Case Study
Hannah owns a childcare center for children ages zero to five. With over two hundred kids, it’s quite a big operation.
While the place looked super organized on the outside, internally, it was a mess.

Documents were impossible to find. Parent handbooks were spread across different folders. Some legal papers were physical, others were digital, and no one knew where each thing was. Old versions mixed in with new ones. Updated policies in six different places.

A staff member needs the allergy protocol. Spends fifteen minutes looking. Finds one version. Updates it. Later, Hannah realizes it was outdated - the real version is in a different folder. The staff member has to redo the work.

This happens constantly.

A parent asks about the enrollment agreement, and Hannah goes searching. Finds three different versions. Which one is current? She's not sure. Has to dig through emails to figure out which one she sent last.

Staff are frustrated. They're trying to do their job but can't find the right information. Hannah's frustrated because she keeps finding outdated work that needs to be redone.

Everything takes longer than it should.

It's a Thinking Skill
The mess with the documents was just a symptom of something deeper happening in her brain.

See, there are 28 thinking skills required to do any task. When those skills are strong, information organizes itself naturally in your mind. But when one of these skills is underdeveloped, even when you try to create systems, they become messy and confusing.

The thinking skill that was getting in Hannah's way was labeling and categorization. As soon as that was improved, Hannah’s brain became organized and she was able to easily organize her business so everyone could follow through.

Labeling
Labeling is about calling items, places, documents, ideas… by their right name.

When labels are used correctly your brain can use the information better. You communicate better, your organization is better, and even your memory goes up.

Hannah had folders full of documents. But documents weren’t labeled clearly. "Policies” or “Final version 2” could mean anything.

When you label something "Allergy Protocol school year 2026," your brain knows exactly what it is.

Categorizations
Categorizing comes after labeling. Once things are labeled, you group them into categories so they make sense together.

All the health documents in one folder. All the parent paperwork in another. All the staff procedures in another.

You always want to categorize to make it easier for you to do what you want to do. 

But you have to label them first. Otherwise, even categories don't help - you open "parent stuff" and there are twenty documents with unclear names, and you still don't know which one you need.

Labeling isn't complicated, but it needs to get done. And it starts by developing labeling mentally in your brain.


We started off by improving labeling, and then we went on to improve categorizations.
Here are some of the exercises we did:

1: Name it out loud

For 10 minutes a day, when you put something down, name it out loud.
Literally: pen, waterbottle, sticky note, etc.

Try to be as precise as possible in your labels.

I know this sounds simple, but your brain gets better at labeling by labeling. The more you practice giving things their exact right name, the more naturally your brain does it without you having to think about it.


You can take this to a more abstract level by saying the name of the file whenever you open it or send it.

“Carpool procedures 2026”
“Staff meeting templates”


2: Sort Something Physical
Your brain has an easier time learning categorization when it’s tangible.

Pick something small and physical - a junk drawer, your desk, even just your wallet.
Sort it into groups.
Then name each group out loud. These are receipts. These are business cards. These are items that belong at the front desk.

This builds the neural connections for labeling and categorization.


3: Labeling for Strangers

Before you finalize any name - for a document, a project, even an event - ask yourself: if a stranger with zero context saw this label, would they know exactly what it’s about?

Hannah's "Final Version 2" failed the stranger test completely. So did "Policies."
But "Parent Enrollment Agreement - September 2026" passes it.

This test takes about 60 seconds to do now and saves you a ton of time and mental headache in the future.


Most people think disorganization is a personality trait. Like you're either a naturally organized person or you're not. Hannah believed that too, which is exactly why she kept hiring people to organize for her except that didn't work as she'd mess up whatever they'd organize.

Once you understand that organization isn't a personality, it's a skill. Then you can actually learn it.

Cheers to Peak Brain Performance!