We all have an innate desire to complete tasks, some personalities more than others!  Harness the drive of that internal task master and put it to work for you!  Here are some ideas:
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1.  The To-Do List:  In one sense, the power of checking items off a to-do list goes without saying, but the benefits are so many.  There is so much value in the exercise of considering your goals, breaking them into smaller chunks, and choosing your priorities for the day, week or month.  Keep a long term/reminder to-do list, and one for individual projects, but keep the daily list manageable, and always highlight the top 3 items - if you've gotten THOSE done, it was a successful day. 

Remember that sometimes, top items need to include caring for the physical or emotional health of yourself or someone close to you - health is a LOFTY priority and should never be dismissed as unimportant just because it is a little less tangible!

Consider your favorite way to mark items completed - a nice bold strikethrough, the classic checkmark, a smiley face, dragging and dropping a digital item to DONE?  And relish the action!  Have fun with your to-do list!!  I've started calling mine my HOT List - it makes me smile and feel more empowered!

2.  Don't Finish what you started:  Sounds counterintuitive, but hear me out!  I came across this idea in the book PRE-SUASION by Robert Cialdini (he is quizzing a colleague for tips on how she commits to writing so consistently) and it really got me thinking:

What else could you apply this to?  Almost any kind of data entry or long impossible list - get through the F's, March, the first page.  Just Finish the Thousand!

​5.  Just 10 minutes:  You can do anything for 10 minutes (or 5, or 30).  Let go of that mental requirement to get a PROJECT done, and just set a timer and be DONE then - 10 minutes of cleaning my kitchen sounds a lot more doable some days than getting my kitchen CLEAN.  But I make a lot of progress in 10 minutes, and some days I just keep going, because, hey, I'm almost there!  Either way, it is a LOT better 10 minutes later than if I hadn't tackled it at all!

6.  So much finishing:  Back to Hot Lists, some days and weeks having three main tasks works for me, at other times, I need MICRO lists - I break down tasks into TINY baby steps.  Cleaning my bedroom could easily be 6 items on my list - make bed, file papers on desk, clear nightstand, new box of tissues, straighten the dresser drawer that's been driving me crazy, wrap the present that has been sitting in the corner for a week. 

Sometimes my mindset is such that itemizing to that level and creating mini-wins that are easy to complete makes it easier to get started, keeps me focused, and encourages me with small successes - embrace the micro list if that is the kind of day you are having, or stick to the general categories and commit to your "three big rocks".


So, combat the part of your brain that throws up roadblocks to getting started, and embrace the side that likes to complete a job.  Find ways to overcome those mental hurdles and finish some items on YOUR hot list today!​​

I actually love goal-setting: saying it out loud, writing it down, quantifying it - this is the first step! But it needs to be followed by the second step - making a plan - I always think of that as "baby steps" - how do I break this into bite-sized chunks I can actually wrap my head around?? (This goes for short term as well as long term goals!)

Two Personal Examples:

Goal 1: Read 50 books this year. That's an average of a book a week or just over 4 books a month. 4 books a month works better for me, because I like to keep a variety of books open for different moods - organizing books for when I am up and cleaning and learning, fiction and classics when my mind needs to wander, business books, etc. Even if I read on car rides, while cleaning, and before bed, I'm actually likely to reach the goal - so that's the plan! Have something in the queue for car rides, turn on an audiobook for 30 minutes of cleaning time, and read 20 minutes before bed. If you haven't checked out Scribd - I HIGHLY recommend it for audiobooks (works like Netflix for books!) https://www.scribd.com/g/6o2xxl

Goal 2: Get the CPO designation from NAPO - this requires 1500 paid hours in 3 years. Yikes! That's 500 hours a year which is 10 hours a week, but I plan to exceed that during the summer weeks. It is still a stretch for me, but I am making plans to average 6-8 hours and the goal is seeming reachable! I'll be tracking carefully and watching my progress!

Do you have any goals you are working towards?

Who's ready for a little organizing inspiration as we roll in to the New Year?  Marie Kondo's 8 episode series on Netflix delivers lots to think about, motivational stories, and a whole bunch of cuteness (as my friend Brenda would say : "I just want to put her in my pocket!")!

