Category: Business Tips

From time-to-time we feature reader questions. Here is one which is particularly compelling. Have a question? Subscribe and talk to us.

Dear John and OrganizingLA,

"I have chosen the daunting task of getting my house and my life in order. I feel paralyzed and I don't know where to start. I start and stop and feel frustrated at lack of results. I know to my friends I make life look easy, and I am a fairly successful person in real life. But this is tough! Can you give me some pro-encouragement?"

Patricia from Providence

Dear Patricia,

Here are a few guidelines we suggest to our Los Angeles professional organizing firm clients who are stuck and need some encouragement. This list comes from our 7-8 years in business. Each client is different. We would be doing a disservice to clients if we thought they were one way, or another. Everyone is different.

Encourage yourself:

• I understand that holding onto things is just part of life.
• I will stop being so hard on myself.
• I need to get away from self-management, organizing, color-coding and decorating– which takes an enormous amount of time. I instead, will be grateful for what I have and relax about it all.
• I will be savvy and consider the costs of keeping items versus the ease of just getting rid of it entirely and replacing it when I need it.
• It's natural to accumulate, to hold onto things that represent a moment that I enjoyed, or a place I miss. But I need to move on sometimes.
• The stuff I have acquired does not define me.
• I am a successful person outside of this mess.
• I can stop feeling powerless, I can apply decisiveness (like I do in my business) to the way I run my home and home office.
• I will stop contributing to the problem– I will limit or halt what I bring into the house during the decluttering process.
• I will let go of perfection. I cannot "interior design" my entire life.
• I know my family, friends, and my contributions to the world matter most. Things and possessions should only support my contributions and love.
• Although it is tempting, I understand that throwing everything away will only strip myself of who I am.
• I will celebrate who I am through the process, keep the things that serve me and my goals.
• I will not open a storage unit and waste $$$ time and energy storing things I will never see again.
• I can do this– I can work a little each day, learn the smart behaviors of an organized person. I can enlist an organizing buddy or (if budget permits) hire a professional organizer once a month to manage the process.
• I will reward myself for this hard work!
• I will appreciate my family members and friends who help me through the process.

Need more inspiration? Check out:

10 Commandments of Clutter – if you're more spirtual, with an edge.

The 80/20 Pereto Principal – scientific usage guidelines we wrote about for Perez Hilton's Perezitos.

What encouragement would you have for Patricia?

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