One of the first questions I ask in my seminars across the country is, "Have you ever organized a drawer in your office only to discover, in just a few days, the drawer has returned to its original chaos?"

The answers come in waves of mumblings and agonizing responses: "Yes!" It happens all the time. Frequently someone will tell me how he or she came into their office over a Saturday, eliminated massive amounts of clutter and felt quite good about the accomplishment, but shortly thereafter, it slipped back.

The reasons people give are many: a lack of discipline, not taking the time to maintain, co-workers or spouses messing things up, and so on. However, the real reason the drawer or office has slipped back into disorder is because the drawer or office was not truly organized in the first place.

In this month's tip, let's take a quick look at what being organized ISN'T...

• Being organized is not rearranging. Many of my clients rearrange or straighten their stuff. If they do that, the chaos will return.

• Being organized is not tidying or cleaning. Most of us spend way too much time cleaning. It's not the dirt that makes you nervous, it's the clutter. Stop cleaning! Spend more time on organizing and less time on cleaning.

• Being organized is not hiding. Your boss comes through and tells you the Board of Directors are coming today. What do most of us do? We quickly open our drawers or cabinets and hide all our stuff out of sight!

• Being organized is not perfectionism. You do not have to have your books arranged one inch apart on your shelves in order to be organized.

• Being organized is not a moral issue. It's also not a moral issue. You don't need to feel guilty if you are not organized.

• Being organized is not natural. One of my clients at 3M raised his hand and said "Organizing is not natural!" Another client said, "Lady, for me it's not happening!"

• Being organized is not the same for everyone. There is no set way to organize anything. It's based on your personality, the amount of stuff you own, the amount of space that you have, and the way you personally work or approach things.

Isn't this good news? Don't you already feel a little better? For years you have rearranged, straightened, neatened, hid, cleaned, or tried to adopt someone's organizing successes.