You can\u2019t do \u201ca\u201d until you get \u201cb,\u201d \u201cc,\u201d and \u201cd\u201d done.\u00a0 And sometimes that\u2019s a short version \u2013 since there are times you have 10 things to accomplish before you can work on the thing that you most want to work on.\u00a0 This is one of those common struggles we all face.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t necessarily correlate to how much space and stuff you have.\u00a0 Nevertheless, a series of things need to happen before you can achieve your goals.<\/p>\n
First, it\u2019s most helpful to make a plan before you dig into anything.\u00a0 This can feel counterproductive \u2013 you want to use the energy and motivation to jump in and start getting things done, not to be still and think about the process.\u00a0 It will save you time and energy in the long run since you can avoid making more of a mess in an area that needs to wait until further into the process.<\/p>\n
Often this means making a list, which some of us do better than taking action. \ud83d\ude42\u00a0 For instance, if you have furniture that needs to be shifted between rooms, it can help to figure out what needs to happen in order for the space to be made available.<\/p>\n
This is a relatively simple example of the pyramid effect just to get the dresser into the spare bedroom.\u00a0 It\u2019s even easier because it deals with large items that are fairly clear-cut.\u00a0 And you know that you it will be simplest for you to break down boxes in the basement as the first step, then to move the chairs from the dining room down, and then you will be able to move the desk into the dining room.<\/p>\n
Making these types of plans only work when you know what you want to do with each of the items in question.\u00a0 It can be further simplified when you are getting rid of things \u2013 if you were getting rid of the desk \u2013 then all that would be left is dealing with moving the reading chair.<\/p>\n
Second, when considering the pyramid effect of getting organized, you might need to think about the big picture and avoid small picture thinking.\u00a0 Thinking about planning for the small details will be important, although you\u2019ll be more effective if you wait until the time is right.\u00a0 So, like those bins from the example above \u2013 it would make the most sense (probably \u2013 since there can be variables to change that!) to wait to dig into them until after the furniture has been rearranged.<\/p>\n
Initially, think about broad categories (or zones, activities, etc.) that relate to your life and stuff.\u00a0 These will vary from person to person as well as be different depending on what and how much you\u2019re working on.\u00a0 You might need to consider the relevance for life right now \u2013 are there things that you need to keep quite accessible versus things that can be buried a little deeper (though still with related things)?<\/p>\n
Sometimes it makes the most sense to make bins, piles, whatever in a specific, available space related to a broad category and leave it for a while.\u00a0 If you have all your gift wrapping supplies piled in a corner, bin, etc., even without any further organization \u2013 you still know where they are when you need something.\u00a0 This can apply to any category \u2013 office supplies, recipes, financial papers (not needing your attention), tools, exercise equipment (small ones), art supplies, articles of interest and everything else.<\/p>\n
The degree that you apply this can vary \u2013 a lot will depend on the space available as well as the \u201chomes\u201d you already have set up.\u00a0 If you already have a place for office supplies, even if it\u2019s full, you\u2019d put all other office supplies as close as possible to the ones you have.<\/p>\n
The initial steps are to get everything that\u2019s in the same category together.\u00a0 It\u2019s challenging to create good organization for things when you don\u2019t have all of it available to you.\u00a0 Once you have all the like things together, then you can begin to organize it \u2013 you can see that you will need more space for tools (or whatever), that you need to make space \u201chere\u201d for this, the subcategories you need for these papers, and then consider what containers and organizing tools will support you.<\/p>\n
If we continue with the pyramid analogy, you need to create a strong foundation to build on \u2013 which means waiting to make decisions about the small details until you get the big stuff (categories) together. \u00a0There\u2019s no arguing that it can make things feel more tedious\u00a0 – especially if you\u2019re eager to get organized.\u00a0 Yet in the long run you will find more success that you take things slowly and methodically.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One of the most frustrating things about trying to get organized is how there can be many things you need to do before you can get to the detailed organization \u2013 \u201cI can\u2019t do \u2018x\u2019 until I do \u2018y\u2019 which I can\u2019t do until \u2018z\u2019 is done.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[10,8,18,5,9,20,22,17,16],"class_list":["post-1425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-organizing","tag-behavior","tag-discipline","tag-goals","tag-household","tag-motivation","tag-paperwork","tag-productivity","tag-spaces","tag-to-do-lists"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7p82c-mZ","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1425"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1425\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1428,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1425\/revisions\/1428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}