– make life easier for everyone
As expected, my friend Pratap was waiting for me on the ground for attending the discussion with OT (Old Traveller). It was a very pleasant winter evening, the cool breeze refreshing your body and mind, and it was very pleasant and soothing too. We have a small Buddhist temple in our town and adjoining the temple there is a nice pond with lots of Lotus flowers all around. And on the ground, there are few big banyan trees where people sit under the trees to take rest. You lie down under the tree for few minutes and experience emptiness of your mind. It’s unparalleled. It will be a nice feeling to sit under the banyan tree after emptying your thoughts. Never miss an opportunity to experience this.
Our town is a small one, but most of the people work outside the town and gather during the weekends. The crowd includes people from all walks of life like engineers, scientists, students, farmers and the working class. So, initially I was wondering how this topic will be useful to one and all. Today’s topic is “a place for everything and everything in its place”. Nothing unusual about the title which can attract people to gather in large numbers. But everyone knows that when OT is talking about something it should make sense. OT has already reached the ground, and he was chit-chatting with some of the old folks.
As usual OT started his conversation with a broad smile welcoming all.
“So, today’s topic is ‘a place for everything and everything in its place – make life easier for everyone’. As the name suggests it gives some idea about the subject. This is an age-old concept applicable in all fields, and time tested too. Here, we will try to understand the subject thoroughly and its usefulness to everyone’s day to day life, and how to put it in practice.
Now, we will start from the reverse. Suppose there is no such thing like ‘a place for everything….’ What will happen?
“It will be a happy life, you don’t have to bother about anything, you can do whatever you want, throw things wherever you want and enjoy life as you want. No questions asked.” Tony, the naughty boy of the village commented.
“Parents won’t interfere in our daily chores, and it will be fun.” Commented a smart girl.
Now it was the turn of the elders.
“It will be a complete mess, and chaos everywhere. You won’t get anything you want in time. Life will become miserable.” A teacher from the local school commented.
“If you have something and you don’t know where it is, it is as good as not having it. So, to run any institution, may be a house, hotel, workshop or office one should be properly equipped and at the same time all the accessories required should be easily accessible.” The wise old man of the village commented.
The OT resumed his talks. “So, we have received some inputs. We will start from the young ones. Even I used to think the same way when I was young, till I realized the importance of getting things you need without any fuss or searching. You need your things back when you want to go to office, or school or for that matter for anything. When you go to your school, you wear the uniform, shoes and carry the required books. In the first place, if you throw your things in a haphazard manner, you won’t get anything intime, and even if you get it, it will take a long time. You will miss the bus and won’t be in time to the school, or for the important appointment.
Now we will visit some places. When you visit a medical shop and your give the prescription slip to the counter clerk, within no time, he will go inside and get a small container where the medicine is stored from the designated space in the shelf. From this, he will take out the required quantity as per your need and the container goes back to its original space. When you go to a workshop you can see the tools arranged in a particular manner in the board, where the mechanic can easily pick up the tools he wants. Here also, the tools are put back in its proper place once the work is over or at the end of the day. You can see this in a huge departmental store, hardware shop or even in a small tea shop. All your tools/accessories/items are arranged in a proper order, in their designated places for ease of operation. Now it is clear that there should be some order, to retrieve the things.
Firstly, there should be a designated place for everything. Any unwanted things should not come to this space. If it is a discarded item, waste, items for replacement, etc., these should be stacked separately. In short, there is a place for everything. Secondly, anything taken out from its place should go back to its original space after use. In the same way, any new stocks should also go to its designated space only. This ensures ease of operation and makes life easier for everyone. For example, if you have kept some important documents, door keys, car keys, etc. somewhere, and you cannot recollect where you have kept, it creates chaos and takes lot of time for retrieval. This creates lot of tension, which reflect on your performance and ultimately affects your day-to-day life. I have given example of one individual only. In households where there are many members, schools, offices, workshops, factories, etc. where many people are involved and if you don’t follow any order, it will be a total mess and will become unmanageable.
Now, it’s time for a short break, and in the meantime, if anyone has any more questions please go ahead.”
“I am working as a project manager, and a home maker too. And I have two school going kids. My husband is a software engineer and shuttles between home and office. The concept of ‘a place for everything and everything in its place’ appears to be fantastic, but very difficult to put in practice. See, we have four members in our house, but nothing is in order. Nobody has the time and patience to keep it back. It’s a complete mess. So, I would be grateful to you if you can give some guidance for setting it right.”
