Six Areas People Get Stuck in the Organizing Process

There are many stages to the organizing process. People tend to get stuck in certain areas, which hinders them from completing their organizing projects. Once you can recognize where you get stuck, you can focus on that area, and you will work through it and be on your way to getting organized. 

Here are six areas where people get stuck:

Getting started and overwhelmed. You’re motivated to get organized, but then something happens. It’s like you’ve hit a brick wall. You finally commit to the project, but you walk into the room, and you immediately shut down and nothing gets done. It’s that feeling of overwhelm that stops people in their tracks. They would rather be doing anything else than tackling a room full of disorganization. You have to break the process down. Make a plan before you even enter the room. Take apart the room piece by piece and don’t look at the room as the project, look at it as small pieces of the project. 

Lack of skill set. You really want to get organized but just can’t seem to develop a great working system. You may have grown up in a disorganized home and the skill set was never transferred to you. You may have had parents that always straightened your room and never allowed you to create your own systems. Reach out to a professional if you feel you are lacking this skill set. 

Decluttering. Create a “maybe” pile when sorting. Don’t spend too much time deciding whether to keep or toss something. When you have finished decluttering, you’ll look at everything you are keeping and tossing and may decide that you really don’t need anything else, and you’ll decide that the “maybe pile” will go. 

Losing focus and distractions. When people are confined to a room for three hours, they lose focus very quickly and get distracted. Stay in the room where you are working instead of transferring items all over the home. Keep a “move to another room pile.” When you complete your project, you can transfer those items to their designated rooms. 

It’s the little things. This is how junk drawers’ form. You’ve completed the decluttering process, but you have this pile of miscellaneous items that may or may not hold value to you. They really do not belong in any category. This is where people get stressed and tend to shut down because it’s the little things that get you stuck. Decide if they are of value to you and create a system for them. Don’t just create a junk drawer of random items that you will never use or have to rummage through when searching for an item.

Maintenance. All your organizing efforts will go down in flames if you don’t maintain your organization. From the systems you create, you need to form habits, and these habits will form routines. If the systems work, you will eventually be on autopilot with efficient routines. Many people will work with the system, and the system fails, and they never tweak the system to make it work better for them. Re-visit your systems. It’s all about becoming more efficient and productive in a streamlined space and maintaining these systems will help you achieve your goals.

Think about which areas you get stuck in, and then focus on thinking about how you can make changes in those areas to get you closer to your organizing goals.