🗂 My Best Organizational Tip Ever, you might not even like it

Hey, what is up, parents, teachers, therapists, and students?

Today, I’m going to give you my number one best organizational tip ever—and you may not like it (or maybe you will).

My name is Seth Perler. I’m an executive function coach, and I wear a lot of hats in the executive function world. I’ve struggled with executive function challenges my whole life, but I’ve found a lot of workarounds. I have a fantastic life today because I’ve figured a lot of things out, and I’ve spent many years helping students figure this out too.

After working with so many different types of students, I’m going to share what is probably one of my best organizational tips ever.

First, I’ll give you some background on organization. Then I’ll share one key principle. After that, I’ll give examples of where you can use this tip, talk about the mental blocks you might experience, explain the tip itself, and finally return to those mental blocks.

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Let’s start with some background.

I work with middle school, high school, and college students, graduate students, and sometimes adults. Most of the people I work with tend to be pretty disorganized. They often have piles of things everywhere, which wastes time and energy and causes problems—like missing assignments, late work, forgetting things, being unprepared, losing items, buying duplicates, or paying late fees.

Disorganization creates a lot of unnecessary stress.

One concept I use is “micro-projects.” I use this term because big tasks can feel overwhelming, especially for people with executive function challenges. Micro-projects are small tasks that take about three to five minutes.

For example, organizing your entire bedroom or school system can feel daunting. But breaking it down into micro-projects makes it manageable.

Another concept is “overhauls” or “resets.” For example, you might do a full overhaul of your backpack or your folders. This is different from a micro-project—it might take an hour or more.

I also talk about decluttering, minimizing, and downsizing. We have a lot of stuff—too much stuff. Decluttering means reducing that. Downsizing means making things smaller and more manageable.

So, to summarize the background: use micro-projects to keep things small, and use overhauls, resets, and decluttering to simplify your life.

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Now, here’s the key principle:

The more stuff you have, the more stuff you have to manage.

A lot of us become attached to things—emails, papers, clutter, items we don’t actually need. But the more you keep, the more overwhelming life becomes.

So the goal is to reduce what you own and focus on what truly matters.

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Now let’s look at some examples of where you can apply this tip.

You can use it for a backpack dump, drawers, a nightstand, old clothes, under the bed, closets, garages, sports equipment, electronics—any category or space in your life.

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Next, let’s talk about the mental block: resistance.

When you hear this tip, part of you might feel excited. But another part of you will say, “I can’t do that,” or “I’ll do it later.”

That’s resistance.

Your brain creates excuses to avoid action. So I want you to expect that before you even start.

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Now, here’s the tip.

There are two main ways to organize: by category or by space.

By category means gathering all similar items—like all your pens, clothes, or electronics—and organizing them together.

By space means organizing a specific area—like a drawer, closet, or under your bed—which may contain items from many categories.

Here’s the key:

Take everything out first.

I know—it sounds simple, even silly. But trust me.

If you’re organizing a drawer, don’t try to rearrange things while they’re still inside. Empty the drawer completely. Clean it. Then only put back what you actually want.

This is a subtle but powerful mindset shift.

There’s a big difference between removing what you don’t want and choosing what you do want to keep.

Instead of asking, “What should I get rid of?” ask, “What do I want to keep?”

This applies to everything.

If you’re organizing clothes, gather all your t-shirts in one place. If you’re organizing a drawer, empty it completely. If it’s under your bed, pull everything out.

Then decide what deserves to go back.

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If it feels overwhelming, set a timer.

Do a micro-project—three to five minutes. Often, once you start, you’ll keep going longer.

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Finally, let’s return to resistance.

When you start, your brain may say, “I’ll do it later,” or “I don’t feel like it.” Notice those thoughts.

Instead of saying, “I’m resistant,” say, “I’m having resistant thoughts right now.”

Observe them without judgment.

Then take action anyway—start small, set a timer, and begin.

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That’s what I’ve got for you.

My name is Seth Perler. I help students of all ages with executive function challenges, including organization.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, this tip can truly help simplify your life.

Give it a try.

If you found this helpful, leave a comment—what’s the best organizational tip you’ve ever used? Share it so others can learn from you.

You can also check out my website for free resources.

And if this helped you, please share it with someone else.

Have a fantastic day. I wish you peace, joy, and meaningful connection with the people you care about.

Take care.