How To Get Organized FAST

Sorry, it's not what you think.

The other day, a school teacher friend of mine told a story about teaching her students multiplication. As they were learning, she gave them written tests to see how many problems they could answer in a certain amount of time.

Remember those timed tests? I sure do - that's been a lot of years since 2nd grade - ugh.

She said this one little guy just wanted to answer as many problems as he could and finish the test before time ran out. He would miss many more than he answered correctly, sometimes just writing down a mark rather than an answer, just to beat that clock.

She explained to him, "You have to know how to do something well before you can do it fast."

How profound.

When I am frustrated that it's taking "too long" to work through a process that's not familiar, learn a new skill, or incorporate a new habit, doing the thing FAST has to take a back seat to learning to doing the thing RIGHT, to master the thing, no matter how slowly and/or painstakingly.

Organizing is the same way.

Before I can sort and plan FAST, I have to learn to sort and plan WELL.

 Before I can reorganize a cupboard or pantry or closet, I have to learn how to declutter, plan my zones, and organize in a way that makes sense to me as I use that cupboard or pantry or closest to accomplish a goal (cook a meal, pull together an outfit).

 Before I can do a 5 minute pick up to wind down the day, my stuff has to be already organized in a logical (to me) way that picking up doesn't require 25 minutes, or 45 minutes, or half a day.

 Side note: that logical (to me) way may not be logical (to you). You and I likely have a completely different organizing style. (That's a whole other conversation that I want to have with you. Call me and we will have a lovely chat about that; I would love to help you figure out your organizing style.)

So today, I'm going to keep reminding myself, "I have to know how to do something well before I can do it fast."

We may be a long way from timed times table tests (yay for alliteration!) and the other lessons we learned in the 2nd grade (ah-hem: cursive handwriting), but learning and knowing multiplication and other repetitive tasks serves us for our whole lives.

Are you ready to tackle a decluttering or organizing project? Reach out and let's chat about how we can get started.