Organizing 101, and steps 91-100 no one talks about

June 29th, 2010

Organizing the brain (Photo by Derrick T)

I am going to add a page to my site with all of the basic professional organizing techniques for closets, kitchens, bathrooms, offices, basements, attics, kid’s rooms, shelves, medicine cabinets, garages, rumpus rooms, sun rooms, saunas, sewing rooms, Arizona rooms, cars, trunks and broom closets.

I know these step by step, what to do, what not to do lists are important so I am going to do it. I had lunch with a friend yesterday who admonished me for the lack of organizing 101 information on my site so I will make it happen. I’ve been thinking about it, however, and I know why I didn’t immediately post these 10 ways to x,y, z list.

It is because after 10 years as a professional organizer what I’ve learned is that while these “how” steps are important – what is essential to lasting organizational success are the “why” steps. That brings me to today’s list.

This list is about what to think about before you start organizing if you want lasting success. I would say it is a bit about organizing your mind. So here it is…

The top 10, most important steps for organizational success are the 10 before step 101.

100. Decide to make lasting change. If you don’t really want to then don’t bother. It isn’t that important. See Seth Godin’s book The Dip.

99. Ask for help from experts. Do you try to fix the plumbing if it fails or do you call the plumber?

98. Be willing to do things in a different way. Maybe a few times to find what works. Experiment.

97. Be willing to invest time and effort in new way of doing things.

96. Be willing to make small changes over time – go easy.

95. Be willing to let go of what is not working, literally and figuratively.

94. Be open to a new way of scheduling time as well as structuring space.

93. Keep it simple with whatever new systems you look to implement. (i.e. Color coding is usually a bad sign)

92. Realize this is not a brand new plan to get organized for now, but rather a habit you are developing that you will be working on and revising and improving on and changing for the rest of your life.

91. Have fun. (Really. Find a way. Play music, listen to a podcast, splatter paint, burn the piles of paper in a bonfire, sing, dance around the desk, jump on the bed…find your way - but do it.)