Using Goals To Your Advantage To Get Organized This Year

Do you cringe when you hear the word goal or New Year's resolutions? Or are you goal driven and you relish the thought of writing goals and crossing them off? I am one of the latter. I write down what I am going to do during a day, if I do something that is not on my list I sometimes go back and write it down just so I can cross it off. And I know others who do the same thing. It gives me a feeling of accomplishment which is motivational.
It has been 'proven' through different studies that those who write goals down get more things done. I do know two people personally this is simply not true for them. My daughter had to stop writing down on her calendar up coming events because every time she did it didn't happen. She was even afraid to write down her wedding on the calendar. I highly recommend goals be written down and crossed off as they are completed.
I find those I work with as a professional home and office organizer like to have goals so I am going to share some tips on ways to use goals to your advantage to get organized this year.
We are always told to think positive. I read in the AARP magazine Greg Helmstetter, CEO of myGoals.com, an online goal-setting site, would have you do the opposite. "If you don't identify the issues preventing you from reaching your goal, you won't be able to overcome them," he says. He has some suggestions about exercising; I am going to use the same idea to get our homes organized.
List all the reasons why you can't organize. Next, each day after January 5, tackle one of those obstacles. Say you need storage containers. Your goal for Day 1 would be to go shopping for appropriate containers or look around your home and find storage containers not being used. Don't have space for everything you have? Day 2's goal would be to either de-clutter, rent storage space, or make better use of the space you now have. You know you need to get organized but don't know how or where to begin? Day 3's goal would be to hire a professional organizer or get a friend to come and help. (This could actually be your first goal to get you off dead center and moving towards getting organized).
If you tell yourself that "I have to organize", "I have to get rid of a lot of stuff," you are already setting yourself up for failure. Instead, visualize what you want your room to look like, how will it feel to be able to find things without searching, think of the time you will save and how much better you will feel about yourself and your life by reaching your goal of having organization in your life and your home.
Marilyn Bohn's Bior
Marilyn is a creative organizer who has been organizing for over 20 years. She is a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers and is working towards becoming a Certified Professional Organizer. Professionally she has been organizing homes and offices for over two years. She holds a bachelors degree in Social Work. She has reared five daughters and currently lives in Utah.
Go to her website http://www.marilynbohn.com where you can find free organizing tips and interesting blogs and helpful articles on organizing