Thinking and Planning for 2019

January will be here in a couple of weeks. Have you decided that 2019 is the year you will get organized? Did you make that same resolution last year, and the year before?

The problem is that you want to but you just can’t seem to make progress. As much as you want to, and get up every day deciding that you will make progress, it just doesn’t happen. You are stuck in what I call the “paralysis of overwhelm.” There is so much to do. Where do you start? How do you start? You don’t know. It is so overwhelming. You walk away. Starting today until the end of the year, start thinking about it, so when January arrives, you are ready to take action.

  1. Decide – Tell yourself that you will follow through and get organized next year. Tony Robbins, a motivational speaker, often says that “to decide means to cut off any other possibilities.”
  2. Pick an area in your home where you want to start – What is bothering you the most? Think it through, but once you pick a room or an area, stick to the decision. This is what Brian Tracy calls “your single minded focus.” What this means is that you will not allow yourself to get distracted by other rooms until you complete the one you have decided on. This helps because you will still be taking care of your everyday tasks, but when you are decluttering and organizing, you know that you will just keep going back to that one project. You won’t be looking around and wondering where to start or continue.
  3. Visualize – Picture the room you have decided on exactly as you would like it to be when you are done. Perhaps you picked you bedroom. Imagine everything is out that does not belong there. Your dresser drawers and closets are organized so that it is easy to find what you need. There are no extra clothes on top of any furniture. The floor is clear. You have a place of serenity and peace where you can end your day without being surrounded by the thought that you really should do something about this room. You wake up with energy and a determination to get the next room done, because it is such a good feeling to live without clutter.
  4. Schedule it – Pick the best days and times to work on decluttering, and put it on your calendar. Decluttering will change your life, and you know it. Make it a priority until you get it done. This means you may have to consider saying “No” to other things. For example, don’t say “Yes” to people who are asking you to do things that others can do. Look at your calendar and see if there is anything you can stop doing. This is not forever, but it is worth giving up things for now. You can truly enjoy doing more things later when you know that when you leave your home, you will return to a house you love to come home to.

Thinking time is not procrastinating. By taking these steps, you have already begun the process of decluttering and organizing your home and are on your way to being Organized Enough.



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