I don't think it's possible. I've tried on multiple occasions to become better organized to no avail. I've purchased a handful of dayplanners that all get used minimally for about a week before landing at the bottom of my closet forgotten alongside ancient sweaters and last year's fashion statements. Is neatness a personality trait? Is organization? I'm sure I'm going to try the organizational process again at some point in my life only to find it fail again. My brain just doesn't work that way. I guess with a consistent amount of dedication I could become an organized person or neater, but I've never had any proof that I necessarily need to be one of those things. My brain remembers the important things naturally and if it should come that I do forget something then so be it, something else was more important.

As to neatness I wish the answer was yes. I live with 3 other people, two of whom I'm fairly sure were candidates for the role of sloth in the movie Seven. They don't pick up after themselves and as a result our living room has become something of a warzone. At this point we throw parties every week just so we can get all 4 of us to clean up for our guests. The morning after finds our floor dirtier than ever and it's days before we bring ourselves to cleaning up from the party. It's a cruel cycle. If neatness were available in a pill I'd volunteer my roommates in a minute. But no, people are stuck in their ways. It's as if our brains have grown inside the limits of a pool of putty.

But as we all know putty isn't solid. We can change and when we are forced to we do change. Usually by an external force, in the case of my messy roommates a girlfriend for example. Humans are adaptive creatures, when we are issued a set of rules we follow them only so closely that we won't get in trouble for a slight digression. When the set of rules change or are enforced more stringently, then we follow suit. We have the ability to change in any way we want. It's not easy but it is possible. Were my friends one day decide to become neater they could easily do so. Repetition is the key and of course dedication . There is a rhythm to our daily routines and it's only ever been us who has set the meter.  When we bring a degree of consciousness to ourselves and to the pace at which we go through life we subconsciously assess how we can improve that pace. It's the easiest thing in the world to pick out what we don't excel at, but actually going about and changing that trait is an indication of real spirit. But we all have, we've shaped our existences by the changes we've made. Are you the same person you were a year ago? I hope I'm not and I hope it has something to do with a calculated effort on my part to change and let myself be open to change.

The change you are talking about Margaret requires persistence. My question then of course is can one choose to become persistent?

Difficult question. I would say, at the expense of what?
It's certainly possible for people to become obsessive/addicted, so if you were to convince yourself that your home needed to be clean for, say, hygenic reasons in the midst of an epidemic, it is likely that you would make this a priority with no problem. It might not be as much fun as other addictions, but it would get the job done.

Now then, suppose you are interested in preserving peace of mind while gradually improving neatness. I think it's possible to adjust to a new equilibrium if it's a question of maintenance. If you were to pay a cleaning service to do your house top to bottom and afterwards make a serious effort to spend 20 minutes each evening to restore the house to that state, you'd probably make a fair amount of progress. If it were me I would schedule regular dinner parties to make sure I cleaned up for guests. If you can see yourself as a hostess temporarily occupying a palace rather than as a tired, overworked person in their already messy cave, it might help.

But again, it's a question of how important it is to you and what else you want to spend your time on.