We all have a junk drawer. Someplace where we just throw items when we don’t know what else to do with them. It could be a newspaper clipping, a coupon, a button, or even a pen that doesn’t write very well. No matter how organized you are, I am sure there is at least one drawer, one box, one area of your space that is a mess.
Having this clutter seems natural. When you are looking for something that you can’t find, this is the place you will search.
We could organize it. Define a place for everything. But then some new item would show up that we didn’t have a place for, and in it would go. Then we would have a junk drawer again.
I started thinking about how the same thing happens with our minds. We have ideas and thoughts that come and go. We put them someplace, and when we are trying to remember, maybe we can’t find them. There are ideas that maybe are not so important at the time, but could become more important under the right circumstances. So how can we better organize our ideas and thoughts?
Here are some possibilities that I came up with:
1. Improve your memory. Yes it can be done. With a little work you can memorize and remember all kinds of facts. One way to start, read the book titled, The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play. It is filled with tips and tricks to memorize things.
2. Make lists. This is a simple but effective tool if applied consistently. You can create all kinds of lists. Organizing thoughts is a lot easier than organizing a junk drawer, because we have better tools. You can use pencil and paper, or any number of software programs to keep lists of all your ideas. If you store them electronically they are easy to search.
3. Write a journal. Journal writing can be a consistent way to capture your most important thoughts of the day. To make it more effective, build in review sessions at least monthly to review what you have written. You can also create an index that would make it easy to find important ideas later.
There are many more ways to organize the clutter that is in our minds, but one of these three will get you started.
Why is it important to organize the clutter? Because if we can recall ideas when we need them, then it improves our ability to focus on the the task at hand.