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Keep asking “why, why why?” and the root cause for structuring is usually some sort of negative or fear-reaction.
I am cleaning my room.
Why are you cleaning your room?
So it looks better.
Why do you want it to look better?
Because I like it that way.
Why do you like your room to look better?
Because I don’t like it being messy.
Why don’t you like your room to be messy?
Because people won’t want to come over.
Why do you want people to come over?
Because I like the company.
Why do you like having company?
Because without company I am lonely.
Why do you not want to be lonely?
…
You can see this spiraling toward baser notions which are less and less understood in an up-front manner. Perhaps the notions are more subconscious or perhaps they are more biological.
I could think of variations on this simple room-cleaning theme. But I don’t really want to imply anything or discuss that topic.
What I want to say is that organization is most purposeful when it is meaningful outside of a negative or fear-reaction.
Also, organization shouldn’t be done in and for itself.
Organization is best wielded with a clear goal in mind and when powered by a clear purpose.
So instead of asking yourself “why do I want this?” just proclaim “I want this!” and then ask “What is the next step to accomplish this?”.
Some people plan ahead to try to understand the complete path, but more often than not you won’t get two steps ahead before you’ll have to plan the path over again. Pretty soon you’ll be wasting a significant chunk of your time with that planning, and not enough of your time with the next step.
Some people bring this idea up and say that it’s best to focus on the next step, and to only loosely plan – if at all – the few steps after that. In their minds, the goal is kept in sight, and only the next few steps are defined.
Of course, you can’t go in a direction without at least loosely checking out the path. Otherwise you’d spend all your time to learn that it’s simply not possible to get to your goal. Find out if it’s possible up-front, and occasionally re-evaluate to check for possibility and to be able to plan ahead for hurdles that require you to plan far ahead before you can leap over them.
