April 18, 2007

What is He Talking About? Chris Cree on Being Organized

Chris Cree wrote this at 10:11 am

“One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries.”
–A.A. Milne

I am not a tidy person. My Gorgeous wife sometimes refers to me as a “messy”

Really what she means is that I don’t continuously reorganize stuff like she does. I have a tendency to put things down and then not pick them up again until I need to use them.

One Way to CC It logo

Of course that time may never come.

Hence the clutter that I tend to accumulate along with labels like “messy”.

The good news was I could pretty much find anything I set down because it was located right where I left it. I could reach down through the various strata on my desk right into the exact level where the piece of paper I needed and retrieve it in a moment. It was arguably faster than if I had to go find a perfectly labeled file in a drawer.

At least it used to be.

Now I live with an organizer. Rarely do I find things where I left them. They get put away, moved, organized, or even {gasp} thrown out!

Before you get all on my wife’s case, things are much tidier than when I lived on my own. I’m no longer embarrassed by clutter when folks come to visit. It is definitely a good trade.

A Dichotomy

There is, however a weird, almost schizophrenic, part of me that tends to be highly organized at work.

I’ve had to be over the years because of the things I’ve done and the positions I’ve held.

Very strange that I’ve never seemed to bring that quality home with me.

Even as a kid I was a “messy”. When I was a teenager my mom gave me a little poster with that A.A. Milne quote on it. Of course I didn’t realize that’s who said it even though I was quite familiar with his stories.

Yet I did OK in school.

It’s like there’s two Chrises (What is the correct plural form of a name like Chris? Chris’s? Chrises? Chrisssses?)

Where was I. Oh, yes. Two of me. Anyway the whole thing seems strange, that I can be very organized in one environment and very much less than organized in another.

But the cool thing is that I am constantly making exciting discoveries at home!

And that’s just the Way I C it.

–Chris Cree, SuccessCREEations.

Share This


Filed under One Way to CC It, Successful Blog |



C'mon. Let's talk!

18 Comments to “What is He Talking About? Chris Cree on Being Organized”

  1. April 18th, 2007 at 10:47 am
    Karin H. said

    Hi Chris

    Are you sure we’re not related?? You could be my (evil)twin brother. My partner is constantly amazed that while on the business side of things I have everything organised to the last dotted i, at home ! ! ! !

    Great story to tell him (and gives me a reason to show that I’m not all that ‘weird’)

  2. April 18th, 2007 at 10:57 am
    Chris Cree said

    KarIn, Evil? Me?! :lol:

    I’m guessing that this little anecdote is far from proof that you aren’t weird, sister. At least it won’t convince your neater half.

    Perhaps we could start some sort of club for dichotomic at-home-only messies…

  3. April 18th, 2007 at 11:00 am
    Karin H. said

    so, placing a bag with dirty cloths that needs to be washed in front of the front door so you don’t forget to take it with you and then, when it’s time to leave, you just step right over it and close the front door isn’t weird?

    O goody

  4. April 18th, 2007 at 11:03 am
    Chris Cree said

    Depends. Is the bag on the inside or outside of the door?

  5. April 18th, 2007 at 11:36 am
    Robert Hruzek said

    Awright, I just can’t let this one zip by without my 2.37 cents!

    Chris, I’m right there with ya, Buddy! In fact, one of the things my boss was impressed with about me is how organized I appear to be am at work. But we know the secret to that apparent organization don’t we: it’s actually laziness!

    I’m like you at home, too (heaven help us). Drives Mrs. MZM crazy, but at least she can close the doors to my office…

    Oh, and by the way, isn’t the plural of Chris supposed to be Chrises? (drop the “h” and pronounce it “crisis”)
    :-D

  6. April 18th, 2007 at 11:38 am
    Robert Hruzek said

    Oops, Liz, I forgot your comment thingie doesn’t recognize the strikeout codes. “appear to be” was supposed to be struck.

    Note to self…

  7. April 18th, 2007 at 11:46 am
    Chris Cree said

    Heya Robert! I think we might have the makings of a support group here. :)

    (By-the-by you can get WP to show the strike out if you use the <s></s> tags. The comment fairy went in and fixed that for ya.)

    Maybe I should just go ahead and change my name to Crisis to make it easier on certain folks. :lol:

  8. April 18th, 2007 at 11:49 am
    Char said

    Chris - you described me to a tee! I am so organized in many aspects of my life and utterly hopeless in others.

    Thanks for making me feel more human today!

  9. April 18th, 2007 at 11:55 am
    Chris Cree said

    Char, It seems several of us have a “dirty” little secret. :)

    When she’s feeling particularly philosophical, my wife will call it a problem of selective focus. She says we choose what we prioritize and those things get more of our attention (and by extension organization).

  10. April 18th, 2007 at 12:37 pm
    Jeff Brown said

    Chris - Our wives can NEVER meet. :)

    She doesn’t think it’s funny when I can’t find something, and ask her, “Honey, where’d you hide the (whatever) this time?”

  11. April 18th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
    Chris Cree said

    Jeff, I’m with you. I even wrote a post about that whole deal on my personal blog a long while back called, appropriately enough, Stupid Questions.

    Gorgeous and I have grown some since then, though. Now when I ask, “Have you seen… ?” Her instinctive initial response has become, “Is it right in front of you?”

    Oh, and if the Mrs-es can’t meet then how are you going to bring yours to SOBCon? I promise my Gorgeous will be there. :)

  12. April 18th, 2007 at 1:05 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Doe that mean I can’t bring my Mr. either?

  13. April 18th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
    Chris Cree said

    Liz, is he insanely highly organized at home too?

    If so we might end up with vast organizational conspiracy on our hands if we aren’t careful.

  14. April 18th, 2007 at 3:08 pm
    Tim Singleton said

    Simple to me, I think, because I am the same way. You keep everything either actually or apparently under full control at work. Disorgania domesticus is a rebellion against what you have to do all day.

  15. April 18th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
    Jeff Brown said

    Diane won’t be there for this one.

    But Liz met her so she can fill you in. :)

  16. April 18th, 2007 at 3:45 pm
    Chris Cree said

    That’s me, Tim. A domestic rebel at heart. :)

    Jeff, well then we won’t have to worry about them conspiring against us. Whew! ;)

  17. April 19th, 2007 at 3:19 am
    Karin H. said

    Sorry Chris, had to shoot off (was expected in the local pub for ‘directors meeting - every Wednesday evening ;-))

    Yes, on the inside of the door. Glad it is all right to just step over it and not weird.

    As for not finding things: my ex-partner (long time ago) used to stand in front of the wardrobe (closed doors) and say: can’t find my socks!

    So I’m not even the worst ;-)

  18. April 19th, 2007 at 6:23 am
    Chris Cree said

    Yep. Seems far from weird to me. :)

    At least I would open the wardrobe and look into it before I spoke up. I’d be embarrassed to ask for help before I even tried to figure it out for myself.

Name (required)

Email (required)

Website

C'mon Let's Talk!