In today’s post, we’re going to cover the 5 ways you need to shift your mindset to finally get organized. You can have all the tools, all the steps, and still organization does not seem to happen. Which is why you need to stop and take a long, hard look at what your thoughts are around this pesky topic of getting organized. Think about why you can’t seem to stay on the straight and narrow whenever you put something in place to get your life together. We’re going to talk about some of the hardest parts of why you can’t make change stick, what keeps you from starting to begin with, and a few little shifts you can make to get you on your way to lasting change.
Listen below for the entire episode on The Systemize Your Life Podcast
Before we talk about the five mindset shifts you need in order to finally get organized, I have to tell you about something really, really fun. Not quite a month ago we had a lot of fun in the Systemize Your Life community, talking about our new, major upgrade that we are making to the Systemize Your Life Academy. And guess what? It’s officially here! The Systemize Your Life Academy 2.0 is launched and available and if you’re reading blog you can purchase it right now by clicking here!
I am so excited because I have been personally working on this for weeks, balancing my home and business, and I can finally say I did it. The Systemize Your Life Academy 2.0 is incredible because not only does it include the methods I have refined in my home management system, but the Systemize Your Biz course is its own baby!
You get to look inside the systems I use to run my own business and see how you can apply those systems to starting or improving your business. All the systems are there, from content planning and organization to how to manage your time and tasks. There’s even an entire bonus module full of lessons with all my favorite business mentors and leaders, connecting you with who I’ve used to build my website, start my podcast, manage my finances, and more! I am SO excited to be sharing this with you and for you to be able to take advantage of all the juicy things in the Systemize Your Life Academy 2.0.
Now back to those mindset shifts!
1. Slow is the pace that greatness grows.
This is the biggest, most important one. Slow is the pace that greatness grows. It takes much longer than you think to grow something like a blog or a podcast. It is longer than what you can see when you are looking at someone else’s feed on Instagram, or even just gobbling up these podcast episodes. When you’re looking at someone else’s success from the outside, it looks so much faster than what it actually was.
Please understand that my process of having an incredibly minimal closet has taken a lot of time. The steps that I took to get to that point, I’m teaching you, but you can’t just get to that end goal tomorrow or next week. Can you start the process? Can you set your foundation? Can you put the ball in motion? Yes, but it takes time.
In the same way, you can’t lose 20 pounds in one week. I don’t care what people tell you about this new drink, that new pill, or tracking your macros. I’m doing those things and the change does not happen overnight. I want to change the way that my body looks. I want to change certain things about the way that my home and finances look. I want to change certain dynamics of my marriage and motherhood. One thing that I’ve learned is that it takes time.
You can’t rush these things. If you want to get organized in your life, please know that this is a layering process. That first step is absolutely huge and it will take you to the next step. You will not travel from the bottom of the staircase to the top of the staircase by taking one giant jump.
A good illustration is this video by Dude Perfect featuring them having a stair jumping competition. If you’re not familiar with Dude Perfect, you should really check them out. Their videos are family friendly and are hysterical!! They’re a bunch of guys who were friends in college and they started taking trick shots on their phones and posting them to YouTube. Now they have a kajillion followers. (Disclaimer: this is not a sponsored post. I just think Dude Perfect is great and my whole family loves their videos!)
But there was a giant staircase and they had a competition seeing who could make it up the stairs in the fewest number of jumps. Watching each person’s different approach was so funny. While watching it, though, it made me think of all the women I work with that want to skip all of the in between steps in getting organized. But you can’t skip those steps, you must start right here today.
Maybe if you’re athletic or conditioned you can jump past a few steps. That’s great, go ahead and do that. But if you’ve ever climbed a flight of stairs, you know that that is not the best approach. If you haven’t organized your time or you’re the type B person in your family or you have ADHD or a kajillion kids and this has never been a part of your life before, take a mindset shift. Just take one small step today. And then we’ll take the next one. Then the next one.
Slowly but surely, you’ll turn around and you’ll see that you just climbed an entire flight of stairs. And I’ll bet you got there faster than if you had just stood at the bottom of the stairs and stared up the staircase for another four weeks. Let’s start today and we’re going to take one teeny tiny step at a time and do this together.
Alright, here is number two.
“If you want to get organized in your life, please know that this is a layering process. You will not travel from the bottom of the staircase to the top of the staircase by taking one giant jump.”
2. It takes time to create time.
Let’s talk about how ridiculous it is to say that you don’t have the time to get organized. When the mere fact that you don’t have time is because you’re not organized. I can’t help but laugh at this. It’s one of those things that makes me do what I do. I have a lot of respect for all of you that truly are hustling and you don’t know how to get out of it. Just know that the solution is here
Take a second and laugh with me at how absolutely absurd it is to say, “Well, I don’t have the time to stop and organize the key problem or to look at how I’m managing my time. I don’t have the time to do it.” But you keep tripping over your own trip wire every single day of your life.
At some point, you must go up to the trip wire with great awareness and take the trip wire down. Because you must create less resistance for yourself in your life so that you can walk about with ease and save yourself some time. Truly, I want you to see that you do have the time. It’s just what you’re doing with it that is the problem.
3. Putting off getting organized prolongs your time to success.
Related to not having enough time is the statement that “right now isn’t the right time.” Would you mind dropping me a note and telling me when it would be a better time? I mean, if not now, then when? When will it be easier? Because there’s always an excuse. Always.
