Organizing habits Archives • Helpful Organizer

Getting better at organizing takes practice

February 1, 2024/in Tip of the Month/by Janine Cavanaugh, CPO®

If you wanted to learn to play the guitar, what would you do? Would you look into taking lessons? How often would you practice? Would you expect to get better with only a few attempts? My guess is that you’d tell yourself to practice, practice, practice. Well, organizing is a skill, just like playing the guitar. You’ll make progress and get better at it with practice. I’d recommend practicing organizing for at least 10 minutes every day.

For some ideas on how to practice and improve your organizing skills look at these articles:

Creating new habits

September 1, 2023/0 Comments/in Tip of the Month/by Janine Cavanaugh, CPO®

Use all your senses when creating new habits. Think about it. Speak about it. Write about it. Do it.

Example: Create new habit of putting things in their assigned spots when returning home from work.

Think about it = Where is the best assigned spot for my coat, purse, shoes, keys, sunglasses, work bag, lunch bag, mail, and anything else I brought home with me?
Speak about it = Ask for input from family and friends.
Write about it = Label where things go to reinforce new habit.
Do it = Practice everyday.

Your organizing preference

June 1, 2023/0 Comments/in Tip of the Month/by Janine Cavanaugh, CPO®

The way we store, organize, manage, and retrieve stuff is unique to each individual. By paying attention to what works best for us, we realize our organizing preferences. Use these preferences to hone your organizing skills.

The image below is an example of 5 different ways to store sweaters. What is your preferred method? Is that the method that works best for you? If so, repeat this method with other stuff you need to store, organize, manage and retrieve. If it isn’t, test another method for effectiveness.