Organization starts with self-trust.
When you tell yourself, “I’ll put this away later,” or “I’ll start on that tomorrow,” or “I’ll write this down in my journal after we are done,” and you don’t follow through, you weaken trust in your own intentions.
Every time you fail at keeping a personal promise, you teach yourself that decisions don’t require action.
Disorganization arises from open loops of unfinished tasks, vague intentions, and weak commitments.
Keeping small promises closes those loops.
When you say to yourself, “I’ll respond to that request after the meeting,” and you do, your brain learns that your decisions can be trusted.
Each promise kept reinforces the habit of acting in alignment with your plans.
Small promises kept build confidence that your future self is reliable and can be counted upon. Organization depends on that trust.
People who regularly break small promises give themselves a built-in excuse to not follow through the next time. Once this habit is ingrained, chaos and clutter become the norm.
When intentions become optional, calendars, to-do lists, planners, and reminders stop working. Disorganization isn’t lazy. It starts with a lack of internal credibility.
Think of the most disorganized person that you know and then examine their intentions and choices. You will see they routinely break small promises to themselves and to others.
Over time, this pattern produces internal friction that prevents them from organizing themselves more effectively. They reason, “Why bother? Nothing works for me. I’m just not good at organizing myself.”
The truth is, they are as capable of self-organization as anyone else. They just don’t keep small promises to themselves.
The foundation of organization is about being reliable to yourself, again and again.
Time-tested organizing tools and schemes, like priority setting, to-do lists, and schedules only fail when behavior doesn’t support them. Frequently breaking small promises sabotages every system you try to use.
If you lead or know of someone who struggles with organization, explain to them that small promises are micro-contracts between the present self and the future self.
Keeping small promises teaches the brain that order is worth maintaining and follow-through pays dividends. When they learn to trust themselves, organization will follow.
It all starts with keeping tiny promises.
A Daily Dispatch from the Front Lines of Leadership.
