Virtue #3-Order: Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time

Franklin was a messy guy. The one virtue he comes back to as being much more difficult than expected is order. 

‘Order, too, with regard to places for things, papers, etc, I found extremely difficult to acquire. I had not been early accustomed to it, and, having an exceeding good memory, I was not so sensible of the inconvenience attending want of method…I made so little progress in amendment, and had such frequent relapses, that I was almost ready to give up..”

Franklin had a lot going on. At any given time he was trying to found a country, make great discoveries, represent the newly founded country in France, deal with a brother he ticked off and starting one of the earliest publishing companies just to name a few.

Franklin needed order but like so many of us, as referenced above, he just kept things in his head. How many times do we go into someone’s office and see their messy desk and say, “How can you ever find what you need?”

Many of us do this. Yet there are a great many reasons why order is to be executed in our day. It’s not just the order Franklin was seeking with regard to his ‘things.’ He also wanted to manage his time. 

“...let each part of business have its time.”

Managing our schedule can be one of the single greatest life optimization challenges we face. However, he who manages his time and keeps their things in order has less stress, gets more done and finds more flow. 

Let’s look at some facts regarding order and how it impacts our minds and productivity. Order allows for more productivity. That’s a little vague. Let’s be more specific. Order allows us to focus on our work more deliberately. Still too vague. Order allows us to reach a flow state more quickly and being in flow can 5X our productivity. Ok now we’re getting somewhere.

So let’s define the term flow and give a little texture to what it is. 

“Flow,” a term first coined in the '70s and often associated with athletes, is “an optimal state of consciousness where we feel our best and perform our best,” according to peak performance expert Steven Kotler.

Steven Kotler has become the foremost expert on flow these days. His work at the Flow Genome Project and the Flow Collective is remarkable. I first learned of flow and Kotler from his book ‘The Rise of Superman.’ In this book Kotler unpacks what it is that makes extreme sport athletes seemingly superhuman. Is it adrenaline highs they are addicted to and seek? Are they just nuts? What is it that can make someone like Danny Way with a fractured ankle, torn ACL and exhaustion still climb 50 feet in the air with his skateboard and hit what was dubbed ‘MegaRamp’ as a means to be the first human to ever jump the Great Wall of China on a skateboard? What is the primary ingredient to pull off such a feat to suppress the pain, enhance the focus and put aside fear? In a word-flow.

According to Kotler, “Flow states have triggers, or pre-conditions that lead to more flow. Essentially, flow can only arise when all of our attention is focused in the present moment, so that's what these triggers do—they drive attention into the here and now.”

If we can organize our workspace, set specific times for our work we are less distracted and better ready to enter a state of flow. We are ready to do deep work with laser-like focus. We can actually tackle our work like an extreme athlete tackles a death defying downhill ski run. 

Flow can become addicting for its power. It is the height of our cognizant performance state. Our amygdala rests. The fear filter is more porous allowing the rest of the mind to open. All the noise is shut out. This can turbo charge our focus and productivity.

How many times have you worked frantically all day only to end the day asking, “What the hell did I really get done?” This is particularly true for people who work for themselves such as writers and other such creators. They start the day with a blank canvas. It’s the creators job to decide with what, when and where the canvas will be filled. 

I implemented a strategy some time ago that has been incredibly successful. I suffered for years with the guilt of doing one task at the sacrifice of another. I would put things off because I would be concerned devoting myself to one thing meant I wasn’t doing the other. When would the other thing get done? It was paralyzing. 

This was especially true if any of the given tasks were really going to be time consuming. All I focused on was the long length of time it was going to take to finish my task. Then it occurred to me. What if I set a timer every time I began a task? I started reading about how detrimental sitting for long periods was to our health. So I began setting timers for 15 minutes when I sat to do work.

Then I realized it was putting my work into smaller bite sized chunks. Not only was I not sitting for extended periods of time, but I was able to evaluate the progress of my work every 15 minutes. The biggest mental shift was when I would consider doing a task and thinking, “Look it’s only 15 minutes. It’s not your whole day.” This prompted me to start the task.

There is also something freeing about being able to put my phone in another room, getting my mind fixed on the task and hand and telling myself, “This is what I’m doing right now. This is what this time is for.” It will blow your mind when you designate a time for a task and give the task its full attention with 100% full intention.

Some of these tasks took hold as daily habits. You’re experiencing one right now. Early in the morning I have what I call “nothing time.” This is time for me to do whatever I want. It’s not on the schedule. My day hasn’t even begun yet. So the first thing I do every morning is sit down and start writing. I set a timer for 15 minutes and go.

When I’m done, I will move on to some research or another task. I’ll set my timer for 15 minutes. By the time I’m done I will have knocked out 45 minutes of tasks before my ‘real’ day even starts. Here’s the biggest advantage. Due to the shortness of the time I’m able to focus 100% on the task at hand. The other tasks don’t haunt me. Afterall my brain knows it’s only 15 minutes. 

My brain also knows this is ‘nothing’ time. I’m just getting extra work done. By removing all these mental distractions I’m better able to focus. 

