A customer once entered a shop called Vikram store and asked for a pair of scissors. “Let me see, now,” said Kishore, one of the salesmen, “We had a number of scissors in this cupboard but they are no longer here,” he shouted across to Shyam, another salesman, “Do you know what became of the scissors in this cupboard, Shyam? They must be around somewhere. Would you help me look for them, please?” Kishore and Shyam emptied cupboards and turned the contents of the shelves upside down. They hunted for the scissors in every nook and corner, upsetting in every nook and corner, upsetting gods in the shop. The other salesmen joined in the search. They bumped into each other and knocked things down. There was chaos in the shop.
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Sethji, the owner of the store, was a man who was always in a hurry. He rushed into the store when he heard all the noise and dais, “Why are you all wasting your time? What are you doing? Why is everyone rushing around madly?’ Kishore, who had just knocked over a pile of tins replied, “A customer wants a pair of scissors, Sethji. We are all looking for the scissors.
“Well, hurry up,” said Sethji, “Look in the drawer where the bulbs are kept. I remember seeing them there.” The salesmen scrambled over one another to find the bulbs. Again, goods were shoved to one side, and piled one upon the other and very soon there was utter confusion. The customer left in disgust. Neither the bulbs nor the scissors were to be found.
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A little further down the same street, Sri Ram ran a shop called Sri Ram store. There were many customers in the shop. The moment you entered the shop you got a feeling of orderliness and harmony. The sales men were neat, tidy, polite, attentive and prompt. Goods on the shelves were properly stacked and labeled. Nobody seemed to be hurrying and everything was quite. The work went on smoothly and there was no confusion. The employees knew exactly where each articles was stored and no customer had to wait too long for what he wanted to buy.
We can see the difference between an orderly, efficient store and a disorganized, unsystematic one. Vikram store had twice as many employees as Sri Ram Store but it did not do half as well. This was because the Sri Ram had an orderly mind. He was systematic and methodical. He planned his business well and organized it properly.
People who are not systematic and orderly waste an enormous amount of time and energy because of haphazard methods. They never know what they have on hand, they can seldom find what they want and they are always short o time. They waste their efforts in activities that do not yield any fruitful results.
All of us, in our daily life, have to do a number of things. It is, therefore, essential that we organize ourselves so that we can accomplish all that we want to. When we get up each morning, we should plan our activities for the day. We should see how much time we have and should plan to do whatever is necessary within that time. We should save our time and energy for important things rather than waste them on trifles.
In everything we do, we must always be neat and tidy. We should put things back in their place so that it is easy to find them when they are needed. We should systematically arrange things in our rooms so that they are not in the way. Our tables and desks should be clean and tidy. We should not have to hunt for things amongst a pile of useless papers and letters.
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People who lack system and method are always crying for more help and lamenting their lack of time. They think that if they had more help or more time at their disposal they would have been able to do great things. They do not realize the advantage of planned and systematic work.
It pays to be orderly and methodical. It helps us to become efficient. Systematic people have the time to do all that they want to. They are able to put in more work. They are always getting better results than those who have no system of work.