The Organize 365 Story – Part 1
This week on the blog, I am starting a series sharing the Organize 365 Story. In this first podcast. I share the five foundational principles that are the bedrock of everything I teach inside Organize 365. Sharing these principles with you helps to ensure that we have a common vocabulary and understanding.
No matter when you begin your transformational journey (or when you need to reset or restart), this information will be here as a reference for you. Listen in as I teach you about the ideas and beliefs that are at the core of everything I teach and how I approach organizing.
Organize 365 believes and is founded on five foundational principles:
1. Organization is a learnable skill.
I love learning and I love teaching. I earned an education degree in college, and have experience with many different kinds of educational environments. I have taken all of my knowledge and experience about the skills required to be a good teacher, and I have poured them into Organize 365 so that I can teach YOU the skills you need to be an organized person and live an organized life.
For much of my life, I had heard the message that you were either born organized or you were not. But that is not true. In the podcast, I share how I learned to ask analytical questions and create a consistent process and organizational system that anyone could learn to use to get organized. I have been blessed to help many different people learn the skills they need to consistently achieve transformation of their homes and their lives.
Bonus: In Podcast Episode 307, Learning Organizational Skills – Edgar Dale’s Cone of Experience, I share how I use different teaching methods throughout Organize 365 to ensure my teaching meets the needs of different kinds of learners.
2. Grow your organizational muscles.
In teaching the skills of organizing both in person and as an online teacher, I have discovered that each person needs to grow her own organizing muscles. Organizational success comes from increasing your mental strength (changing your mindset) and from growing your physical strength and stamina.
The Organize 365 programs are meant to help you grow both your physical and mental organizing muscles. I start teaching you with small easy tasks, help you learn the skills you will need, and begin to grow your muscles. We start with something simple and quick like a 15-minute silverware drawer clean out and work up to organizing a hot mess or storage room. The skills I teach you about organizing build upon one another and help you grow your organizing muscles along the way.
Bonus: For more on building your organizing muscles, review Podcast Episode 211 “Building Organizational Muscles.”
3. I am a functional organizer.
I am a functional organizer. I have always wanted to be a Pinterest-perfect magazine-worthy organizer. I started out organizing without the time, money, or resources to make things beautiful in the way that social media tells us we should be. My life had been moving so fast, it ran me over. I had to climb out of disorganization and debt to get my own home and life back on track.
Along the way, I learned that a functional home that is decluttered and organized is what is truly important. I also have accepted that I do not have the style needed to be an interior decorator (at least not on my own). Organize 365 is not about making your house look pretty, it is about making it function. Let’s be honest, in real life, no one lives in a perfect home. If you watch my Instagram Stories, you can see me share how I am a real-life person living an extremely organized life. It is attainable, and aspirational, just not perfect.
Done is better than perfect is my way of saying just get started, and get it done. In the podcast, I share how I apply this principle in my own life. I even tell some funny stories about how focusing on getting things done helped me to overcome my husband’s perfectionism (and procrastination). Getting things done, even if there are mistakes or less-than-perfect parts, is still more useful and enjoyable than delaying waiting for the perfect time or the perfect method.
Progress over perfection is my way of encouraging you to take the next step. We do not have to get all the way to our final goal in order to make progress. You may not have the time, money, motivation, or energy to get to the end of a project. Take the next step anyway. Sometimes, moving things along will result in figuring out a new way, an alternative path, or that you do not need something that you thought you did when making your plan. All progress towards a goal is worthy of celebrating.
Bonus: Check out Podcast Episode 251 – “Decluttering is Easy, Organizing is Hard, and Decorating is FUN!”
4. The only person you can control is you!
I cannot control if my family puts things away or leaves them all over my house. I focus my thoughts and energy on what I can control. Often, I want my kids or my husband to clean up something around the house because it is bothering me. But, when I really look at the house, I find that I have more projects out than they do. I can justify them being out because they are mine. When I changed my mindset and only worried about my own areas of the home or my own projects, I did not worry about what everyone else was doing. In the day-to-day, I do not spend my time or energy on the stuff left out by the rest of the family. I focus on what I can control – myself.
However, I have seen time and time again, that when you focus on yourself you start making forward progress, have more energy, and become more organized. Others are attracted to your success, and they start to follow along and they will begin to organize their own spaces and things. You cannot force others to get organized, but you can often inspire them by your example.
Bonus: Podcast Episode 131 – “How to Organize Husbands.”
5. Organize 365 offers a transformational journey to an organization wrapped in grace.
You cannot fail to learn the skills of organization, only I can fail as your teacher to teach you what you need. I continue to add to what I offer for the Organize 365 community (often for free) because I want to meet your needs to ensure you learn the skill of organization. You will always get grace from Organize 365. Our programs are all lifetime memberships. I want you to move along at your own pace and use the resources you need to be successful.
I want you to give yourself grace. You may not be organized yet, but you can walk through this transformational journey alongside us. Focus on functional organizing, grow your organizational muscles, and take it one step at a time. Words of affirmation are my love language, and I love to hear “You are doing a good job!” I want you to hear that too.
Bonus: We have created the Paper Solution Certified Workshop Organizers to be local support for you if that’s what you need to be successful. The certification was created because I knew that some people would need in-person instruction. Sometimes you may just need the in-person support that these women provide. The directory has a list of certified folks in your area and the organizers will share their events and classes here.
This episode is a part of the Organize 365® Glossary Playlist. Listen to other episodes on the Glossary Playlist here.
