A Seven-Step Process

At first daunted by the challenge, Paul gained a foothold on the problem by beginning to identify how the choices she was making created chaos. She figured out why she was always running late for meetings, constantly losing phone messages, submitting invoices way past deadline—and forever looking for her keys. Understanding that deep personal change requires fundamentally shifting how we think about things, she gradually developed a seven-step process for “changing your mindset so you can do more of what you really want to do” (see “The Seven-Step Change Cycle” on p. 11).

RESTORING ORDER TO YOUR DESK

As you put things away at the end of the day, you feel more energized and ready for what life will offer you the next morning.

In her book, Marilyn provides numerous examples of how to put each step into practice. For instance, in Step One, figuring out your purpose for getting organized, she suggests articulating what you want to do that you currently can’t. If that method doesn’t inspire you, she proposes identifying the costs of disorganization to your life, such as money, time, relationships, family, and spirit. In Step Two, envisioning what you want, the author encourages you to find a metaphor that embodies your idea of being organized, such as a basketball team, a still lake in the wilderness, a beautiful tall ship, or ice dancing. Holding onto this positive image during your journey helps you let go of any negative metaphors that held you back in the past. In Step Three, accurately assessing the source of your mess, Paul outlines four levels of inquiry into your reality—physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual—to reveal the unintended effects of your actions. “Part of organizing,” she explains, “is to internalize a sense of consequence so that you become aware that saving one piece of paper at one point in time could lead you to an overwhelming mountain of papers later on.”

Organizing Wisdom

This kind of systemic approach taps into what she calls “organizing wisdom”—that is, principles for uncovering strategies for taking action. One core principle is getting to ready, or clearing out space in your office and calendar so you can do what you need to do. Another is creating new habits, such as hanging things up and putting things away that continually return you to “ready” (see “Restoring Order to Your Desk”). A third is building effective systems, for example, developing simple routines for tracking phone calls, handling mail, and scheduling meetings.

“As you become more organized, you will find that it is possible to shift from taking action based on anxiety to acting from deep intention,” Marilyn asserts. By engaging in this process, you can replace the stress and discomfort of disorder with a confidence in your extraordinary capabilities to achieve your goals. Piles can become manageable, deadlines can be met, relationships can grow—and you might even appreciate doing your dishes! Ultimately, taking this journey can open up new opportunities to make the difference you have always wanted to make in your life.

Kali Saposnick is publications editor at Pegasus Communications.

The post Getting Organized to Make a Difference appeared first on The Systems Thinker.

Maybe part of the challenge lies in the concept of “resolution.” Flipping through MerriamWebster’s Collegiate Dictionary, I was surprised to see that the first current definition of “resolve” is “a: break up, separate” and “b: to reduce by analysis (~the problem into simple elements).” Not until the fifth definition did I find “to reach a firm decision about (~to get more sleep).” Followers of the late Russ Ackoff know that phrases such as “reduce by analysis” are red flags, signaling a potentially nonsystemic approach to problem solving.

In a recent post on his Idea Architects blog, Jeffrey Cufaude questioned our usual methods for trying to address enduring challenges. He wrote, “If you find yourself, either individually or organizationally, looking to re-solve the same issue repeatedly, you may need to direct your attention deeper. You likely need to think more systemically about why this same issue recurs. What beliefs, mindsets, policies, procedures, or practices help perpetuate the same behaviors or outcomes, the ones you want to change?”

With these perspectives in mind, I looked at one of my own longstanding resolutions: clearing out my email Inbox. By directing my attention deeper, can I “re-solve” the challenge once and for all? I turned to the systems thinking tool known as the “iceberg” for guidance.

Events, Patterns, Structure

Most change efforts focus on the event level. To address my overcrowded Inbox, I created a folder called “Old Inbox,” moved my backlog of emails there, and mentally committed to emptying my current Inbox each day. Problem solved, right?

Not exactly. I have done the same thing several years in a row. Clearly, a pattern has emerged, in that my determination to behave differently hasn’t stuck. As I recall from past years, for several days, I duly deleted emails as I dealt with them and filed those I needed for future reference. But, over time, the number of unsorted emails accumulated, until my clean Inbox was a distant memory.

Whenever we think we’ve addressed a problem only to have it recur again, we can be sure that it’s a structural issue. As Jeffrey Cufaude suggested, I needed to look at the beliefs, mindsets, policies, procedures, and practices that have undercut my efforts time and again.

When I reflected on my email practices in greater detail—including the thoughts and feelings that influence my actions—I realized that I experience what productivity expert David Allen calls the “out-of-sight-out-of-mind syndrome.” As shown in this loop, because of my fear of losing track of important items, I allow emails to accumulate in my Inbox. The growing number of emails reduces my ability to easily sort through them, which increases my stress and, in turn, my fear of misplacing something important.

Breaking the Vicious Cycle

The key, I decided, is to put systems in place to alleviate the fear and thus break the vicious cycle. The first thing I did was to experiment with a free, online to-do list (I use TeuxDeux; I’m sure there are others available). If an email includes a task I need to complete, I enter it on the list and move the email to a folder. Somehow, I feel more confident having the list online than in my planner.

Next, I followed a tip by David Allen. I created two folders that reside at the top of my email folder list: @Action and @Waiting For. Of course, I need to actively manage the content of these folders; otherwise, they’ll become just as clogged as my Inbox used to be.

Will these actions be enough to change the underlying structure that influences my email habits? Time will tell, but so far, so good. Now about that exercise regimen …

Janice Molloy is managing editor of The Systems Thinker.

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