Welcome to my brain. I invite you in to take a look, but trust me, it’s complicated. After all, the brain is the ultimate Master Organizer. It’s where we process all of our information and where judgment and decision-making live. It is an all encompassing life navigation system.
How we organize our life is a direct correlation to how our brain works. I’ve discovered that the organizing process in of itself is the very window into a client’s brain, and into their own self-discovery. How they choose to organize provides them with insight to how they think. There is no cookie cutter design to organizing, no right or wrong model. Clearly, there are no two people alike and so there cannot be only one way to organize. Everybody has their own preferred learning styles, different processing modalities.
Let’s enter the Left and Right brain. We know that right-brained people are creative, intuitive, emotional, kinesthetic, and are usually visually oriented. A left-brain-er is a more linear thinker, structured, cognitive, logical, precise, analytical, neat, and punctual individual. But is it really that cut and dry? Can’t we be a little of both?
With learning styles, many people can possess a multitude of preferences. For me, I’ve always considered myself to be a very visual thinker, but with an increased self-awareness and a ton of teleclasses, I’ve now noticed I am an auditory, kinesthetic, and a verbal learner as well. Go figure.
In regard to my brain, depending on the task, I believe I have a proclivity to switch back and forth from both right to left. In my workspace, I am very right-brained. I like to keep most of my current files or notes spread out over my desk in a very specific way so they are very visible while I’m working with them. If I were to file them away or put them in a drawer, the fear is that they will be forgettable, seemingly invisible to me. But yet, at the end of the day, I prefer to clear my desk and organize for the following day. Just looking at papers scattered all over the place makes me feel more scattered, and off-balance. Very left-brained. So I compromise with arranging important files and notes out on my desk (very neatly, I might add) prepared for the next day as a visible reminder for my right-brain.
In my every day life, I love structure in my day. I’m a planner and a list maker. I feel super charged to cross tasks off my list. Punctuality is a priority to me and scheduled appointments are met. At home, I like to consider myself as the straighten up-er. I love to put things away in their place, roaming around the house picking up random things and replacing them back to their proper home. Often, I’m not even aware that I do this, it’s as if I’m on auto-pilot. Works for me, it’s my “natural” style to be neat and organized. All good.
And yet, in other areas of my life, I’m back to right-brain thinking. When it comes to putting things together, I rarely look at directions; I learn by doing, I’m kinesthetic. I am creative with my spaces, crafts, and with my fashion sense. I’m very emotional and random at times, and sometimes I get so entrenched in what I’m doing, I confess I lose all track of time. Yes, even Professional Organizers can struggle with time-management.
Above all, it’s important to remember that we all have our own unique approaches of doing things and we must pay attention to how we learn, and how we function best. We do not not have to adapt to a particular system to be a successful or an organized person. You can’t fit a square peg into a circle, so don’t try to force human nature. Self-awareness and acceptance is the first critical step to succeed with your customized brain.
Whether you’re a visual, auditory, verbal, tactile, cognitive, kinesthetic, intuitive, or someone who struggles with ADDHD, there are effective techniques for every kind of brain.
Be aware that the brain is complex and completely individualized in terms of how it functions. In order to be a better YOU, just be mindful of your strengths and allow them to work for you.
Do you SEE what I’m trying to say, or do you HEAR what I’m trying to say? This would be an accurate measure of your preferred style of thinking. And your brain?…Do tell. Are you a righty or a lefty? Or are you a little bit of both?
Consider this a fun brain teaser and join me in talking about your unique styles. Can’t wait to pick your brain!