Dear   ,    

What are you trying to fit into your busy schedule? Organizing is not just about making things look neat. It's about enabling you to do more of the things you want to, and still have time for a personal life.

I was recently honored as "Member of the Year" for my networking group (thank you, BNI Team Advantage in Mashpee)!  I'm also serving as an officer of several organizations, AND running my business, AND still going to the movies every Friday night with my husband. The reason I've been able to juggle all these commitments and still have timefor a personal life is that I've learned to be pretty well organized. You can be too!  

This month's featured article is about getting yourself motivated to reduce your clutter and get your life better organized.  Think about what else you could do with YOUR time if you didn't have to spend so much of it looking for your keys! 

- Maryann Murphy 

  Getting Yourself Motivated

Many of you have told me that watching TV shows about hoarding or organization motivates you to get started on your own clutter. It works that way for me as well, so I thought I'd talk this month about how to use that tendency to get you started or continuing on your organizing project.

1. The first suggestion is to record the TV organizing shows you enjoy or that inspire you to take action.  Or log on to YouTube and pull up some organizing tips (Follow this link to a quick one I recorded on helping someone else get organized). Also gather any books, newsletter articles (here's another link for my newsletter archives) or magazine articles on organizing that you've acquired over the years (I know you have some somewhere!) and put them near the place that needs to be organized. 
2. Schedule a time to do some organizing or decluttering.  Saturday morning is a popular time for this, but anytime that works for you is fine.  Try to plan a length of time you think would be appropriate for you based on the rest of your schedule, your strength, etc.
3. When the time comes, if you're feeling motivated and ready to go, fine - just go for it!  But if you find yourself feeling overwhelmed, don't know where to start, or just don't want to do it, try watching one of your favorite organizing shows or reading an organizing book or article, set a timer, and watch or read it for just ten minutes.  
4. Stop at ten miutes, put down the book, pause the recording, and tackle your own organizing project.  Very often, watching or reading about other people's problems with hoarding or disorganization can make us feel better about our own (giving us a little more energy to tackle our own piles), OR they can make us worry enough about our own hoarding tendencies that we'll feel more motivated to take some constructive action!
5. Work on your project for as long as you can.  If your energy starts to sag, give yourself another shot of motivation by going back to the reading or recording and getting reinspired.
6. Don't exhaust yourself in the process - you want to make this a regular habit, not just a one-time thing, so do a reasonable amount and then give yourself a reward for what you've accomplished: watch the end of the show, finish the chapter in the book, take an "after" photo, or just do something entirely different.
7. Repeat this process as needed.  You may want to vary the shows or readings you use to keep you motivated, or you may have one really great episode, article, or book that works for you every time.  Do whatever works for you. 

For suggestions of books, articles and TV shows that may inspire you or provide organizing guidance,click here to go to the inspiration/guidance resource page on my website.  If you have any special resources that inspire you, let me know so I can share them with others.  Good luck getting organized!