Blog by Sharman Dow
Being organized is essential to your success. It’s having the ability to systematically put things in order and creating a wholeness in your business and personal life. Organization is taking various parts and factions of something and arranging those parts into some sort of structure and order. It takes preparation and focus to get organized, but the results can be tremendous in your success – especially in your business dealings. The state of being organized will create harmony and unity, and who doesn’t want that for their life?
Get Things in Order
So easily said, and yet for some this is a difficult task to accomplish. So how do you become a person who is organized and has their life in order? How do you make your business career function with a methodical arrangement in a particular order? I’m not talking about being stiff and unable to bend in a given situation. I’m talking about keeping things in order so you can move forward in achieving your success.
For me, it started in my childhood, because I had a mother who was obsessive about keeping things clean. It was an excellent trainer for creating good habits, but even so I still get overwhelmed sometimes.
So what I do when I look at a task that needs to be accomplished is this: I break it down into small steps. I learned this when I gave a huge dinner party and the next morning the mess was daunting. I looked at everything and thought this will never get cleaned up. I was besieged and overwhelmed with the task at hand. However, I learned some simple things in cleaning my kitchen that day that I applied years later to my business and other areas of my personal life.
Overcome Organizational Obstacles
Your first step in organizing something is telling yourself, “Yes, I can get this organized.” Don’t allow a project to overpower you and cause you give up before you even get started. In addition, I always ask God to join me and help me to get something accomplished. Having supernatural guidance always helps, and saying a little prayer before I start a task empowers me – realizing I am not alone in this getting this project accomplished.
Another problem most of us have is procrastination. It will be easy to procrastinate and tell yourself, “Oh, I will get to that later.” You must have a positive attitude and realize procrastination will only prolong the problem. If this is your problem, then write out your specific goal to accomplish and tell yourself, “I will get this done before so-and-so date.” By writing it out, you have proclaimed to yourself you will get it done.
Next, look at the task at hand and break it down into small steps. Breaking things down into small steps takes you from being overwhelmed to having the ability to accomplish the task in small steps. Let’s say your desk is a mess and you have all sorts of loose paperwork in stacks that need to be worked on or filed. Prepare a clean space where you can make various stacks to break down the paperwork into small stacks. Write notes for each stack on how you want to categorize it, then prepare files for each stack. Now you have created a workable solution to do each project or task, one at a time.
Clean Out, Clean Up and Throw Out
Sometimes taking everything out of a space, closet or drawer and systematically setting it in stacks before putting it back, can help in organizing it. Then throw out or give away those things that are not needed anymore.
Clean out, clean up and throw out the things you have not used in years gets you organized. Cleanse your office and home from unwanted clutter and you will empower yourself in getting organized!!
Sharman Dow is the founder of the Empower Women’s Conference, coming October 22nd to Orange County. Register today!
