Organizing Our Lives to Make Life Respond
My focus in this
essay is how organization can enable vast accomplishment and success for
the individual. Like all of the cosmos, organization expresses
for the individual at three planes - the physical/material, the vital,
and the mental. For example, when I clean up a room or an office, or put
the books in my library in order, I am primarily engaging in physical
organization. When I reorient my emotions, feeling, and attitudes
towards another person or towards my company, I am engaged in vital
organization. When I organize my schedule, or turn facts of information
into new ideas, concepts, and insights, I am engaged in mental
organization.
My premise is that
any effort to raise our level of organization - be it physical, vital,
mental - will not only bring about practical results, but, under the
right conditions, can bring about instantaneous good fortune.
This sudden arrival of positive abundance is what I call a “life
response.” Below I have listed several methods of bringing about higher
levels of organization in our lives. Each approach is accompanied by one
or more true-life incidents in which a sudden and abundant response from
life took place.
-- Cleanliness, Orderliness, Systematic
Functioning
Perhaps the most
fundamental form of organization is taking to higher levels of
cleanliness. Over the years we have seen that serious attempt to raise
the level of cleanliness in our environment will not only produce
physically pleasing results, but is also likely to attract sudden good
fortune – in the form of more money, sales, opportunity, and other
positive benefits.
For example, one man got down on his hands and knees
one day to clean out the grit and grime in his refrigerator. At the very
instant he rose from that effort, he received a call notifying him that
he had just secured several months of new work -- when only a moment
earlier he had nothing scheduled for the future. In another case, a
consultant suggested to a manager that his staff clean up every trace of
carbon particles used to produce carbon brushes for the auto industry.
As soon as the effort was completed, a customer suddenly arrived from
out of nowhere, and purchased his own firm’s entire carbon brush needs
from that supplier. In yet a third incident, a businessperson decided to
clean his slow-moving stocks of inventory in response to a suggestion by
a wise consultant. Thereafter, (once again) a buyer suddenly appeared
from out of nowhere and purchased all of the dead stocks. He then went
on to buy an additional six months worth of the merchant’s inventory!
Though taking to
higher levels of cleanliness can attract wonderful results, cleanliness
reaches its apex and perfection when it is accompanied by orderliness
- i.e. by putting things in their right place, sorting things out,
arranging them in a logical manner, categorizing and dividing objects
for easy access and retrieval, etc. For example, if a retail business
selling to the public not only cleans up the tools and inventory strewn
here and there in its stock yard, but places them in their right
individual locations for easy access and retrieval, not only will
efficiency be increased, but life is likely to respond in kind. Likewise,
if an individual not only cleans the papers, folders, and books left
here and there on a table in an office, but also takes to finally
organizing them in an orderly and systematic fashion, a sudden positive
response is also likely to come her way. (By the way, in the incident
where the individual cleaned his refrigerator attracting several months’
worth of work, he not only scrubbed the filth, but also returned each
grouping of foodstuffs to their designated areas.)
Where
cleanliness makes objects presentable and useful, and orderliness places
them in recognizable patterns, categories, et al for easy access,
systemization goes much further - organizing them in their proper
time sequence; and coordinating and integrating them with one another
for greater efficiency, possibility, and results. Like cleanliness and
orderliness, higher levels of systematic functioning can also invoke
sudden powerful responses from life. For example, one company put in
considerable time and effort to develop a software product, but after
several months had not yet generated any sales. Then someone decided to
reorganize parts of the program for greater consistency, ease of use,
and integration with its other parts. The next morning, the business
owner was stunned when the first order for the product came in over the
web.
-- Maximum Utilization of a Resource
Let’s face it, we live in a
throwaway society. We use something, and when that resource is depleted,
we discard it for a hopefully available replacement. In these
situations, we are normally more concerned with the results that come
from using the resource, than any interest in extracting the maximum use
out of it. However, if we were to become more conscious, and make
full use of that resource, not only will we increase efficiency,
productivity, and save money, but we are likely to attract sudden and
abundant good fortune in the form of more money, more sales, greater
opportunities - even more of that resource!
