Organized for Life!
Dana Rayburn

What you focus on is an instruction to your unconscious. If you want more success, focus on success.

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ROWing (Routine Organizing Work)

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Key Questions for Clearing Clutter

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To find good homes for your stuff, you must think HOW you will use something instead of WHAT that something is. Ask HOW – not WHAT. This habit is extremely important. It can make or break your organizing efforts. Really.

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In my experience, tasks don’t get finished when the final step hasn’t been clearly thought through.

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Key Points to Remember About Staying Effortlessly Organized for Life! The Quick Clutter Analysis Specifically, what is causing the clutter? Do I like, need, and use the items? How will I use the items? Where do they live? What gets in the way of putting it away? Is it too hard to do? Does it have a good home? Am I keeping it where I use it? What would make it easier to put away? Take Things to the Last Step means to make it easier to finish a project or a task you need to be clear of what your final step truly is. If you’ve created good home and done what we’ve talked about, yet clutter continues to collect – it’s likely you haven’t thought through and don’t take the task to the final step!

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Use Clear Reminders to remind you to do the things you often forget to do. Use Loving Lists – consider your daily list as your friend to keep you on track and get things done. Four Must Remember Rules for Loving List are: A Loving List is short and contains only as many things as you can reasonably expect to get done that day. You must rewrite Loving Lists each day. You must keep your Loving List where you can see it often. You must let your Loving List guide you through your day. Use a Master List to keep track of all the things you want to do but won’t get to today. It’s the companion to your Loving List. Use Pattern Planning to make easy to remember routines out of things you want to do each and every week. Build These Helpful Daily Habits: Clear the junk off the dining room table. Clear your clutter magnets. Toss the newspapers. Make the beds. Handle the mail. Put all purses / briefcases / backpacks / coats away when you walk in the door.

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Wash the dishes after each meal. Hang up your clothes. Hang up your bath towel. Put the dirty laundry in the hamper. Fold the laundry when it comes out of the dryer. Take care of little things when you notice them. Make ‘Do A Little Every Day’ Your Mantra. Row in your Zone for 15-minutes every day. Create and follow Routines for the small details in life you often forget to do. This will ease the shift from one activity to another and doing small chores now will make your life easier later on.