I often hear from many of my clients, “ how do I stay organized over a long period of time?” While I wish I could wave a magic wand and give you that magical answer your heart is searching for, I can not. However, what I can offer you is a simple answer that will require adjustments on your end. That simple answer is: time.

I know you all are thinking, “really Misty, that is the answer you are giving us?” Actually, yes, yes it is. Time is such a valuable asset that we oftentimes underutilize. We allow time to happen to us rather than us taking control of our time and making it work for us. Many people are slaves to the tyranny of chaos, crisis and disorder. We have become so accustomed to this especially in the realm of our physical spaces that we do not see a way out. I am here to offer hope, there is a way out and it is through how you manage your time!

You can reclaim your space. You can live an organized life. Now when I say “organized life” allow me to elaborate. I mean an organized life that is suitable for the way you and the other members of your household operate. I am not talking color coded bookshelves and everything has a label on it. This way of organization works for some, but not most. I will write another blog later on about finding your organizational style, but for now back to managing your space.

Once a space has been organized, you get to maintain it! Maintenance is the hardest part for most. So here is how you flip the script and begin maintenance.

Choose a calendar. Some of you may use google calendars, your cell phone or are old school like me and have a paper planner you write everything in. Once you have a calendar in place, look it over and schedule in 10 minutes a day, which is 70 minutes a week. Then pick an area of your home that you want to focus those 10 minutes on each day. For some it may be straightening up kitchen counters while others may choose to go through a stack of mail they have been avoiding. Now set a timer for 10 minutes and get to work each day! You have full permission to work more than 10 minutes, but no less. You will begin to be surprised at how much you truly can accomplish in a short 10 minutes that is oftentimes just wasted time. Can we say mindless scrolling on Facebook?

Now some of you overachievers out there might say “ well can we just use our whole 70 minutes in one day on something?” The simple answer to that is, yes but it is not ideal for sustaining long term. The 10 minutes per day is preferred because you are building a muscle. Just like going to the gym after not having been there for a while, you start out slowly and build your way up so you do not injure yourself. A wise person shows up to the gym after not being there for a while and does a 30-60 minute work out and comes back and does the same thing a few more times that week as they build up the endurance. In the same sense, this is what you are doing with maintaining your space, building endurance!

A couple more bonuses you will see from this: 1. You will actually be moving your body which is always a good thing, I mean who doesn’t want more steps added to their Fitbit tracker? 2. You will be accomplishing something which brings its own sense of good feelings!

So bust out those calendars, schedule that 10 minutes and get to work! Your mind and body will thank you, and maybe even the other family members in your space too!

P.S. As always, if this is something you feel overwhelmed in doing, reach out for help! While everybody is capable of doing this, not everybody knows where to start and needs a little help to get going! A Professional Organizer can help in that area!