When embarking on a quest to become more organized, there are hundreds of different places you can start… Places where you know there are improvements to be made, where things are not quite as tidy as they could be or places that are just driving you round the bend. Almost every book, website and resource on getting organized will have their favourite recommendations on where to start your quest for personal organization nirvana.

My personal journey began many moons ago, with what I was carrying around with me on a day to day basis… The stuff I had strapped to me, or around me and what I was carrying in that stuff. This involved (as I was and still am a bloke) removing my watch, emptying my pockets and any frequently-carried bags and having a good look at the contents.

This made sense to me, as it was all stuff that I physically lugged from place to place, even if those places were desk and coffee machine. I was surprised at all the stuff I had on me, most of which was not really through conscious choice. The experience was (en)lightening to say the least.

Rather than re-iterate all the steps I went through to optimize and organize my own pockets and personal effects, I recommend you read the blog post Zen Pockets by a guy called Robert, who has taken this concept to a level way beyond what I aspired to.

The article does have strong links to the personal organization system GTD, or Getting Things Done. For those who’d like to find out more, follow the links in the article, or check back soon for my take on the GTD system.