Organizing: What’s Working For You?
Feeling frustrated and frozen by this thought? Paper piles, clothes thrown on a chair, digital clutter a stress…you’re overwhelmed!
Next thing you know, you’re down the rabbit hole of negative thinking, seeing everything that’s making you crazy rather than what’s working.
Organizing: what’s working? How to get organized by building on what’s already in place is a 3-part series. This is part 1.
The curve ball: Negative Bias
You’re not alone. Our brains weigh negative events and perceptions more heavily than positive ones. Psychologists call this Negative Bias. They theorize that it’s part of our wiring to protect us from harm. Read more about Negative Bias In this article by Ray Williams in Psychology Today.
Focus on the positive
My philosophy is that the more we focus on what’s working for us, the more we can release clutter and confusion. The things that are working for us usually flow with our natural way of thinking and doing.
Find one thing, no matter how small, that you feel is organized.
Examples:
- You consistently put your keys in a special purse pocket
- You have a specific place for stamps easily finding them
Now you’re on to something. What is it that makes this one thing work?
Mindshift: What’s Working?
Ready to have your Negative Bias challenged? Build on what’s already working.
[Tweet “Get organized with simple, easy repeatable systems that feel like you’re on autopilot.”]
Landing Hub
One of the first systems I created was a way to manage incoming paper and household supplies. It’s simple and WORKS!
What’s a Landing Hub? For me it’s the area or room where people and things are incoming. It’s where the trail of stuff begins.
Our family typically enters our home through the garage, which leads into the mudroom. In our mudroom we have a six cabinet unit built over a set of stairs.
Recycling – Household Supply Cabinet
We put a 5 drawer free-standing elfa® Drawer Unit from The Container store in each large cabinet. The beauty is you can choose the depth of each drawer configuring whatever you want. I chose 2 deep, 2 shallow and 1 mid-sized drawer.
In the 2 deep drawers I store paper towel rolls. In the shallow drawers I house batteries in a battery organizer, napkins, and kitchen foil and wrap.
It’s the midsize drawer that was my first organizing system win. It’s where all paper goes for recycling; newspapers, magazines, junk mail, all thing paper recycling.
Why it works
- Simple, easy and a pleasure to use
- One central place
- Attractive – behind closed doors
- Kid friendly – encouraging school binder decluttering days + kids help with paper management!
- Stops unnecessary paper going further into the home
From one organized drawer…to a system of drawers in a cabinet…to a system for recycling and household supply storage. By focusing on the what’s working, I was able to build on my success. You can too!
Now I want to hear from you!
Tell me in the comments below something simple you’ve organized that works for you.
Jul’s, you’ve done it yet again! Sharing the psychology of why we do (or think) like we do helps remove that negative self-talk that tells me I’m just bad at organizing. The mindset shift is PERFECTION and right on point! Your tips are doable and your examples pull it all together. Thank you for another wonderful post!! So nice to have you back to the blog!!
Hey Arpil, As you probably know by now…my belief is that psychology and mindset are the core for creating vibrant lives, and organizing is the method I use to help people create positive shifts. It’s great to be back blogging…it was a challenge to wait for my new website to accommodate me!
I love the idea of focusing on what’s working rather than what isn’t.What works for me is keeping my stamps and envelops and pens in the drawer of my desk, were my computer is located.
So glad I could help…it’s great that you pair envelopes and stamps in the same drawer of your desk…that’s what helps the task of needing to mail something all in one place. Thanks so much for your comment.
Great article Jul’s! I have a few things that I feel are organized (Stamps actually was one) but how do I manage the other people in the house that don’t put things back where they belong!?
Thanks so much Caroline! I love the stamps being organized…it may seem small, but it’s a great feeling 🙂 Okay…to your point of other people, I think, and I am paraphrasing likely, Katherine Hepburn said, “The trouble with acting, is other people.” Indeed 😉 Well, since we don’t get to live a one-woman show (and thank goodness; significant others and children are so worth it), here’s some ideas. First, analyze why those other people don’t put things back where they belong or where they belong in the first place. Example: My boys shared a room growing up. When they were little, I wanted them to put their dirty clothes in a hamper. Simple enough, eh? So I put a hamper in their room and low and behold, daily the clothes were on the floor, not in the hamper. After analyzing, I realized a super simple fix that had a profound effect. I changed out the lidded hamper to an large open woven wood basket. Suddenly the clothes went in the basket. Why? Well it was one step for the boys, not two. They could play “clothes basketball” so it was fun. So is the problem with the system or “home”—where you have decided something belongs? I’d have to know the particulars to answer specifically…but thought this example might help. Cheers!
I love your tips, Juls. I too have a mud room/laundry room right after the garage, and instead of using that cabinet space for things like this, we use the space as garage overflow which is so frustrating. Time to rearrange some things!
Hey April! So glad you love my tips. For many of us, our entry room to our home is the garage, not the foyer at the front door…modern living makes it so. One thing…I think of the entry room as the landing (and it can also be the take off) “hub”. If you view this room that way, you can then see the importance that how you set it up and how tidy it stays, sets the tone for the rest of the home. I wonder if the overflow from the garage, might mean a) the garage could use some fine tuning so you utilize the space better so there is less or no overflow. b) Is it possible some of the overflow is better as “outflow”. Is it time to get it out of your home? The more we have the more we have to manage. Hope that helps. Happy to help you with mudroom and garage challenges!
excellent tips, jul’s! i am smack dab in the midst of packing for our international move (the container arrives in just FIVE DAYS!). and though i consider myself a fairly organized person, every time i move (and i’ve moved many many times) i realize what i could have set up beforehand to make the process go more smoothly. i am determined to FINISH the job this time when i settle my household goods into my new home. (i always lose steam about 3/4 into it, then never complete the task.) love your landing hub!
Thrilled you found my tips excellent. FIVE DAYS! Oh my. I know you can do it! If I can help, all you need do is contact me. Happy to give you support! Plus I want to see the Italian Villa even if only virtually….:)
I love the idea of just reframing how we think of or approach something that *could* be negative. I also always enjoy seeing how other people organize their working areas and homes. Different people will have different needs, so it’s very interesting to see how systems develop.
So happy you loved my post…it’s really the core of how I approach coaching people with organizing! I love seeing how people organize their homes and offices too. Actually, I confess I prefer “real world” examples to the perfect ones in magazines. They may not be prefect, but they solve the problem so well.
I love your vantage point, Jul’s!!
I am reading Buddha’s Brain, where I learned about our brain’s negative bias.
Rick Hanson, the PhD, explains that we have to focus on the positive, thus balancing our perspective to a ‘normal’ one, since the brain naturally leans towards negative.
Thanks for reminding me 🙂
xo
Sounds like my kind of book, Buddha Brain…adding it to my reading list, thanks! We all need that wee reminder to emphasize the positive no matter how small! Glad you found my post helpful! 🙂