There are many helpful tips you can use to become more organized. However, did you know there are also many mistakes you could potentially make along the way?
Even with the best of intentions, it’s easy to make mistakes when you’re learning to become more organized. So, to help you avoid them, here are some of the most common organization mistakes.
Not having a clear starting point
Once you’ve made the decision to become a more organized person, the first obstacle you’re going to face is knowing where to start. If your whole life is unorganized then it can quickly become overwhelming deciding where to start your new organization techniques.
While it can be tough finding a starting point, it is crucial that you do so. If you start randomly organizing things, you won’t see much progress and it will cause. Organization us supposed to help you minimize stress!
So, say you’re trying to organize your home. Start with the room where you spend the most time or with the smallest room. Then, once they are organized, you can move on to the next room. Having a starting point really helps to keep you motivated, as well as more organized.
Over-categorizing everything
Another common mistake people make is over-categorizing everything. This means, making your organization a too specific. Every piece of paper in your office does not need it’s own folder. Every toy does not need its own bin.
It may seem like a good idea having so many categories as possible. However, what this does is make the system more difficult to maintain. The more complicated the system, the less likely you will keep it going. Soon you will find things back in piles. So, do categorize things, but don’t over-categorize them!
Failing to declutter before organizing things
If you’re trying to clean up and create a more organized space, it’s vital you first spend time de-cluttering everything. If you don’t de-clutter, you end up organizing things which actually need to be thrown out. This is just a waste of time and effort.
So, before you start, do a sweep of the room and decide what needs to be kept and what needs to be thrown away or donated. Once you’re left with only the things you’re keeping, you can start organizing things into appropriate spaces.
Adopting the “Just for now” mindset
When you first start to become more organized, you have a powerful motivation. You are enthused about the project and love seeing your new system in action. But motivation can waiver. This is especially true if you’ve been living in an unorganized manner for many years!
When that motivation does go, you’re going to find it really tempting to adopt the “just for now” mindset. This means, failing to keep up with your organization by telling yourself that “just for now, this will be ok here”. It’s like a loophole where you tell yourself you’ll put something in its right place in a little while. The reality is, you won’t!
So, if you catch yourself adopting this mindset, stop it! To be organized, you must be consistent.
Not maintaining the system
This one follows on from the mistake above. Once you’ve got everything more organized, you need to maintain your system. This means setting aside time to repeat the steps you’ve taken.
It could be setting 10 minutes aside in the morning or the evening to ensure things are in their appropriate places. The key is to find a system that works for you and stick to it. You can’t expect to get everything organized and then it magically stays that way. As with everything in life, you get out of organization what you put in.
There are a lot of mistakes you can make along the way. However, as you can see, there are ways to avoid these common organizational mistakes. The above are just some of the ones you’re likely to come across when you make a start.
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