When you want to get organized where do you turn?
A quick browse on Pinterest or a flip through the magazine at the dentist office leads us to assume that the way to organize life is to use chalkboard labels on baskets, which line every shelf in every closet. Someone who has achieved this feat has earned the badge, “Organized!”
Of course, then there’s the spice jars to label and arrange alphabetically, even if you have twelve but only use 3. Keep the set complete, of course!
Someone who is organized clearly never has their couch cushions out of place. Someone who is organized has seasonal decorations neatly stored and ready to pull out at exactly the right moment.
Someone who is organized has a planner with pretty and colorful fonts.
Chalkboard labels and pretty planners look nice, but they are not essential to actually being organized. Organization is about being prepared and about being faithful, ready to do the good work we’re called to do.
You don’t need alphabetically arranged spices or matching containers in your closet to be ready to do the work God’s placed before you to do.
Getting organized is about being ready to handle the life in front of us, not about looking a certain way or even feeling a certain way. To get organized today, we need more of an attitude and mindset shift than we need a label maker and matching containers.
We can get organized today, without delay, by putting these 5 simple practices into place in our lives.
#1 – Correct your internal narrator and interpreter.
We call it organizing our attitude around here, and by that we mean making sure we aren’t nurturing resentment and irritation as we do what we’re supposed to be doing. We know our hearts and motives matter to God, so we start there.
#2 – Declutter your mind.
We always start everything with a brain dump around here, because it clears our minds from the mental clutter that makes us feel out of control and resistant to getting started.
Related: Free Brain Dump Guide
#3 – Keep a SHORT daily to do list.
It’s not the keeping of a to-do list that’s crucial. It’s keeping it short. What would go on your list if you could only put 3 things on your list? It’s a powerful exercise, it doesn’t take long, and it defeats paralysis and a lot of negative internal chatter.
Related: Create a Daily Card
#4 – Perform a weekly review.
I know I say this every week, but that’s because it is genuinely hard and genuinely the best way to be prepared for life this coming week. It doesn’t have to be hard, but our internal struggles make it hard to start. We can get over that when we experience the peace that comes from consistency in doing it.
Related: Why Moms Need a Weekly Review
#5 – Replace perfectionism with iteration.
You might not think you’re a perfectionist because what you do isn’t perfect. But if you are not getting started or not setting goals in the first place, it’s probably because you have an undercurrent of perfectionism. You aren’t sure how to do it, so you don’t try. I’ve got a strategy for that, and it’s the key to all learning and growing, regardless of age or subject.
