This is probably the hardest Rule in this section. Once you’ve mastered this one, the rest come pretty easily. There’s an argument that some people are naturally organised and some just aren’t. There’s a modicum of truth in this, but it’s really not the point. Some animals are born swimmers – dogs, for example – and some aren’t. For example I wasn’t, but I still learnt to swim and was pretty good at it (a long time ago). Just because you weren’t born organised, that’s not an excuse: ‘I wish I could be more organised, but it’s just not me.’ Well, make it you.

People use this as a justification for being unorganised, but it is entirely in their control. You’re not a victim, you’re quite capable of learning to swim, to recite your times tables, to drive a car, to be a parent, to be organised. No more blaming some accident of birth. Accept that if you’re not organised, it’s because you can’t be bothered to learn. That’s it.

And that really is the crux. Those of us who aren’t organised aren’t bothering, because that’s how we see it: a bother, a faff, unnecessary effort. Making notes, keeping diaries, writing lists, developing strategies … what a huge waste of time. Why not just get on with the job, hey?

Right. Listen to me. That is the mindset you have to get past if you’re ever going to be a clear thinker and an effective doer. Stop making excuses. Look around you. The people who never reply to their emails, and buy their travel tickets at the last minute so they’re double the price, and can’t return the book you lent them because they’ve lost it, and keep losing their car keys: they are the ones who can’t be bothered to be organised, and are pretending they were born that way and it’s not their fault.

The people who stay on top of their lives, however, who can always make time for the unexpected, who get back to you when they say they will: they are the ones with to-do lists and diaries and notes and only one place they ever put their car keys down.

They’re a pain, the unorganised ones, aren’t they? I mean, I’ve known a handful of people who were so organised it made me uncomfortable, but it’s nothing to the inconvenience and hassle I’ve been put to throughout my life by people who couldn’t be bothered to think clearly. And I’m ashamed that this described me for many years too. Right up until the point when I realised how thoughtless I was being, and that organised people were more in control of their lives. That’s when I realised that I was making excuses and that organised thinking wasn’t something that you either were or weren’t blessed with. It just flows naturally from organised behaviour. If you act organised, you are organised.

So if you want a clear, uncluttered mind and a life that leaves room for – well, whatever you want it to – the first step is to acknowledge that you’re perfectly capable of becoming organised and you’ll be happier if you do it. And so will everyone around you.