by Nichola Mitchell
Ready, set, get organized! By Nichola Mitchell (Bsc)HonsPsych, Professional Organizer and Personal Coach
Why is it so difficult to get and stay organized? I want to show you how you can get organized by changing your mindset. Negative thoughts lead to negative energy. You can change these thoughts into positive ones by asking yourself different questions. According to scientists we have over 60,000 thoughts every day, and 80% of these thoughts are negative ones. For example; 'isn't organizing boring?', 'where do I start? 'Why can't I be as organized as (fill in the space), 'why am I always so unreliable'. These questions can certainly lead to a lack of motivation. By changing the focus of the question, you can introduce positive thoughts into your life.
'Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers, - Voltaire
For example, instead of thinking 'isn't organizing boring?', ask yourself the question, 'how can I make this fun? 'Why am I always so unreliable', replace with 'what can I learn from this situation, how can I improve my time management?'
To give you an impetus to start getting organized, list all the things that you are losing due to disorganization:
Time: Rushed mornings, losing keys, documents, running back into the house for items, forgetting to make lunches, kids' items not ready for their activities.
Money: buying doubles of items you already have, (batteries, pens, etc), losing coupons and gift certificates only to find them when they have expired.
Social life: embarrassed to have friends over? Can you tidy up quickly if someone drops by - does everything in your home have a home?
Now you're motivated, let's begin! How can this help me in my battle with the clutter I hear you cry! Habits are formed through repetition. Recent studies show that thinking new thoughts create new neural pathways, (Davidson R. 2005). When we change our thinking from negative to positive, the negative neural paths shrink, while the positive one increase - this is, in effect, the making and breaking of habits. Clearly defining your goals is just one step towards reaching them. Maybe your goal is 'I want my hallway to be clutter free, not as it is now full of shoes and an overstuffed closet, Your goal therefore is to change the habits of leaving shoes and coats lying around. How do I form habits," you ask? It has been said that after 21 days of replication we can create habits around what we want. Use visual aids, for example a big stop sign upon entry in the hallway. If you have kids, have them make it!! Explain to them what they need to do, (put shoes on shoe rack, hang coats up, put hats and scarves on hooks etc).
How do start to organize my house - where do I start?? Dependent upon how many people live in your house, the first thing to do is to call a meeting. Brainstorm, discuss why getting organized is important. Ask everyone's opinions. Plan a big organizing project, such as tackling the basement. Decide on a date and time, and very importantly mark it in the calendar - this is a date. Discuss what you will be doing, a loose plan of action, make a tape/cd of music you all like, be prepared, (i.e. dust mask, gloves, garbage bags, etc) and most importantly factor in breaks and a treat at the end of all the hard work. Make sure everyone knows that no matter where they start, (a shelf, a box) that they must finish that before moving onto the next. It can be counter productive to half start many little jobs.
Start by identifying the clutter. Possessions which are clutter include items: You don't use; don't know you have; don't like (we all have some of these, but we still keep them!); don't know how to use; don't need and bring value to your life Break down your remainder into items you can consign or have a yard sale with, and items you may want to donate to charity and finally items for recycle- receipts older than 7 years, old papers. Use different colored trash bags to differentiate, so you don't accidentally throw away something you meant to give away/sell. If it's not the right time of the year to have a yard sale, take digital photos of your items and advertise them online. Plan your areas: sports, memorabilia, kids area, spare household supplies, holiday supplies. Stretch your space - Install utility shelves, mount hooks, use peg boards. Use strong containers: especially in areas such as the basement, as they do experience extreme conditions. Memorabilia taken up way too much space? - kids doodles, birthday cards, school work, your college notes, etc -you would like to get rid of them but are afraid you will lose the memories? Use your digital camera to capture the memories. Store them on a disc, maybe even download the kid's pictures onto your documents and use them as your background on your computer - instant memories!!
What about closets, you ask? Begin with a big purge. Start by taking everything out of your closet. Decide what you want to keep, what to give away and what to throw. Ask yourself these questions; is this item still in fashion, does it complement my style, make me feel good about myself, does it fit and flatter me. Remember the 80/20 rule - we wear 20% of our clothing 80% of the time.
Once you've decided what you are keeping, its time to store hang or fold. Store your out of season clothes in space bags. Utilize vertical space - use hooks for bags, belts, use baskets or small containers on shelves for stockings/accessories. Hang your clothes in a way that makes it easy for you to stay organized, longer items together, then shorter items, fold sweaters to help them keep their shape. At the start of every new wardrobe season, a good way to visually see what you wear mostly is to hang all your clothes with the hangers facing the wrong way, (this is a great tip by my favorite organizer, Peter Walsh). As you wear and re-hang, put the hanger the correct way. At the end of the season you will see which clothes you've not worn and can decide what to do with them.
According to Winnie the Pooh "Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up." Remember, getting and staying organized is not something that you do and forget about it, it's a way of life, a bunch of good habits which can help declutter not only your house, but also your life!
