Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Organized or Regimented?


I had a realization the other day about my habits: I am able to tell people what to do and how, but someone else has to tell me when and where. This led to my realization of the following taxonomy of habits:

There are those who are regimented but disorganized (typically this is a very messy person who "knows where everything is" and whose day is divided by specifically timed rituals - breakfast at 7am on the dot...number two right after concert band...). Let us call this person, Matthew.

There are those who are organized but unregimented (typically someone who keeps a clean living environment and an actual paper-notebook weekly planner, but who constantly forgets things and procrastinates). Let us call this person, Mark.

There is the type who is both regimented and organized (at best, a quiet minimalist, and at worst, someone who brags to friends about a new storage system for their action DVD's involving CaseLogics and an MS-Office label program). Let us call this person, Luke.

And of course, there is the person who is neither regimented nor organized (usually someone you can physically smell from a few feet away, who at best, is a mad genius, and at worst, the guy sleeping on your couch who insists they didn't smoke your green). Let us call this person, John.

Which of the four disciples are you?

Let me also take this opportunity to plug a great film: Secretary. It's a spectacular view of all nodes on the organization/regiment axes.

3 comments:

Ryan S said...

the gospel of mark in effect for me

Ed Sizemore said...

I'm a Matthew, but not as anal about time as your example. I do have a rhythm to my day, but it's not time clock punctual. Even as a kid I used to say, "Ever pile has a purpose and I know what is in each pile." I hated it when my Mom 'straighten out' my room because it meant two weeks of trying to find things.

ill iterate said...

i'm a total mark.