One company that was about to
run out of an essential raw materials required for the manufacturing of
welding electrodes discovered that their only supplier was shutting
down. In response to this challenge, the manager decided that not a
single particle of the resource should be wasted. To that end, even the
shop floor was swept clean in order to garner even the smallest traces
of the resource. Remarkably, two days later, the managing director of a
company that supplied that resource suddenly arrived - from a thousand
miles away - to visit the unit. On recognizing the manager’s problem, he
had his own supplier immediately dispatch the needed material directly
to the desperate company! In another situation, a consultant advised the
proprietor of a company to clean a machine, despite the fact that it was
not being used for any purpose. Though he questioned the utility (and
sanity) of this advice, the proprietor took up the consultant’s
suggestion. A day or two later, the proprietor’s cousin arrived on the
scene, and was attracted to the newly cleaned machine. He asked the
proprietor if he could have it for a new enterprise he was
contemplating. In the months that followed, the machine turned into a
veritable cash cow, producing substantial income for both the cousin and the proprietor!
The moral of
the story is the same as the previous one -- when you maximize the use
of a resource, you attract sudden good fortune.
Maximizing the use of a given resource is to value
the object in of itself - i.e. to perceive its own unique individuality
and being. When you make the most out of a resource - whether it is an
object, material, time, energy, or capacity - life can respond suddenly
and abundantly to your efforts.
-- Organizing Information through the Power of Mind
Though we can
organize the material world outside ourselves, we can also organize the
subtle aspects of our own being. E.g., we can reorient our habits,
feelings, emotions, thoughts, ideas, and beliefs - even the plans we
make to further accomplish in life. Over the years I have pointed out
that if you think about and then reverse your hard emotions and
feelings, your wanting attitudes, or your ill-founded habits and
beliefs, life is likely to respond with sudden good fortune. Here I
would like to focus on how organizing information in your mind, i.e.
turning facts into clear ideas and concepts for greater understanding -
can evoke marvelous responses from life.
One day a man racked
his brains to understand a difficult metaphysical concept. Though he did
not succeed fully in his efforts, the next morning he received an email
from an associate that provided him with the complete knowledge
that he was grappling with -- including the details of all of its finer
points! (The other person had no idea he had been thinking about this
subject.) He sat there stunned, in awe of the miracle that he was
viewing on his screen.
In yet another episode, an individual used the
mental capacities of reason and logic to reorganize a series of concepts
on a particular topic covered at his organization’s web site. His goal
was to make the subject easier for his readers to understand. A moment
later - and before the changes were even posted to the server -
he received an email inquiring into that very same topic. Not only was
it the only email in his inbox, it was also the first inquiry the
organization ever received on that topic after years of it being
available online! (It should also be noted, that hundreds of topics were
covered at the site.)
Finally, over the years I have had my own
interesting experiences where after making a concerted effort to turn
challenging concepts into simple, presentable ideas for my students, I
suddenly attracted a stream of new contracts. There were even
astonishing episodes where the contracts I received involved the very
subject I had just made the mental effort to organize. (Since I
teach a number of subjects, and my agents knew nothing of my efforts in
that specific case, these “particularized responses” always struck me as
astonishing.)
-- Ultimate Organization: Following the Process of Accomplishment
While these are, in essence, narrowly
focused approaches, perhaps the ultimate power of personal organization
is to consciously follow a process to fix the course of your future
direction in life. When we follow the “process of creation,” we in
essence use self-conceptive capacities of mind to plan and organize our
future - turning our vision of what we want to accomplish, of what we
want to become, into a living reality. By first envisioning our goal,
then detailing how we intent to accomplish it, and then making the full,
persevering effort to see it come about, we are organizing our future
existence for accomplishment and success. Like other forms of
organization, following this process can, under the right conditions,
evoke magnificent responses from life.
One individual decided that instead of
merely dashing out on a weekend outing to take photographs of the
shoreline around the bay, he would first plan out his trip. As a result,
every conceivable thing went right for him that day. In another
instance, when a woman implemented a 30-day plan to secure a new job
position, she very quickly received one - her first full-time position
in nearly a decade of trying. In a third instance, a man who had avoided
working on a project changed his point of view, and then followed this
process in detail to insure that it ended a success. A moment after he
emailed someone the finished product, he received an unexpected note
offering him three months worth of work in a related area.
The bottom line is
that if you apply any of these methods and approaches to organization,
not only will you be making life more manageable, not only will you be
establishing the conditions for life to thrive, but under the right
conditions, you can attract overwhelming response - enabling the
infinite potentials of life to rush to your doorstep. I guarantee it!
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Among the ways we
can organize ourselves
are --
- by organizing physical things around us-such as our
home, our paperwork, our finance, etc.