References Ekman, P., Davidson, R.J., Ricard, M. & Wallace, B. Alan 2005. Buddhist and psychological perspectives on emotions and well-being. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14, 59-63
Ready, set, get organized! By Nichola Mitchell (Bsc)HonsPsych, Professional Organizer and Personal Coach
Why is it so difficult to get and stay organized? I want to show you how you can get organized by changing your mindset. Negative thoughts lead to negative energy. You can change these thoughts into positive ones by asking yourself different questions. According to scientists we have over 60,000 thoughts every day, and 80% of these thoughts are negative ones. For example; 'isn't organizing boring?', 'where do I start? 'Why can't I be as organized as (fill in the space), 'why am I always so unreliable'. These questions can certainly lead to a lack of motivation. By changing the focus of the question, you can introduce positive thoughts into your life.
'Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers, - Voltaire
For example, instead of thinking 'isn't organizing boring?', ask yourself the question, 'how can I make this fun? 'Why am I always so unreliable', replace with 'what can I learn from this situation, how can I improve my time management?'
To give you an impetus to start getting organized, list all the things that you are losing due to disorganization:
Time: Rushed mornings, losing keys, documents, running back into the house for items, forgetting to make lunches, kids' items not ready for their activities.
Money: buying doubles of items you already have, (batteries, pens, etc), losing coupons and gift certificates only to find them when they have expired.
Social life: embarrassed to have friends over? Can you tidy up quickly if someone drops by - does everything in your home have a home?
Now you're motivated, let's begin! How can this help me in my battle with the clutter I hear you cry! Habits are formed through repetition. Recent studies show that thinking new thoughts create new neural pathways, (Davidson R. 2005). When we change our thinking from negative to positive, the negative neural paths shrink, while the positive one increase - this is, in effect, the making and breaking of habits. Clearly defining your goals is just one step towards reaching them. Maybe your goal is 'I want my hallway to be clutter free, not as it is now full of shoes and an overstuffed closet, Your goal therefore is to change the habits of leaving shoes and coats lying around. How do I form habits," you ask? It has been said that after 21 days of replication we can create habits around what we want. Use visual aids, for example a big stop sign upon entry in the hallway. If you have kids, have them make it!! Explain to them what they need to do, (put shoes on shoe rack, hang coats up, put hats and scarves on hooks etc).
How do start to organize my house - where do I start?? Dependent upon how many people live in your house, the first thing to do is to call a meeting. Brainstorm, discuss why getting organized is important. Ask everyone's opinions. Plan a big organizing project, such as tackling the basement. Decide on a date and time, and very importantly mark it in the calendar - this is a date. Discuss what you will be doing, a loose plan of action, make a tape/cd of music you all like, be prepared, (i.e. dust mask, gloves, garbage bags, etc) and most importantly factor in breaks and a treat at the end of all the hard work. Make sure everyone knows that no matter where they start, (a shelf, a box) that they must finish that before moving onto the next. It can be counter productive to half start many little jobs.
Start by identifying the clutter. Possessions which are clutter include items: You don't use; don't know you have; don't like (we all have some of these, but we still keep them!); don't know how to use; don't need and bring value to your life Break down your remainder into items you can consign or have a yard sale with, and items you may want to donate to charity and finally items for recycle- receipts older than 7 years, old papers. Use different colored trash bags to differentiate, so you don't accidentally throw away something you meant to give away/sell. If it's not the right time of the year to have a yard sale, take digital photos of your items and advertise them online. Plan your areas: sports, memorabilia, kids area, spare household supplies, holiday supplies. Stretch your space - Install utility shelves, mount hooks, use peg boards. Use strong containers: especially in areas such as the basement, as they do experience extreme conditions. Memorabilia taken up way too much space? - kids doodles, birthday cards, school work, your college notes, etc -you would like to get rid of them but are afraid you will lose the memories? Use your digital camera to capture the memories. Store them on a disc, maybe even download the kid's pictures onto your documents and use them as your background on your computer - instant memories!!
What about closets, you ask? Begin with a big purge. Start by taking everything out of your closet. Decide what you want to keep, what to give away and what to throw. Ask yourself these questions; is this item still in fashion, does it complement my style, make me feel good about myself, does it fit and flatter me. Remember the 80/20 rule - we wear 20% of our clothing 80% of the time.
Once you've decided what you are keeping, its time to store hang or fold. Store your out of season clothes in space bags. Utilize vertical space - use hooks for bags, belts, use baskets or small containers on shelves for stockings/accessories. Hang your clothes in a way that makes it easy for you to stay organized, longer items together, then shorter items, fold sweaters to help them keep their shape. At the start of every new wardrobe season, a good way to visually see what you wear mostly is to hang all your clothes with the hangers facing the wrong way, (this is a great tip by my favorite organizer, Peter Walsh). As you wear and re-hang, put the hanger the correct way. At the end of the season you will see which clothes you've not worn and can decide what to do with them.
According to Winnie the Pooh "Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up." Remember, getting and staying organized is not something that you do and forget about it, it's a way of life, a bunch of good habits which can help declutter not only your house, but also your life!
References Ekman, P., Davidson, R.J., Ricard, M. & Wallace, B. Alan 2005. Buddhist and psychological perspectives on emotions and well-being. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14, 59-63
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