Designing Systems
The trick to a good system is to let it develop itself. In other words, you don’t design systems, systems design themselves. You are probably asking...what exactly are you writing about? How do systems design themselves?
Let me start with a story.
Many moons ago, before children (B.C. for short) I lived in a one bedroom apartment all by myself. This apartment had a narrow galley kitchen right off the front door. In my quest to organize the apartment, I created a hook area for my keys in this narrow galley kitchen. It was a great system for me. I walked in, I saw the hook immediately, and I hooked my keys.
Well, about a year into having this perfect key system, I started dating this guy who was well over 6 feet tall and, I swear, like 5 feet wide (ok, not really). But he was a bit too wide to really enjoy my narrow galley kitchen, and when the key hooks were added into the equation, it got super annoying. He constantly knocked the keys off the hook. What was an organized girl like me supposed to do?
Nothing. That's right. This planned up organized, go-getting woman did nothing. It's difficult to do, but I've found in cases like this, it is the best thing to do.
I watched for about two weeks to see where my keys landed without that hook. I realized that the next spot I stopped at when I arrived home was a small table. I took a beautiful bowl that I had purchased in my world travels, and I put that bowl where I naturally put my keys. Voila. My new key storage system designed itself. And, after I observed my behavior, I realized that I naturally put my wallet and mail there. I began putting my wallet in that same bowl. I put a box under the table, and I started sorting my mail right there at the table. It became one of the more effective systems in my home. Additionally, my new boyfriend, the 5 foot wide one -- he began putting his keys and wallet there too. It became a natural place for these items.
Fast forward quite a few years to after my son was born - A.C. for short.
If you read my last blog post, then you'll remember my box sorting system. This system also designed itself. When my son was born, I wanted to file-fold his clothes. Here I had this perfect baby whose skin felt soft as silk and had absolutely no blemishes. I wanted everything to be perfect. And before he was born I spent hours folding all the beautiful gifts he'd received. And then, slowly, but surely, I couldn't keep up. I was so busy putting ointment on that perfect silky-soft skin and feeding his pea sized belly that I came to realize that there was no way I could spend time folding. Soon, I started just tossing his stuff in the drawer. I realized I needed a system that allowed me the freedom to toss stuff in the drawers, but that I also needed to have some way to find the different kinds of clothes he needed. Finally, I settled on using boxes to sort unfolded clothes. Rather than allowing myself to feel shame about not folding, I sat back and observed my own pattern, and created a system that worked for me.
Organizing isn’t about forcing people into doing unnatural, unsustainable, or even new patterns. True organizing is about finding your already existing patterns and using them to make your life function for you. Rather than being frustrated that I couldn’t use the hook for my keys or that I couldn’t keep up with the folding of my new baby’s clothes, I chose to develop systems that allowed me to nurture relationships with the people in my life. I didn’t fight with my wide boyfriend about being careful not to disturb my beautiful hook system, and I spend more time with my new baby.
Don’t stress your relationships by forcing organizational systems that are not natural. Listen and observe yourself and the ones you love. Then, use the information you gain from those observations to create a natural system for your home.
