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Dear Kathy,

Thank you for your website. I am sure I will put it to good use! I am a mother of 4 children and wife to a disabled husband, so a lot of the housework and organizational work falls to me. It is not easy to keep my head on straight, especially during the tough and/or stressful times. I am striving to organize my life enough to not only keep on top of the things on ordinary days but the stressful ones as well. I hope to go back to college in the very near future and I know that IF all is organized then I can expect a smoother transition to the new routine. Wish me luck!

I have never been 'trained' to think in an organized manner. I tend to be one of those individuals with a lot of ideas but never know where to take them. Is there a certain mindset for this or perhaps a way to train your mind to think more in terms of de-cluttering and organizing on a CONSISTENT basis, not just when the relatives are in town?

Stressed Mom in Georgia


Dear Stressed Mom,

Thanks for your message and kind words about my web site. I am pleased to know that my site is helpful to you. 

My best advice for you is this: Create habits which will support you in living a more organized life. Create or change ONE habit at a time with INTENTION and then move onto another habit once you have the first one under your belt. It may be helpful for you to make a list of ideas you want to implement after surfing the net and finding all the great ideas that are out there. Then prioritize which ideas you want to incorporate into your life first and don't try to bite off too much at once. 

Here's an example of how this works. Let's say you choose to start taking vitamins on a daily basis -- that is the habit you want to create. To get started with intention, determine the following:

• WHAT: Which vitamins do I want to take? 
• WHEN: How often do I want to take them (once/twice a day? with each meal?) At what time(s)? 
• WHERE: Where will I be when I want to take the vitamins? (Have an ample supply on hand wherever you will be at the time you want to take them. If you travel a lot, you can pack a supply of vitamins to take with you.) 
• HOW: How will I support myself in making this happen? What reminders will assist me? (Example: If I want to take vitamins when I brush my teeth -- a habit I already have -- I can keep the vitamins next to the toothpaste as a reminder.)

You can follow the above process for any habit or intention you choose to build into your life. My Newsletter article titled "Is Your Auto Pilot Set to Get You Where You Want to Go?" offers some thoughts about changing habits which may be very helpful to you.

One more suggestion is to check your self-talk. If you often say to yourself, "I have to..." or "I should....", ask yourself if that's what you CHOOSE. If it's a choice, then go for it! When you do not feel at choice, you are a victim. When you react to the self-talk of "I have to..." or "I should..." you ARE CHOOSING, even though you may not feel you are at choice. You've become a slave to your own self-talk. When you choose to do something and you feel success even in a small way, it will motivate you to continue to choose a path of success. 

Best wishes,

Kathy Paauw
Professional Organizer and Certified Business Coach

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