Why We Avoid Organizing (And What to Do Instead)

And when we put off organizing, we like to beat ourselves up.

And we think this is just the way we are.

We're such procrastinators.

But, you know, There's some truth in that.

Yes, we do tend to procrastinate, but really, it does usually come down to three really simple things.

And the first one is that our brains get tired.

Think about when you come home after a long day of school or work or you've been doing so many things around your home all day long and after a while you're describing your brain as like, my brain is fried.

It feels like mush.

I feel numb.

And when you look at a pile of paper, your brain knows it has to make a bunch of choices about what to keep and not to keep, what to throw away.

And when you're already tired, your brain just says, Nah, not doing that today.

Not doing any more.

Not making any more decisions.

Second, the pile feels pretty scary.

And sometimes, you know, it's yes, Our eyes see paper and that's it.

But what makes us stay away is the meaning of that paper, of those stacks of papers.

What do they mean? It means like we need to make phone calls or we need to go pay that bill.

It's like it represents tasks and reminders and things that we haven't finished yet.

And looking at it feels like looking at a giant homework assignment.

Remember those? Homework that you don't want to do.

Well, unless you were me, I was a bookworm and I liked academics.

Anyway, that's besides the point.

I was a nerd.

And maybe you're a nerd like me too.

But But just thinking about it as a 50 something year old, as a 60 something year old, you know, it's just easier to be like, no one's grading me on this.