People often say they can’t get things done because they are too disorganized.

The causes of disorganization can be both personal as well as situational. In either case it requires an ability to make effective decisions.

Even with plenty of space, you can still be disorganized. Why? Because getting organized requires taking action and action requires decision making.  Disorganization is often the result of delayed decision making or deficits in decision making. If you find you have difficulty making decisions it may be because:

1. The task ahead of you is too overwhelming
2. You are afraid that you’ll lose something or accidentally get rid of something you’ll need later
3. You group important and non-important items together
4. You don’t have the time, mental capacity or physical ability to devote to organizing
5. People around you do not support your organizing goals and may even sabotage them intentionally or otherwise
6. You don’t have a system for maintaining your changes once you’ve made them. In other words having a S Y S T E M will Save You Space Time Energy and Money
7. Your space does not efficiently accommodate the stuff you have such as a poorly designed closet or a storage area is inaccessible, broken or filled to capacity
8. You’re afraid of the consequence of your decision
9. You’re not really motivated to decide – that is there’s nothing compelling you enough to take an action
10. Poor health in the moment or on an ongoing basis. This can be temporary such as fatigue or more chronic such as neurological conditions that affect your brain’s ability to distinguish between options.

If you experience these or any other moments of indecisiveness, try one of these ideas to get you unstuck:

1. Give yourself less options: Instead of focusing on all that you have to do, choose the two that get your attention the most and pick one of them. (Flip a coin if you have to.)
2. Ask yourself if making the decision will improve your life in any way and if so, how?
3. Recognize that not everything is important and that some things are more important than others. Imagine you had one hour to leave your home, what would you take with you? What would you leave behind? What do you know you would be able to find again if you had to?
4. Understand and accept your limitations. Most of us are good at some things but not at everything. Not even dentists can fill their own cavities.
5. Take the advice of people who have what you want. Don’t listen to people who discourage you if you suspect they don’t have your best interests at heart or if they have something to gain from your staying stuck.
6. Look for alternatives. If you can’t afford the high-end closet organizing system you dream about, get a design estimate for one anyway, then look for ways you can build or create your own system that will accomplish the same functional goals even if you have to let go of the pretty wood finishes.
7. Imagine the worst. Go ahead, take yourself through the scenario of what you are really afraid of and then ask yourself, “Is it true?” or “Will this really happen?” If you are convinced it will,  then try a different route.
8. Get absolutely clear on what’s in it for you.  What would you stand to gain or lose? Is this really that important to you? If not, then it’s not going to motivate you to take action. Find something that you absolutely care about without question.
9. Do nothing for a while and wait to see if anything changes. Do you feel worse? Are others impacted by your indecision and do their feelings matter to you? Are you stressed by your own inaction? These are the times to ask for help since you know that something has to change but you know you can’t do it alone.
10. Ask yourself what is this costing me in terms of my time, money or my quality of life? Are you spending your time doing what you want to be doing? Are you able to afford what you need and a few extras too without feelings stressed about the consequences? Does your life feel rich with the things that really matter to you be them friends, family, community, a sense of purpose, fun, health or whatever else makes you happy? If not, then it’s time to make a change.

When you begin an organizing project, regardless of whether it’s your closet, garage, kitchen or another room in your home, it’s likely you will come across something that you can’t decide about letting go or keeping. Choosing not to decide or “deferred decision-making” is one of the leading causes of household clutter.

So how do you know what to keep (or toss) if you’re not sure what it’s worth to you?

Here’s an easy guide to help you make a decision you can live with.

Start by placing the object you are trying to decide about in front of you then ask yourself each of the five questions below, in the order they appear:

1. Do I love it? This means the item gives you a great deal of pleasure, you associate it with a happy memory or you enjoy having it in your life now.  If not, ask yourself:
2. Have I used this item recently or do I expect to use it again soon in its current condition? Not everything you own, you’ll love but some things are worth keeping because they still serve you in some way. If you don’t love it, it needs repairing and you haven’t used it recently, ask yourself:
3. Would keeping this item add value to my day-to-day life now? Perhaps this is an item you know you’ll need at a certain time of year or for a particular event or purpose such as for travel or for the Holidays.  If you can’t think of a way the item adds value to your life now, ask yourself:
4. If I didn’t have this, would I choose to replace it? If yes, keep it. Otherwise, ask yourself:
5. Could someone else benefit from this item in its current condition? If you answer yes, then it’s time for the item to find new life somewhere else.  Consider donating or if it’s worth your time, sell it. If not, then recycle it or dispose of it safely.

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Think you’re decisive when it comes to your stuff? Great! The task of organizing will be a whole lot easier for you.

But if you catch yourself one too many times, saying to yourself, “I’ll just put this here, for now,” chances are you’re experiencing what professional organizers refer to as delayed decision making or what I think of as decision-deficit thinking.  That is, you lack the objective criteria or information you need to make an effective organizing decision.

