REA-SON-ABLE: 1a: being in accordance with reason; b: not extreme or excessive. 2 a: possessing sound judgment
A few weeks ago, we discussed a book by Kathy Waddill that said successful organizing for anyone means being "Reasonably" Organized. Success comes when a person allows for flexibility.
If you ask any of my family and friends they will probably tell you that I have always been an organized person. Many may even call me a perfectionist. I can’t completely disagree with this statement. When I was younger, I was most certainly a perfectionist. Almost to a fault. I was the teenager with the spotless bedroom, everything put away, always clean. In college, my living space was the same. To me, it was important to be organized. It wasn’t until a few years later that I realized that this trait was hurting, not helping my life. Believing that everything had to be done perfectly meant spending more time than necessary on something; it meant feelings of anxiety if I did not get something just right.
I wish I could say my realization was an A-ha! moment. But it was actually a series of events that eventually taught me that my perfectionism was unhealthy, unnecessarily time-consuming, and simply not who I really was nor who I wanted to be. It was life teaching me a lesson.
Although it did not all happen at once, each step along the way was like a sigh of relief. I began to realize that being organized and in control was not about being perfect. It was about finding that balance that allows you to do the things you want, the things necessary to reach your goals, and being happy as you do them.
My one great A-ha! moment came when I convinced myself to think about my core beliefs, or my "life goals" and to write them down so that they were staring back of me. By doing this, I became accountable for what I was looking at and I was able to step-back and examine where I was, where I wanted to be, and what I was doing (if anything) to get there. This is when my life became about being "reasonably organized". No longer was it about doing EVERYTHING and doing it perfectly. I was now able to reason. If doing something was part of my life goals, then it was worth doing. Even if that something was doing laundry so that I had a full closet of clothes to start the week. And now, good enough is all I need. Good enough means spending less time on "perfect" and more time on myself, more time walking my dog, or more time with my friends, more time working toward my goals.
So what have I learned? Life is about balance, not about perfection. And I have been a happier person for learning this.
