How to Organize a Chaotic Space

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Tip from an ex-Industrial Engineer: create a spot for stuff you don't know what to do with (no home for it, maybe throw away but haven't decided, don't like it's current home, etc). We called this a "red tag area" because we put a red tag on it. Anyway... Organize everything and then when you're done, deal with the red tag stuff. Use a red tag spot in daily shop life as you work and just deal with it periodically instead of constantly struggling item by item.

“Motion brings clarity” is what a mentor of mine used to say. I didn’t realize until I was an adult that I had paralyzing ADHD (when I recognized it in my son), and only then did I realize the wisdom of this advice. It’s not always about having the perfect plan. It’s about experiencing, learning & adapting.

I'd add - spend time in your workshop when you're not working on something. Have a coffee in there, make a call, write your Christmas plans etc. I can go in without a plan or intention to do something and end up tidying or making a home for something (even if it's just a hook on the wall) just because i became motivated or i notice some organizational low hanging fruit. It also helps clarify what the bigger organizing challenges are.

"where would i look for it?" is genius for solving new storage. I've been using it since I first heard it here and it has saved me hours of frustration, both in and out of the shop.

I've been a facility manager for over 30 years, running a very large shop with tons of tools, bins, and parts. My experience is that my ultra creative and exceptionally talented employees tend to have the most (seemingly) disorganized work areas. It used to drive me out of my mind. We'd go through a huge shop deep clean and re-org and 2 days later their spaces looked like Sanford & Son. Over time I've come to accept this, if not embrace it, with the mindset that I value the talent over cleanliness.

When you went on about spending an hour (sometimes an afternoon) building a place for the thing… you spoke directly to me. I start organizing but I always wind up making a thing. If I could stop that I’d be fine I think…maybe.

Adding to the fear of not “getting it right” is having limited time to “be creative” and having to decide between spending that limited time on a space re-org or “being creative”. Of course, reorganizing your space can make your creative time more effective! But it’s still one of those decisions that tie up our brains.

"Where would I put this if I needed it now" has been how I have rolled for 20+ years. Probably the best advice for a crammed shop ever!

I have found that when there is a backlog of new stuff to be organised/stored for the first time, rather than the 'one piece at a time' approach, I have found that you take a big open table and start to put stuff in piles IN CATEGORIES, which helps you quantify how much storage space is needed to be allocated for it, and whether or not to create new storage space.

And buy a label maker. Having every drawer and box clearly labeled with what’s in them is SO good. Especially if you move everything around and then forget what is where.

Organization is always a challenge. In the body shop I work at, organization is key to making money and getting stuff done. All of my trainees, I’ve taught them order of first retrieval. Few have stuck with it, because they’re young and sometimes have a hard time grasping the idea. They’ll buy a tool cart, fill it by how they think they want it, and then spend a few minutes trying to find the tool they need. And sometimes the shop itself has it’s own organizational chaos. Where do we need to put old/new parts, shop equipment where we can easily find and utilize it, etc. we’re constantly changing our approach to the issue of organization and Adam pretty much nailed it, when he says “one thing at a time.”

I like that way of thinking about where to put something you aren't sure where its home is. Another good one I've heard recently is that if an item doesn't have a set or obvious home, to put it with eithers its 'neighbors, cousins, or co-workers', so either things where they are shaped similarly, have a similar function, or work together. It is a helpful way to thinking about it.

One thing that helps me a great deal is the concept of the "Return Bin", especially when it comes to putting away scraps, bolts, and the little odd tools that don't always have an obvious home. Everything gets dumped in the Return Bin, and then from time to time I will address the single task of emptying the one bin. It's kind of a self-imposed mind game, but turning a nebulous task like "clean the shop" into a defined task like "empty the bin" seems to help me quite a bit. It also seems to keep the creeping mess confined to one location as opposed to just setting things down wherever I happen to be standing.

One thing I have to say about tidying is you have to accept that before it gets tidy it WILL get worse before you finally get it better.

This video solely serves as a confirmation for why I admire you so much, Adam. This level of sincerity, a bit of vulnerability, but mostly just plain honesty of the state of things and exposure to your mindset about it, is really damn cool. It's nice to see someone who has a level of complexity significantly higher than mine struggle with many of the same things I do, and to see your process for dealing with those things, serially (fuck parallel), and just go one foot in front of the other. Thanks for bringing us along on your journey. Cheers!

I remember my first job as a bottle washer at a lab which hadn't had one for a year. There was a counter next to the sink which appeared to be a mile long and stacked 6 feet high with dirty glassware. I stopped looking at the pile and just picked up one at a time and cleaned it. One day I reached for the next piece, and there wasn't one!

Don't let perfection be the enemy of good enough!

I have an RC airplane factory and an electronics/drone workshop. They key for me is to keep them separately. I have a room devoted to the house for the electronics/drones. The RC airplane area is one bay of my garage. When I build projects, I keep the work area clean. Everything else is kept in bins which are meticulously labeled. I like using the clear plastic bins. In the airplane factory I mostly stand while I work. I make sure all tools and materials are within an arms distance from my build table. When I use something, I put it back right away. Do not let the worktable become home to items that you already found a home for. Once it is organized I never relocate the workshop. Only if I were to move into a new home, which I did two years ago. I swore I would never do that again, as the airplane factory alone took me 3 days by itself. Truthfully, as an Engineering and Maker, I loved every minute of it ;)

Your functioning chaos has me hooked, this channel is helping me embrace my chaotic way instead of forcing myself to conform to a neat way that does not work for me.