- by increasing
our level of cleanliness and orderliness around us
- by being punctual and on time
- by prioritizing to whom our emotions and
attention should go
- by managing our time, our schedules, our work
- by systematizing activities
in our lives -- from cleaning and cooking to bookkeeping
- by balancing our work load during the
day
- by coordinating and organizing our
communications with others
- by further organizing and distilling the
knowledge we have in life
- by delegating work, tasks, and duties
to others when appropriate
- by planning out our goals and
aspirations
- by sorting out in life what is truly important to
us
- by organize and prioritizing the
personal values that are dear to us
- by organizing in our mind our thoughts
for better understanding
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By taking to any of these in greater
measure, an individual can attract sudden good
fortune.
SELF-ANALYSIS
Using the list above think about 3-5 major areas of your life that can be organized.
Consider how a lack of organization in each of these areas have been a
hindrance to your success and happiness in life. Think about how you can change
your level of organization so you can avoid such problems, and then come up
with a very specific plan to improve yourself in these
areas. Make a fully committed effort to
carrying out your plan. As you make the ongoing effort keep track of how making the effort led to improvements
in your life. Also watch for "life responses"
where seemingly out of nowhere good things
began to happen as a result of your new found commitment and effort to
implement these new levels of organization in your life. Ultimately
make organization a habit, and a way of life and value you cherish. You
will succeed beyond your wildest dreams!
Insights into the Nature of Organization:
-Organization is what enables the world to
function in a systematic way. It is the ordering mechanism that
coordinates and integrates the elements of life - including material
objects, life forms, and social structures - for the purpose of bringing
about useful and beneficial results. Organization is, in essence, that
which turns unruly, unordered, disparate complexity into manageable,
simple, utilitarian existence, so that life can thrive.
-Organization also establishes the
conditions for the further progress and development of all of the
elements of life. The greater the level of organization –- in terms of
cleanliness, orderliness, systemization, regularity, coordination,
integration, etc. -- the more solid the foundation for further
development, progress, creativity, and possibility.
-We can see organization at work at every
level of existence; in our own daily lives, in the institutions we
partake in, in the society that surrounds us - even in the universe
itself.
-Like all of the cosmos, organization
expresses for the individual at three planes - the physical/material,
the vital, and the mental.
-Any effort to raise our level of
physical, vital, mental, and spiritual organization will surely bring
about practical results that will lead to greater accomplishment and
success. What we do not understand, however, is how taking to higher
levels of organization at any of these levels tends to invoke
instantaneous good fortune.
-Any serious attempt to raise the level of
cleanliness of one’s environment –- whether a bathroom, an office, a
closet, a yard, a showroom, a bookcase, etc. -- can attract sudden and
abundant response. That miracle will usually come in the form
of more work, money, opportunity -- even appreciation and goodwill.
-Though taking to higher levels of
cleanliness can attract wonderful results, cleanliness reaches its apex
and perfection when it is accompanied by orderliness - i.e. by putting
things in their right place, sorting things out, arranging them in a
logical manner, categorizing and dividing objects for easy access and
retrieval, etc. Life can suddenly and abundantly response to such
efforts.
-Where cleanliness makes objects
presentable and useful, and orderliness places them in recognizable
patterns, categories, et al for easy access, systemization goes much
further - organizing them in their proper time sequence; and
coordinating and integrating them with one another for greater
efficiency, possibility, and results. Life can suddenly and abundantly
response to such efforts.
-When you utilize your current resources
to their maximum, life has a way of suddenly responding with good
fortune.
-Money --
like energy, money, water, and electricity -- is a resource. Maximizing
its use can invoke overwhelmingly powerful responses from life,
including the return of lots more money and other closely related
benefits. How can we then maximize our use of money? Here are several
strategies.
-Organizing information in your mind, i.e.
turning facts into clear ideas and concepts for greater understanding -
can evoke marvelous responses from life.
-Perhaps the ultimate way to utilize the
secret power of organization is to follow a process that enables us to
achieve our hearts desire. When we follow the “process
of creation,” we in essence use self-conceptive capacities of mind
to plan and organize our future - turning our vision of what we want to
accomplish, of what we want to become, into a living reality. By first
envisioning our goal, then detailing how we intent to accomplish it, and
then making the full, persevering effort to see it come about, we are
organizing our future existence for accomplishment and success. Like
other forms of organization, following this process can -- under the
right conditions -- evoke magnificent responses from life.
For additional
Growth Online thoughts on the power of personal organization in achievement, click
here.
RELATED TOPICS
- For a more complete
explanation of the phenomenon of "life response",
please click
here.
- To review an article on the importance of organization in
the success of a company, please
click here
- To review an article on the importance of organization in
the development of society, please
click here.
