How to Live and Work by Design, not by Default
Living and working BY DEFAULT means choosing the easiest path, either by unconsciously resorting to bad habits (or merely old ones that no longer serve you), or by maintaining the status quo. Sometimes we seek to avoid the conflict that can come with making a change. Sometimes we feel we have no choice in the matter. But I’m with Henry Ford, who said, “Whether you think you can, or think you can’t, you are right.”
Those who live and work BY DESIGN notice when things aren’t going well, and make adjustments accordingly. They live more calmly, purposefully, and mindfully.
Here are some examples:
Space
By Default: Make do with boring décor, inadequate storage, an awkward furniture arrangement, no desk or other work surface, or a desk covered with clutter.
By Design: Choose a dedicated space, with adequate storage. Add color and inspiring artwork. Rearrange furniture for better flow. Maintain a clutter-free desk, or table, so you can actually work there!
Stuff
By Default: Stash supplies willy-nilly in inadequate storage. Let papers pile up and deal with them only when frantically searching for that bill or other important document that’s “in here somewhere”. Keep everything.
By Design: Keep items you use often within arm’s reach. Store extras farther away. Eliminate mystery piles by sorting new papers daily into an action file. Maintain a simple filing system and remember the 80/20 rule: You will only ever need 20% of the papers you file again.
Others
By Default: Allow your phone and email to constantly distract you. Say YES to everything you are asked to do. Do what’s important to others; ignore what’s important to YOU.
By Design: Turn your phone and email notifications off so you can focus! Decide how often you’ll check for messages and return calls. Learn how to say NO. Say YES to activities and tasks that support your goals and priorities. Say, “Let me think about that and check my schedule,” before saying YES or NO. Keep in mind that every YES is a NO to something else.
Tasks
By Default: Keep reinventing the wheel and doing everything yourself. Rely on your memory for everything. Do several things at once, but none of them well. Avoid large projects. Procrastinate doing little tasks until they become large, overwhelming projects.
By Design: Create systems, routines, checklists, and templates. Ask for help, delegate, or hire out tasks you hate doing. Focus on one thing at a time. Break large projects down into smaller tasks. Do a little bit at a time. Do the hardest or most important thing first. Or the easiest, to gain the momentum of finishing something. Schedule regular blocks of time for projects that are important to you. Set S.M.A.R.T. Goals, which are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
Time
By Default: Wake up each morning and see what happens! Spend all your time putting out fires, real and imagined. Rely on your memory for everything. Don’t schedule anything. Or, over-schedule yourself.
By Design: Keep a Master to-do list. Choose from it 1-5 tasks for the day so you can finish or make progress on them and feel a sense of accomplishment. Schedule your to-dos on your calendar. Leave some slack for emergencies, downtime, and opportunities. Plan each day the night before and have a weekly planning session with yourself.
Self
By Default: Eat whatever you see in front of you. Continue being too busy to exercise. “Re-create” yourself only when you “find spare time”. Let work take over your home life.
By Design: Plan your meals and take a snack with you. Make yourself a priority. Schedule workouts and time to enjoy family friends and hobbies. Remember to “put on your oxygen mask first” so you will be able to help others. Maintain a balance between work and home.
Remember:
- If being organized and managing your time makes you feel constrained, you are doing it wrong.
- A little structure allows you to work more effectively and frees your mind to play with abandon.
- Live your life by design, not by default!
- Hazel Thornton is an author, genealogist, and retired home and office organizer.
- Book: Hung Jury: The Diary of a Menendez Juror
- Book: What’s a Photo Without the Story? How to Create Your Family Legacy
- Book: Go With the Flow! The Clutter Flow Chart Workbook
- Feel free to link directly to this post! (Click here to ask about other uses.)
- Copyright 2013-2017-2026 by Hazel Thornton, Organized for Life and Beyond
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“Keep in mind that every YES is a NO to something else.” Brilliant Hazel. This is a great post (no surprise). I love your ability to make things clear.
Thanks, Teri, I really appreciate your comment!
Hazel
Well said! Good things to think about and make a part of what we do every day.
Bob
Thanks, Bob! I thought you might like this one, as I have heard you say, “Grow your business by design, not by default,” on your radio show (http://letstalkbusinessnewmexico.com/index.php).
Naming the difference between default and design gives people a gentler way to look at it than blaming themselves. I like too that you close with permission: if the structure feels like a cage, you’re doing it wrong. That’s the reassurance that keeps someone going instead of quitting the first week.
Good points, Cathy! People do blame themselves for things that I see merely as systems to be tweaked.
Oh Hazel, you are a really brilliant! I loved so many of these.
1- But one that jumped out for me was one that I actually DO and find extremely helpful!
“By Design: Turn your phone and email notifications off so you can focus! Decide how often you’ll check for messages and return calls.”
2- These I am still working on and love the reminder!
“Learn how to say NO. Say YES to activities and tasks that support your goals and priorities. Say, “Let me think about that and check my schedule,” before saying YES or NO.”
3- I am writing this on a post-it note and putting it near my calendar. 🙂
“Keep in mind that every YES is a NO to something else.”
Hi Pam! I’m glad you got some reminders and tips out of the post! Thanks for letting me know which ones you liked.
This is so great because it clearly outline the two options. My takeaway is that the “default” option probably feels easier in the moment, but is harder in the long run. Vice versa for the “design” approach.
I’m very much a “by design” person. Most things in my life are this way. If I’m operating by default, it is probably because I’m dealing with a situation that is new/recent and which I didn’t have time to prepare for.
I find it helpful to remember that even if you started operating by default in some area, its never too late to pause, rethink, reimagine, and design a better situation.
Thanks, Seana! You bring up a good point — that new situations do not come with built-in already-formed processes and habits! I’ve been known to throw Christmas gifts into a box and not deal with them (decide to use them and/or find homes for them) until months later! The things might be nice, but if they weren’t on my radar my systems might need tweaking.
I LOVE this one, Hazel! You make it so clear and compelling about being more intentional in all aspects of your life. For the most part, I am intentional, but there have been certain times when it was challenging to be that way in all areas.
I also used to be more willing to accept things that weren’t optimal, like how my office was set up. For a long time, it was a hodgepodge of furniture. There were many things about it that didn’t work, but I made it work. However, at one point, my husband gifted me a complete renovation and redesign. He helped me design it exactly how I wanted it, and wow, did it make a huge difference. I love spending time in my office. Not only does it function really well, but it ‘feels’ and looks the way I like it, too.
If you’re curious, here’s a link to a post about my office: https://www.ohsoorganized.com/blog/professional-organizers-office
What a fantastic gift! (Thanks for the link, Linda.) Yes, we often make do with a systems or a situations and they don’t seem individually like that much effort, but it all adds up!
This is a remarkable way to help people envision what’s really going on. Yes, we can live by default (and I love your detailed explanations, so people can see exact how they are defaulting to the not-so-easy easy way), but with a small application of intentionality to our mindsets, we can have — build — the life we most want.
And I particularly love how you’ve used each of the design categories to showcase your own, well-designed, blog themes. You’re a rock star, Hazel!