Are you visual person susceptible to the noise of many different items of different sizes and colours on a shelf?
Are you a tosser who like to “toss” items into a storage bin/basket/file/drawer?
Are you auditorily inclined? Do you find yourself talking to yourself all the way through the next year’s budget preparation complete with a “There, that’s done for a year!” when its complete?
Much the same way we have preferences in the way we process information and respond to new opportunities, we all have organizing personalities. Your organizing personality is related to your learning preferences and generally falls into the categories of visual, auditory, or kinesthetic. There are however, many other ways to organize. Some people have a tendency to organize by time.
Understanding what your personality will help you to tailor your oranizing systems and process to match your personality. A mismatch wil lead to systems which don’t get used and process which fall apart with the resulting disorganization that ensues.
To determine your personality, whatch and listen to how you organize at your desk. Do you talk out loud (auditory)? Do you like to sort your files by colour (visual)? So you like to sort by date? Do you prefer all your surfaces to be clear but don’t care about the inside of your drawers or cupboards? Do you need everthing out where you can see it (visual). Do you like to get up and file or toss things in your office (kinetic)?
