It's commonly believed that a new habit can take hold in just twenty-one days. It’s possible, yet there's more to the 21-day game that is less known, and rarely acknowledged.

People cling to the overly simplistic expectation of 21-days because it feels doable, only to end up with the familiar lament, “what’s wrong with me.” Instead of a new habit, they have the old discouragement.

There's nothing wrong with you; what's wrong is the expectation that forming a new habit is simply a matter of doing it for 21 days. In reality, forming a new habit takes a few Cycles of 21 Days. 21 - 42 - 63 days ... or more.

To play the game successfully, you need to consider several cards in the deck:

Yes, piles of paper were everywhere, file cabinets were full. Jessie’s office was a lovely room with well designed furniture, and I knew there would be plenty of storage space after we de-cluttered.  

After many failed efforts to organizing her papers, Jessie didn’t want to step foot into her office. She hated everything, not just her papers, even when she had so much beauty around her. 

The problem wasn't the mess or the papers or a lack of effort to get organized. Jessie had lots of books on organizing tips, and actually read some of them! The underlying problem was how the office was arranged. It simply didn't make sense, so any effort to getting rid of clutter and staying organized was nearly impossible.

Fortunately, Jessie called for help instead of giving up. Smart move. 

Are you feeling overwhelmed in your office? Are you annoyed just walking in?  

Organizing Tip: Organizing is never the first step to getting organized!

But how do you decide what’s most important? Your priorities. It sounds so ordinary, but priorities are extraordinarily powerful. 

Priorities provide freedom within the constraints of your day because they help you decide what to keep in your schedule and what to let go of - perhaps for a day or a lifetime. 

Priorities are like the white lines on major highways - a constraint that protects us. Without them, we are much more likely to drive all over the place, risking crashing everyday, as we speed along. With them, you are more in control. 

Don’t think of this as time management. Your priorities can’t be found in books. They’re uniquely yours. When you mindfully schedule your highest priorities every day, you have more control over your to-do list. You’ll sleep better without crashing.

Do you feel cornered, up against a wall trying to get organized - again?

There's a lot of confusion about clutter and organizing.

Organizing tips will not set you FREE, but clear thinking will.

Here are some fundamental truths that only a few know...

What is clutter?

Clutter is stuff that doesn't add value to your present life. You no longer love or use it (or never did) or it doesn't fit in your current lifestyle. It does not contribute to your life's productivity or meaning. It may have had value once, but not now.

Getting clear...

Clutter and "mess" are not synonymous.]]>http://www.clutterclarity.com/blog/rss-comments-entry-12686456.xmlLaura J. MooreSat, 31 Dec 2011 22:11:21 +0000http://www.clutterclarity.com/blog/2011/12/31/whats-really-in-the-way-of-organizing-old-photos.html419641:4617263:14202369Roger wanted to “finally deal with his old photos” before downsizing, but felt “utterly frustrated and overwhelmed, and couldn't get started."

I asked him, “What do you think is getting in the way?”

He worried about what technology to use to organize and preserve his photos. He thought if he knew that he could get started.

Most of us worry about technology. Do you? 

Definitely something to consider, yet technology is a distraction from what really needs to be done: deciding which photos you want to preserve. 

ClutterClarity Organizing Tip:

You de-clutter first, then organize what you keep. De-cluttering is the often ignored first step to organizing. Perhaps you need technology to organize your old photos, but only you can decide which photos to let go, and which ones to keep. 

What's really getting in the way of organizing? 

• The sheer volume? 
• Lack of time?
• Too busy? 

These are logistics to manage, but not the root cause: 

A client and I found nearly $2000!. It's true. 

Deirdra has a good middle class income, no kids, was married, and lots of stuff. Money was there to be found.

She had no idea that her guest room was about to become a treasure chest. 

Add it up! Her clutter from one room became $1,881.57! 

• The local grocery’s sorting machine turned sixty-seven pounds of coins into $611.57!
• Unused Kate Spade pocketbooks sold on Craig’s list for $800
• Nice stuff with pricetags still on them were regifted, saving  $420
• A 3-year-old $50 Crate and Barrel gift certificate completed her set of dishes for holiday dinners.  

Seven Ways Clutter Turns Into Cash:

There are 45,000 storage facilities for personal possessions (almost 2 billion sq. ft.) across USA now, and most of them are already full. Between 1995 and 2007 alone, renting storage units increased 90%.

This Christmas, watch out for what you ask for. It may become clutter in a few years (or weeks). 

Right? You may need a storage unit soon.

The good news is that people are noticing that they have enough stuff and are buying experiences instead. Maybe you are already doing this: giving the gift of your time, your attention to someone you love. You get to store the experience in your memory, share it again whenever you want without any storage fees!

There is still great excess in America, of course, but there’s an undeniable confluence of growing trends that are all good: living more with less, simplicity, recycling, and "going green,” just to name a few. 

What about these trends? Have you heard of them?

1. Slow food
2. Slow growth
3. Slow medicine 

I want to toss out one more: SLOW DE-CLUTTERING and SLOW ORGANIZING. 

Why?

1) Penny-Wise

During the year, I only use bills when I buy things with cash. So if something costs me 29 cents, I put 71 cents in my bank at the end of the day.

Because I don’t have time to roll coins, I drop them into one of those change machines at the grocery store, and when paying for my groceries, trade the receipt in for cold cash. (Why is cash considered cold? Shouldn’t it be hot?)

Consignment money and coins really add up over the year. Hundreds of dollars later, holiday shopping doesn’t break the bank. Last year, I had nearly $1000!

Susan called me frustrated with her failed attempts to get clutter-clear and organized. Nothing seemed to work, and now she wanted “to just get it over with.”  

Susan was making a classic mistake: rushing to jump into action - only to find herself drowning in the pool of emotional confusion and overwhelm.  

There’s a better way. 

Before you do anything, you need to learn how to think about the mess in a new way and plan an approach that is good for you. 

According to James Prochaska, Ph.D., there are five stages of change.