The Power of Good Habits

If you're not familiar with Charles Duhigg's bestelling book, "The Power of Habit," let me be the first to recommend it. The below flowchart, which outlines precisely how to form a new habit, is a testament to the author's expertise.

The premise of the book is this: that positive habits are key to success and that habits aren't formed or changed by reliance on willpower, but rather by gradual, intentional neurological conditioning. In other words, positive habit-formation is difficult but crucial - and possible for anyone.

As an organizing coach, I work to instill new habits in clients' lives. Small, repeated gestures like making your bed, sorting your mail and putting things away as soon as you're finished using them, are difficult at first but eventually become automatic, like brushing your teeth in the morning. And they are critical to getting and staying organized!

What single new habit can you start forming today that would put you one step  closer to organized living? Hanging up your coat at the end of the day? Paying your bills at the same time every month? Laying out your clothes each night before bed? Choose one and follow Duhigg's path to success.

Power of Habit flowchart
Power of Habit flowchart

Is your house haunted?

If there's an unwanted presence in your home - a bin of clothing from "bigger" days, perhaps, or a stack of books from an unfinished degree - it's time to set it free.

ghost

The logic we use to justify hanging on to remnants from our past that spark regret, grief or shame, are not logical. They're superstitious and masochistic. Keeping your "fat" clothes doesn't ward off weight gain any more than tossing them tempts it. Keeping textbooks from an unfinished degree or an incomplete craft project doesn't inspire you to finish what you started. Instead, it sparks discouraging, negative emotions and invades the space that should be dedicated to what you're working on NOW. If and when you choose to return to your project, you will prefer to start out with fresh supplies.

So for now, stop punishing yourself. Accept that you've made decisions in the past to get you where you are today. Accept where you are today - and who you are today - and outfit your home with the things that set you up for success in your CURRENT endeavors.

Post-holiday toy cleanse

Five days after Christmas, does your living room still look like a disaster area? Is the playroom bursting at the seams, unable to absorb the holiday's new loot? This New Year's weekend is the perfect time to tackle toys with the kids. 

Start 2015 by donating the old to make room for the new. Work with your kids to donate anything that they've outgrown. Help them sort the special or beloved toys from the rest. Provide guidance but respect their choices. They might even decide that some of the new gifts are good candidates for donation.

Kids of all ages will benefit: 

  • Small children practice sorting items into categories.
  • Young children enjoy their first experience of charity.
  • Kids of all ages take responsibility for their space and belongings, and learn valuable organizing skills.

Remember, less is more when it comes to toys.   

"I want to de-clutter but I can't let go…"

Lasting change starts within.

Ask yourself:

– How would my space and my life be different if I minimized? What would I lose ...and what would I gain?

– For individual items, be brutally honest with yourself about why you’re reluctant to let go. What are you afraid of? How can you talk yourself through those fears with logic?

Start small. Part with just one single object today. Enjoy the lightness of owning less and the satisfaction of donating useful items to those in need. You’ll see it’s not as hard as you think. Baby steps. It’ll get easier as you go.

Get help. You don’t have to do it alone. The right Organized Living Coach can shepherd you through the process of developing healthier, more rewarding attitudes toward objects.

A (Dressing) Room of One's Own

For apartment dwellers making the best of a single, cramped closet, the very idea of a extra space is but a mere fantasy. But for families living in large suburban homes, it's often a given. If you're lucky enough to have a spare, spare room or an empty sitting area, you might consider moving out of the shared master closet and creating a luxurious dressing room of your own.

In the client home below, we handed over the entire walk-in closet to Mr. and transformed this small guest room into a gorgeous space for Mrs. We brought down a desk and chest from the attic, purchased some easy-to-install Closet Maid products and hung jewelry pegs on the wall. Voila!

Vanity station for easy access to makeup and jewelry…with good lighting and a large mirror! Plenty of hanging space – long hang and double hang.

Shelving for folded items and bins. Plenty of slots for shoes and handbags.

Since my own home is 100 years old, I let my husband take over the master closet and used the adjacent sunroom as a dressing room - slash - sitting area. I enjoy having my own space where everything is visibly displayed and easily accessed. I also love the natural light coming through the windows and the music playing on the stereo in my bookshelves.

Hanging bags are my favorite shoe storage option. Obligatory shelving for jeans and handbags. And I still have space left over for a sitting area…I’m happy in my closet!

 

 

STOP: Scan and Deliver

So you've gone through the tedious but rewarding process of organizing your home. You've eliminated the clutter, chosen an appropriate place for everything and, for the moment, everything is in its place. Now, how to keep it that way?

If you're used to a messy house, you're probably accustomed to setting things down without much awareness. Your handbag rests where you dropped it in the foyer. Today's shoes are strewn in the garage and the water glass you carried from the kitchen to the den remains there long after you've departed. If you're going to maintain the order you've worked so hard to create, it's time to be more thoughtful about what you're doing with your belongings.

"STOP: scan and deliver" is a technique I use to ensure that each space in the home is properly organized. Each time you exit a room, take a moment to turn around and scan each area, each surface of the space for items that don't belong. Then deliver those items to their proper places.

To get started, consider printing out this sign and pasting it on the back of each door in your house. (Or buy the sticker). Soon you won't need the sign to remember to check your space before you leave it.

Save time: do LESS

In her August 2014 article "The Best Productivity Trick of All: Do Less," Alex Cavoulacos, Founder of career advice website The Muse, encourages us to be more productive at work by crossing unnecessary items off of our to-do lists. Her advice, in summary, is to:  Say no, delegate, eliminate the unnecessary, reassess the need for meetings, their format and length, and manage email more effectively.

Read Alex's article, which I discovered on WeWork Magazine, which features stories of entrepreneurs and first-hand resources that make your business more successful.

Similarly, there are several ways in which we can be more productive - and happier - at home by reevaluating the tasks we undertake and how we approach them. In fact, some of Alex's advice can be directly applied:

1. Say no  Saying no is just as hard for many of us in our personal lives as it is professionally - and it's at least as important to do so at home as it is at the office. Are you saying no to your kids enough? Doing so is good for your sanity and is a lesson in patience, discipline and moderation of your children.

Social "obligations," including dinner parties, babysitting and the PTA, are not mandatory.  They're choices. Make them wisely and selectively.

2. Delegate  There's no shame in delegating tasks to household members, including spouses and kids, as well as roommates or neighbors, or to hiring a professional to lighten your load.

3. Eliminate the unnecessary  Attending to extraneous tasks at work can reduce productivity but doing so at home can reduce happiness. By cutting the fat from our personal to-do list, we free up time and energy for the things that are most important to us, including family time, friendships, health and personal growth.

In my experience as a professional  organizer, there are two common causes of squandered time. The first is perfectionism. Women, in particular, are susceptible to societal messages that tell us we have to be super-people. If you're ironing your sheets because your neighbor does or home-making baby food because a magazine suggested that you do, consider letting these things go. Decide what's truly valuable in your life and eliminate the tasks that "others" are pressuring you to perform.

The second common cause of unnecessary to-do items is avoidance. Might you be artificially adding things to your list to avoid facing the really tough tasks? Instead of stocking up on cleaning supplies at the bulk store, sit down and start writing that book. Rather than reorganizing your shed this weekend, join your family for an outing. Dreading your first trip to the gym? Might as well face it now. It'll still be waiting for you after a wasted afternoon of unnecessary tasks. And if you are going to procrastinate, at least enjoy a good nap rather than wasting time on a made-up task.