This seems to be the hardest part of “being organized” for many of my clients. So often, I see people put in a big effort to clear the clutter they have accumulated over many weeks, months or years without making the small changes every day that would help make their lives easier in the long term.
Being organized is all about the habits that you have and that you create. Habits that promote being organized will lead to an organized life, leaving you free from worries (at least, freer!) and the opportunity to live life in the moment – those Zen moments when you get to be totally involved in what you are doing, who you are being, or the experience you are having right now!
What could a small step towards a new habit be?
Here are a few options, and I hope you’ll find one or two that would be ridiculously easy to implement – that’s the idea. To maintain organization, start with your smallest achievable step, the one small change to make this week that you’ll find so easy. Then check the list again next week and if you find another ridiculously easy change to make, do that one too. And before you know it, you’ll be on the path to an organized you!
If thinking about organizing your entire home makes your palms sweat, you’re not alone! Decluttering and organizing every space in your house is a big commitment, involving a lot of effort and time. Having an organized home is a completely reasonable goal, but where do you start?
Start Small
The short answer is: start small! When a project seems too big and too daunting, start with the smallest achievable step. To find your smallest achievable step, ask yourself: What sounds so easy that it makes you laugh?
If you want to declutter your garage but the thought makes you nervous, scale it back. How about decluttering one category of item, like gardening tools? Maybe your smallest achievable step is sorting your toolbox. Maybe it’s the top half of your toolbox, or even one compartment!
When you’ve found a part of the project that is laughably doable, do it! Sort that single compartment in your toolbox, then congratulate yourself on a job well done. That one small task gets you closer to your goal and starts you off with a win. Little accomplishments are as addictive as big ones, and you’ll soon find yourself taking the next step, and the next. You’ll get the hang of organizing and start modifying what you do to achieve your goal even faster.
Success fuels success, and if you keep the momentum up, organizing will become part of your routine.
Now that you’ve reflected on life using the Wheel of Life and made a list of SMART PATH goals, it’s time to set priorities. As impressive as it would be to tackle every problem in your life simultaneously, it’s unrealistic. Not only would it be a whole lot of work, your focus would be everywhere at once!
What do you value most?
Are any of these values at the top of your list?
Time with family
Forging ahead with your career
Serving your community
Love
Adventure
Creating a cozy home
Being healthy
Creating a life that works
Everyone’s values are unique, and I can’t tell you what you should value most—it’s up to you! But asking yourself the question and finding out what you value most in life is important. It gives you a clearer focus, and knowing what you value means you can structure your life to match it.
How do your values show up in your Wheel of Life? Are you allocating your time and energy in a way that matches your values? What are YOUR priorities?
If you took the time to review your life last week, you’ll likely have at least one area of your life that you’d like to make some changes. So let’s set some goals. Common New Year’s resolutions include:
Exercise more
Save money
Eat healthy
Get organized (Call us if you’re having trouble with this one!)
Get more sleep
Quit social media
Reduce waste
Spend more time with family and friends
Reduce stress
Keep a journal
What are your resolutions this year? Write them down and refer to them often; you’ll be more likely to achieve them.
The holidays are upon us! And with that comes the new year, and with the new year comes — you guessed it — resolutions! While goal-setting is an important part of life all year round, the approach of the new year reminds us to reflect on our life, and where we want to be.
What goals do you have for yourself? What’s the best way to accomplish those goals? It’s simple (if not easy): assess your life as it is, focus on the path toward the goal instead of the goal itself, and don’t try to do everything at once.
December is the perfect time to assess your life and your priorities. Use the Wheel to Life to review what you are thankful for. Honestly look at what you would like to be different in the future.
The holidays can be a wonderful(ly stressful) time of year! There’s family to connect with, decorations to put up, and gifts to arrange. Holiday plans have so many moving parts–how are you supposed to keep track of everything? Plan, plan, plan!
Start early
No one enjoys panic-shopping the night before gift exchanges. Everything’s out of stock, you’re in a rush to find the perfect item, and holiday prices are hiked high. Or think back to a time when you and your family made last-minute holiday plans. Is your blood pressure going up? The solution is simple (if not always easy): start early.
If you want to see your family in December, look at tickets a few months beforehand. If it’s refundable, there’s no harm in grabbing that flight early. It’s a lot less expensive, too!
Keep an eye out year-round for gift ideas. Jot them down in a dedicated list, even if it’s June! You don’t need to go out and buy the gift right away, especially if you live in a smaller space that doesn’t have room to store presents for months. But it’s nice to have ideas down on paper, in an app, or in a spreadsheet, so when it comes time to shop, you know what to get. When you do shop, be sure to allow for shipping delays.
