How can Peacocks become more organised?

Last week I presented at the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) down at The Tops Conference Centre in the beautiful coastal location of Stanwell Tops. RYLA is designed as a leadership development program for people aged around 18-30 years old who have demonstrated leadership potential in their community. I attended RYLA as a participant way back in 2008, and it truly served as the catalyst for my own personal development journey. 

For the last eight years, I've been presenting at RYLA programs across Australia and New Zealand on the topic of Self-Awareness and How You Lead, using The Four Birds personality assessment as a base (it's based on DiSC and is also known as the DOPE personality assessment). The Four Birds measures one's natural assertiveness (are you more 'ask' or 'tell') and responsiveness (are you more 'people' or 'task' focused). The framework is presented as an example of one tool you can use to develop your self-awareness, self-confidence and awareness of others. Participants are initially grouped into one of four birds, before we delve into deeper and more individualised work. 

The Four Birds are:

• Peaceful Dove - friendly, emotional and less-assertive
• Wise Owl - logical, conscientious and observant
• Bold Eagle - results-driven, assertive and determined
• Showy Peacock - influential, passionate and optimistic

If you haven't completed The Four Birds assessment before, you can find a free online version here.

After the session, a participant came up to me with two questions. Firstly, 'If the flip side of every strength is a weakness, what is the strength of poor time management and organisation?' and secondly 'How can peacocks become more organised'?

The first question was a natural reflection of how easy it is to focus on our shortcomings or perceived challenges. The strength of poor organisation is generally flexibility, an ability to go with the flow, be relaxed without a plan and to be responsive to change. The latter is particularly valuable in our rapidly changing world and something that many others find challenging.

The second question hit me personally. Organisation has been one of my biggest challenges since I was a kid. From pulling all-nighters for assignments back in high school to years of cyclical burnout, organisation is something I've strived to improve for my own leadership, performance and well-being. 

Three resources for productivity I recommend include:

• For readers - Getting Things Done by David Allen (a productivity classic)
• For viewers - 'I Read 107 Productivity Books. Here's What Actually Works.' (an excellent YouTube video by Ali Abdaal.
• For group learners - check out Les Watson - 'The Time Lord'. Les often has online webinars and group productivity challenges available.  

While every person is different, there are some key principles that can be applied to improve your organisation:

• Be prepared for lots of trial and error. Try different tools and systems and see what works for you. Do you prefer a written diary or online calendar? Excel spreadsheets or One Note? Online tools like Asana, Monday.com, Notion. Colour coding, time blocking, time tracking - the list of things you can try is endless.
• Schedule time in your diary for planning and organisation. Make it fun by creating a space you love or having a reward ready for once you've finished planning (If you fail to plan, plan to fail). 
• Create external accountability mechanisms for your projects and goals.
• Learn to say 'no' - a tough one for our people-pleasing peacocks. If you say 'yes' but don't follow through, that's much worse for all involved. 
• Do less and do it well. Understand your priorities and make sure your time aligns with what's most important to you. 
• Use a system until it's no longer serving you. If it no longer energises you and you are no longer following the system, it's time to pivot.
• And lastly, be kind to yourself and don't compare yourself to others who find that organisation comes easily to them, because chances are they don't possess strengths you have such as flexibility and adaptability to change.

If organisation is something that you struggle with, I see you, it's tough! If you feel you need help in this space, please reach out. Learning organisation techniques that work for you and how to lead yourself will generate massive benefits for many aspects of your life, be it your relationships, career aspirations, ability to make a different, health and well-being. 

And I always love hearing your thoughts. What do you find most challenging in the space of organisation? What have you found works for you?