Thoughts on Organizing

When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.

~Wayne Dyer

If you closely examine the things around you, you begin to see them differently. Significance shifts.

Try this. Look at something from where you are. Pick anything, a trinket your sister gave you or a toaster. Your first thought might be “Ugh, I hate that thing”, followed closely by “I can never get rid of it”. But you keep looking at it. You notice that it’s really well made, Huh, now you’re thinking “That would look better in the living room”. Or maybe you’re thinking “That’s really ugly, I never would have bought that for myself". Now you’re thinking “Why do I have to keep it?

When you notice an automatic thought such as “I can’t get rid of that”, “I can't organize", or “organizing is hard”, you can question the validity of the thought. Thoughts are opinions. and opinions are not facts.

The good news is that you can change your opinions anytime you want!

Instead, you can think “I can get rid of that”, “I can organize”, “organizing is fun". Doesn’t this sound better in your brain? Doesn’t this make you want to start?

But no, maybe it doesn’t. Maybe it’s not believable. Your brain can surely provide you with many reasons why you must keep the gifts you’ve been given, and come up with all sorts of evidence to support the notion that you lack organizational skills. So try these thoughts on for size:

“I can learn to organize"

“I will get better at organizing over time”

“I will get rid of that when I am ready to”

Our thoughts can lead to our actions. Or to a lack of actions. No one is motivated to organize when they feel bad about themselves just thinking about it!

Recognizing that you can change your thoughts is powerful. Acknowledging that change takes time is realistic. Be gentle and compassionate with yourself. All progress is progress.

Looking for help to get started? Do you need a guide to begin your home organizing journey?