Finding the Time Needed to Get Organized

Sometimes it seems like the hardest part of getting organized is just finding the time to do it. Especially if it's been years since you've made a dedicated effort towards organization, just the thought of tackling such a big job is enough to make you put it off until another day. However, dealing with disorganization on a daily basis can be very stressful, so it can be well worth your efforts to just bite the bullet and set aside the time to get the job done right.

It's OK to Just Do a Little BitOne fallacy with getting organized is that you have to get it all done at one time. Not only is this method truly exhausting, it's also very unrealistic to expect to be able to get everything done in a weekend, or even during a single week. After all, things didn't get disorganized overnight, so you shouldn't be expect yourself to be able to clean it up that quickly either. Trying to do too much too quickly can cause you to get discouraged, which might make you give up altogether. Instead, resign yourself to your actual schedule, and tell yourself that it's OK to just do a little bit every day. You'll be less stressed and in the end, you'll do a better job because you'll be less rushed.

Set Aside Just Fifteen Minutes Each DayAs is the case with most things in life, the hardest part about getting organized is the very first step. How many times have you had grandiose thoughts of what you were going to do with your day when you first got out of bed, only to run out of steam and initiative before you even get started? This can easily happen when you try to schedule too much work in too little time. Doing this can make the job sound so bad that many times you'll talk yourself out of even getting started. Instead, just schedule fifteen minutes every day to devote to your clean-up. On many days, you will probably find that once you get started, you'll stick with it much longer than fifteen minutes. But by only scheduling fifteen minutes, you'll get in the habit of at least working on the project every single day, instead of putting it off until tomorrow.

Create a Work ScheduleNo, you don't have to actually write down every single thing that you plan to do each day. But having an overall project plan and work schedule for your organization project can be a big help. Take some time and write out an overall plan for what you want to accomplish, just as though you were planning a big project at work. You'll find that having the plan written down will make it easier to act upon it, plus it will make it easier to see how much progress is being made. It will also keep you focused on the tasks at hand, and reduce the chance that you will get distracted with other unrelated tasks. If you stick with your tasks every day, before you know it your home will be completely organized without it feeling like too big of a job.