“I am a vice president of a company and I appreciate the very idea and tried several times to put it in practice, but I get lost on the way. So please suggest some techniques to put it in order.”
After the short break, the OT continued. “I will be addressing these issues shortly. Now we are entering the second part. In the first part, we have understood the importance of having a place for everything, and everything in its place. In the second part, we will deal with keeping back the things in their respective places after use. It’s not a difficult or time-consuming task to keep back the things in their places. And it is effortless too. Now we will find out the ways and means to keep things back in place, and we will address the problems faced.
- Address the problem. Most of us ignore to keep back even the small things. For example, you take the glue bottle for pasting some parcels, but you don’t keep it back in its place once the job is over. You take the shoe polish and after the work is over you forget to keep it back. This is the case with most of the activities. You go to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee. Take out everything, sugar, coffee powder, milk etc. and make the coffee. So far so good. You don’t want to trouble others, and you do it yourself. But you don’t keep back the things you have taken out. Now you go with your coffee to your favourite place in the corner of the lawn and sit in the swing from where you get a nice view of the garden. Once you have finished the coffee, you move on to the next activity leaving the empty cup there. There is another person in the house, we will call him Mr. Busy, as he is always busy and an expert in multi-tasking. He will straight away go upstairs to check his mail with the coffee mug in one hand and the laptop on the other. He is so busy in checking the mail, sometimes he even forgets to drink the coffee.
- How to deal with this?
- One should have self-discipline and total commitment to whatever one does. He must take the responsibility for his own actions. Apply SOP (standard operating procedures) for every action, whether it is a small or a big task. Standard Operating Procedure is extensively employed in many large organizations also, in all fields to achieve better performance, quality, safety, useful utilization of time, etc. The procedures range from simple to complex, according to the nature of the activity. We lay down the procedures. Don’t be scared by the word SOP. It’s not a complicated process. Here, we break down the activity into small simple steps and follow it meticulously. To give an example, in the above activity of making a cup of coffee; you go to the kitchen, switch on the light if it is dark, take out all the required materials, use the kettle, and by the time the coffee is getting ready you put back all the materials in their respective places. Now the coffee is ready, pour it into your mug, and move to the garden. Before leaving the kitchen observe the scene of action, and make sure that nothing is out of place, and switch off the light. After finishing the coffee, you pick up the mug and deposit in the kitchen sink for putting in the dish washer. You are not putting any extra efforts or time for the entire activity. Stay focused and follow the SOP. So, now you have done a complete job. Make sure that the action is completed, before moving to the next one. Avoid multi-tasking, especially while taking food. It may appear to be a time saver, but it is not. Because you cannot do a neat and complete job most of the time.
- Few words of caution: never leave anything for later. It should be ‘now or never’. Otherwise, you have to remember everything, thus giving extra load to your memory. If you do it then and there, the matter is over, and you are free. If you leave it for later, it never happens. If you start any task, it is your responsibility to complete it. Don’t depend on others. Just observe the scene of action before leaving, to make sure that nothing is out of place. Initially you may feel little odd, but later it forms into a habit and comes naturally. Irrespective of the number of members in a household if everyone follows this, then there is no room for complaints. Makes everyone’s life easy. Focus and productivity increases, and you can utilize the time saved for better things in life. Main benefits include systematic approach to any issues, better focus, life becomes organized.
- For children I will add few more points.
- Parents are the role models for children. So, if we don’t follow any of these things don’t expect from them also.
- Spend quality time with children. This is the only way to come closer to them, and then they will listen to you. And you can make them understand easily. Initially keep a watch on their activities.
- Motivate them and appreciate their actions even if it is insignificant. Ask them to check whether everything is in order. They will happily do this.
- Last but not the least; it is the right time to build good habits in children.
Now, if anyone has any more questions, please go ahead.”
The gentleman who had asked for some techniques, to put everything in order in the beginning stood up and said, “there are no questions now, you have made everything very clear, and I am confident that I will be able to apply these concepts in my day-to-day life. Thank you very much.”
After some time, OT said, “since there are no more questions, I conclude my session here, with Buddha’s words.”
Buddha said, “Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumoured by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.”
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