Organizational Skills ~ Inherited Or Learned?

  

I was looking at my photo album and came across these pictures of me. I have always been neat and organized, and many times I hear the comment – you were born that way. It may be partially true that I have an inclination or am naturally interested in organizational skills. But the fact is, being neat and organized is not inherited, it is a skill – and that means it is something that can be learned!

 

The definition of SKILL is: the learned capacity to carry out predetermined results often with the minimum outlay of time, energy, or both.

So if you feel you were not born with that inclination, don’t lose hope! This means it is something you can develop just as you would a skill like painting. It may be awkward at first, but with time and practice, it becomes second nature.

My mother was a very organized person, she had the contents of our freezers labeled on a cardboard taped to the lid. Yet, she was so busy, there were many things I did not learn from her.

For example, I remember an auntie coming to visit, and when she saw the contents of my underwear drawer, she promptly took me into our General Store to look for empty shoe boxes. She emptied the contents of my drawers and we lined them with shoe boxes. Then she showed me how to fold my underwear and neatly lay them into the boxes – sorting “like with like.” I loved that! This was brilliant! I could not believe I had never been shown this before!!! (I was 6 or 8 years old after all.) This simple little organization trick had alluded me? Here I could see everything I had, I could find it easy, and the best thing of all, it took up less space.

Now, let’s flip ahead to April 1981 when I married Ken and became a mother to Elaine and Lisa aged 9 and 13. They were adorable, but typical girls. Clothes always on the floor, dirty dishes stashed under the bed. I tried in vain to show them, especially by example, how to be clean and organized.

As a matter of fact, from the very first day after returning from our honeymoon I set out to wash and put away all the wedding presents, wash all our laundry, and clean the whole house. I worked extremely hard all day and was right in the middle of my shower when the water stopped! “KEN!” I did not realize we were on a water-tank-delivery system…. so Gordie, our Water Guy, had to make a special trip to our home in the middle of the week to fill our completely-bone-dry tank. He chuckled about: “the day Ken brought home a new wife” for years to come!

But the thing is, when my girls grew up and left home, they were still throwing their clothes on the floor and I felt like I failed at teaching. I thought that perhaps their habits were already ingrained by the years of 9 and 13 and it was too late to teach them differently.

But, then Elaine moved in with friends who were “worse” than she was… and that drove “her” crazy. This is her words…. “that is the day I became ‘Elvie!’” My heart beamed with pride not only because she gave me the greatest compliment ever, but I had made an impact on her life. That was the turning point for her, and she is now so neat and organized and makes her mama proud! (I still have hopes for Lisa.)

So don’t give up, organizational abilities are something you learn, they are a skill, probably best if taught at a young age. But like any skill, you can learn by verbal instruction, by demonstration, and by visual aids such as: videos, pictures and diagrams. Make use of all these aids in teaching your children, it will be invaluable to them in all areas of their life, whether it is time management, computer organizational skills, business and management organizational skills, or just prioritizing. And whether they are young or old, female or…. male, as long as they are breathing, they can learn good organizational skills.

Elvie Look: Your Professional Organizing Coach who is helping people get organized with her easy tips and suggestions. These systems help the busy mom, businessman or woman,  entrepreneur or student learn the keys to organizing in simple, actionable and manageable steps. She teaches how to get organized and maintain your organized space while carrying on your normal busy life. She is the author of "21 Steps From Chaos To Calm.

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