I am finally agreeing with my mom on this one. She always told me, “Put your stuff away as soon as you get in the door.” Did I? No. Do I see the value in it now? Yes.
The problem for me has been that organizing or better yet staying organized, has always been a challenge for me. You too?
Whenever someone starts talking about Marie Kondo or some other expert, my mind glosses over because I have thought, "I don’t have the ability to organize."
So, I came up with some tips that have helped me to conquer this monster called organizing and increase my own competency.
Look at your routine. Do you have one? A morning and evening routine provides a structure and will make your day/week/month less chaotic. Yes, even for those of us with focus and concentration issues. Write it out.
Adopted by Marie Kondo – Does it [the thing, the person, the activity] bring you joy? Look at things around you and ask this question. I realize some things can’t be given up or I would have given up cleaning years ago!
Start small. If you have little to no experience organizing, do NOT do a system overload. Start with editing your To Watch or To Read list. Then, tackle something slightly bigger [mine is my email inbox]
Say “no” to everything for 1 week and see what happens. Yes, I do mean everything.
Stop buying things unless they serve a specific purpose.
Remove or at least reduce interactions with toxic people.
Don’t connect sentimentality with things. Connect with people instead.
You can do this, if you start small and drop the judgmental thoughts about yourself. If you have someone who is good at organizing, recruit them to get you started (ONLY started because if they do it for you, you will not learn how to do it on your own). You CAN do this!