For the chronically cluttered, the most important part of getting organized is not doing the cleaning and sorting — it’s finding the motivation to do the cleaning and sorting. Without this motivation, organizing seems like a pointless and unpleasant chore and is continuously shunted to the bottom of the to-do list.
You can, however, transform organizing into something that you want to do, making the task less painful and more likely to be seen through to completion…
Before you start organizing, think about how it will help you achieve something that matters deeply to you.
Would living in an organized home or working in an organized office…
If you’re not sure how getting organized would help you reach your goals, take out a piece of paper and write words that convey how you would like your life to feel. If words such as “calm,” “controlled,” “peaceful,” “efficient” or “simple” appear on your list, organizing can help.
Or clip pictures from magazines that convey what you want your life to look like. Pin these pictures to a bulletin board, and compare them to your actual surroundings. If your life is significantly more cluttered than the pictures, organization is the path to the life you want.
If you cannot find a major motivation to get organized, search for minor annoyances that organizing could help you overcome. Carry a pocket-size pad for a few days, and jot down inconveniences caused by disorganization in your home or office.
These minor inconveniences might not be troubling enough to inspire you to fundamentally change your life and become organized — but they might be sufficiently annoying that spending a few minutes solving key problems will seem like time well-spent.
Rank the annoyances on your list, then do just enough organizing to solve the most exasperating of them. A few minutes’ effort could improve your life measurably — and that might inspire you to tackle additional disorganization annoyances, too.
Examples: If your number-one disorganization annoyance is time wasted searching for your keys each morning, install a key hook by the door. If it is a cluttered kitchen counter that makes it difficult to prepare meals, spend a half-hour or so clearing the counter. Then think of a better way to control the things that tend to wind up on your counter, such as a basket to consolidate mail, newspapers and daily paperwork.
It’s perfectly normal to feel emotional bonds to certain possessions. In our minds, an object might represent a person who was once an important part of our life, such as a deceased spouse or parent… or a long-ago time in our life, such as the year we spent pursuing a dream profession.
It can be extremely difficult to let go of these emotion-laden objects, but we can become overwhelmed by our possessions when we keep too much.
Better: Find a way to honor the memory of the person or time that the object represents without holding on to the object itself…
Take a picture of the item, write a note about its meaning, then paste these in a scrapbook rather than keep the object itself.
Find the item a new home with someone who will get more use out of it than you would now — perhaps give it to another family member or donate it to a charity.
Select one or two items from a large collection to represent the group. Examples: Select a favorite book to keep from an extensive library, then sell or donate the rest. Or select one favorite garment from a departed spouse’s wardrobe to keep in his/her memory, then donate the rest to charity.
Do not attempt to let go of your meaningful clutter all at once. Such wholesale purging often causes people to dig in their heels and refuse to get rid of anything. It is better to shed just a few of these items at first. Dispose of more only after a few weeks have passed, when you discover that the initial culling was not as emotionally wrenching as you had feared.
It’s hard to find time for marathon organizing sessions and harder still to find the motivation. Instead, commit to organizing for just 15 minutes every day. Not only does a 15-minute-a- day commitment feel less daunting than a do-it-all-at-once approach, it turns organizing into a daily habit, improving the odds that you will stay organized.
For each 15-minute organizing session, do the following…
Target a specific task, such as sorting a pile of mail or organizing your junk drawer.
Set a timer. The rush of adrenaline that comes with working against a clock will help you accomplish more.
Put on music. Choose music you enjoy, but lean toward calming songs if organizing conjures up feelings of anxiety in you… or upbeat songs if organizing makes you unhappy, bored or lethargic. Singing along can provide an additional energy boost.
Monitor your self-talk. If you say to yourself, I hate doing this or This is a waste of time before or during organizing sessions, the chore will seem unpleasant and be unsuccessful. Respond to such self-talk with positive thoughts, such as, This will help me live the life I want. Picture yourself living an organized life in a clutter-free home. Note how calm and secure this feels.
Consider enlisting an organizing buddy. If you have trouble sticking to your daily organizing schedule, ask a friend who lives nearby to come over to help you. Offer to help this person with one of his/her household chores in exchange. Adding a social element makes organizing more pleasant. Be sure to choose an organizing buddy who has a strong ability to focus and who is not judgmental.
