When a successful young entrepreneur—already on his third thriving startup—asked me if disorganization was simply part of the entrepreneurial package, it sparked an important conversation. “Valeska, I think it is how it should be, right? In order to be successful in startups, we need to be disorganized. Would you agree?” This question reflects a romanticized notion that creative genius and organizational skills are mutually exclusive.
As an executive coach, I’ve encountered this belief repeatedly, often from highly intelligent individuals who cloak their disorganization with smarts—until it starts holding them back. The truth is, there’s a ceiling to how far intelligence can carry you when it’s not supported by effective organizational systems. As businesses scale and responsibilities multiply, even the most brilliant minds need structure to maintain sustainable success. It’s like trying to build a skyscraper without blueprints: you might reach a few floors through sheer talent, but eventually, you need architectural planning to go higher.
In many coaching sessions, leaders who can orchestrate complex business strategies and innovate groundbreaking solutions still struggle with basic organizational challenges. They often ask:
This pattern reveals an important truth: organizational skills aren’t just nice-to-have supplements to intelligence and creativity—they’re essential multipliers of these qualities.
Take the young entrepreneur mentioned earlier. Once we explored his assumptions about disorganization and success, he developed a personalized prioritization system that has served him well for nearly a year. His breakthrough came when he stopped viewing organization as the enemy of creativity and began seeing it as a tool to channel his creative energy more effectively.
One productivity approach that has transformed many of my clients’ lives (including my own) comes from Tonya Dalton's book, "The Joy of Missing Out." This simple five-minute end-of-day exercise offers clarity and control over tasks and priorities. Its adaptability allows my clients and I to modify it to match our individual work styles—sometimes simplifying it, other times expanding it into more comprehensive systems.
The magic lies not in following any particular system perfectly but in discovering the art of organization that aligns with your personal work style. When you find or create the right organizational framework, it doesn’t constrain your creativity—it liberates it. Think of it as building channels for your creative energy to flow more powerfully, rather than dispersing in all directions.
Many highly intelligent individuals are surprised to learn that being organized doesn’t mean becoming rigid or losing their creative edge. Instead, it provides a foundation that allows their creativity and intelligence to reach their full potential.
The most successful leaders I’ve worked with understand that organization isn’t the opposite of creativity—it’s the framework that helps creativity thrive sustainably. With clear systems for managing day-to-day responsibilities, your mind is free to focus on innovation and big-picture thinking, rather than constantly putting out fires caused by disorganization.
As businesses and responsibilities grow, the partnership between intelligence and organization becomes increasingly crucial. The most effective leaders aren’t just smart or just organized—they are both. They harness their creativity not only in their business innovations but also in developing personalized systems that keep them focused, productive, and balanced.
The myth of the necessarily chaotic entrepreneur needs to be put to rest. True entrepreneurial freedom doesn’t come from avoiding organization, but from embracing it in a way that enhances rather than inhibits your natural strengths. When intelligence, creativity, and organization work together, that’s when real magic happens in both professional success and personal fulfillment.
