Organize and Energize: 5 Ways to Stay on Track with Your Organizing Project

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Kristin MacRae, GoLocalWorcester Organizing Expert

Most organizing projects fail or take twice as long because people get overwhelmed. They don’t have a plan and they tend to lose focus and get distracted. Another reason may be that their organizational skill set (yes, it’s a skill set) hasn’t been developed. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to make a plan and tackle your organizing project in record time?

Here are 5 ways to stay on track:

1. Make a plan. You’ve decided to declutter and get organized, now what? Most people get overwhelmed and don’t know where to begin. Do you feel it’s easier to continue to live the way you’ve been living because tackling the project is mentally just too much? You are not alone. Write your plan out on paper. You can’t decide you are going to get organized and begin tearing apart your house or office. You have to break the process down and tackle one small project at a time.

2. Just declutter. Don’t worry about getting organized. Just focus on what you want to keep, toss, and donate. Clients will stop in the middle of decluttering and I can see their minds spinning about where they are going to put the items they are keeping. The minute you begin to think about where something is going to be stored, that is the moment you will lose focus, get distracted, and nothing will get done.

3. Stay in the room you are working in. Do not move items from room to room. Stay focused by staying in one room. As soon as you leave the room, you will end up working in the other room. You will end up with a mess and unfinished project in both rooms. You will waste more time and energy traveling back and forth between rooms. If you leave the room, your project is going to take you twice as long, if it gets finished at all.

4. Focus on one category at a time. Losing focus happens to everybody, but the key is to be able to rope yourself back to what you were doing and focus on the task at hand. Your mind will work more efficiently if it is focused on one category. When you bounce between different categories, you have to shift your thinking. Focus and streamline your thinking.

5. Limit your decluttering project to 3 hours. After 3 hours, you will start to get tired, burnt out, hungry, and a little cranky. If the project takes you longer than 3 hours, stop and take a break. People always think they can handle more than 3 hours until they are actually working and realize they have had enough. Set a time limit and stop when time is up.

Follow the above tips, make a plan and tackle your project! Don’t get overwhelmed. Break the process down into small manageable tasks and remember to have fun! Once you complete a small project, you will be motivated and energized to continue with more projects.

Kristin Carcieri-MacRae, the founder and owner of Organizing in RI, has always enjoyed finding creative ways to streamline the environment around her. She has appeared on air on Patricia Raskin's Positive Business Radio and her articles have been published in the Rhode Island Small Business Journal and New England Home Life. Kristin's CD, Organizing Basics, is a 1-hour guide for the person who wants to get organized but doesn't know where to start. She is also available for organizing workshops. Tune into her weekly radio show, Organize, Energize! on Mondays at 8:30am on www.talkstreamradio.com.

Related Slideshow: 5 Organizing Blunders

Avoid these mistakes and your project will take less time than you expected. You won’t be as stressed or as overwhelmed as you anticipated. You will be amazed at what you have accomplished. You will be motivated and energized to tackle another project.

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Not planning ahead

Getting organized is a process and you have to have a plan on how to conquer your project. You can’t tear apart an entire room all at once. You need to break the project down into small pieces. Plan to tackle your project in 3-hour increments. If you work longer than 3 hours at a time, you are setting yourself up for burnout. Plan ahead to try to avoid distractions and stay focused.

Click here for more tips on how to avoid distractions.

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Purchasing the incorrect supplies

I know you are excited to get organized, but don’t rush out to the store and purchase products just because you like the way they look. Get organized first. Figure out what you need to contain, and then purchase your container to match the items you need it to hold.

Click here for more on choosing the right container.

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Not letting others know about your system

Once you set up the organized system, you have to get everybody in your home on board. Show them the systems and how you are going to function with this system going forward. Label everything if you must, so everybody gets in the habit of putting items away. Remember, the simpler the system, the easier it’s going to be to maintain.

Need help creating those systems? Go here.

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Not maximizing your space

Use every inch of space and use it well. Take everything out of the area you are organizing. You can’t get a clear visual of the space if it is filled with clutter. Shifting items around is not going to work.

Here are more tips on maximizing your space.

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Repeatedly clearing spaces

You are creating more work for yourself if you continue to clear spaces once a month. Create a system and allow everything in your home to have its own place, and you will never have to clear a space again.

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