the grand abstraction of the organizing principle to the actual solving of a problem. First, you have to understand very clearly just what the problem is.
The first step toward taking things in hand is to define just what a “problem” is. Never yet, in my experience, has a situation been so complex that it couldn’t be unraveled. To begin, provide yourself with a notebook—either loose-leaf or spiral-bound—small enough to carry around with you. This notebook will become your “master list”—a single continuous list that replaces all the small slips of paper you are probably used to. Use the notebook to keep track of all errands, things to do or buy, and general notes to yourself about anything that will require action. This indispensable, basic and fundamental organizing technique is so powerful and life-changing…I will return next Monday to take this crucial and decisive-issue further. Till I come your way again, see you where organized and ordered leaders are found!