Reasons Why You Will Want to Get Organized NOW!
Over the course of my life I’ve heard many, many different reasons why people chose not to do something. Things that they know will improve and make their lives better; things that will give them more space, time and energy; will give them peace of mind; will decrease their day-to-day stress and create a sense of calm; will improve the quality of their lives; will increase their productivity and efficiency, things that….well, you get the picture!
Working as a social worker and helping people transform their lives I’ve heard lots of reasons why people chose to not get organized… NOW. They tell me how stressed out, frustrated and disgusted they feel about their situation. Some of their reasons for not getting organized are:
- I’m waiting for spring to come before I clear out the garage and organize all the junk out there… next winter I’ll be able to fit my car in there…
- We’re waiting for summer to be over and the start of cool fall weather before we tackle that attic…
- When I pack away my winter coats I’ll go through the summer clothes… maybe by then I’ll have lost those 15 pounds…
- I’ll clear off the bookshelves when the local library has their next fundraising sale in the spring…
- My days are too rushed as it is. I don’t have time to create a filing system for all this paper. It will just have to wait until I get time to do it…
- My kids can go through all this stuff after I’m gone… I don’t know what to do with the stuff anyways… my 4 adult children will be able to sort it all out…
- I’ll have time in the morning to do that. I’ll set the alarm a little early and do it first thing.
- My business has grown so much I can hardly keep up with things at home and at work. I’m just keeping my head above water now and I don’t have time to re-think how I do things and to find better ways of doing them
- I don’t think the house will sell fast. We expect it to be on the market for awhile anyways. We can start to sort through all this stuff and downsize once we know when we’ll be moving.
What are some of the reasons you tell yourself? What holds you back from starting to create the life you prefer?
The common thread that runs though these and dozens of other reasons is that there appears to always be a better time to get organized. And that better time is always sometime in the future….it is never NOW.
We all have our ‘reasons’ for not doing something NOW. I’ve even used some of these same ‘reasons’ at various times in my own life. I’ve waited to do a task in the morning that could easily have been completed the night before. I didn’t know the battery in my alarm clock would conk out and I’d oversleep by 20 minutes? Twenty minutes may not be a big deal on a lazy Saturday morning, but on a workday in a single-parent household when two children and one parent need to get to school and work on time, 20 minutes was a big deal!
Time is a funny thing. We seem to forget that each of us only gets 24 hours in each day, and only 60 minutes in every hour. Somehow we lose track of the passing of time and we often think there is going to be a better time… later. Who hasn’t had regrets every now and then about how we spent our time?
It’s not only the ‘better time’ we are waiting and looking for. We also wait and look for ‘enough time’ before we start something. Have you ever held off starting something because you didn’t think you’d be able to complete the task in the allotted amount of time? And you thought that if you couldn’t finish it, you wouldn’t even begin to start it.
There’s no better time to get organized than right NOW! There is no doubt about it—it takes time to get organized, and it takes effort and energy too.
The alternative is to spend time and energy each day, week, month, and year in ways that don’t move you in the direction of where you really want to go.
How much time have you spent wishing for something different? How much time have you spent:
- clearing off the car of snow/ice because there was no room in the garage for it. Funny how one of the most expensive things you will buy (next to your home) is left outside when it could be parked in the garage—away from harsh elements.
- wondering how many ‘valuables’ are languishing in a hot/humid or freezing cold attic as you read this. Wondering how many things are becoming unusable, losing value and forgotten about in your attic because of improper storage conditions.
- trying to find room in overcrowded closets to safely store the items you use, need and want. Wishing you could fit into those clothes that are no longer the size you wear. Wishing that the outfits you loved to wear 10 years ago would come back in style again… or at least look as nice as they used to.
- hoping you can find room on the bookshelves for that new book you just bought… but deciding to just stack it on the floor beside the others until you can find someone who will take those encyclopedias. After all, you spent good money for them 22 years ago when your child was born.
- searching through that large basket of papers in the hopes you can locate the receipt and warranty for the toaster you bought and now have to return because it stopped working 2 weeks ago. You’re sure the warranty is still valid—it couldn’t possibly be a year ago when you bought it.
- trying to ignore the uneasiness you feel when you think of someone else going through your personal belongings and deciding who will get what, when you die. Will they make sure those old letters written from the frontlines of World War I are donated to a historical society? They wouldn’t just throw them out… would they?
Time… I’ll have time later on.
Will you?
There are huge benefits to getting organized NOW. Why not get motivated and start reaping the benefits of being organized NOW.
- feel better about yourself and your life
- have more time and energy for the things that you enjoy
- find the things you need, when you need them
- save money
- have more peace of mind
- improve relationships (ever lose a friend because they got tired of you running late every time? or they decided you are ‘unreliable’ when borrowing items? or ever have your stuff take over shared spaces?)
- experience less stress and chaos in your life.
Getting organized can help you get those things. Really, they can!!
What are your reasons for not getting organized NOW?
What will motivate you to change that and get organized NOW?
