Getting organized isn’t easy, but it can help you avoid stress and anxiety. Plus, it can also benefit your work and career.
To start, get rid of everything you don’t need. Go through your drawers, cabinets, and closets.
1. Purge
Purging is a process that removes excess stuff that doesn’t make a space feel good or serve your purpose. This is a more thorough and longer process than decluttering, but it can be very effective in helping you get organized.
Before you begin, take a look around your house and make note of what needs to go. Then, create three piles – keep, trash and donate – to make this process faster and more effective.
It’s important to start by purging items that you don’t use, don’t want or haven’t touched in the last 6-12 months. This will free up a lot of physical space that you can reuse elsewhere in your home.
If you have duplicate items lying around, such as clothing or accessories, then it’s time to say goodbye to them. These items don’t add anything to your life, but they clutter up the room where you store them.
When it comes to your closet, this can mean getting rid of a dress that you haven’t worn in a year or a pair of shoes that aren’t in style anymore.
You’ll be surprised at how much extra space you can free up when you let go of these items.
Another great way to purge is to ask yourself whether something is worth keeping because it brings you joy, or if it’s just cluttering up the place. For instance, if you have boxes of memorabilia that are taking up too much space in your home, then it’s probably time to get rid of them.
If you’re struggling to decide what to keep and what to toss, try creating a “maybe” bin to hold items that are on the fence. This will help you to stay focused on your goal of getting organized and reducing clutter while making the best decisions for yourself. It will also be easier to move on to the next stage of your purging process when you have the mental space to do so.
2. Organize
One of the best ways to tackle clutter is to organize it. Getting organized can help you to stay more productive, reduce stress and anxiety and ultimately enjoy your life more.
When you are starting to organize your space, the first thing you should do is decide where things should go. Organizing experts suggest keeping your most frequently used items in easy-to-reach places and tucking lesser-used ones into harder to reach locations. This method can be a bit tricky, but it can save you time in the long run as you won’t have to search for items on a regular basis.
Before you begin organizing, write down your goals. Organizing expert Laura Leist suggests writing down what you want to accomplish as a way to keep yourself motivated and focused. It also helps you to track your progress and see how far you’ve come.
Once you have your organizing tasks in order, make a goal to complete them all by a certain date. Having a deadline makes the task seem more urgent and important, which can make it easier to get started.
To stay motivated and on track, try to think of the rewards that you will gain from completing your project, such as less stress or more free time. For example, maybe you’d like to donate some of your old belongings that have been sitting unused for years or buy some new organizational tools that will help you get more done.
After you’ve completed your goal, take a picture to share on social media or print out and keep in a folder so you can refer to it when you need motivation to keep up with the project. It’s also a good idea to make a habit of putting away your belongings after use and tackling your mail every day, so you can maintain the momentum and keep up with the project.
The key to organizing your space is to focus on the big picture, so make sure that what you’re doing is not only practical, but aesthetically pleasing as well. If you have a lot of items, it may be best to break the project up into smaller steps, or spread out the decluttering over several weekends. This will give you a chance to tackle the entire room without feeling overwhelmed.
3. Create a system
Whether you’re looking to get organized on a personal level or at work, it is vital that you create a system that works for you. An effective system allows you to prioritize tasks and complete them in a timely manner. This will reduce your stress and give you more time to focus on the activities that will move you towards your goals.
When you are looking to become more organized at home, a simple way to begin is by getting rid of things you no longer need. This will allow you to organize your space and put things away in a way that works best for you.
Once you’ve gone through and gotten rid of things that no longer serve you, it is important to create a system that will keep your belongings organized. This will prevent you from going through the same process again and again.
This will also help you stay on track with your job search as well. Creating a system will help you track all of the information and contacts you develop as you go along in your search.
A system can be paper-based, electronic or customized. You should choose a system that is easy to use and makes sense for you.
By selecting a system, you ensure that all of the information and contacts you develop as part of your job search will be easily accessible. This will make your search much more efficient and productive.
You will have to spend a bit of time selecting the right system for you and putting it together but it is worth it in the long run. You can then track your progress and see how well you are doing in your job search.
It is a good idea to choose a system that works for your ADHD mind. This will help you keep things organized and make it easier for you to remember what you need to do.
Another benefit of being more organized is that it will help you reduce your risk of burnout. Burnout is caused by feeling overwhelmed and not having control over your work. When you are organized, you will feel more in control of your work and be able to focus on the tasks that are most important.
4. Keep it simple
Keeping it simple is a good idea for many reasons, and it can be a great way to get organized. It helps to keep your priorities straight and ensure that you’re not wasting time on tasks that aren’t important or helpful for your career or personal life.
Whether it’s in your business or at home, simplifying the process of getting things done will save you time and energy, so it’s a great way to start improving your efficiency. The KISS (keep it simple, stupid) principle is a design concept that advocates the simplification of processes and systems.
This design rule is especially important in software development, where avoiding needless complexity can result in working code with fewer bugs. In addition, it helps to make the interface intuitive, which can lead to a higher user satisfaction rate.
Another benefit of the KISS rule is that it helps teams to communicate more effectively, resulting in a happier and more productive workplace. Team members can understand and connect to their overall goals more easily by keeping concepts as simple as possible.
It’s also a great idea to keep it simple when creating organizational tools. For example, if you often sort your mail in your kitchen, putting it in a dedicated mailbox will help you remember to put it away when you’re done with it, says Vig.
You can do this by establishing a clear “home” for every object in your house. This can be a closet, desk or other convenient location that makes it easier to find what you’re looking for when you need it.
Using this method can also help you to stay organized in other ways. For example, if you want to keep your kitchen clean and free of clutter, creating a designated area for dishes will help you to follow through on that goal.
Keeping it simple isn’t always easy, but it can pay off in the long run. As you begin to declutter, organize and create systems, you’ll be surprised at how much simpler your life can be. With less clutter, you’ll have more time to spend on the activities and people that are most important to you.