Personal Organization: A Journey to Self

A Journey to Discovery

Introduction

I want to make it very clear from the beginning that I am not an expert on organization and productivity. In fact, many would consider me the opposite. Most of my life I have struggled with being “ organized ”. However, I managed to build and sell a company during this struggle. No one is going to confuse me with Bill Gates or Elon Musk , but I managed to move from the lower middle class to the bottom of the top 1%. Who knows what would have happened if I knew then what I know now about organization and productivity.

There are hundreds of productivity and organization apps and products. The range from old school pencil and paper planners and journals to AI guided apps. There are also hybrid models that integrate paper and digital . Many people search through these tools evaluating one product after another. Hoping to find one that is sustainable.

Before trying a new system, I would advise doing a little introspection. Something has occurred to spark the search for organization. It is important to understand what is inspiring this desire for change.

Audience

The primary audience are people who intend to become more organized and productive, yet struggle to maintain an organizational system. This essay intends to shed light upon the reasons for system resistance.

A secondary, but very important audience, are those who have no problem maintaining an organizational system. This will help them understand those who do.

Why Change to a New System

In my case I felt as if I was underperforming and could not scale my company without change. There were too many times I missed details that seemed unimportant to me but were important to others. I was spending too much time on surviving and not enough time on thriving.

The surface reasons for looking at a system to improve organization and Productivity can range from a better way to track appointments to finding a method to achieve goals. Oftentimes anxiety is the impetus for change. The anxiety of not being quite sure of what’s going on around you and what problems are coming your way. Anxiety that time is slipping away and you’re not sure you’re getting the most value from it. Anxiety that Life may be slowly unraveling around you while drifting towards chaos. We hope we can paint an anxiety relieving and clearer picture of our world.

However, my biggest issue was system sustainability. I would start with a system, but over time I would gradually drift back into my old patterns. This resulted in inconsistent and inefficient results. Eventually, I would revert back my semi chaotic organizational approach that resulted in time to time high anxiety theater.

Mental Block

What causes the the sustainability decline? In my case it was the “ Mental Block”. The Mental Block is a welling of mental resistance when confronted with a tedious or seemingly minor task. The task is important, but does not have immediate consequences. For example, doing the small but necessary steps to sustain an organization or productivity system.

The Mental Block feels like a combination of annoyance, frustration, a little persecution and some low grade irritation. Sometimes it is welling of anxiety that blocks new behavior.This is followed by a series of rationalizations designed to avoid dealing with the task or decision. These include some of the following:

· I have more important things to do and this is in the way

· I do not have the time right now

· I can worry about this later

· Create a distraction that diverts from the task or decision

There are an unlimited number of excuses to put off the task. Sometimes we tough our way through it. Oftentimes at a heavy cost of mental energy. Eventually, as the number of delayed tasks increase, many of us give up and return to our old ways.

Mental Block Cause

What causes the “ Mental Block” ? I believe it is caused by a conflict between a preexisting behavioral pattern and the new behavior. We have years of existing behaviors that were developed through a lifetime. These behaviors were shaped by our environment. However, environments change and old behaviors can be maladapted to new environments.

The primary function of the brain is our survivability. It is designed to rapidly respond to threats. This can be obvious threats such as a snake or less obvious and more subtle threats. The brain conserves energy. It uses a lot of energy to guide us through the day. Therefore it creates automatic behavior patterns to respond to any direct threats or other regular situations. These patterns are encoded as neural networks. They are like behavioral sub routines that are triggered by specific stimulus. The response is generally automatic and actions are done non-consciously. After the action occurs the brain provides a Post Hoc rationalization for the conscious mind.

An example of an obvious threat is a snake. Universally humans will react to a snake without any formal thought processing. The stimulus occurs and the behavioral subroutine kicks in. If we had to take the time to process the thought, the action might come too late.