It’s not that we can’t decide. We simply don’t know what the decision points are.

Before you can organize anything, whether it be your piles of old magazine clippings, your cluttered garage or the boxes of memorabilia you’ve kept for 20 years, you first need to decide three things about each item you’ve kept, in this order:

1. Do I need it, use it or love it?
2. If I do need it, use it or love it where should it live if I want to find it and if not, how do I dispose of it appropriately?
3. What’s the best way to store or contain it?

Think about it. When you embark on an organizing project the first thing many of us do is start with the third question first. We go to our favorite home furnishing or office supply store and buy ourselves some type of sleek-looking container or in some cases, many containers. Then we get home and realize the overwhelming task ahead of us. Next thing we know we’re sitting on the floor, eye’s glazed over, with 300 copies of the Utne Reader surrounding us, back where we started.

Is this our fault? Absolutely not! It’s just that in our consumer-based culture, asking the question, do I need it, use it or love it rarely gets answered.  Instead we learn to believe we need it, use it and love it. This belief comes from the habits we grew up with, through overt or subtle persuasion, through fear or insecurity or some combination of all three.

Clutter comes when we can’t decide what to do with something we know we need, use or love. You know you may be experiencing decision-deficit thinking if you catch yourself often saying, “I’ll just put it here for now” or “I’ll put it here where I can see it.”  After a while everything gets put “here” until you can’t see (or find) it or anything else.

So what do you do?  Check out my next blog for answers.

Lis Golden McKinley, M.A.
CEO (Chief Executive Organizer)
LET’S MAKE ROOM
Oakland, CA

Visit my website: https://www.letsmakeroom.com

The Prisoner

I often get asked why I became a professional organizer.

My training as a therapist and experience as a learning consultant partially explain why I do what I do but the photograph to the left says it better.

It is a picture of an unfinished sculpture by the Italian artist Michelangelo. This sculpture is one of a series of similar works that were famously dubbed “The Prisoners.” This is because the figure appears to be imprisoned or breaking away from the stone that surrounds him.

I first saw this sculpture when I visited the Accademia Gallery in Florence, Italy as a teenager.  It is a work in progress that was never finished.  It is both tangible as a beautiful sculpture and deeply symbolic of what is possible.

Change can come slowly. This is difficult for many of my clients to understand in an age of instant gratification. Even so-called “reality” TV shows about organizing convey the impression that results are fast and painless. It’s simply not reality.  In truth, it can take hours, days and even weeks to bring someone back to the place they need to be to take control of their space, their lives and to feel more organized.

My work is about helping my clients chip away at their clutter – both physical and emotional. In the process, not only do they get their living rooms back or their papers under control, they actually move closer to whatever it is they want to accomplish.

But let’s say you’ve resolved to get organized many, many times and you never seem to make headway. You’ve tried all sorts of clever organizing systems or products and you’re feeling like your space still controls you instead of the other way around.

I often say, “If getting organized were just about putting things in nice containers, we’d all be organized.”

Learning to be more organized is a habit but unlike, say, brushing your teeth or taking out the trash, getting organized can sometimes make us feel worse, not better, at least at first.

This is because as we begin to take control, we realize how out of control we’ve been and how much we’ve adapted to habits that don’t serve us.  In addition, we feel stupid and silly for not being able to do what we falsely believe everyone else can do so easily. This moment of realization can feel overwhelming  and outright discouraging and, for some, leads back to old habits and behaviors.

Getting organized is a process that begins with understanding and forgiving ourselves,  recognizing that our habits no longer serve us and taking the time to learn and practice new behaviors.

These behaviors may feel strange at first but are based on accepted standards developed and proven as effective by professional organizers everywhere. And just like brushing your teeth, almost anyone can learn them

Getting organized is not for everyone. There’s nothing objectively wrong with being disorganized. Some of the world’s most brilliant minds can function quite well amidst a sea of clutter. Michelangelo himself is said to have cared little for his surroundings, would sleep in his clothes and may have had obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) a mental health condition which sometimes manifests in extreme clutter.

Some people, like those with pervasive hoarding behaviors, can tolerate massive amounts of disorganization and may only make changes if forced to through external circumstances or threats to their well-being.

Being disorganized is only a problem when you begin to feel distressed (or even depressed) by your disorganization. If your disorganization leads to consequences such as losing money or strained relationships then it’s definitely time to seek out help.

I consider it an honor when people ask for my help to get organized.  Together we enter into a trans-formative relationship that only needs to start with willingness;  Willingness to learn, willingness to try and willingness to start over when you find yourself slipping back into old habits.

Through consciously learning new ways of organizing your space and your life, you may discover the person that you were meant to be.

That is why I am a professional organizer.

Visit my website at https://www.letsmakeroom.com