Amanda LOVED organizing.
Thing was she’d always start, get distracted and get busy that whatever she was organizing would just stay a mess. (And in many ways, the place she was organizing would end up being worse off because you know how it works while you’re organizing, you make a mess in the process)

Her office was a mess, finding documents was a nightmare and practically every closet in her house needed to get organized.

For years, Amanda would wear the title of “being able to work in a mess” and call it all an “organized mess” as she knew where everything was, but deep down she knew this wasn’t functional.

It was embarrassing whenever clients would come over, or her employees wasted hours trying to find documents they needed.

Plus, all the items around her were constant reminders of everything she needed to do. A million open loops draining her mental energy simply by walking into the room.

The worst part? Amanda KNEW how to organize. But since she always ended up making things a bigger mess, it was not very encouraging to get herself to organize so, it just never happened.


Our brains tend to default to what’s easy.

So when Amanda told me, she’s constantly getting distracted while organizing, I knew there was something deeper.
After asking a few more questions, I understood what was going on.

Amanda had a hard time making decisions and while you’re organizing, there are a lot of decisions to be made.
Where should I store this?
Should I give this away?
What’s the best way to organize this?

If making decisions is a challenge for the brain, then it wouldn’t want to do it and of course it gonna get distracted by a task that’s easier.

What we needed to do was help Amanda improve her ability to make decisions, then organizing would be easy.

Here’s the thing, making decisions comes from the thinking skill of comparing. I can teach Amanda a bunch of decision-making frameworks but until her thinking skill of comparing is strong, making decisions will be a challenge, which would make organizing a challenge.

The root problem we needed to solve was improve her comparison skills.

Comparing is your brain's ability to look at multiple options and quickly determine which one makes the most sense for your specific situation.

For organizing, this means:
- This paper goes in client folder vs business development folder (comparing two locations)
- Organize supplies by type vs by frequency of use (comparing two systems)
- Keep this item vs throw it away (comparing two results of actions)

When comparing is strong, your brain makes these micro-decisions quickly. You look at the paper, your brain quickly compares the two options based on what makes the most sense, and you file it. Done. Next item.

Sometimes the comparing is so easy you don’t even realize your doing it. A paper that’s about a client is super obvious it goes in the client folder, not in the business development folder.


However, comparing can get abstract and complex very quickly.
- Should we make a new system or keep what’s we’ve got?
- Should I give this away as I might need it again in the future but it takes a lot of space?
- I need both these items in an easy accessible place, where should I keep them?

When comparing is even a bit weak these decisions become harder and we wonder why it’s takes forever for us to organize a tiny place.

I didn’t give Amanda ANY organization tips. She already knew how to organize. Her challenge was in making the decisions. I knew that as soon as comparing was stronger, making decisions would be easier so this is what I had her do:

Exercise 1: Comparing on the same parameters

Often we say why we like each item better but not comparing the two. I like A better because of the material and I like B better because of color. We’ve got to compare on the same parameter. Material for both. Color for both.

Next time you go shopping and are looking between two options, before you decide which one you’re taking, compare each option on whatever parameters are important to you. The price for each option, the company for each option etc.


Exercise 2: Compare two of your tasks

Think of two tasks you’ve got to do (say, follow up with a client and create a piece of content) then compare them on as many parameters as you can. Time, energy, people involved, tools needed, deadline etc. Make sure say the answer to each parameter for both.

Do this multiple times with different tasks till your brain gets the hang of it.

You can also do this by comparing people, location, food, ideas, etc.


Exercise 3: Play devils advict
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Think of something you’re super passionate about, for example, working from home,

List out all the reasons the reasons as to why you believe in this

Now for each item on the list play devils advict. It’s important that you go thru each item on the list in order, this way you’re staying on the same paraments. If not, it’s like you’re doing the “I like option A better because of material and I like option B better because of color”



Notice how none of the exercises I did with Amanda were not on organizing. They weren’t even on decision making. But guess what? Amanda had a much easier time organizing after because the underlying skill was improved.
During session, Amanda showed me a picture of before and after of one her closets. “This has been on my to-do list for about 4 months” she said. “And now it also took a lot faster than I could have ever imagined” oh how much do I love that?!



Cheers to Peak Brain Performance!