How to Motivate Yourself to Get and Stay Organized

It’s easy to GET organized – you can hire a Lifestyle Organizer – but how do you STAY organized after the Organizer is gone? That, my friends, is where motivation kicks in.

Motivation provides inspiration and an incentive to grow, learn, and develop. We build stamina through motivation. I’m sure your goal is not to hire a Professional Organizer to get organized, then rehire her to stay organized (if that’s your goal, it can be accommodated).

To understand the nature of motivation, let’s look at how to develop it.

Internal Agreement

First, we must make a promise to ourselves. That promise is to work through the process of incorporating the new organizational system into your life while building self-discipline. Consistently having the self-discipline to put your shoes back where they are stored will motivate you to continue doing it.

Understand Your Discomforts

Next we must learn to understand and take control of our discomforts. Discomforts are what hold us back many times. A well-organized space that is customized to your Organizational Personality should make staying organized easier for you, but there may still be some unresolved feelings that are preventing 100% buy-in to our new system. Rather than trying to figure out why we became uncomfortable, we remain confused. [Check out my article on Healing for more information.]

Simplify Your Life

Time is important. When we value time, it gives us some space to organize our life. Evaluate the things that can be eliminated, cut back, or rearranged that will free up time needed to maintain your organized home and office.

Be Brave and Ask for Help

If you are feeling utterly embarrassed that you have not been able to maintain your organized home, ask for more help or support. You deserve a space that is all you want it to be. I won’t tell if you won’t tell.

Stop focusing on what other people or society is saying you NEED to do, and instead focus on what you WANT to do. What motivates YOU to stay organized? For a lot of us, after being at work for 8+ long, stressful hours, we want to open the door to a home that is neat, organized, and puts us in a peaceful state of mind. Seeing the kids’ toys thrown all across the room, or that stack of mail a mile high does not allow us to “get your Zen on.”

Perhaps you are a stay-at-home Wife and Mother and you want your Spouse to look forward to coming home each day to an orderly home or looking forward to being home after a long business trip?

Or maybe it’s that you want to show off your new living room furniture to your friends, you know the furniture you bought because your New Year’s resolution was to having friends and family over more often?

Regardless of why you want it, make sure you’re clear on your why…and don’t let your reason be influenced by anyone else.