Organizing For Your Brain Type II

Which are you?

Maintaining:
Easily identifiable. Maintainers love lists and scheduling. Often times maintainers will actually schedule their entire day down to 15-minute blocks of time. They love everything to be perfectly organized (even if it's not) and they get stressed if they don't have a routine and schedule to adhere to. These people are great because they keep the world running and everything in it's place. They work best with traditional organizing methods like filing cabnets, labeling and inboxes. Out of all the brain-types these are the people who are what we would call traditionally "organized".

Harmonizing:
Harmonizers love people! They are usually very social and easygoing. Harmonizers are wonderful because they keep everybody emotionally on track. They want the house clean if it makes other people comfortable, but because other people are more important to them than things, they can have a tendancy to let things go. They do get discouraged if the house is messy, but they're usually so overwhelmed they don't know what to do. They tend to keep things organized when they are stimulated by things that remind them of people and times they want to remember. However, because they surround themselves with things that bring pleasent memories, they have a tendancy to be pack rats. They like things that encourage them and remind them why they are doing what they are doing. Color and nifty containers are vital for their organizational style. Also, putting a picture or two (no more!) in key places can help them stay motivated.

Prioritizing:
Prioritizors are goal oriented. Their life consists of acheiving goals that they believe are important. Sometimes they get so focused they run over other people in the process. Organization is very important to accomplish their goals. However, sometimes they don't want to dabble with the particulars and their wonderful ability to delegate causes them to have others do the organizing for them. They're all out to divide and conquere! These people are very important in life because they're the ones that get things done. They are excellent leaders because they delegate so well. And they accomplish great things because of their great prioritizing skills. They just need to learn the system they use and stick to it. Preferably one that is streamlined and quick. The best thing they can do is minimize. Don't keep anything on your desk or in front of you that you are not working on. File everything else.

Innovating:

Innovators are usually very creative people. They are the people who see things from a different perspective and can usually come up with new solutions to what would be for most of us, an unsolvable problem. They are very visual. The old rule "out of sight out of mind" particularly applies to them. Their one obvious trait is that they have a unique style of organizing. They stack. Everything. Particularly papers. They organize things in piles. (i.e. bills in one pile, magazines in another, childs artwork) Contrary to popular thought, these unique individuals can be very organized, they just need to learn how to use their stacking style to keep things together.

Next organizing post...

Weaknesses and strengths for each brain type as well as specific tips for your indivdual organizational style.