January is Get Organized (GO) month as designated by the National Association of Professional Organizers because so many people make New Year’s resolutions to get organized. If getting organized is your goal, you may be overwhelmed by the seeming enormity of the job. To make that goal less intimidating, I’m offering my top 10 list of things I recommend you do to get your life in order. Good luck as you start creating order in your disorganized world:
1. Make a daily to-do list and follow it. Most people have no problem creating the list – it’s the “following” part that causes problems. Prioritize your list by asking, “If I can only get one thing done today, what must it be?” and then get rolling.
2. Control interruptions. We often interrupt ourselves more than other people interrupt us. Pay attention to how often you use the telephone, television, internet (yes, even blogs!), email, etc. as ways to procrastinate. Identify specific times during the day to give those items your attention, and specific times to work on whatever you determined was important for the day.
3. Have a place for everything. Try to store things near where you use them and store similar things together. I’ll admit that sometimes it makes sense to store similar items in a number of places because they’re used in a number of places: light bulbs and batteries, for example.
4. Put everything in its place. Whether it’s items you’ve brought in from the store, clean laundry, the day’s mail, or your keys, put things where they belong – it usually only takes a fraction of a minute longer to put something away rather than putting it “here for now.” And at the end of the day, be sure to clean up areas that have gotten messy – it’s calming and productive to enter a room or office with clear surfaces, and you won’t have to start the day cleaning up yesterday’s work.
5. Let go of things regularly. Match (or even accelerate) the outflow of things to the inflow of things; otherwise you’ll find yourself drowning in clutter. Donate, sell, give away, throw away, shred, etc. as appropriate.
6. Process the mail daily. Toss the junk, shred sensitive information you don’t need, and decide what to do with what’s left. Create a place where mail that needs action can “live” until you do whatever needs to be done with it.
7. Process email efficiently. Once you open an email, process it thoroughly (reply, delete, file, mark for future action, etc.) before moving on to the next email. Otherwise you’ll waste lots of time re-reading emails until you finally take action.
8. Set up a filing system. Only save papers you need for tax or legal reasons or are certain you’ll refer to in the future. Create a filing system you can trust – ask yourself, “Where will I look for this item when I need it?” rather than “where should I put this?”
9. Learn to say “no.” Take control of your life instead of letting others control it –identify what’s important to you and live your life around those things. If you agree to take on obligations you resent or for which you don’t have time, you’re not going to be of help to anyone, and you’ll take away room for the things that enrich your life.
10. Be realistic about your reading pile. Give yourself a deadline to get through the magazines and newspapers you receive. If the new issue comes in and you still haven’t read the prior one, give yourself a couple of days to read it or let it go. It might also be a good time to evaluate which periodicals are worth the investment of your time.
And here’s a bonus tip: don’t be afraid to ask for help. A non-judgmental friend or family member might be able to help you make decisions or do some of the physical work. Of course From Piles to Smiles can also provide a personalized plan of action as well as hand-on help or telephone coaching. I’d love to hear from you – what do you find most challenging about getting organized?
Warmly,
