5 Steps to Organize Anything Anytime

Do you wish organizing your Email Inbox was as easy as 1-2-3?
Have you ever wondered if there’s a step-by-step process to follow to get more organized?

Today I’m sharing the 5-step process I’ve taught thousands of people. These 5 steps can be followed whether you’re organizing your kitchen pantry or your Email Inbox. If you’ve got kids, you’ll want to teach these 5 steps to them, too, so they can learn organizing techniques at a young age.

I like to use the acronym PSALM. It’s a book of the Bible that contains songs and poems AND IS OFTEN CALMING.
And that’s what I want your organizing project to be – very calming and therapeutic!

P – Purpose Before any space can be organized, you must define the purpose of the space. For example, if you’re organizing the contents of a bookshelf, you’ll need to decide up front what types of things do you want on the shelves? Maybe you decide that the top shelf is going to be for framed family photos. And the next shelf is going to be for favorite books. And the 3rd shelf will contain board games. And so on.

Once you define the purpose of a space, it allows for decision-making to happen. And if you’ve watched other videos in this series, then you know that Clutter is a result of delayed decisions. And when you delay decisions, you end up with messes.

S – Sort and purge. The 2nd step is Sorting/Purging. This is where you’re going to put on that Decision-Making hat and get busy making decisions on the things that get to stay, what items can be donated, what needs to be tossed or recycled. The topic of Video #5 in this series was all on Sorting and Purging if you missed it.

Remember, that only the items that fit the purpose of the space get to stay in the area you’re working in.

A – Assign. Moving on to Step #3 is Assign. Once you’ve sorted and purged the contents of a room or space or bookshelf, you’ll be left with the things that GET to stay here. Now is when you can start putting things in their place, assigning them their new homes if you will.

This step leads nicely to Step #4.

L – Label. Placing a label on a bin, shelf, or cabinet is a great visual reminder of where things now belong. Labels don’t have to stay forever, but they are incredibly helpful for the first 6-8 weeks of learning how to manage a space you’ve just organized. You’ll be able to find things more quickly AND BE MORE APT TO PUT THINGS AWAY.

M – Maintain. The final step is Maintain. Before you roll your eyes, I must remind you that your mess didn’t appear overnight and it’s not going to magically stay organized by itself. Not if it’s a space you frequently use. Once a week, take a look at the space you recently organized. Tidy up if necessary. Are you leaving things that don’t fit the purpose of that space? Do they need to be put away elsewhere?

These Productivity Pointers are posted frequently here on our OrganizedAudrey channel.
Audrey Thomas, CSP, is the founder of Organized Audrey and is an author and international speaker.
Related Links:
http://www.OrganizedAudrey.com