How to Gain Motivation, Make Time and Achieve Success at Organizing

By Alicia Turner
Professional Organizer / Owner of Serenity Now Organization

Find your motivation to get organized and make it a reality by setting realistic and attainable goals based on the amount of time you have to complete a project.

You've read the articles and seen the organizing shows, you've seen how the professionals do it. At the moment you feel motivated and ready to tackle a big project. You start by pulling everything out, then sorting items by category, going through each item asking yourself these questions: Do I love this? Do I use this? Will I use this over the next 12 months? After a couple hours you are in the middle of an even bigger mess than when you started. You walk away from the space feeling discouraged and overwhelmed.

While on the shows they pull everything out of the space to show the amount of stuff and how they can easily transform the space, keep in mind they are professional organizers. They have the experience and training to know how to work through all the clutter to help you get to the end goal. But the process a professional uses and the process that is realistic for you to use are two different things.

A better way for you to start would be to break a project down into small and attainable goals based on the time you have to organize. Start Small. If you want to focus on getting your house organized, look at your schedule for the week. Where can you sneak in a couple hours to focus on an organizing project? Doing too much at one time leads to feeling overwhelmed, bigger messes and giving up all together. If you want the organization project to be successful follow these steps:

Ask yourself , “What areas of my home, that I am in daily, drive me crazy? Where do I want to start?” Start where you think it will make the most impact on your daily life. Look at the space. What do you envision the space to be? This vision of the space will be your motivation to see the project through to the end. When you feel discouraged, imagine the new space in your mind. Break the room down into small pieces.

Step 1: Schedule the time to organize. Put it in your calendar and set an alarm. This will help you stay accountable to your organizing goal.

Step 2: Get out unwanted items. Look around the space, pick up anything you see that is trash, donatable, or things that belong in another room and get them out. These should be easy decision items, nothing you have to think about for more than a couple seconds.

Step 3:Clean off visible surfaces. The floor, a counter, a bed, etc. Break up these surfaces in small bits. Maybe you do the floor over the span of a week, the bed in an afternoon, and a counter in an hour.

Step 4:Uncover what is hidden. These are areas that are behind closed doors. One at a time ,based on your schedule, start sorting through drawers, closets, and bins. Even if you only have 30 minutes, you can probably tackle a drawer.

If you have tried multiple times and these steps don't work, and you are feeling discouraged, you may need someone to help get you started. A professional organizer is like a trainer at the gym. They hold

you accountable to focus on your vision for the space. They will show up when scheduled and have a plan to see you though to the end of your project. A professional organizer helps you work through the barriers you have to getting organized. After a few sessions with a professional organizer helping you build your decision-making muscle you will be more equipped to do it yourself and achieve a higher success rate.