The Clutter Connection: How Your Personality Type Determines Why You Organize the Way You Do (Clutterbug)

by Cassandra Aarssen

Crickets are very organized and detail-oriented people.

Procrastination is something most Crickets struggle with.

Fear of failure, mistakes, and being seen as “incompetent” are roadblocks that prevent Crickets from achieving their dreams.

Crickets tend to be very logical and high-achieving.

Perfectionist is a title that most Crickets can relate to.

As with Bees, planning is key to focusing and simplifying your overthinking brain. Taking a few minutes to write out your goals for the year, month, week, and day will go a long way to help you structure an action plan for your life. Here is the key, though: Macro-organize your thoughts first, in the same way you need to macro-organize your home.

If something is taking you more time to research and plan than it would to actually complete the project, you’re overthinking it.

Turn off distractions like your phone, email, and television when starting a project.

Crickets place an extremely high importance on putting things away properly, so the biggest issue isn’t whether they are tidying their mess, but rather, whether everyone around them is.

It isn’t realistic for a Cricket to expect his family, roommates, or coworkers to maintain his level of detail and perfection. Therefore, compromise on his part is key.

Their need for visual simplicity is trumped by their need for perfection, so a Cricket is a classic piler.

When it comes to organizing or achieving any goal in life, it’s important for a Cricket to first let go of the high expectations they put on themselves and begin with a simple, macro approach to planning.

In the absence of a routine filled with positive, productive habits, I had unconsciously created a routine of negative, counterproductive, ineffective habits. Every day I would waste hours aimlessly browsing the internet or watching television, all the while feeling like I had no time for the things I really wanted to do. Without structure to my day, everything took longer to accomplish. I felt busy, but I wasn’t productive. I wasn’t accomplishing any of my goals or ambitions because I wasn’t taking any positive action steps toward achieving them. Setting and following schedules and to-do lists gave me more free time than ever before. I know, it sounds crazy and counterintuitive, but it’s true!