If you knew me (or even saw me) at all in high school, you could easily tell that I was definitely not an organized person. I’d usually stumble into school with an outfit I had thrown on in 30 seconds, there would be many loose-leaf crumpled papers in my bag, and I never looked put together.

Thankfully, most days I can at least put together a well thought-out outfit, but organization will always be something that I struggle with. I don’t know what makes it so difficult for me, but something about organization is just tiring or boring to me. It may be due to my ADD and also my lazy tendencies, but something about organization has never been fun for me.

I recently spent a lot of time organizing something: when I would do all of my assignments for both of my summer classes. Getting something like this figured out can take a while for anyone, but I procrastinated organizing and ended up finishing this task two hours later. Yikes…

Or, going back to my high school days. Searching through tons of loose-leaf papers looking for the right note packet or assignment, even though I had folders in backpack along with those papers. I was, and always have been, confused: why is keeping organized so much for me?

I personally think it is because it is hard to live an organized life. I know people that live their lives hour-to-hour, following dates and times like a Google Calendar. I look at people who do this type of thing and get confused at them. Where is the fun, or the risk in not following a schedule? Is it the risk of living in the moment instead of living an organized life that I liked?

Now, I am saying don’t do any organizing. Some organization in your life is very important, which brings us to my main point: organization as a graphic designer.

When I started my career education, I knew that I had to change my disorganized high school ways and get a grip. I spent hours (yeah, I really didn’t like organizing) making sure I had a hard drive backup ready, digital folders for classes and projects, folders for papers, and other miscellaneous organizational items. I’ll tell you, I am extremely glad I took the time to do something like this. Being able to see what you have organized once you are done is an amazing feeling. The knowledge that you have easy access to your files and papers is so calming. Even though organization was difficult for me (and can be difficult for many others), I highly suggest at least trying. Even if you are just organizing one thing in your life, start! It will be super beneficial in the long run, I promise.

TC