Happy & Healthy
do the check
8 steps to figuring out if you’re an organized person
I remember like it was yesterday, the day our Amayzine Amsterdam HQ moved to a bright white new location. We directly indicated that we would all be working with the ‘clean desk policy’ and would never leave a mess on our tables and in case we would, we would all have to put a euro in a jar. I wish this was a rule we had stuck by, then I would be living in the Maldives right now. Forever. My desk is always clean. The others around me far from it. Are you just like me and do you think you’re the neatest one at the office? Do the check. Who knows, perhaps we’ll both be hanging out on the Maldives together.
Check 1
You’ve spent the afternoon cleaning your desk and the following day someone else decides to sit in your spot. No problem at all if that person is just as clean as you are, but if he or she leaves the place with coffee stains and post-it notes and bread crumbs; not okay. You’re annoyed from the get-go and spend a good minute using disinfectant to clean it all up again. Next time this happens, don’t clean it up. Give the person in question a couple subtle hints.
Check 2
Your things need fixed places. You’ve got a case for your pens, you know exactly where your tapes are as well as your scissors. Everything has got a set spot which calms you down. So when someone uses your things and leaves them in an entirely different place than your organized system, you can feel some heat brewing.
Check 3
Messiness makes you restless. Not an entirely crazy idea, since you’re an organized person. So when it comes to your office desk, then it’s nice to have it entirely clean. When you look around at the desks around yours, you feel a light itch and it makes you fidgety.
Check 4
Did you switch something up in your home? Then a light bit of panic will arise. Because yes, you were in the mood for a change, but for a change in your book, it requires a rigorous cleanse and a day later you won’t remember where you placed everything. Only to then go through all your things trying to find that one thing you need. And then start all over again.
Check 5
You get really annoyed when people around you finish things, but never restock. Think heading to the bathroom and there’s only one sheet of toilet paper left, an empty jar of Nutella put back in the closet. Or someone takes your post-its off your desk and doesn’t bother to give you new ones…
Check 6
You want other people to stay far away from the (occasional) mess you make. Technically the word ‘messy’ isn’t even a part of your vocabulary, but you too have the occasional off day. And there’s no worse thing than having other people try to organize your things. You prefer to do it yourself. Tidy people know what I’m talking about. If others do it, it only gets worse. Keep. Your. Hands. Off. My. Things.
Check 7
A lot of people start cleaning, but then never finish it. So when you start off in a giddy mood ready to dive into your cleansing sesh only to still be surrounded in a mess three hours later, you know you won’t be getting anywhere. But when you’re an organization freak, this situation sounds unthinkable.
Check 8
Mail? You go through it immediately. Or you’ll leave it in a pile, only to then go through all of it in one go and make sure all your admin and finances are taken care of. People who have ginormous piles on their desks is a view you don’t recognize.
