Organize + Energize: 6 Areas Where People Get Stuck in the Organizing Process

Monday, August 10, 2015

Kristin MacRae, GoLocalPDX Organizing Expert

There are many stages to the organizing process. Getting organized isn’t just about tidying up and clearing a space once a month. It’s not just about making a space look pretty. Getting organized is about creating working organized systems that are not only going to get you organized, but are going to keep you organized through habits and routines. With my experience, I’ve learned that people get stuck in different areas of the process.

Here are 6 areas where people get stuck:

Getting started and overwhelm. You are motivated to get organized, but then something happens. You’ve tried to get organized many times, but sometimes it’s like hitting a brick wall. You finally commit to the project but you walk into the room and you immediately shut down and nothing gets done. It’s that feeling of overwhelm that stops people in their tracks. They would rather be doing anything else than tackling a room full of disorganization. You have to break the process down. Make a plan before you even enter the room. Take apart the room piece by piece and don’t look at the room as the project, look at it as small pieces of the project.

Lack of skill set. You really want to get organized, but just can’t seem to develop a great working system. It’s ok, this skill set can be learned. You may have grown up in a disorganized home and the skill set was never transferred to you. You may have had parents that always straightened your room or took care of everything for you, never allowing you to create your own systems. Reach out to a professional if you feel you are lacking this skill set.

Decluttering. This is where most people get stuck. Create a “maybe” pile when sorting. Don’t spend too much time deciding whether to keep or toss something. If you are undecided, throw it into a “maybe pile”. When you have finished decluttering, you’ll look at everything you are keeping and tossing and may decide that you really don’t need anything else and you’ll decide that the “maybe pile” will go.

Losing focus and distractions. When people are confined to a room for 3 hours, they lose focus very quickly and get distracted. Stay in the room you are working in instead of transferring items all over the home. Keep a “move to another room pile.” Keep a bin with you in the room and put everything in it that needs to transfer to another area of the home. When you are finished with your project you can transfer those items. Wasted energy allows people to lose focus and get distracted. Limit your distractions while tackling this project. Stay on task and stay focused.

It’s the little things. This is how junk drawers form. You’ve completed the decluttering process, but you have this pile of miscellaneous items that may have some value to you and may not, depending on what they are. They really don’t belong in any category. This is where people get stressed and tend to shut down because it’s the little things that stop you in your tracks. Decide if they are of value to you and create a system for them. Don’t just create a junk drawer of random items you will never use and probably never find when you are looking for them.

Maintenance. All of your organizing efforts will go down in flames if you don’t maintain your organization. From the systems you create, you need to form habits and these habits will form routines. If the systems work, you will eventually be on auto-pilot with efficient routines. Many people will work with the system and the system fails and they never tweak the system to make it work better for them. Re-visit your systems. It’s all about becoming more efficient and productive in a streamlined space and maintaining these systems will help you achieve your goals.

You may feel like you are the only one that gets stuck somewhere in the organizing process. I am here to tell you that you are not alone. Think about which areas you get stuck and then focus on thinking about how you can make changes in those areas to get you closer to your organizing goals.

Kristin Carcieri-MacRae, the founder and owner of Organizing in RI, has always enjoyed finding creative ways to streamline the environment around her. She has appeared on air on Patricia Raskin's Positive Business Radio and her articles have been published in the Rhode Island Small Business Journal and New England Home Life. Kristin's CD, Organizing Basics, is a 1-hour guide for the person who wants to get organized but doesn't know where to start. She is also available for organizing workshops. Tune into her weekly radio show, Organize, Energize! on talkstreamradio.com.