It is that time again—another New Year is here. It is a time when many people will set New Year’s resolutions. “Getting Organized” is the third most frequently set New Year’s resolution. It is something so many desire for their life, yet fail to take the necessary steps to live an organized life.
Organizing is about creating and maintaining systems that work for you at home and at work on a daily basis. These are systems that must be maintained continuously if you want to live an organized life. I like to compare “living organized” to “keeping in shape.” If you have weight to loose, you may go on a diet and exercise. Once the weight is gone, you have to continue to work out to “maintain” your new look. Eliminating the clutter from your life is no different—you can eliminate it, but if you do not maintain your new organizational systems, the clutter will re-appear.
Let’s take a look at a couple of real life examples to help explore the concept of maintenance:
Example 1: At a recent event I spoke at, I was asked the following question:
“My home-office is constantly a mess. I just get the piles cleared off my desk and new ones appear. I’ve tried everything, purchased products and nothing seems to work. My kids and husband don’t help at all, as they just put their stuff wherever they can find a space. What is my problem?”
My response: There are potentially two issues here. The first could very well be that the family members have not been advised of “mom’s organizational systems,” and therefore have not bought into using them, or they have been advised and just do not use them.
The second could be that when a new system is created or products purchased, that regular use (maintenance) is not applied for at least twenty-one days—the amount of time it takes to form a new habit—and that’s why it feels like the system does not work.
Example 2: In my book “Eliminate Chaos…The 10-Step Process to Organize Your Home & Life,” I discuss the importance of “maintenance.” One of the projects we featured in the book was that of a client who had a challenge “maintaining” her once “organized” office.
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