With a fresh new year, I want to be more organized and have a less cluttered life. What are some things I should be doing to help me achieve -- and more importantly, maintain -- this resolution?
"There are really two key focus points to answer your question," says professional organizer Becca Clark, owner of Creative Convenience (convenientlyorganized.com) and Your Best Move.
"The first is the strategic and the second is the tactical aspect of organizing," Clark explains. "I call these the mental and the physical ingredients in getting and staying organized. The planning and considering part is every bit as important as the actual moving stuff around and editing."
To that end, she shares her top strategies for overcoming mental roadblocks and opening the way to a more organized life:
• Put your goals in writing and post them so you see them several times a day. Repetition causes the subconscious mind to work on the goal and helps create new habits.
• Keeping commitments requires accountability, so find a goal buddy, or hire a life coach or a professional organizer, and tell family and friends your intention to make this positive change.
• Set priorities. Review the list of things to do and determine the return on investment for your life. If it's truly vital, then do it. If not, then just say "No!"
"The No. 1 cause of disorganization is chronic overcommitment," Clark says. "Every time you consider beginning a new hobby, sport, or group or taking on a leadership role in one, step back and ask yourself: Does this move me nearer my vision of my best life? If not, then vow to focus instead on something more important."
• Avoid the perfectionist trap. "Understand that for most areas of our lives, perfection is neither expected nor necessary," she says. "The endless amount of information available to us makes every project loom large -- especially if we feel it must be flawless. Once anything becomes overwhelming in our minds, we tend to put it off -- finding any other activity preferable."
• Break it down. Rather than pondering the entire project
(studies show that we mentally overestimate the time needed to complete something), bite-size it.
Decide to do a small portion now. For instance, clear out a drawer in the kitchen, walk one block and back, etc. Then do another and another, using a timer, if needed, for short bursts of activity. "I find I can do almost anything for 15 minutes," Clark explains. "Completion and success then motivates you onward to the next step, and so on."
It's important to maintain an organized system and space, she adds. She offers the following tips:
• Muscle memory. Just like working out or learning a new sport, staying organized requires some discipline and the adoption of new habits. For instance, every day for a week or so toss out your junk mail immediately when you bring it in. Deliberately perform the action you want to adopt, and it quickly becomes ingrained and a simple part of everyday life. Your brain learns even when you're not consciously trying to teach it.
• Wide open spaces. Leave some room in your new organizing system -- open spaces in shelves and closets feel luxurious. Having an easily accessible place to put stuff also makes picking up and clearing away much easier.
• Set standards and limits. Promise yourself to get rid of anything stained, broken, outdated, or redundant anytime you find it. Determine that you will keep only a certain number of any item -- particularly clothes and toys. Make room for, say, 10 scarves, three golf caps, and one set of holiday dishes based solely on available space and what you actually use.
• One in -- one out. Diligently practice this rule so your nice open storage spaces don't become crowded again. You bought a new sweater? Send one back out into the universe. Keep a box or bag in a convenient area to toss in the things you are ready to share. Routinely drop them off at a favorite charity.
-- Linda S. Haymes
Do you have a decorating or remodeling question? We'll get you an answer from an authority. Send your question to Linda S. Haymes, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, P.O. Box 2221, Little Rock, Ark. 72203 or email:
lhaymes@arkansasonline.com
HomeStyle on 01/09/2016