Let’s face it, daily life is stressful enough, and being disorganized can only exacerbate the anxiety when you can’t find what you’re looking for when you need it. Add on the paper pile-up on the counter that has morphed into a diversified tower of bills, magazines and catalogs, peppered with unwanted junk mail. Unfinished projects that you genuinely intend to get to are easily placed on the back burner because your inbox is too full. You’re probably rushing to get out the door to get to work on time or show up for an appointment promptly.
Think about it. Why is this happening? Are you leaving yourself ample time? If you find that your are consistently repeating behaviors that don’t bring you a positive or efficient result, STOP doing those things. It is counterproductive and should alert you to change your systems.
Identify your time wasters and implement time savers. So when you realize that every day you are searching for the car keys, your glasses, etc. (probably because they are dropped in a different place every time), it would be ideal to place them in a designated and exclusive landing place so retrieving them would be a breeze. Likewise, if you are reaching for something you use often (from articles of clothing to a kitchen frying pan) and it is not in the most accessible place, move it.
More importantly, while being disorganized is an obvious time waster, it can also be costly. Missed appointments can hinder a business relationship, or can have a negative impact on your personal relationships. Pay attention to what is not working before it becomes manic. Misplaced coupons and gift certificates once eventually found are typically past their expiration dates. When I work with my clients and we discover a treasure, how often do I hear, “I was looking for that!” If something is that important to you, separate it from the general clutter and create a special folder and mark it as a priority. Take the extra time and create a place to organize your redeemable rewards and don’t take a chance that it will be misplaced or lost forever.
And loose change? Just like clutter, it can grow and invade every countertop. But the difference is, it has exponential value…it’s $$$! Grab a cup, jar, or Tupperware container and empty your pockets everyday. This kind of clutter you CAN ignore for a while because it’s fun to just watch it accumulate.
Organizing your closets to correlate with how you wear your clothes and how you need to access them is yet another great motivator to save time. These are not revolutionary techniques but you must take the time to fine tune your daily routines to make it easier to get dressed.
Today, with the acquiring of so much more stuff, and challenges of work, social, and home-life, there is an increasing need to be organized in order to function.
Use organization as a powerful tool to tackle your time-mangement challenges. If you added up all the tiny bits of time wasted on ordinary things, you would be amazed as how much extra time you would have to spend time doing those things you enjoy to do. These little adjustments can reduce great amounts of stress.
There are so many benefits of being organized, and making conscious efforts to change can only improve the quality of your life. Indeed, life is so much “sweeter” when you are organized, and calorie-free 🙂