How do you START organizing?
I have three huge keys to share, so you can start organizing your home today.
You can’t get finished organizing until you get started.
And sometimes STARTING is the hardest part, right? That is how it is with me.
For many of us, the idea of ‘starting’ builds up to become such a big deal that it’s hard to get started because I think:
- It’s going to take so much work or
- It’s such a big project and
- All the other negative thoughts.
The three huge keys to start organizing your home today
First of all, I almost thought this first one wasn’t really a step, but it is.
1) The goal is to be imperfect
This idea really changes everything in your mindset if your goal is to be imperfect. Now you have no expectations that it has to look a certain way or be done a certain way. You’re willing to fail and try things and learn and change and go with the flow. If your goal is to be ‘imperfect’, you’re going to have so much more success. You’re going to be able to keep going because you’re doing it right. You’re allowing yourself to be imperfect.
For me personally, I sometimes jump all over the place. Even today, I was going to send an email to this person, and I went to find that information but got distracted. That’s okay, as long as I get back on track, because I’ve given myself permission to do it imperfectly.
2) Constrain to one area
When it comes to getting started in organizing, I want you to pick one place to organize and stay with that one area. Now, where you pick is no big deal – that’s not right or wrong. There’s no best or worst place to get started. You just get to decide. There are a couple of options for deciding where to constrain and get started.
- One of them is the visibility rule, which I learned from Dana White in her book, Decluttering at the Speed of Life. She said, “Always do the first thing that’s visible.” Walk into your front door and ask yourself, “What’s visible?” That will be where you’re going to start.
- I like to also think, “What would make me the happiest to see organized?” or “What area has been bugging me the most?” and then start in that spot. Then, you will be so thrilled to walk into the room and have that spot organized. It will look amazing!
- Another thought about where to start is to do the area that has the little least sentimental things. Often that’s the bathroom. Start in the bathroom and then pick one of the areas in the bathroom: the drawer, the cabinet, or anywhere that would be a good place for you to start. Whatever it is, you get to decide and then stick with it.
One great aspect of my course, Organized Life Academy, is that I have already picked the areas that we’re going to work on. We go through each area of our house – one area each month. This is so fun because you don’t have to think about it. That’s part of the reason we like to follow a program in the first place – you just do what they suggest to do. I go to the gym and my instructor tells me exactly what to do. The class that I go to is great because she already knows what I need to do to reach my goal. It’s perfect.
3) Set a minimum
What’s the minimum thing that you’re going to do.
- Quantity Minimum – You’ve decided you’re going to sort five pieces of paper every day. That’s what one of my clients decided. It’s so neat to hear her come to our calls each week. She said, “I went to do my five papers and I ended up doing whatever for an hour or two hours.” I thought, “How in the world does she do that when her thought, in the beginning, was that she didn’t have time?” ๐ It makes it easier, more ‘doable,’ and even fun if we have a minimum.
- Time minimum –ย You’ve decided you’re going to do 15 minutes of sorting or 10 minutes of sorting every day. Maybe it’s that once a week, you’re going to book on your calendar one or two hours of organizing time. You can break it up however you want, but every week you decide “my minimum is one hour” or whatever it is. Then when it comes up on your calendar, you go and do that amount of time. And then you do the next time slot you’ve scheduled, and then pretty soon, the project is completed!
Now you know the 3 Huge Keys to Start Organizing Your Home Today.
You have decided on the area that you’re going to work in and you’ve set your minimum (quantity or time). You know, your goal is to be imperfect. From here, you can watch the video. “The Five Steps to Organizing.” You just go through these five easy steps.
You got this!
If you want more help, I’d love for you to become a member of Organized Life Academy. If you don’t want to be in a community and would prefer to do private coaching, here is the link to sign up for a free call with me, where we can discuss private coaching to help you reach your goals.
Have a beautiful day. We’ll see you next time.
