Why not to get too organized in life

I was recently conducting an MBTI workshop and when it came “J” – I realized that the whole universe conspires to make us organized, systematic, planned and structured. As if that is the only way to live. We respect, reward and appreciate people who have these traits. In my all twenty plus years of working life I have never heard anyone say “hey don’t you think you are too organized for your own good?” or “could you please be a little bit less structured – it will really help you to enjoy more”. It is amazing how we reward this behavior and then crib endlessly for lack of creativity and innovation in the world.

I have often seen the best people that I worked with and for were extremely disorganized and we were able to get the best results. I remember having this conversation million times with everyone saying that let people be – don’t put unnecessary pressure on them to be ‘what is socially acceptable”

• Spontaneity has its place in the world. Remember the surprise element or party or that odd gift that came to you and how happy you were. I still remember my sendoff party from an oragnsiation that I worked in – the teams actually put one hour theatre on how I reacted and I had no clue about it. I loved the spontaneity and the whole one hour was the best in six years.
• People do the best when they are themselves. When we expect them to be someone else – it stresses them out. That is not a comfortable place for them. I have this colleague of mine who cannot find anything. At first I tried to change him to be more organized but then I realized that he was great at bigger things and retrieving information at drop of hot was not one of them. Now we laugh about it and I have learned to keep a copy of all his work.
• Excel spreadsheets can be freaky. I have this friend of mine who makes his expense spread sheet at the end of the month, then classifies it – then makes a comparison and finds out delta. All his expenses are neatly classified month on month and I guess he gets a great perspective. Over the years I don’t think it has translated in better financial situation for him. It is great to do that but it is also not bad not to do that.
• Quality versus time. There was a great woman I worked with. Every time a deadline used to slip a bit she came and told me that she could finish it in time but she would not desired quality. Like all managers I frowned. Then I watched the results and I have this great pride that one of the best quality work I ever did came from her. I watched deadlines like hawk but made space for her to do quality work. We argued, fought over deadlines and yet produced best work in my career.
• Working at last minute is not bad. It is just the way some people are wired. I had privilege of working with colleagues who used to have fun working through the night and I used to be stressed because a day before nothing is done. We never missed anything and quality was good too but I used to fret and fume as we were not ready day before. I have now learnt thankfully to give it up and accept that this also works

At no point I am propagating to be disorganized or being unstructured. I think life will come to a standstill if all of us were like that. There will be chaos all around and we will be searching for that needle in haystack. I am saying that stop looking down at people who are disorganized, unstructured and not so systematic. We can always complement them with people who are different or perhaps play to their strengths. I am saying pay your taxes, file your bills and do some non-negotiables on time but also let go – make space for spotaniaty . Let your life not be too planned that you cannot let go and enjoy a moment. I am reminded of a childhood poetry

“What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare.”