Generally speaking, I struggle with keeping things organized: files on my computer (digital), items in my house (e.g. physical), and my thoughts (i.e. mental). To help combat my organization challenges, I signed up for an online course (i.e. Waves of Focus). In that course, I learned about a tool called the poet compass , which helps individuals evaluate the quality of their organization solutions through a set of criteria.

Since learning the technique about a week ago, I’ve been practicing using the tool especially since I’m aware that when it comes to organizing, I tend to prematurely jump to “problem solving”, often quickly creating solutions that are born out of in the moment frustration. In other words, these solutions are often driven out of impulse. Because of this, rarely do my organization solutions seldom stick around. Now, before I come up with organization solutions, I leverage POET (i.e. Presents Well, Out of the Way, Easy to get to, Trusted) compass along with the corresponding questions (below) associated with each individual criteria.

Questions

Start with the central question of “does it even matter”

Before evaluating your organization solution against each dimension (e.g. presents well, trusted), it’s worth considering taking a step back and asking a more central question: “does it even matter”?

In other words, is the item that you are considering organizing worthy of organization Sometimes the answer is yes. Sometimes no. Whenever unworthy, consider simply discarding the item.

Questions for P – Presents Well (on time and clear)

It’s not usually worthwhile to try and organize EVERYTHING. More practically, we choose what to (and what not to) organize. For any given object that’s you trying to organize, its often surrounded by other items. The problem with this is how do you separate the signal (i.e. the item you want to organize) from the noise (i.e. the other surrounding items). With “Presents well” criteria, you can increase the signal to noise ratio by asking the following questions:

• Can I use an alert/reminder?
• Can I use a label?
• Will it appear clearly?
• Do I like the way it looks/sounds?
• Can I weave it into an existing rhythm? (Paths/Lists)
• Would grouping or sorting improve things?

Questions for O – Out of the way (invisible)

Like many other people with ADHD, in order to prevent forgetting about items that I’d like to rediscover in the future, I’ll deliberately place them in plain sight. Unfortunately, overtime, the more I apply this strategy, the more clutter I create.

• Can this go in a container/box?
• Can this go in a cabinet?
• Can this go in a folder?
• Can this go in a behind/under something else?

Now, you might be sharing some similar worry thoughts as me. Often, when items are tucked away — invisible — future me struggles with refinding the item. That happens. So before you simply place an item in a container or box or cabinet or folder, consider counter-balancing “Out of the way” with “Presents Well”, maybe by including a label.

Questions for E – Easy to use/get to (instant)

Your body’s resistance to an activity isn’t an obstacle to be overcome … The right solution isn’t to start punching the wall harder, it’s to look around for a tool to help you do the job.

– The late Aaron Swartz

Over the years and even now, I’m continuing to increase awareness around the thoughts that swirl around in my head. And anytime the thought of “JUST TRY HARDER” pops up, I try and hit pause, take a deep breath … because this thought serves as a clue. Though that mantra can sometimes translate to “try again” (i.e. perseverance), it’s not always the case and often, JUST TRY HARDER equates to applying brute force. Nowadays, I’m more keen on changing the surrounding conditions so both reduce frustration and increase ease.

• Can I bring this closer to its place of use?
• Can I link to this from a place I’d use?
• How can I practice this?
• How can I lean into mastery?

Of the above questions, I find “Can I link to this from a place I’d use” one that I’ve been asking myself consistently throughout the day. By consciously creating links, I am reducing the probability of (as mentioned in the previous section above) losing lingering items and I am increasing the probability of rediscovering them. To elaborate, here’s an example. I recently created an excel sheet to track topics I want to write about: basically content creation tracking. Now, I’ve tried this approach of tracking items in a central location and almost always that central trackers end up decaying, becoming a stale artifact that I fail to maintain. My central writing trackers end up getting abandoned because

1. I would either forget that I created them in the first place or
2. I’d feel resigned when being unable to rediscover the original file.

But through the concept of linking, I create more than one way to lead me back to the file.

And, as for the question “How can I lean into mastery, it’s helpful to define the steps of practicing mastery:

1. Pause with frustration – identify the stumble or opportunity for improvement
2. Tune to level of ease – shrink down the scope
3. Return to challenge of ease

In short, practicing mastery (in this context) boils down to: how can I make my solution more accessible.

We can lean into it. Sometimes its hard to recognize that things are not going well and it is tempting to just continue doing what I am doing

– Waves of Focus’s Koroush

Questions for T – Trusted (off the mind)

Finally, to increase the level of trust in our organization solutions, we can ask ourselves the following questions:

• What rhythm/habit could this connect to?
• What space/”home” can I create for this?
• How can I practice this?
• How can I take a Step of Mastery?

Put plainly, the level of trust increases through developing habits and repetition.

Summary

If you struggle with “organization” or “productivity” due to a wandering mind (e.g. ADHD), I highly recommend you check out The Waves of Focus online course. And of course, feel free to message me if you have any questions.