Learn How To Improve Your Organization Skills!
In this episode I cover several different techniques to help you get more organized! So if you’re looking to improve your organization to help manage stress and overwhelm in your life, to make your home more comfortable to be in, and/or to improve your efficiency and productivity, I’ve got you covered!
You might want to grab a something to write with and a notebook or journal – this episode has you do a little self-discovery to lay the groundwork for getting your organization on!
Disclaimer – the difference between depressed and unmotivated
Today’s questioner lumps depressed and unmotivated together as the reason they aren’t able to get organized.
BUT, depression and lack of motivation are two really different things. Depression often has a physical component, usually a biochemical imbalance of some sort. Lack of motivation is a mental condition, often due to not seeing sufficient benefit from undertaking a task.
Having said that, if you’re feeling depressed, please seek the help of a licensed professional – either a physician or a therapist. Depression is treatable and not something you have to live with.
Once you’ve started to take action to address your depression, we can move on to addressing your lack of motivation!
Step #1: Discover your why
It’s so important you ask yourself WHY you want to improve your organizational skills.
Are you seeking to get more organized because you read a magazine article, saw something on tv, or someone else suggested you get more organized?
Or are you looking to get more organized to help manage stress and overwhelm in your life, to make your home more comfortable to be in, and/or to improve your efficiency and productivity?
If your answer falls into the first category, then let this pressure to get more organized go. Unless your lack of organization is causing actual physical danger to you or others, or your boss noted your work performance is suffering because of lack of organization, it sounds like your lack of organization is someone else’s problem, not yours.
However, if your answer fell into the second category, then it’s time to get your organization on!
Step #2: Amp up your intrinsic motivation
Start by focusing on your why – maybe you broke down in tears last week because you couldn’t find your car keys for the 7th day in a row. Maybe you got dinged with yet another missed appointment fee because you somehow overbooked yourself. Again. Perhaps it’s just a general sense of frustration at constantly tripping over things or stressing out about what you’re forgetting to do.
Now that you have your why, use that as the catalyst to get yourself in gear. The more you get organized, the less that why will happen.
When we use intrinsic motivation to drive us toward our goals, the only person who can get in our way is us! That puts you in the driver’s seat to take full control of reaching your goal.
Step #3: Little steps result in big wins
Start with an easy win. Maybe it’s simply piling all the dirty laundry into the basket and folding and putting away all the clean laundry. Maybe it’s cleaning out the sink and putting away all the dishes. Or it might be picking up all your kids toys on the living room floor and tossing them into the toy box or basket.
The key to picking this task it to make sure it feel doable to you. For instance, I loath dusting. So while it might be a simple task, dusting my house feels like climbing Mount Everest. You’re starting out with the easy stuff, pick something that feel doable to YOU.
Next, take a moment to sit down and really look at how much different the room looks now that you’ve taken care of that single task. Identify the next small task and tackle it. Keep going remembering to celebrate the progress after each small task is finished.
Step #4: Make life easier by decluttering
While you’ve made a great start, odds are at this point you may find yourself completing the same small tasks over and over.
This happens when we have too much stuff, or not enough space to put it away. So you’re probably going to want to do a bit of decluttering as well as organizing. The less stuff you have, the easier it is to stay organized.
One technique I love is decluttering through the lens of the camera. Click the link to learn more about how to use this technique to start your decluttering process in a manageable way WITHOUT putting everything you own into the middle of the living room!
Tackle one small organizing or decluttering task a day. It might feel like you’re not doing much, but the snowball effect of daily action is powerful. And by taking this process in small manageable pieces, you’re much more likely to keep with it and reach your goal of eliminating the why you identified back in Step #1 from your life!
Sometimes we all need a helping hand!
If you’re having trouble identifying your why, figuring out how to break the process down into steps, or need help holding yourself accountable to sticking with the process, a coach could be a great resource.
If you’d like support through this process, schedule a no-cost Discovery Session with me today and let’s start the conversation!
