Do you ever find yourself losing momentum during an organizing project? Distractions, loss of focus, getting tired, becoming discouraged – and so many more emotions, feelings and interruptions can stall you from completing a project. One of the things we love about helping our clients is coming alongside them and supporting them in accomplishing their goals. Here are 10 tips for staying motivated and having fun that have been tried and proven to help you finish your organizing project!
“The greatest threat to success is not failure but boredom.”
– James Clear, Atomic Habits
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Write down your goals.
Write your goals down for your project and keep them where you will be able to easily read them. You can even tape them to a wall close to your project. When you start to lose steam or encounter a hiccup, seeing your goals will remind you of why you started this project. We also encourage you to go a little deeper and determine the vision while writing down your goals. If you want to declutter your entryway, envision what you want your entryway to look like and feel like (and even smell like) when you walk in the door after a long day or welcome friends and family into your home. It is so easy to become distracted or start to get frustrated when you get into the middle of a project. Writing down these specifics will remind you of your goals and help you stick with them.
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Share these goals with an accountability partner.
An accountability partner can be so helpful as an external motivator to cheer you on and support you with your organizing project. Communicating your goals with someone else can, in itself, be a form of accountability. Knowing that this person knows what you plan to do will help you in accomplishing your goal.
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Choose a mantra to pick you up if you start to lose steam.
What word or phrase motivates you and gets you going? Have this ready to go – maybe even in real large print where you know you can see it. Do you have a lot of decisions ahead of you with decluttering, and you know that letting things go is hard for you? This is exactly where one of our clients found herself. She had a lot of success while decluttering by using this mantra: “When in doubt, there is no doubt.” Saying this to herself helped her to let things go when there was doubt on whether to keep or let go.
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Play energizing music.
Music has an amazing way of setting the mood. It can turn any organizing project into a really good time. Do you like music that gets you going and energized and ready to move? Or do you prefer music that helps you to concentrate and focus on the decision making process? Organizing should be fun! Just ask any of our professional organizers. We love to listen to music while we organize and have quite a wide range of favorite genres.
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Schedule breaks with a beginning and end time.
We highly recommend taking breaks from your organizing project. Breaks are important to staying motivated and finishing a project. Stepping away gives you the ability to come back with fresh eyes for your work. It can sometimes be tempting to keep going and take no break at all, or to not come back from a break. In order to keep you on track and get you time to gain fresh perspective, plan your breaks into your day with specific beginning and end times. This gives your project structure and helps you to gauge your progress. Don’t forget to properly hydrate and grab food to keep your energy and focus going as well.
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Set alarms.
You can do anything for a minute or five minutes. Alarms can work wonders in helping you push through a slump or helping you stay motivated and on task. Racing the clock can help keep you focused on the task at hand. Setting alarms for break times is also great to hold you accountable so that you get those breaks in and also don’t take too long of a break. Alarms can be such a great tool for staying motivated and making it fun.
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Ask your accountability partner to check in on you periodically.
Oh yes…this is where your accountability partner comes back for a check-in! You can do this however works best for you and in whatever time span will be most helpful to you. Check-ins can always be in person, over the phone, or a mixture of both. If you have asked your accountability partner to check in on you, then you probably already know that with the check in will come support, encouragement, and maybe a little gentle nudge depending on what you need. This can also just be so much fun to be able to have someone else walking alongside you to be your cheerleader.
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Compare before and after photos.
Don’t forget to take the before photos! It is very easy to quickly forget about the progress you are making. It is so easy these days with the technology of phones to keep before photos easily accessible to reference if you are feeling like you are not making progress with your project. One look at those before photos and you can be reinvigorated to keep going. Take after photos, too. This will help you in your future organizing projects to have the confidence to know that you have indeed been successful and will be again on the next project.
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Acknowledge small progress benchmarks.
Some of us do not have large chunks of time to devote to projects, but still want to start chipping away at decluttering and organizing. Others can tackle big projects all at once. For either scenario, it is important to take the time to see the great stride that is being taken. In order to do this, don’t forget to take your breaks and get those before photos. A great time to see the progress is when you are ready to take a break or have come back from a break. You need these acknowledgements to keep you motivated to the end – you should be really proud! If you have an accountability partner, make sure you are sharing these small progress benchmarks. They are actually a really big deal!
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Plan a reward for accomplishing your goals!
This is such a fun way to celebrate your hard work! The rewards can be anything and everything. What will be motivating for you to work towards? We have had clients reward themselves with everything from a trip to the spa, a nice dinner out, their favorite chocolate or wine, or even an outing. Maybe a bath speaks volumes to you or maybe you will do anything for your favorite chocolate. Have fun with this and celebrate when you accomplish your goals!
We would love to hear from you if you try out any of these tips or have other ones to share! Check out our Abundance Declutter Group on Facebook for more ways to stay focused and not lose momentum. Here’s to accomplishing your goals and finishing what you started!