Apparently, I Was Meant to Be a Professional Organizer

Helping others know how to store their favorite items brings me joy!

I recently took an ADVanced Insights assessment expecting to learn a little more about myself professionally.

Yesterday, a friend of mine were talking about hiring and training staff. She told me she has all potential hires take this assessment and recommended I try it. So I did. Later, she pointed out the results, that I nonchalantly glanced at, and said, “This demonstrates that you love what you do!” I looked again at the results and she was right!.

Top attributes I scored highest on my DISC assessment.

One of my highest-scoring attributes was Concrete Organization — 9.3.

As the owner of an organizing business, I’d say that tracks pretty well.

But what interested me even more was everything surrounding that score.

My other strongest attributes included Practical Thinking (9.3), Integrative Ability (9.2), Theoretical Problem Solving (9.2), Problem and Situation Analysis (8.9), Developing Others (8.8), Problem Solving (8.7), Attention to Detail (8.6), and Quality Orientation (8.6).

When I looked at those results together, something clicked.

Professional organizing is really problem solving

Organizing involves deciding what items are actually used and storing them in a way that is easy for the owner to find and put away!

People sometimes assume professional organizing is mostly about putting things into pretty containers or making a room look nice.

That can certainly be part of it, but it isn’t really the heart of the work.

When I walk into a home or office, I’m looking for friction.

Why does this area keep getting cluttered?

Why can’t someone find what they need?

Why is a perfectly good organizing system not being maintained?

Are things being stored where they’re actually used?

Is there simply too much inventory for the available space?

Does the system require more effort than the person using it is realistically going to give it?

That is where organization becomes less about appearance and more about analysis, practicality and problem solving.

A good organizing system should make everyday life easier.

The system has to work for the person

My client Claudia couldn’t even sit at her own desk. Now she enjoys working in her tidy office.

Another part of my assessment stood out to me just as much.

I scored highly in areas such as Developing Others, Understanding Motivational Needs, Leading Others, Diplomacy, Empathy, Human Awareness and Sensitivity to Others.

That matters because organizing is incredibly personal.

We aren’t simply working with objects.

We are working with people's habits, memories, schedules, priorities and sometimes years of postponed decisions.

One person may love beautifully labeled containers and detailed categories. Another person needs something extremely simple or they will never maintain it.

The goal isn't to force someone into my idea of an organized life.

The goal is to understand how they naturally live and then create a system that supports them.

Organization should be practical, not performative

One of my other highest scores was Practical Thinking — also 9.3.

I loved seeing that because practicality is a huge part of my philosophy.

A room can photograph beautifully and still be frustrating to live in.

I would rather create a system that someone uses every day than a beautiful system that falls apart three weeks later.

Sometimes the best solution is custom cabinetry.

Sometimes it is a simple basket, an economical bin or moving something six feet closer to where it is actually used.

The solution only has to make sense.

These skills aren't limited to homes

One thing I hadn’t considered before taking this assessment was how clearly these same qualities apply to business environments.

Offices and organizations experience many of the same problems homes do.

Too much inventory.

Poorly defined storage.

Duplicated supplies.

Paperwork without a clear home.

Shared spaces that no one quite knows how to maintain.

Systems that made sense five years ago but no longer fit the way the business operates today.

Whether I'm looking at a closet, kitchen, home office or workplace, the underlying question is very similar:

What is creating unnecessary friction here, and how can we make this work better?

That may be my favorite takeaway from the assessment.

Apparently, becoming a professional organizer wasn't quite as random as I might have thought.

Some of the qualities I rely on every day — organization, practical thinking, problem solving, attention to detail and understanding people — weren't just skills I picked up along the way.

They're deeply connected to the way I naturally approach problems.

And that is exactly what I hope to bring into every space I organize.

Professional organizing isn't simply about putting things in containers. It's about identifying what's creating friction and building a practical system that makes life — and work — easier.

If your home or workplace has areas that continually feel cluttered, inefficient or harder to use than they should be, sometimes you don't need to try harder.

You may simply need a better system.

— Naomi Calderon
Naomi Organizing

I became a professional organizer. Apparently it was the right choice.