If you can drive, you can organize
You are not missing a special “organizing gene” if your life and home need help in this area. None of us are born knowing how to organize. It is a learned skill, just like driving a car. Let that sink in and read it again. Organizing is a learned skill. If you don’t know how, that is normal.
Did you know how to drive the first time you sat behind a wheel? If you were like me, it was exciting to think of the possibilities of where I could go and the freedom it would bring, but scary to actually do it at first. So is organizing.
Did you make some jerky stops and starts? A friend named Jerry offered to teach me to drive a stick shift and graciously offered his car as my learning capsule. I was so bad at it I’m surprised he remained my friend afterwards. In the midst of trying to shift I begged him to let me stop and pleaded with him to take over, but he wisely made me keep trying until I had a basic sense of how to do it. You will have stops and starts with organizing but you will get better at it after building a base of understanding mixed in with practice.
Did it take mental focus and practice to stay on your side of the yellow line? Yes, definitely yes. There are many things that will try to distract you. You will learn how to maneuver through these.
Were you exhausted the first time you did a long drive? I sure was. I was driving home from the beach (60 minutes) with my parents and brother in the car, their lives in my hands as I tried to not cross the dividing line between my side and the other on a small two lane country road while going 50mph. Thankfully, organizing is not a life-and-death endeavor and it does get easier to do.
Just like learning to drive, you will get better at organizing as you practice. So take a deep breath and know you’ve come to the right place to learn the skill of organizing. You will be the driver, choosing your:
Destination (goal)
How long the trip will last (how much or how little to do)
Route and times (picking the ways that work best for you)
Scenic detours (getting inspired)
Passengers (alone or with help)
Luggage (what to bring and what to leave behind)
Budget (to use what you already have or purchase things to help)
Maneuvers to roadblocks (learning to overcome obstacles)
It’s a journey well worth taking and I’m so glad you’ve come here to travel with the Joyopolis team.