Stick to the task at hand

Many of you remember reading the book by Laura Numeroff, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. Sometimes organizing can have parallels to the mouse in this book. How often have you started to file paperwork at your desk, only to discover you need a stapler which is in your kitchen desk. Upon opening your kitchen desk, you find that your white-out has spilled everywhere. You go to get a paper towel, only to find that you are out of them because you forgot your grocery list when you last went. So, off you go to the store, and oh no….where are your car keys?!!

Organizing is best accomplished by staying focused on one task at a time and often this task should not be focused on a specific room, but focused on a specific task which may involve multiple rooms throughout the house. For example, if you are working on your bedroom closet, you may find that you need to store your off-season clothes in the attic, pull your favorite clothes together, some of which are stored in your spare bedroom closet, and start a donation box. Too often I hear clients complain that they have tried multiple times but keep getting distracted and one task leads to another and they come to realize that they have lost sight of their primary goal. Stay focused to the task at hand and make it a small one for starters. Enjoy the sense of accomplishment.