Determine Your Organizing Health
Like many reading this, you are probably wondering what on earth is organizing health. Many believe that organizing is about “finding a place for everything and everything in it’s place.” While that age old adage is a big part of organizing if it’s the only way you perceive getting organized than I fear your organizing strategy will not be sustainable.
A sustainable organizing strategy is one that not only takes into consideration who you are but also how you behave, what you value, what your lifestyle is like, what your home/office is like, what type of storage options you have, what are you ready to let go of (both emotionally and physically), etc…The stuff is simply one part of this pie that makes up your life.
Your organizing health is how well all these pieces fit together. The greater the interplay and synchronicity between these moving parts, the easier it will be to function, the more productive you will be and the happier you will be because what you value the most will be possible. Your life will be structured to make it happen.
Just as important as your physical health and your mental health, your organizing health impacts every aspect of your life. If your life isn’t functioning well then you may not be able to take care of yourself physically, your mental health may suffer. You may not be as effective at work. You may not be as centered as you would like with your family. Your stress levels may rise as you struggle to keep “it all together,” only to compensate by collapsing at the end of the week.
I’ve heard all of these scenarios in one form or another when working with clients. It’s hard to be disorganized. I chuckle every time I hear this: “I’m organized because I’m too lazy to look for things.” As simple as this thought is it hammers home a very important part of being organized. The opposite is just a lot of unnecessary work. There are alternatives.
Even if you think you aren’t an organized person or the odds are against you, it is possible. The shifts are often gradual, the changes simple and practical. One strategy to increasing your organizing health is to create negative space in your life. Negative space is time reserved just for you. When things aren’t scheduled. When you can stop and take a break. It’s during those moments that you are able to think, reframe and breathe.
Another strategy is to look around at your space and remove anything that doesn’t relate to your current life. Are you still holding onto college notebooks (from 20 or 30 years ago)? Do you have clothes in your closet that you know you aren’t ever going to put on? Do you have books on your bookcase that you haven’t touched in over 5 years? These might be good places to start.
The kicker, you deserve it and all the people who love you deserve it. Having a life that hums rather than bumps and grinds along seems more appealing to me, what do you think? On a scale of 1-10, what is your organizing health, are you a 7? a 4? For those wondering, I’d say I’m an 8. There’s always room to improve but I can confidently say my life reflects my values, I am proud of how it functions and I am happy. Can you say the same?
Imagine what our world would look like if instead of people commenting on how busy they were or how they had no time to do “X”, people instead took walks together after dinner, had time to read to their kids and days at the beach seemed to last forever. I’ll take the latter any day.
Here’s to your organizing health!
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