How to organize productively and avoid pitfalls that can wreck your progress
Your mindset counts
One of the biggest hurdles to home organizing is having a negative attitude. Possessing a gloomy outlook, feeling impatient or stressed, or trying to be perfect can stand in the way of getting projects started or successfully completed. Focusing on your goals, eliminating self-doubt and negative thinking, and incorporating simple techniques not only ensures a smooth beginning, but guarantees efficiency and effectiveness in home organization. Here are quick home organizing tips bound to improve or expediate performance.
Focusing on your goals. Setting goals involves understanding ambitions and efforts and aiming for a desired result. In life, goals serve to motivate people. Research shows that writing down goals or sharing them with others produces higher chances for accomplishing objectives. Per Leaders, “A meta-analysis published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology concluded that goal setting is an effective behavior change technique and fundamental for success.” When it comes to organizing the household, creating long-term goals such as having a more efficient kitchen, maximizing home office space, or maintaining a well-ordered home can serve as encouragement. Ask yourself, “What specific steps can I take to achieve my desired outcome?” Know that large jobs are completely doable when broken down into manageable organizing sessions. It’s important to make organizing sessions fun. Listen to music while you sort through things or take snack breaks when needed. Also, reward yourself once the job is complete. As you transform each room, treat yourself to dinner and a movie, buy that bottle of perfume or cologne you’ve always wanted, or enjoy quiet time by the lake. Rewards serve as positive encouragement – so as you achieve goals, acknowledge a job well-done!
Eliminating self-doubt and negative thinking. Sometimes, people can be their own worst enemy. This is particularly true where self-doubt is involved. A lack of confidence in oneself or one’s abilities is a major roadblock to success. When it comes to organizing the home, self-doubt can bring efforts to a halt. When you think about it, the act of being disorganized stems from negativeness. Per Sandra Felton’s book, The Quick Guide to Home Organizing, “Disorganization is a problem of self-neglect. In short, when we are disorganized, we’re failing to treat ourselves with the love and respect we want others to show us.” The Organizer Lady explains, “By becoming more organized, we become more powerful in taking care of ourselves. And here’s an important payoff: when we take care of ourselves, we take better care of those around us as well.” Approach caring for the home with positivity. And, if you feel overwhelmed or believe you can’t do it yourself, start in small and manageable spaces, such as a kitchen drawer, and move on after that’s completed. Organizing in a slow and systematic way can help build skills and increase self-confidence. Hiring a professional or asking positive-minded family members or friends for their assistance can stop people from feeling overburdened or doubtful.
Incorporating simple techniques. People have different ways of going about things. Some people are detailed planners while others are purely spontaneous. Some people prefer long organizing sessions, while others do better in short spurts. It’s important to analyze your organizing style so you understand what works best for you. Use that as a springboard to get going. Organizing an entire home is a daunting task. For this reason, it’s best to stick to simple techniques, such as designating spaces for things to go, grouping like-items together, and using clever storage solutions. It is quite popular to organize room by room. As a starting point, one may choose to tackle a single space inside a select room such as a bedroom clothes closet. Sorting through the clothes provides opportunities to decide what to keep, donate, or toss. When returning clothes to a closet, hang like-items together, such as dress pants and button-down shirts. Also group small similar items together in containers. A less popular but still effective method of organizing involves tackling clutter by category. For example, one might organize clothes on day one, kitchenware on day two, kids’ toys on day three, and so forth, until all household categories are complete.
Quick home organizing tips
Life is busy and tasks such as organizing can feel insurmountable. That doesn’t mean that people should give up on managing their homes. There are many great benefits to be had when living in an orderly home. It’s easier to find things, it reduces stress, and it increases health and happiness – just to name a few examples. Focusing on your goals, eliminating self-doubt and negative thoughts, and incorporating simple techniques to get the home organized can deliver the ultimate in success!
