Simple Steps to Organized Bliss

Is getting and staying organized a challenge? You are not alone.

Most of us are trying to cram too much into each day, which doesn’t leave much room for organizing. What’s ironic is that when we aren’t organized, it makes everything take longer! Quite a conundrum!

My Closet

This post is about organizing your life, but there are some striking parallels to my closet!

One of the many aspects of my last house that I adored was my closet. It spanned the entire length of our three car garage. That closet was roomy enough to leave the ironing board up permanently and there was always room for one more item. When we moved, my closet space instantly shrunk! I know! I was quite spoiled.

It didn’t take long before the challenges of a jam-packed closet set it. When your clothes are crammed together, just about everything needs to be ironed and that’s twice as hard when you have to put up and take down the ironing board!

Items hide in a crammed closet, so I found myself endlessly hunting for that specific top or that comfy pair of pants. What a waste of time!

That challenge inspired a new rule: If I purchased something new, something old had to go.

Several years later, my husband and I enlisted the help of an organizing specialist to re-imagine our closet space and help us maximize our space and get organized. Oh, what a difference! Now our closet is laid out in a way that best utilizes the space, and it looks beautiful too! We’ve been able to fit more in it and everything is easy to find! Happy perks!

Your Life

Think about your life. It’s like my closet: it only holds so much. Oh, you can try to squeeze more into your life, but ultimately you end up chasing your tail, wasting time, and feeling frustrated! Life feels out of order, confusing, and stressful and I bet you aren’t the best version of yourself in that place either!

Nearly every day I speak with someone who is feeling the weight of a disorganized life.

A brilliant professional organizer I know uses the tag line: “Fit Your Life into Your Space”. Sounds like a pretty decent mantra for life too!

Here are some tips that make a whole lot of sense for organizing your closet AND getting the most out of life (and work) too!

1. Expose the Thinking

If you’ve ever watched the TV show Hoarder, you know that at some point in the show you learn about a life changing or traumatic event that occurred in the hoarder’s life that preceded the hoarding. Sometimes the stuff served to provide safety or security. Other times it was a means of coping with significant loss. Each person had their own reasons for hanging on to and collecting stuff.

While I don’t mean to imply that a traumatic or life changing event is at the root of your lack of organization, although it’s possible. What I would encourage you to consider is the thinking or the meaning you make out of all that you are attempting to wedge into your life. Is it an attempt to…

• • • Matter or have significance?
    • Prove you are enough?
    • Confirm that you are competent?

All of which would be your Fear Monster at work.

Of course, there are many other reasons for not taking the time to get organized and/or taking on too much including you…

• • • Don’t like making decisions.
    • Are unrealistic and/or don’t recognize your limits.
    • Struggle to let go of ideas, people, stuff, emotions, etc.
    • Find it hard to say no.
    • Can’t focus or are easily distracted.
    • Are a multi-tasker.
    • Haven’t learned to set boundaries or maintain them.

This list is not exhaustive, but perhaps you see a hint of the thinking or beliefs that are behind your disorganized madness. You may be tempted to skip this step, but until address your thinking, the next steps to getting organized will suffer.

2. Empty Everything

Yep! Take everything out of your closet and thoroughly clean the space.

What does this mean when it comes to your life? Start with a clean slate. Allow yourself the space to eliminate everything you are doing and start fresh. Don’t worry, it’s temporary!

3. Establish Limits

Determine what criteria items must meet in order to earn a place in your closet. Marie Kondo of the Netflix hit Tidying Up suggests that in order to stay, items must spark joy.

How will you determine what activities, responsibilities, etc. are worth keeping in your life? You might ask yourself questions like…

• • • Does this fit with my priorities in this season?
    • Is this in alignment with my Top 5 Values?
    • Does this utilize my strengths?
    • Is this something that I have the capacity for right now?

What other questions would you ask yourself?

4. Keep or Toss?

With your criteria in mind, determine what’s worthy of space in your closet and what needs to go – items to sell, donate, or trash.

When it comes to your life, what tasks and/or responsibilities will you keep doing? These would be activities that only you can do or that are in your “sweet spot.”

What can you delegate? What activities don’t bring you joy? Just like donating or selling items in your closet allows you chance to gain some space and it allows others to obtain something they need or want, the same is true with tasks or responsibilities. Delegating allows others to learn and grow in positive ways. And it allows you to grow too as you learn to articulate your expectations and offer follow-up feedback. A win-win!

What will you eliminate?

5. Mind the Gaps

After a major closet overhaul, gaps may surface in your wardrobe. You may discover you need to replace a brown belt or that it’s time for a new suit. Maybe you need black or white tops or shirts – the basics.

In the same way, as you reorganize your life, you may realize that you’ve been spending too little time with friends and family, or that it’s time to volunteer. Or maybe you’ve been neglecting self-care or intentionally connecting with God.

Knowing what you really need and want is so beneficial and the key to living a more balanced and organized life. Being too focused on work or not focused enough on critical areas of life is like having a closet full of shirts, but void of pants, or shoes – necessary wardrobe items.

What’s lacking in your life?

6. Assess Your Systems

Now that you know what’s worthy of closet space, it’s time to organize and store it all. What I love about the organizational system we installed in our closet is that everything has a place!

What kinds of systems would organize your life? Systems such as a…

• • • Regular morning routine or evening routine.
    • Calendar (Don’t forget to maintain a healthy margin between activities or overlook the beauty of the task feature of your online calendar!).
    • Process for setting yearly, monthly, and weekly goals.
    • Way of mapping out what needs to be done each day that includes your Top 3 priorities for the day.
    • Way of reflecting and evaluating at the end of each day, week, month and/or year.
    • Means of visually tracking your progress.
    • Boundaries and accountability.
    • Designated time for rest, refreshment, and the activities that makes your heart happy and brings you joy.
    • What else? You fill in the blank here ___________________________.

What’s wonderful about routines, processes, and systems is that they naturally include what you want to be in your life without taking up unnecessary headspace.

After we finalized the plan, our closet organizer came in and overhauled it in a day. If you’d been here, it would have been a huge mess!  I don’t recommend that approach to your life!

Instead, I recommend taking a gradual approach. Start with a morning routine or a means of tracking progress – whatever would benefit you most. Once in place, add or subtract from that process. After all, the process is meant to serve you and what that looks like may change over time because processes aren’t static.

7. Zero In On What Stays

Over time, styles, tastes, and our physiques change. What’s a keeper in your closet today might be a no go in a year or two.

The same is true for your life and work. What’s a good fit right now may not be a good fit down the road. It’s important to periodically reevaluate what should stay and what should go.

Knowing who God created you to BE, your personality, strengths, values, unique talents, thinking preferences, and what brings you joy are all worth considering when determining what’s worthy of earning a place in your “life closet.”

You want to be organized and operate out of your sweet spot – free of fear and the pesky “Ps”! That’s when you will discover the bliss of thriving personally and professionally

Is your “life” in need of a professional organizer? Let’s chat! I’d love to help!

How would a little organizing in your life benefit you?

Originally posted on 2/5/19, this post has been updated and revised just for you!

© Can Stock Photo / d40xboy