BriefcaseI’ve discovered that you can easily help yourself out, organizationally speaking, by routinely stowing items in the same places. In my experience, this has dramatically cut down on bouts of hide-and-seek with a hidden car key, an elusive smart phone, and a small pair of earrings. And I’ve found that routinely stowing items in the same places comes in handy with purses, gym duffels, briefcases, messenger bags, and the like. Recently while heading downtown for a meeting, I perched on my train seat and went through my work bag in search of a few business cards for said meeting. I hadn’t made the time to put cards in my work bag before leaving the office. And gratefully, the business cards that I needed were at my fingertips when I retrieved them from the pocket where I routinely stow them. And that’s when I was reminded that routine approaches like consistently putting items in the same places can help us achieve logistical bliss without exerting any real effort.

Not surprisingly, this concept rings true withyour trusty gym bag, compartments in your car, and almost any other place where you routinely store items for specific uses. In my experience, I’ve found that routinely putting my shampoo and towel in specific pockets within my gym bag enables me to find these items with ease after some elliptical machine activity time. And by routinely storing that pack of gum in the same compartment in my car, I can enjoy a minty fresh flavor whenever I’d like without having to organize a search party.

If you already routinely store items in the same places in your bags, car, home, etc. gold star for you! And if not, consider adopting this approach for a week or two. I think you’ll find that it supports an organized way of life with practically zero planning or effort on your part. And then you can focus on life’s more important things – like family and friends, volunteering, eating dark chocolate, a visit to the library, or shoveling snow off the driveway. Again.

* Photo by Jason M

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