Well, I have to confess, I’m not.
There! The secret’s out.
For over 300 years, yours truly, Benjamin Franklin, has been misleading people about his powers of filing, systematizing, and putting things in correct, fine and dandy, apple pie order.
Far from it, my friends. There was a time that someone came to visit me in Paris, when I was serving as America’s first ambassador to France, and they were absolutely horrified “to behold papers of the greatest importance scattered in the most careless way over the table and floor.”
I’m actually a quite messy fellow, and have been for most of my life. I recognized that, and sincerely sought to change that part of myself, in order to be more productive and successful. But over the years I finally realized that I’d made so little progress, and had such frequent relapses, that I virtually gave up on my attempts.
Nowadays, you clever 21st century people have come up with all sorts of office aids, like filing cabinets, organizers, computer assistants, and the like. But my all-time favorite is something you call “Post-it” notes!
I tell you, if I’d had something like that in the 1700s, my quest for perfection would have been over and done with in an instant. (And, candidly, as a printer, I have to admit, I would have made a fortune cranking out sticky notes by the millions for customers both here and abroad!) That is one invention I truly wish I could take credit for.
Just imagine how much more efficient I could be, with little yellow, pink, blue, and white reminders dotting my desk, my office, my home…my person!
Or perhaps not.
In the end, no matter how ingenious one may be in coming up with the latest, greatest, newest advances in informational technologies, there is still the human element to account for. And this particular human, at his core, is simply not an organization man.
That may be one of history’s great anomalies. But it suits me just fine. I’ll just go around wearing my many-colored, many-splendored coat of Post-its, and revel in the chaos that surrounds me. So there!
Your humble (and untidy) servant,
B. Franklin