Step One: Getting Started with Decluttering

Happy New Year!

Today, I'm kicking off a three-part series called Organizational Dominos. We're starting with Step 1: Start. Next week will be Step 2: Extend Your Timeline, and then comes Step 3: Don't Quit! 

We all want to quit at some point, but we're going to push through and we are NOT going to quit. But let's talk about getting started first. Getting started is the hardest part when you're trying something new, doing something different, or not really sure where you're going...or confident that you know how to get there. 

We've been doing Thursday Throwback episodes of the most popular podcast series we've ever had called The Stages of Organization. Step 1 of that cycle is decluttering. Decluttering leads to organization, and organization leads to increased productivity. Decluttering is easy. It gives you the big "WOW" result when you're done. You can do that for a couple of weeks and feel lighter. However, there are problems with decluttering. One is that you don't declutter enough, and the second is if you've already decluttered but what is left isn't organized - then you need to move on to step 2. Over decluttering is a thing! We tend to do this if we don't know how to get organized, and think instead that we just need to get rid of more things. Set a timer for 15 minutes, grab a black trash bag, and fill it up. Even if you just start with trash or broken items, do that. Then go back through and collect anything that you can donate. 

Stop by the donation place of your choice every single week until you can't fill the car anymore. Declutter 15 minutes a day, and whatever is going to be donated - put it straight in your car. 

Getting started - declutter. Throw out all the trash and broken items, decide to sell or not sell, establish a donation cadence. Time to move on to organizing. 

15 minutes a day. If you use that 15 minutes a day for housework instead of organizing, you're not going to get organized - EVER. What's the difference between housework and organizing? That's what I'm focusing on in my PhD. No joke - in the American Time Use Study, working on a boat is considered housework! Emptying ashtrays, shoveling coal, waiting for your electric car to charge - all housework. Mind blown! 

Housework is anything you do weekly that is basically undone by the time you finish it. Dishes, laundry, grocery shopping, planning meals, cleaning the refrigerator, you get it. So the 15 minutes a day you are spending on ORGANIZING (not housework!) should be for something that will last at least a month. There isn't enough information out in the world about how to actually get organized. There is for decluttering and productivity - but not organizing. So when you're looking this year to follow someone to inspire you to get organized, look for these things: 

• Someone who has the plan and the results that you want

• Does their lifestyle match yours? 

• Their rigidity - Do they have lots of checklists? Do their checklists have checklists? 

• How they pivot during unexpected events: Do they pivot the way that you would? 

I might not be your person. I may not be enough organization for you. And that's ok.

Are you ready to get organized in 2024? I want to encourage you that it is literally impossible to be behind when you are organizing. All you have to do is START! 

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