A more subtle threat is hunger. How does a infant adapt to its environment to ensure that its caretakers provide food. Behavioral routines are created to attach the primary caretaker to the child. These routines differ based upon the type of environment the child is raised in. These behaviors become very complex and are very subtle. They generally occur in a non-conscious level and we are often unaware of them. They interact with other neural networks to create a behavioral matrix that is designed to increase your survivability chances in the existing environment.

Over the years we develop layers and layers of preprogrammed behavior. I had developed a very linear organizational model. Linear organization enabled me to organize a specific activity. However, I was never able to become horizontally organized as much as I needed. Horizontal organization occurs across all elements of life. I had developed a habit of putting off tasks that I did not think were immediately important. This process enabled me to develop a global IT Network that could process 10 million calls a month across a global satellite Network while forgetting to pay my electric bill and getting charged a late fee.

I believe the Mental Block arises when the new behavior conflicts with existing behavioral subroutines. The automatic triggering of the old behavior has to be overcome before the new behavior is implemented. This requires a high effort redirection of mental energy to override the existing behaviors. This the “Mental Block”.

Overcoming the “ Mental Block” is challenging. A successful planning and organization system os going to change your environment. Hopefully , for the better in the long run. However, changes are going to create conflicts between existing behavior patterns and the new ones. This will create “Mental Blocks” that will need to be managed.

Why such a Challenge?

It seems so simple on the surface. Write things down, create goals and plans, and layout the path to achieve them. Yet, it is very difficult for so many of us.

However, behavioral change is difficult for a variety of reasons. There is the basic neurobiology of behavioral learning. This contends that the brain is designed to learn rapidly prior to the age of 25. Any learning after that is more difficult. It can be accomplished, but with a higher degree of effort. The link below is to a video by Dr Anthony Huberman that explains the process.

The existing behaviors are connected by a vast neural web. They interact with each other inside the web. The introduction of new behaviors into this preconditioned web causes resistance to change.

A new organization and productivity system introduces a lot of behavioral change into the existing behavioral web. The changes intensify as each new behavior changes the environment. The environmental changes can inspire behavioral changes. This creates a cycle of change that constantly challenges the preexisting behavioral web. The web resists by creating mental blocks.

Productivity and organization systems are particularly stimulating to the behavioral web. They require you to examine your life and fit it into their system. The process of creating and maintaining a system introduces new and conflicting behaviors. In addition , the process of sorting activities and understanding your actions and plans can set off additional stimulation that stirs up your preexisting behavioral patterns

The process of creating and maintaining a productivity system requires asking a lot of questions. You are painting a Portrait of your life‘s activities. All of your projects plans and goals need to be examined. You ask why you are performing a task, how important is it , who does it affect and what are the consequences of successfully or unsuccessfully completing it. Then plans and tasks need to fit together to allocate time and resources. Eventually the process identifies other behaviors that need to be modified to meet the envisioned outcomes. This further impacts your neural networks and burns up mental resources. The Mental Blocks just keep on coming.

In short , you are emptying the contents of your mind into a system. As the system takes shape a portrait of your life is created. The process forces self accountability . The emerging portrait causes questioning of how you became who you are and forces decisions. In my case, I have had to ask myself why some of my projects in the first place.All of this can create a series of mental blocks than can cause the whole organizational process to go off the rails.

Summary

The purpose of this essay is not to discourage anyone from trying to improve their life via better planning and organization. It is to help understand the challenge and understand the effort required. Therefore you can plan for system sustainability in the beginning.

I wrote this article to help those who struggle with sustaining or optimizing their personal organization . It points out that this is more than just an effort to improve your organization. We are rewiring our brain to create new behaviors. We hope these behaviors are better adapted to our new environment and will help us achieve our personal and professional goals. However, we need to be aware of the challenges this will present. We also need to understand that the results can be far more powerful and beneficial than we originally imagined.

The challenge is great but worth it. It helps to realize that the Mental Blocks you face are your neurology adapting to new behaviors. In my next essay, I will detail some of the methods I have used to deal with Mental Blocks. Believe this is a journey of self discovery and embrace the process is a good first step.