Five Steps to an Organized Year

What better time than now to get your life back in order and begin fulfilling those New Year’s resolutions? If you are not sure where to begin, try these five steps to an organized year:

Step 1: Set a Goal
The great Hollywood film director Cecil B. DeMille once said, “The person who makes a success of living is the one who sees his goal steadily and aims for it unswervingly. That is dedication.”

Define what you want to accomplish. Is it planning a dream vacation to Europe, working out at the gym, or keeping your home organized? No matter what your goal, with a plan you can accomplish whatever you envision with your heart and mind.

Step 2: Visualize the End Result
Visualize your goal, write it down, and keep it where you can refer back to it as a reminder and motivator. Put it on an index card to keep in your wallet or to place in a plastic magnetic frame on your refrigerator. You can even include your goals on your computer screensaver.

Step 3: Determine Obstacles
What’s holding you back? If it’s planning a dream vacation, are time and money obstacles? If it’s working out, is it doing it alone or finding motivation to get up at the crack of dawn that’s keeping you from exercising? What about areas for your home organization? Are you overwhelmed by the enormity of the task and reluctant to begin tackling organization projects? Whatever the obstacle, recognize it and find a way to get over it.

Step 4: Make a Plan
Write down the resources needed to make the goal a reality and then write out the plan of how you will maintain this new change. For keeping your home organized, perhaps, it’s deciding what to tackle doing one room at a time or carving out 15 minutes a day to organize one particular area.

Step 5: Get Started
Get started! For example, if your goal is to take a special vacation, open up a separate savings account to start socking money away. Research rates for hotels and airfares. This will also help set your budget. Remember, traveling off season has many great benefits like smaller crowds and better deals. Once you have determined the dates, be sure to put in your time for vacation and mark it in your calendar in ink.

No matter what your goal, the important thing is to do something. Even a small bit on day one helps. It is getting started that is the hardest whether it be exercising or clearing out those file drawers.