A coworker once described me in a 360 review - #minimalist desk, maximum output.
To understand my fondness for order, you’d have to look no further than my mom’s to-do lists
and my dad’s
closet (I swear the hangers are equidistant)
and pantry (Marie Kondo would be jealous)
and garage (pegboards galore)
and especially his tool chest.
Sometime in the 1980s my father traced the outline and depth of every single tool he had into foam, carved out a cavity, and placed his beloved and expensive tools in their dedicated homes. If tools could be described as "cozy", these are.
Since that decade, I think he’s misplaced only one socket for his socket wrench, and I’m not exaggerating.
Give the man a 3D printer and he’d be out of control.
You see, my dad works as a pre flight inspector on the specialized boroscope team at Delta. Which is to say - every tool he uses is expensive, and needs to be quickly accessed. The detail of order at the hangar where he works could only be described as MAGNIFICENT.
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It wasn’t until my 20s that I realized that not every tool chest is equally matched. In fact, some people reach for a hammer in a drawer only to realize it has not been put back, and they have to replace the hammer. More hammers than any household needs can be accumulated in this way.
[I haven’t had enough coffee to make a Hammertime joke, but it’s there somewhere]
I once knew a man who organized the bills in his billfold in order of crispness. And a roommate whose room was filled with piles and piles of things (order undetected) but whose drawers were organized to an astounding level.
We all have different relationships to our tools, and different needs for order. Our spaces are as unique as the humans who use them. In my short time on earth I've begun appreciating our differences rather than trying to box everyone in (get it? an organizing joke!).
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I’m curious - do you have any unique processes for organizing your physical space? Do you have any specialized tools that need to be well-ordered? Or are you a replace-the-hammer-because-I-cannot-find-it type of person?