Ready to organize something? Yay! Just be sure you're making the very best use of your organizing time. Here are five techniques...
1) Choose a small project. It's way better to choose a small project that you can complete, than a huge project that you may not complete. After all, success feels great. Half-done projects don't.
And really, you can always take a huge project, break it down into 10 distinct mini-projects, and then celebrate 10 successes along the way!
2. Know your end goal. Don't start an organizing project unless you know what you're trying to achieve. Perhaps your goal is to weed out 50% of what you have in one of your cabinets. Maybe your goal is to ensure any clothes on your closet floor are hung nicely on hangers.
3. Eliminate distractions. Once you commit to your small project or an amount of "organizing time" (like 20 minutes), commit to doing whatever you set out to do from start to finish, with no distractions.
This may require you to turn off your phone notifications, have your spouse watch the kids or give them a project, or even bring your project (like the box of photos you may want to sort) to another room. Sometimes, "seeing" other things that need to get done around you can be distracting in
itself.
4. Gather your tools. Prep is important. You would not start painting a room without a drop cloth, paint, a paint roller, a paint brush, and so on.
The same goes for organizing. Determine if you need anything to get this project accomplished, like a box for you to place items you no longer want, or cleaning spray and a cleaning rag, or file folders. Then gather those tools before you start.
5) Use a timer to stay on task. Timers are wonderful for staying on task. If you commit to work on something for 30 minutes, set your timer for 10 minutes.
When the timer sounds, be sure you're still on task. If you're not, stop whatever you're doing and get back to the project you intended to work on. Set your timer again for the next 10 minutes. Check yourself again. And then set it for the final 10 minutes after that.
