How to Be More Organized and the Challenges of Chaos Theory

When I was younger, I found myself often engaging in a classic exchange between parent and child. My mother would knock, come into my room, and perform a brief thirty-second inspection; at which time she would label my domicile as a garbage heap or a toxic waste site. My mother would then place the demand upon me that I needed to clean my room. And honestly, I really couldn’t argue with her about this particular observation about my room. After looking at the toys on the floor, magazines and books on my desk, and piles of laundry for months on end that I told myself that some type of cleaning plan needed to be implemented.

However, my mother and I had two very different views about what constituted ‘cleaning’. She believed that the cleaning of a room was accomplished by, but not limited to, the following activities: vacuuming, wiping down surfaces with soap and water, placement of loss items into appropriate drawers, as well as the folding of laundry into the dresser.

Alternatively, my primary modus operandi for cleaning my room involved a competition between myself and the available space within my room to see how many of my possessions could be placed under the bed, in a closet or inside an available drawer. And it was a good system that I had. It was reliable and worked on a consistent basis, but for one fatal flaw. The next time that I went looking for an item that I needed it became necessary to completely pull everything out of the closets and drawers before I located the item.

Given this brief testimonial, you, dear reader, would assume that ‘my clean start’ resolution would be to increase my level of organization in my personal life. And I commend you on your powers of deduction, but much like Luke Skywalker in ‘Empire’, I have seen the dark side and chose not to give into temptation.

First of all, I shall address the problem of retrieving a particular object when, and if, it is placed back where it belongs after its’ initial use. When the occasion arises that I might need this item once again, I need to go through a number of steps to retrieve aforementioned item. First, I would need to get off the couch. Second, I would need to travel to the location where the item is stored. Third, I would need to dig through the drawer that the item had been placed in. Fourth, I would then need to take the item back to the room where I needed to utilize it. Finally, I would need to reverse the previous four steps to return the item. Alternatively, if I leave the item out then, I will be able to locate the item from my location on my couch and will be able to retrieve it at my leisure.

Second, there are what I like to call the ABC’s of cleaning, a system that is fraught with complications and hoops to jump through. The ‘A’ of cleaning is for ‘Attention’. A parent or spouse directs your attention to an unkempt domicile through a declarative statement, such as “there are dishes in the sink” or “the rug needs to be vacuumed”. The ‘B’ of cleaning can be identified as ‘Begrudgingly’. You will eventually reach a tipping point where you become tired of looking at the filthy carpet or have had enough of your parent, roommate or spouse drawing your ‘attention’ to what need to be cleaned. Once you have ‘begrudgingly’ cleaned the area, that is when, dear friend, you discover, the devil in the details.

After cleaning you will very likely then proceed with your normal activities, such as eating a snack, opening a package, or clipping coupons. For argument’s sake, let’s say that you are making a sandwich. You have a beautiful sandwich roll that you have just sliced into and are preparing to put thick slices of deli meat onto with heaps of mustard. It is then that you see ‘it’. There are mustard spots on the counter, crumbs on your shirt and on the floor, as well as ring stain from the less than clean plate on the counter. Congratulations. Your world has returned to the chaos that existed before you undertook the task of cleaning.

As a devotee of science and science fiction, my argument against organization and cleaning boils down to one word — entropy. The natural order of the universe is the progression from order to disorder with the perfect example being the “Big Bang Theory.” Our universe began in one small box — extremely, extremely small container, with all the matter that ever existed in one convenient location. But much like the closet in my childhood bedroom, this particular container was only able to contain the matter for so long before it exploded and sent all that matter scattered throughout the universe in a chaotic fashion, as nature had originally attention. Therefore, I say, when you are putting that shirt away in a drawer or vacuuming that carpet, you, my friend, are going against the very order of the universe.

And I must concede that I have attempted throughout the years to make resolutions to become more organized. I do admit that in some circumstances that it would have made my life easier. If I had a more organized desk at work, I would be able to hand my supervisor the document that they had requested in a matter of seconds rather than minutes, and then the supervisor would not have that additional time to find other things wrong with my workspace or think up additional tasks.

But I truly believe that the older I get, the more that I accept that I will never be organized in my life. In addition, I have come to the realization that there are far more important things to maintain in one’s life. There are relationships with loved ones and an appreciation for life.

I am so sorry, dear Reader. I realize that you are in the middle of reading this article, but you wouldn’t happen to have seen my pen. I might have rolled under a stack of newspapers.

Maybe I should I give this whole organizational resolution one more chance.