You've been dreaming of getting organized ‑- envisioning your de-cluttered living room, those bedroom closets with boxes neatly stacked, clothes lined up and ready to wear, a basement or attic where you can actually see the floor. If you're like most people, you move through your day-to-day life imagining scenes like this, fairly assured that you're going to fulfill them eventually. You may not be sure how this will come to pass, but you believe it will, either through some future action of yours, a right-time-right-place act of fate, the hand of God or a combination of any of these. In therapy, they call this "magical thinking."
So how can you stop dreaming and truly achieve what you desire, sooner rather than later? To help you get to the answer, let's look at that time-honored tradition of setting New Year's resolutions. I love them, but many people feel they're a waste of time. What about you? Have you been successful over the years turning your resolutions into reality? If not, here's the secret: A resolution is going to stay a fantasy until you break it down into the steps that will bring it to fruition. Once you know the steps, you have to make the time to take them. Once you do that, your resolution is no longer a fantasy. It's an achievable goal.
A Little Detective Work Goes a Long Way
Breaking down your goals into manageable steps is an important part of the goal-achieving process. But before you can do that, you need to do a little investigating. Play Sherlock Holmes and see if the clues to your difficulty in achieving your organizational goals can be uncovered in your past experiences. Here are some questions for you to answer:
- Have you ever tried to get organized before? If so, why weren't you successful? Be specific. Did you find, for example, that support from those around you ‑- your partner, your children ‑- was lacking? Or did you pick too large a project and found it hard to stick to?
- How will the current circumstances of your life support you in fulfilling your goal? Are there things you need to change? For example, do your children need to have chores assigned or enforced? Does your husband need to get on the helping-out bandwagon?
- What are the concrete benefits of achieving your goal? Will you be able to have guests drop by unexpectedly and handle it with aplomb? Do you want to feel calm and nurtured the minute you enter your home? Would you like your children to grow up in a peace-filled environment and know how to create it for themselves? Identify your true motivation.
- Once you understand your situation clearly, you are in the best position possible to change it. Now let's look at the steps you might take to fulfill your goal of an organized home. Every situation is unique, so adapt this advice to your needs.
Divide... and Conquer
List the organizational projects in your home that need to be accomplished. For most people it's something like this: Organize the main living areas, including bedrooms; clean closets in bedrooms and hallways; create a system for keeping the kids' toys in order; organize garage so you can put cars inside; de-clutter attic or basement space; organize the kitchen so meal preparation is easy and fun; and, finally, organize the home office and create a user-friendly file system.
Now you need to put those projects in order of importance. My preference is always to start with your private areas, like the bedrooms and bathrooms. Why? Because it is here that you begin and end each day. Order and peace in these rooms can set the tone for all your experiences in each 24-hour period. I would put the garage and attic last. The children's rooms would be second from last, as I feel it is more important for them to initially view your commitment to organizing than to have projects foisted upon them. The other areas would be in whatever order works best for you.
Next, take each project and break it down into its specific, doable steps. Think about the best way to start the project as a whole and consider how long it might take you. Then divide that total and assign a step to each day, week or month. Be realistic. Trying to do too much all at once is one sure way to get burned out and give up.
The key is to remember that the whole of anything, whether a small or large dream, is overwhelming. Breaking things down allows you to achieve control -- and, eventually, success!
