Do you have a gargantuan organizing project you’ve been putting off because you don’t have time to do it? Don’t we all? We tend to approach large projects as a task that needs to be accomplished when we have a large chunk of time. I am guilty of this mistake also, but not anymore! Being extremely goal-oriented, I would wait until I had several hours before tackling a large task so I’d be able to complete it in totality. I then realized I was procrastinating because,
a. I didn’t have enough time to complete the task or,
b. I didn’t want to do it
I now divvy up almost any task into small time increments. Almost any task can be broken into bite-size pieces. A few examples:
- Organize an area of your house. Instead of dedicating an entire weekend to address a particular area, break it up into 30-minute sessions. Four thirty-minute sessions totals two hours of organizing if you do it four times a week, and a whopping eight hours if you do it over an entire month! You can do anything for thirty minutes so that daunting project you were dreading now becomes attainable.
- Pet-hate chores. As my family can attest, I have many pet-hate household chores. Folding laundry is one of them. I have now taken to divvying up folding laundry. Each time I go upstairs, I take several items out of the clean laundry basket and fold them. It takes less than 30 seconds. By the end of the day, a chore I was neglecting is now complete and my laundry folded and put away. (I’m embarrassed to admit this, but I do the same with emptying the dishwasher!)
I figured if this strategy works for me—a lifelong goal-oriented person who likes to devote large amounts of time to a project—it will most likely work for many other task-driven individuals.
Last year, I began a full house decluttering project. Armed with bags for trash and donation, I set a timer for 30 minutes and began decluttering my nightstand. When the timer went off, I stopped decluttering and continued the following day. Some weeks, I carved out more 30-minute sessions but even if I were on a roll I would stop after 30-minutes. I knew this would incentivize me to continue since I hate not completing a project.
Within a couple of months, our entire top floor was decluttered, and the organization of every room was improved. So, if you find it challenging to start a project, or even complete a project, give this strategy a try and let me know how you get on!
Happy organizing!
Janet
Haverford Trust recently asked me to speak at their Women’s Speaker Series event at the Sofitel in Philadelphia. Here’s a short two-minute clip from the event where I discuss this very topic.