It's Time to get some Mise En Place.

​When I am organized I get things done.  I don’t have to worry when everything is in it’s place.  This includes my mental organization.  When I know what I have to get done and how to get it done then I am much more effective.
 
It’s one of the reasons procrastination has played a major role in what I’ve accomplished.  Only one thing matters in crisis mode.  Everything dissipates and I can focus on getting that one thing done.
 
It’s like when I was a kid and I threw everything from my room into my closet and shut the door.  For the moment my room was clean, I could relax and focus on whatever I wanted to focus on.  That is, until I opened the closet door.  Then everything comes crashing down.
 
My teenage bedroom or my work desk…

Is a good reflection of my brain.  It can be pretty cluttered.
 
Both kinds of clutter bog down my processing system.  I lose focus, have a hard time prioritizing and ultimately end the day with less done than I wanted to accomplish.
 
I found this great article on how clutter effects our brains

In Kitchen Confidential Anthony Bourdain has a chapter called Mise En Place.  Which is French for “everything in it’s place”. 
 
He says that you can tell a lot about a cook by his mise en place.  When a cook knows where everything is and has a system for using his tools and ingredients he is more efficient and more effective.
 
Sounds like I could use some mise en place.  Then I remembered I’ve had some training.  Not that I’ve been putting it into practice.  But at lease I know how to approach the problem.

A year ago I was traveling in Idaho for work.  Before leaving on the rip I asked my brother if he had any good audio books to fill the time.  He recommended The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up.  I snickered but he was serious.
 
Now my brother is like our grandma.  She would throw away pictures of the grand kids after a few weeks because she knew what we looked like after that.  She didn’t keep anything.  Granda Arave was Queen Mise En Place.  That makes Ammon a prince at least.
 
When Ammon told me that he got something from this book and that it changed the way he filters through his stuff I knew it was worth listening to.
 
I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t what that book is.  Most organization books talk about categorizing and compartmentalizing.  Marie Kondo takes a totally different approach.
 
Instead of organizing she has you hold the item and then ask yourself “Do I find joy in this item?”  The idea being that we should only hold on to things that truly bring joy in our lives.  That’s something I can get on board with.
 
Not that I’ve done anything about it.  But I have the checklist on my bathroom counter.  This is my year to Konmari.

You can pick up your own Konmari list here.