If you've read my previous blog post on the Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, you know I think some of her methods might not be ideal for everyone - working by category, for example.  This show really does demonstrate the pros and cons of the all at once method: CON: they pile all the clothes on the bed, do a lesson on the feeling of sparked joy - CHING! - , a lesson on thanking your items for your service if they no longer spark joy, and a lesson on folding clothes, then she leaves them with the rest as homework and comes back in a week.  I wonder where a few of them (without guest bedrooms) are sleeping in the meantime!  But, PRO: you definitely see the impact of seeing ALL the clothes in one huge mountain!  

Here are  more things I appreciated about this show:

1.  The Timeline
These were not "knock it out in a weekend" fixes - most of the makeovers are averaging 30 days, and the homeowners appear to be really revolving all their spare time around this effort!  True decluttering takes time and I think they did a good job of demonstrating that while still creating some pretty great before and afters!

2.  A Variety of Life Transitions
From your first real place, the birth of a baby, the chaos of the toddler years, to moving on from the loss of a spouse, the episodes touched on many seasons of life and the changes that come with them - and the homeowners did a great job of knowing themselves and their motivations!  (That can be so hard!!)  They identified what they were moving INTO, and had great visions of what they were making ROOM FOR - it is so essential not to focus on what you are "losing"  and reasons you might want to hold on to each item.

​3.  The messes
I kind of loved that these were generally clean and tidy houses - adorably, sometimes Marie looked SO disappointed entering their front rooms! (And then so excited when she opened a difficult drawer or closet - "I love a mess" - I think if I was the homeowner I might feel differently, but as a viewer - SO CUTE, and as an organizer - I can actually relate - "Let's dig in!!" would be my tagline!)  With Hoarders as the starting mark, we all feel pretty good about our spaces (and I would NEVER want anyone feeling bad about their space!) but none of us want to wait for that level (an actual psychological illness) before reassessing, or calling in help and reinforcements!  Even the "tidy" among us still live in the land of excess and it will always want to creep in, even when it is successfully hidden in closets and drawers for a time - it still affects us!

4.  Is this something you'd like to keep as part of your life going forward?
In the Make Room For Baby Episode, I think we have my favorite breakthrough moment:  Mario is cleaning the garage and is holding the mailbox that came with the home when they bought it.  Marie asks her favorite question: Holding it in your hand right now, does it spark joy for you?  She really doesn't get anywhere (we all agree that not every practical item in our home is covered by the emotion of "joy", right?).  Mario gives a great description of the emotion behind the box - acknowledging it is not "joy", but it is clearly invoking a deep sense of pride in the history that brought his immigrant family to this point!  Then Marie follows up by asking "Is this something you'd like to keep as part of your life going forward?" and the lightbulb clicks!!

We all have those "museum" items - that tell the stories of our personal pasts - our lives, loves, and accomplishments.  But we don't have to travel into the future with each of those items that brought us to where we are - we can feel the gratitude for those experiences and let the object go (and we can ALWAYS take a picture first, if we think we need a visible trigger to bring us back to that memory!)

5.  Gratitude and Vision
I am not a real "Thank your stuff" or "I'm going to introduce myself to your house" kind of personality, but I really want to find my own twist on the introducing myself to your house moment.  For me "thanking your stuff for its service" is really about gratitude for your life experiences, and the "over"-abundance of blessings that has allowed us to own clothes we have never worn, or 50 pairs of sneakers, or a personal library of books.  I think it is so great to get in touch with those emotions through the process of decluttering! 

I see a huge value also in the minute she takes after the tour for quiet reflection ("introducing" herself to the house) - I think in that moment most people are picturing the space that is their HOME and what that space is to them - again, that sense of gratitude for the shelter, and the place of peace, rest, love and memories.  They are not focused on the fact that their bathroom is too small and not an actual spa, or that their master closet is not as large as my children's rooms, like in the magazines.  And that is the proper viewpoint to get started!  They look ahead to the work before them and know it is worth it to achieve those priorities within their home and let go of the clutter that is overwhelming them.  I think 5 big breaths to appreciate the blessing of the home, what it means to you, and to picture the peaceful, welcoming space you desire would be a great thing to do with clients between the tour of the problem areas and rolling up our sleeves to find the solutions!  I just don't know if I can pull it off!!

I do hope you enjoy this series and let it inspire you to dig in!  You don't have to follow the Konmari method to a T - make your organizing experience your own - but the best way to get something DONE, is to BEGIN!! 

​Best wishes on your organizing journey!