As I said earlier, but it bears repeating, in the 40 years that I’ve been helping women who were desperately disorganized, there has been a common thread that connects them. It’s a thread of love, caring, compassion and creativity and a desire to have an organized home and a happy family. Many have told me personally they didn’t think they could get organized. Many had given up, until a light went on in a blessed AHA moment.
Be sure to read Key #1 Decision if you haven’t already.
This blog is about commitment. I hope you’ve done the assignment for Key #1 and are ready for Key #2. The women I’ve met over the years who suddenly realized it was possible to have a clean, cozy organized home, discovered a dormant spark just waiting to be ignited. The spark is usually flamed because of commitment.
Once you’ve made your decision to have an organized home, be committed to it. The best way to stay committed to anything is to go into it for the right reasons. If you got married because your husband was a good dancer and he looked like George Clooney, you’re probably not still married to the handsome hoofer.
I was 35 years old when I finally made the decision to get organized for the right reason. All my futile attempts prior to that were based on trying to make my husband, my mom and my friends think well of me. Eleanor Roosevelt said, “You wouldn't worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do.”
With this final attempt, my reason was to have more free time to play, guilt-free. In other words, I did it for me. For me, play really meant doing activities I love to do, like playing with my babies, taking them to visit friends, sewing, cooking, playing my guitar, keeping up with my ballet training, meditating and talking on the phone for just a few of the activities on my list. Just the thought of getting my work done for the day so I could get on with the good stuff in life has continued to give me that daily motivational spark to stay on track.
The most amazing aspect of having an organized home is how really easy it is to have! You can’t know that until you first decide to have one and then do it for the right reasons.
Many women have shared their juicy reasons that kept them on track and their stories could be made into movies. One woman, Carolyn Campbell, not only wanted an organized home and a happy family, she wanted to be free to write. To date she has written more than 800 (and counting) feature articles for magazines from People to Good Housekeeping, to Family Circle.
You know Marla Cilley the Flylady had her AHA moment when her reason was to be kind to herself. Her 3 million dollar a year business
Your assignment is to think up reasons that’ll keep you committed. Be sure they’re really juicy enough to keep you working on your escape from chaos. Pretend for a moment that your home is organized just the way you want it right now. Make a list of the things you could do today, if that were so. Think about how good that’d feel! I remember before I got my home organized, I was doing all the stuff I loved to do in spite of the chaos. That just caused more chaos, because the laundry was backed up, there was usually no plan for meals, bills didn’t get paid on time and the house was teaming with clutter. I really wasn’t having that much fun! That’s why I knew I wanted my free time to also be guilt-free.
Key#3 is Having a Plan, and you won’t want to miss reading the simple plan I’ve developed from my 40-year career helping women have organized homes.
Love,