Those who know me might scoff, but I’m fairly well organized.

I’ve started this post about four times, and I can’t write that sentence without following it up with a paragraph of defensiveness. I’m going to physically restrain myself, and stick to my guns on this statement. Here, I’ll say it again: I’m fairly well organized.

There are a couple of reasons I’m well organized. One is that I’m on medication, and therefore my attention deficit disorder isn’t as bad as it was when I was unmedicated. This goes a long way.

However, the other reason is that about 10 years ago I realized this organization stuff was something that I don’t have a natural aptitude for. And I realized it was going to be important to my life to keep both my stuff and my time organized. This turns out to be particularly prescient, since when I had this realization I wasn’t even really thinking about having kids.

It turns out that organization is a skill that can be learned. Although I’m by no means perfect at it– and I have a deep and abiding jealousy for people who are– I’ve managed to acquire some skills at time management, at organizing my space, and at keeping the enormous piles of paper at bay (you just feed them raw meat twice a day and they stay away from your family members.)

So this is the first in a series of posts on this topic. Tomorrow, I’ll talk a little bit about my love-hate relationship with self-help books.