No amount of tools help if your mind isn’t ready for a change.
You can have the right organizational tools and still be chronically disorganized. It goes to show you that unless you have the right attitude, true change will never occur. Until you’ve made up your mind to commit to becoming better organized, you won’t. You’ll keep finding reasons why you can’t clean the garage or tackle the pile of papers sitting on your desk or kitchen table.
There are many ways to develop an organized mindset. The following suggestions are good starting points.
Stop saying you can’t.
Once you’ve identified that there is a problem with disorganization in your life, the next step is to stop adopting a defeatist mindset. If you’re constantly coming up with excuses as to why your house is messy or you’re late to a meeting or appointment, you’ll need to quit the behavior in order to change. Remove the word “can’t” from your vocabulary and replace it with “can”.
Identify what is causing you to defend your behavior.
Why are you so reluctant to change? What is causing the behavior, and more importantly, your defensiveness? When you dig deep and inquire within, you’re given valuable insight as to why you behave the way that you do.
What does your clutter represent?
Are you proud of the bargains that you’ve bought in the past but don’t have a place to put them? Are you stocking up for emergencies because you don’t want to do without? Clutter seldom creeps up on a person. There is often a psychological reason for hanging on to items or buying extras. What motivates you to hold onto things you don’t use?
Choose one step to take today and repeat it every day this week.
Start with one small action step such as sorting through last week’s mail pile. Do this every day this week at the same time. Once you’ve made something a routine, you do it without thought. It becomes second nature to you.
Unless you’re ready to take the plunge and tackle chronic disorganization head on, you’re not going to see real changes anytime soon. The sooner you commit to doing the work and getting through the rough spots that come with taking on big projects and developing new habits, the better. You’ll need to start somewhere, and today is as good of a day as any to make strides toward long-lasting change.