Ask a dozen people why they think they experience disorganization and you’ll hear a dozen different answers. Some of the most common reasons include:
- I don’t have enough storage space
- I was never disorganized until I got married or had kids
- I don’t know how to say no
- I’ve got more on my plate than I can manage
- I like to shop too much
- I might need it someday
- I’m overwhelmed and literally don’t know where to start
If you’re struggling with chaos and disorganization, it’s important to take a look at what the root cause is. Otherwise any efforts to get organized will be like putting a Band-Aid on the situation and the chaos will only return in a short period of time.
The biggest contributor to someone’s disorganization is the inability to make decisions. Think about the “stuff” sitting on your kitchen counter or dining room table. Or the pile of files you’ve stacked ever so carefully on your desk. Or maybe it’s an Inbox that is bursting with E-mails.
Decisions often take only a few seconds and yet we delay making them over and over and over. We tell ourselves that we’ll do it later. The only problem is later never comes! Any time you can say “Decision Made” in a process like incoming paper, files or E-mail, you will be one step closer to having organization and one step further away from clutter, chaos and stress.
Look around your office and let your eyes fall on one area of “stuff” that needs to be dealt with. Give yourself time to begin sorting, purging and making decisions on what needs to be done with your stuff. You’ll be amazed at how quickly these decisions can be made and how wonderful you’ll feel making them.
The results will speak for themselves.
