How Your Organizing Archetype Can Serve You on Your Organizing Journey
We’ve all heard the phrase, knowledge is power. And in this case, it truly is. If you’ve been struggling to find organizing systems that speak to you or you’ve had a hard time sharing space with someone whose idea of organizing differs from yours - then this article is for you.
So let’s start with the basics….you might be wondering, what in the world is an organizing archetype? Not to worry, I’ve got you covered.
What’s an organizing archetype?
Oxford Languages defines an archetype very simply as, “a very typical example of a certain person or thing.” Archetypes serve as fundamental building blocks in storytelling and communication, allowing people to connect with and understand complex ideas and concepts through familiar and shared symbols or characters.
In the world of home organization, it may feel like in order to be organized, one must fit in a certain box to be able to claim they are organized or not. This box is most commonly informed by what we see in the mainstream media. However, that isn’t the case at all. Each of us has our own unique style, preferences, and relationship to our belongings. For this reason, I created the organizing archetypes to bring awareness and give language to our unique differences.
An organizing archetype is a distinct and recognizable organizing style or personality type that reflects specific preferences, habits, and values in how a person approaches decluttering, storage, and maintaining an organized living space. While organizing styles can be a sliding scale depending on the circumstances, we each generally lean a certain way when it comes to our relationship with our belongings and how we like to see and interact with our living space. The archetypes intend to inform those preferences and shed light on how to lean into them so you can make a space that reflects who you really are.
How can knowing my organizing archetype help me?
Before becoming an entreprenuer, I had the pleasure of working at a corporation that placed incredibly high value on the training and development of its employees. And not just on-the-job training, I’m talking about the development of leadership and life skills that I’ve carried with me throughout my tech career and onward as an entrepreneur. One of the first development trainings that every employee had to attend was largely focused on communication skills and understanding our “personality color”. It turns out we each fall under one of four personality colors and this informs how we show up in the workplace and in life - especially under times of stress or challenge.
Furthermore, it provided a framework for how each color type typically communicates and prefers to be communicated with. From there we worked for days on how to both understand our own strengths and weaknesses with communication, as well as practice how we could better understand and communicate with those around us who were a color other than our own.
This training was literally life-changing. I walked away with a deeper understanding and validation of myself AND because the company valued training, nearly every employee I’d interacted with around the world (including my then-boyfriend and now husband) could answer the question, “What’s your color?”. Without even saying another word, it was like being given a key to unlock the door of communicating and working together in harmony. As long as we each showed up with the motivation to adapt our communication styles accordingly, we could and did collaborate well with others.
Your archetype will improve your self-awareness.
I think of organizing archetypes in a similar way. The first and most valuable piece of insight you’ll gain from understanding your archetype is self-awareness. If you feel like you’ve been on a quest to find organizing systems, styles, and habits that work for you, then understanding your archetype is the perfect place to start. Organizing isn’t one-size-fits-all. In fact, the act of curating a space with belongings you love is incredibly personal, so doing it in a way that serves YOU is invaluable.
Similar to the color test, the archetypes can serve as a framework for providing personalized organizing advice and solutions. Knowing this information can help you lean in and create a space that feels like you. If you already feel confident in your organizing style, the knowledge of an archetype can serve to validate what you already know and inspire you for ways to continually improve and optimize your space.
Your archetype is a tool for communicating with and understanding others.
In sharing my corporate experience with you, I mentioned above that my then-boyfriend, now husband was also my coworker. I’d be lying if I said that the personality colors didn’t come in handy as we started to get serious and had to really learn how to communicate with each other. We are completely opposite ends of the color spectrum so having this knowledge and the tools, came in handy when times got tough and we needed to communicate through it.
Funny enough, one of the toughest times in our relationship was when we made the big leap and moved in together. No color test could prepare me for the struggle that came with merging households and realizing how different we thought about curating our home space. I’m happy to say over the years and a lot of conversations, debates, and compromises, we’ve found our rhythm and have managed to build a home we’re proud of. But boy do I wish I had access to these archetypes back then! I didn’t know it then, but I know it now and am not surprised at all to learn that our organizing archetypes are also the complete opposite. And we were navigating that without the knowledge, awareness, or tools to help us quickly find some common ground.
I share this, to say in short that your archetype is a tool for communicating with your housemates. Whether you have roommates or share your space with family, knowing your archetype and the archetype of those you share space with is an invaluable tool for creating a space where everyone feels comfortable.
Living with others is hard work, especially when your styles don’t match. And as much as we probably want to have it our way, sharing space requires understanding and compromise. The archetypes are a great place to start a constructive dialogue for creating an organized space that works for everyone.
What’s my organizing archetype?
If you’ve made it this far and you haven’t yet taken the quiz, I hope you’re asking yourself “What’s my organizing archetype?”. This 3-minute quiz will tell you which of the four organizing archetypes you most embody. And of course, it doesn’t stop there, my friend. Along with your archetype, you’ll receive a curated list of tips to help you on your organizing journey.
Sharing space with others? Encourage them to take the quiz as well so you can kick off a conversation on your similarities, differences, and where you might be able to gel well in your home space together.
