Stage 3: Efficiency

Oct 9, 2015
2 min read

Thank you for visiting my blog today.

You did it! You made it through steps 1 & 2. Hopefully, you broke up the job into smaller steps. Or maybe you are like me and once I get my mind set on a project I get laser vision and can't stop until it's done! If you were to just ask my kids, they would agree! But I think they kind of like it because those are the nights that I order pizza. And let's admit it, kids LOVE pizza!

Let's break this down:

1. Use - continually use this organized system. What I mean is that life is messy, as we all know. We are all consumers and we pile up our things. We don't have time to be on top of decluttering. So when those items are piling up again, go back to the first stage: decluttering. Trust me, the second time around it won't take you as long.

2. Plan - make lists of to do's. If I have all of my to do's swirling around in my head I undoubtedly will feel like I have 10 x's as many tasks to complete than I think I do! The mental chatter of feeling behind will wear me down. However, if I write it down I will have a visual that it's not too big of a list than I thought it was. I use my smart phone for all of these things that I need to do. I used to write everything on little pieces of paper. Then, I started carrying around a spiral notebook so all of my thoughts and to do's where in one place and all I had to do was to look for that notebook. But, oh what a bummer it was if I left that at home. That's when I started using my iPhone Notes app. I love using it because I could press that little microphone and speak my list onto my notes page. I could organize each note, i.e., grocery list, To Do's for Monday, Tuesday, etc. If something needed my attention as soon as I arrived home I use the Reminders app. I'll tell Siri, "remind me when I get home, laundry". When I arrive home there is a small ding noise on my phone with a pop up. The pop up doesn't go away until I clear it.

3. Refine - organizing is a process. Make adjustments as you live in your newly organized space. If you don't like the organized system that you put in place, just change it. As you live in your space and you notice that Plan A is not as efficient. Be flexible. Change it. Don't hang onto an idea that creates frustration. Add your changes to your to do list that you have created from step 2.

4. Execute - set a date on your calendar to get the changes done. Research shows that if you schedule your to do's on your calendar, you are more likely to get things done. It's just like making a time and date on your calendar for working out. Schedule it!