Hey what is up guys so I want to start
off this week's video with a little
story about my formative years so back
when my brother and I were kids we were
the recipients of many pieces of advice
and lectures from our Father and out of
all those lectures of all the advice he
gave there are two main pieces of advice
that stick out to me and that I've
remembered more than any others the
first of them which I am sharing here
simply because it is the most prominent
one in my head is there are two ways to
do something right and again and we
would often hear this after being told
that what we had just done was not good
enough in that we did have to go do it
again
so that's the one sticks out the most to
me but only slightly less prominent in
my memory was the common command to
always put things back exactly as you
found them the moment you are done with
them and it is possibly because I heard
this so often and found myself grounded
or otherwise in trouble because I ran
afoul of it that ever since I have been
basically obsessed with being an
organized person it's why I try my best
to keep my room is organized as possible
despite having a lot of equipment in it
and it's probably why I have color-coded
calendars and why I love to go on and on
about the beauty of elegantly designed
tree like folder structures on my
computer but of course there is more to
being an organized person than just
having color-coded calendars and making
sure to keep all of your folders off of
your computer's desktop so in today's
video I'm going to be going over seven
things that organize people do that you
probably don't do now I can already hear
you getting defensive and in your
defense yes you probably do at least one
of these things and possibly some of
them but do you do all seven to them
well we're just gonna have to go through
the list to find out so let's get
started
item number one which is actually not
written down in this notebook paper
because this is just random numbers for
an older video organized people do not
rely too much on their brains to store
information because organized people
understand that our memory is fallible
things fade especially when we don't use
them so when they want to remember
something organized people put it into a
system that they trust now what exactly
separates a system that you can trust
from one that you can't from one that's
probably going to fail you well I think
there's a few different criteria that we
have to list out here first and foremost
a system that you can trust is one that
is not going to lose your data this
immediately rules out your brain because
our brains forget things all the time
but it may also rule out a paper
notebook
you don't keep that notebook backed up
some other ways such as digitizing it on
the other hand you've got systems that
are designed with data retention in mind
apps like Evernote or OneNote or Google
Drive or anything else that has
redundant servers across the world that
make sure your data is backed up and
safe even if the computer where you
originally recorded that data ends up
breaking somehow or gets burned up in a
fire or as otherwise destroyed secondly
that system needs to be easily
accessible so if you do really want to
use paper make sure it's a paper
notebook that you are keeping with you
wherever you go or if it's a note-taking
system make sure it's a cloud accessible
note-taking system so ever device you're
using at the time you can easily search
it to find what you're looking for third
that system needs to be well organized
itself and easily searchable so whatever
app or tool you decide to use make sure
that has a logical file or folder system
make sure it has a usable search tool
and make sure your naming convention
that makes sense
secondly organize people make sure to
label things and they're especially
diligent about doing this with things
that they aren't going to use or
interact with for quite a long time to
give you a very succinct example of this
the desk right next to me has some
hardware that I almost never need to use
except for instances where I'm moving so
of course I've tossed that hardware in a
plastic bag it's in one of my cube
organizers it's safe and sound but if I
didn't label that plastic bag and I go
maybe three years in between moves I'm
probably not going to remember exactly
what that hardware is or what it goes to
when I pull it out of that cube
organizer and try to figure out what to
do with it and actually this is a pretty
timely example because I've got plans to
move out of this apartment in just a few
months but luckily my past self thought
about this and remember to buy plastic
bags with little label areas so last
time I was moving and I put all that
hardware into that plastic bag I
remember to write down that this
Hardware goes to my desk so when I go to
move in a few months it's gonna be very
easy to find it and I'll know exactly
what it's used for now this is just one
example and there are probably other
things in your life that you should be
labeling besides just plastic bags for
example if you have one of those
physical hanging folder organizers you
probably want to use the labels that it
comes with to write down what should be
going in each one of those folders item
number three organize people build what
I like to call a mindfulness loop which
constantly goes through the different
dependencies in their lives and
basically checks up on them what exactly
is a dependency well it's pretty much
what it sounds like
you a really simple example here so
every single organism in existence down
to the most simple single-celled
prokaryotic blob has things that they
depend on for example our little blob
creature needs a watery environment to
move around in and a food source it
doesn't have a whole lot of dependencies
in its life but there are still
dependencies and without them it will
die and what is true for our blob is
true for you as well except for that
you're a much more complicated organism
and you have a much more complicated
life with many different facets you've
got a lot more dependencies you have
your food your shelter your academic
goals your relationships there are so
many things to keep track of and here is
where one of the biggest differences
between organized people and
disorganized people can be found because
the disorganized people are constantly
being caught off guard by one of their
dependencies and needing maintenance
needing action from and on the other
hand organized people are constantly
looking ahead and figuring out what
those dependencies are going to need in
the future they have this mindfulness
loop constantly going on in the back of
their mind my absolute favorite example
of a mindfulness loop in action actually
comes from my mom this was a story back
from when I was probably 14 or 15 years