I do this with all my work now where possible. I have designated days for podcast interviews. I have designated times for training every day. These are appointments in my calendar. They are treated like important meetings. I purposely keep Fridays blank. This is free space. Creating a rigid schedule can be daunting and leave us inflexible. I leave Fridays open for my ‘hell yes’ invites. 

The fact is people are going to want to take some of the time we’ve allotted for other things. It’s always our choice to give it away and rearrange the schedule. However, having a reserve for good opportunities that come up is important. 

There’s also a very calming effect of being able to know from one day to the next what you’re going to do. Your brain knows what’s coming. It’s a prediction machine. It knows when it’s time for me to prepare to edit a podcast or perform a writing session. By knowing what’s coming, reducing decisions and getting to it I have a better chance of reaching a flow state and enjoying that 5X productivity. 

Digital Clutter

There’s an entire category of order Ben Franklin didn’t even have to consider. He wasn’t burdened with digital files. This is an often overlooked category of hoarding and disorder we all contend with. 

We ask ourselves, “What am I going to do with all these family pictures I’ve taken over the years? What about the closing statement for that house I sold three years ago? Holy cow! There’s my unfinished novel!”

I am the world’s worst at this one. I’m making it a point to get my digital life in order  immediately. My ‘desktop’ folder is the equivalent of a giant junk drawer. Open it up and there are photos, random PDF’s, clipped pics and all kinds of junk I’m clinging to ‘just in case.’

We do the exact same thing with our digital junk we do with our physical. Well, it’s time to get some order to the madness. Here’s what I propose.

Every single item must have a category. For example you have one folder that is for ‘personal’ items. These are all important documents, photos, and anything mission critical that if the house went up in a blaze you’d need to get your life back to some sense of normalcy. The best part is you don’t have to go buy a box of manilla folders and a label maker. Boom!

Next, your professional files. There should be categories of ‘on going projects,’ ‘parking lot projects’ and reference materials. You may have more but it’s likely with a little bit of focus you’ll find you only need a few folders. The key here is setting up a system that allows you to immediately put your eyes on what you need when you need it. 

As you go through the files, be real with yourself. Be willing to be honest when you ask the question, “Do I really need this?” Chances are the benefit of deep sixing it and removing the clutter from your digital warehouse will be worth it. Another little tip. Take advantage of cloud storage. If you’re like me and use multiple devices, having your files stored in the cloud and accessible from anywhere is a game changer. Also, the extra $.99 per month for iCloud storage is so worth it. 

I once read a story in one of my gazillion self improvement books (I wish I could remember which one to give proper credit) about a guy who had a discipline to always leave things how he wanted them after using. 

For example, anything that was not in his car when he got in and did not have a permanent use in the car was removed once he reached his home at the end of the day. Without exception he never left anything in his car that did not belong. His car was always clean and neat when he got in.

The same tactic can be used digitally. I’ve written about cleaning my desk and preparing for the next day. I’ve already mentioned its benefits. What about our digital desk? Don’t leave your computer without putting all files in their proper place. I personally suggest having only folders (and as few as possible) on your desktop. 

Oh, and another thing, don’t let these folders become that closet that the door is about to fly open on. You know the one I’m talking about. Your parents are coming over for dinner. You need to clean up. You take as much stuff and cram it into that closet as possible. You have to lean into the door as though a bear is trying to push his way in on the other side just to close the door. 

Don’t let your folders become the bear closet. Don’t double click on a folder only to unleash a bomb of files. Instead have a few folders neatly arranged behind each door where you can go exactly where you need to when you need to get there.

Imagine getting in your car and it’s clean and neat every single time you go to drive somewhere. How about your closet? You open the door and everything is neatly arranged and perfect. What if you never have to straighten up your house again! It’s always organized and orderly. Is this actually possible? Yup. 

In James Clear’s book ‘Atomic Habits’ he describes a ‘one place one use’ rule as a way of keeping things in order. This is particularly valuable with so many people working from home these days. The idea is simple. The space you create has one purpose. 

If it’s where you work, that’s it. When you sit down, get to work. Your desk in your spare bedroom you call your home office is for work. That’s it. That being the case, it should only have work related items on it. It should also be well organized.

You can take this down to the most micro level. Create a one space one use in drawers. If you must have a catchall or junk drawer, designate it as such and only have one no more. This also serves as a great flow trigger. When you designate a space for a specific purpose it triggers a mindset to do the work in that place. 

This doesn’t just have to be for work either. If you want to read more, create a reading one space one use space. Create a chair, corner or even end of the couch that is just for reading. When you want to read, that’s where you sit. By doing this just by sitting in this space you will trigger a propensity to read. Try it.

The benefits of keeping our ‘stuff’ as well as our time in its proper place are plenty. It will reduce stress and make you more productive. We have more information now at our fingertips than Ben Franklin could have fathomed. We are faced at any given time with a multitude of ways to use our time. We have more stuff to keep in order than ever. So if Ben Franklin found this so important he ranked it #3 out of his 13 virtues we should probably make it a priority as well.