Control Is The Goal of Organisation

You can spend up to 40 hours a week sitting in that chair, taking in this space:

It is imperative that –

  •  it serve you
  • it please you
  • it be under your control.

It’s important to realise that control is the goal of organisation. Organization is not a goal – it is a process. Yet there can be no control without understanding.

When the habits of very organised people are closely scrutinized, some basic principles or methods for being organised become apparent.

These people

  • Create a place for everything – then put everything in its place. (An oldie but a goodie)
  • They don’t delay, they make a decision today!  – Procrastination is the enemy of an organised space.
  • One in/one out – an organised space requires a simple system for controlling what comes in and what goes out of your space.
  • Sort like with like – categorizing is an essential skill for organised living.

Did you know?

  • The average office has 19 copies of each document, yes 19.
  • 80% of papers filed are NEVER retrieved again.
  • People waste almost one hour per day trying to find misfiled, mis-labeled or misplaced items.
  • There was 50% more paper in offices in 2005 than there was in 1995.

So at some point soon we are going to turn off our computers, roll up our sleeves and take some control of this space. There may be things about this space that we cannot change but there are still many things we can do to make this area work more efficiently for you.

My aim is:

1.    to cull excess and remove clutter.
2.    to create a visually friendlier environment.
3.    to allow the capacity for more efficiency and flow.

An Organised Space Requires Logical Decision Making

“Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide. “ – Napoleon Bonaparte

The achievement of an organised space requires constant decision making in order to set priorities and control the amount of ‘stuff’ coming into and leaving your space.

Historically, decision making has long been recognised as a challenging activity.

Decision making can be made even more challenging because of:

  • emotional interference
  • no knowledge or understanding of the decision making process
  • lack of experience with the decision making process
  • lack of awareness of the questions that need to be asked to promote decision making

Decision making can be thought of as a cognitive process whereby an individual chooses between a number of alternatives so there is a single course of action or outcome.

Logical and informed decision making is essential to gaining control of your situation. Emotional decision making seldom leads to control!

Let’s examine the first reason for difficulty with decision making more clearly to see how it can influence an organised space.

Emotional interference

Human beings might be made of flesh and bone but it is our emotions that control us. Emotions can make it difficult for some people to make even the simplest decisions needed for organised living such as:

“Do I toss or do I keep?”
“If I keep it where do I put it?”
“If I put it somewhere how do I get to it?” etc etc

If you see yourself in this description you are not alone.Most of the decisions made by human beings, in fact, in everyday life are based on what a person is feeling and not what a person is thinking!

Making decisions from an emotional base will very seldom lead to control. The only way to stop the emotional interference is to be aware of its influence. When you are having difficulty with a decision ask yourself these two questions.

  1. What am I thinking about this?
  2. What am I feeling about this?

Reflecting on the answers to these two questions will reveal whether it is the logic or the emotion that is influencing the decision.