old I think I was up in my room and the
computers doing something that a 15 year
old does on a computer and I heard her
shout out to me have you brushed your
teeth today and this was like at 2:00
p.m. in the afternoon she was doing
something completely unrelated to teeth
brushing and yet she thought to ask me
why well the health and well-being of
her children were one of her main
dependencies and because my mom is an
organized person she got this regular
mental notification to check up on that
dependency now admittedly this is one of
those mental patterns that does take a
lot of time and effort to build you're
not gonna be able to flip it on like a
switch but I think the first step to
building this mental pattern which is
incredibly useful is to sit down and
consciously list out your dependencies
maybe even sit down and draw a mind map
of all of your life's different
dependencies and with this application
of conscious thought to all the
different aspects of your life over time
it's going to sink into your unconscious
and you're gonna start building that
loop item number four organize people
live by the mantra two is one one is
none essentially this translates to have
a backup of anything that you use on a
regular basis especially if running out
of
thing in the middle of your work would
hamper the rest of your day or screw it
up for example the camera that are
filming this video on right now relies
on a battery to run and if that battery
were to die during filming well luckily
for me I have an extra battery that's
always on the charger on the wall always
fully charged ready to go because two is
one and one is none if the battery ran
out and I didn't have the backup I
wouldn't be able to film and I might not
even get a video out on time and the
same goes for many other things in my
life memory cards I've got many many
backups smoothie ingredients well there
are two jugs of milk in my fridge
instead of just one
that way if I run out of one we'll make
it a smoothie I've still got milk to use
and I don't have to abstain for my
smoothie that day so just remember if
running out of something would cause an
interruption in your life make sure you
have a backup of it that way you can use
the backup go on with your day and then
replace it when it is convenient for you
to do so item number five organize
people set things up in a way that is
useful to them and that works based on
their own experience and experimentation
not simply based on Dogma or how other
people do things now my favorite example
this principle comes from one of my
favorite books which is Anthony
Bourdain's book Kitchen Confidential in
that book he talks about how many chefs
inventory all the stuff in their kitchen
alphabetically because well it just
seems like the obvious way to create a
list but he didn't instead he organized
his inventory sheets the order of the
items mirrored the geographical location
of everything in the kitchen and this
actually makes a lot of sense when you
think about it but of course not
everything that people do is based on
scents so ditch the dogma if it doesn't
make sense question the established ways
and constantly experiment with your
processes and the way that you organize
things so you're doing things as
effectively as you possibly can
item number six and I have run out of
stupid things to do with this notebook
prop organized people respect the value
of me zone Plus and this is a French
term that roughly translates to
everything in its place to call back
once again to Kitchen Confidential
Bourdain describes meson plus as your
set up your working environment and to
some degree your state of mind as well
and within the culinary world this is
one of those concepts that every single
competent chef and line cook swears by
because to not use it to not respect
meson plus would mean to work in chaos
you don't want to have burners on the
stove you don't
Griese your meaty hands while you're
trying to find your chef's knife or
you're trying to find something else
that's important you want to make sure
everything is in its place
and you know where it's supposed to be
and it's organized before you start
working and this is a concept that's not
just useful in coal in our world it's
useful for anybody make sure that your
work environment is set up properly
before you begin your work and once
you're done put things back exactly as
you found them as my dad had constantly
yelled at me to do and finally the list
has led us indexer Blee to item number
seven which is worthy not of a notebook
but of a Captain America shield
organized people are very deliberate
about what they own what they buy and
what they choose to keep and of course
choosing to keep this shield it was a
very worthwhile decision now I am NOT
going to say that I am a minimalist
mainly because my best friend Martin who
is a minimalist and who runs my website
would probably hack my website and
destroy it if I use that term just out
of pure annoyance but I do take care to
buy things that bring me value that
bring me joy or utility I don't keep
things around if they're not useful to
me I don't let that clutter up my space
and I think this is something that you
should keep in mind as well because
remember the more things that you own
the more energy and time you have to
spend maintaining them and storing them
and keeping them organized and it's a
good thing to remember that organized
people don't spend more time energy than
they have to on organization it's a
means to an end so be deliberate about
the things that you buy ask yourself am
i buying this because it will bring me
joy or utility or am i buying it for
some frivolous stupid reason or am i
buying it just to impress somebody else
and likewise with the things you already
own be asking yourself on a regular
basis do I still need to keep this thing
could I donate it to somebody else could
somebody else get more use out of it
than I could or can I just get rid of it
because it's no longer valuable to me or
anyone do that along with the other six
things I've mentioned in this video and
you will be well on your way to becoming
an organized person now at an earlier
point in this video I talked about a
concept that I like to call the
mindfulness loop this is the process of
constantly checking through the
different areas of your life and making
sure that their dependencies are taken
care of but the mindfulness loop
actually has different levels at its
lowest level this tool is simply
concerned with maintenance with
maintaining the state of your life as it
currently
is but at a more advanced level it's
also looking forward constantly
prompting you with questions about what
you could do to set yourself up to take
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thanks again for watching and I will see
you in the next video