I have coached many women that have been pregnant and thought, “oh, maybe I should wait until after I have the baby.” Women that are about to start a new job and say, “oh, maybe I should wait until I start my job.” Women that are getting ready to move and say “oh, maybe I should wait until I move.” Oh well, it’s going to be the holidays. Oh well, it’s going to be summer. Oh well, I’m having family come in from out of town.
There’s literally every excuse under the sun. Do you have major health problems? That’s even more of a reason to start now. All these things are even more of a reason for why you should stop and take the time to learn how to organize your time, your home, and your communication. They’re even more of a reason to get systems in place, so that you can go through all these things that we just mentioned with ease, and maybe even with some joy. You should have some enjoyment in the whole process of showing up to all these things for all these people. You should like it, love it, and feel proud for doing your very best at this gift of life.
Let’s dive into the fourth mindset shift that we need to make.
4. Previous failures do not predict my future.
I frequently hear the following comments:
I’ve decluttered this area and then it just got cluttered again. I’ve tried every paper planner. I’ve tried time blocking. I’ve tried using a Google Calendar. I’ve tried getting my kids on board. I’ve tried working with my husband. I’ve tried and it doesn’t work out.
Have you ever taken a minute and evaluated all of the different things you’ve tried? Are you grasping at straws, haphazardly creating a system derived from fourteen different Pinterest boards and podcasts? Have you ever sat down and peeled yourself back, looking at the whole big picture of your life, and tried to put it into one very clear, simple system?
My goal is to help you have one home management system that works for everyone in your family. Here’s the shift that I want you to make: I want you to find one common thread between all of the areas of your life. A thread that isn’t supported by the words hustle, busy, burnout, overwhelm, or exhaustion. If any of those words I just mentioned is your thread, holding all of the things together in your life, it is the reason why you keep failing.
You need to find a common thread (which is what I call a system) tying together every single piece of your day. From the moment you wake up until the time you go to bed. It should be clear and all of its part should speak to the other parts of the system. What you do in the evening supports what you do in the morning.
You communicate the same message to your husband, your kids, and yourself, just in words that make sense to each of you. Your system should be simple and clear. I began selling my home management system because I saw what it did for me. I see what it does for my family every single week. The real litmus test of how well our system works for our family is how poorly we do without it. Additionally, I have seen it work for so many other families.
This is what I mean when I say get one system on board. Yes, there are a lot of moving pieces throughout your day. But that doesn’t mean that it has to be a complicated system. The more that you can simplify your system and the more that it can all be cohesive with every part of your day, the more you will experience success.
5. Start now, even though you don’t know where to begin.
The fifth mindset shift we need to make to finally get organized is that of beginning without knowing where to begin. If you look around your house and see endless piles of papers, it can feel discouraging. Where do you begin? Perhaps you’re looking around your house right now and every surface you see is covered with stuff. If you were to clear it off, you wouldn’t even know where to put the stacks you created because every area is so hidden under the mess. Because of this you will find another place to lay something, you’ll clear another area just enough to hold more stuff. You will keep jam packing your schedule to be too busy to take the time to get organized, staying in the vicious cycle.
Unless you realize all you must do is start right now with the end of the counter. You take and get rid of nearly all your things. Truly, you throw nearly all of it away and you only keep the things that you absolutely need. And if you don’t know where that stuff goes, that’s fine. Leave it there for now. Because tomorrow, you’re going to tackle the next space and you’re going to keep doing that.
The process of starting now will become what you do because it’s going to create space. It’s going to create the ability to breathe in your house. It’s going to create a little bit of joy. A little bit of room for you to be able to think clearly and have some hope again. Maybe it’s not physical clutter in your house that you don’t know where to begin with. Maybe it’s your schedule. Maybe it’s your time. Maybe it’s your thoughts. To all of that, I say the same thing: just start today.
When considering the process of what you need to do create space, you need to evaluate your schedule. What are you putting in your schedule that you don’t absolutely have to do? If you are struggling in this area of getting organized, if you are fighting burnout, you need to get rid of everything that you don’t absolutely have to do, for a season.
Are you familiar with my fundamental needs system? If not, you should be because that’s where you need to start! Your fundamental needs should be the only things that are on your calendar for a long time. It’s okay if your kids miss a season of sports. It’s okay if you miss a season of extracurricular mom things, to press pause on all the busy. To get your family reconnected, to get your house back in working order, and to get some peace and calm in your heart. It’s really okay. And all you have to do is start exactly where you are at right now. Look only at today, knowing it’s okay if you don’t know where that’s going to lead you. Because guess what? You’re going to learn from it, which is going to give you the answer on what to do next.
Stay the course!
As long as you work hard, tackle one stair step at a time, and take these mindset shifts to heart, you will finally get organized. You are busy doing the work and one day you will turn around and see so many flights of stairs behind you that you didn’t even know you had claimed.
I am so excited to cheer you on in your journey. Pop into the Facebook group and tell us about it! I cannot wait to share in your joy and excitement!
Frequently Asked Questions
I am starting to get organized, but feel unsure of what to discard and what to keep. What if I end up needing something that I discard?
I get it! When you’ve spent money or time on something, it can be hard to get rid of it. But consider the fact that you are using valuable time every day to care for, clean, and store that thing. Weigh whether or not the time invested is worth keeping it. For more tips on decluttering, check out my Simple Get Started Guide To Decluttering.
