130. Timing Larger Organizing Projects

Is there ever a time when you start a larger project then feel defeated when you can't wrap it up before bed, or starting something else? You're not alone. You're just not timing your project accordingly. In this short, motivational episode, I will give you a few tips on how to start a project TODAY that you will finish - and clean up - by the time you turn in for the night. 

Transcript

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I am gonna do a quick episode today. I'm going to commit to about 10 minutes because today is more about motivating you and setting you up for success if you are working on a larger project. Now, certainly you can listen to any of my episodes while you are organizing. But if you are getting ready to start a project and you're sitting there drinking coffee or eating or just thinking about what you're gonna do, I want to keep this episode short so that you get all the information, you can make a decision, you can get started, and you can also listen to other episodes as you go. But this one is more of a stop and think type episode so that you can kind of figure out as you go to work on this larger project where you fall, what the expectations are going to be, and how you can complete it and be successful and not frustrated. So today I am working on a large project. Is there a chance I'm going to be pulled away? If you start this while your child's at school, if you are waiting for someone, maybe someone's coming over in a couple of hours, or maybe you know you have to leave later to go run an errand, like maybe you have to take something to the post office before it closes. I would suggest not doing a large project on a day like that. And if you do, make sure you at least have a number of hours to completely pull things apart, get them set up the way you want and organized, and then get everything put back and cleaned up. Those are the things I would think about. Do I have to go anywhere today? Do I have someone coming over? Do I need to be somewhere? I would also pick a category to put yourself in. So there are three different categories. Either someone who is very focused and you know that you're going to be able to stay on task, or you're a blend, you're a 50-50. You're like, for the most part, I can stay on task. Sometimes I get distracted, but I always come back around and finished what I initially started. Or you fall into category three, you rarely get anything done because once you go off on a tangent, you never come back. That doesn't mean you can't be successful. I think starting the project is knowing how you operate, what your strengths and weaknesses are, and what you need to do today in order to get the project done. So the project that I'm working on today is primarily going to be in my kitchen, living room, and part of my bedroom closet. It doesn't mean that this project is one big project. What I'm doing today is working on, I would say, one larger project and one smaller project. And there are going to be a couple of things that cross over. So some of the things that have been in my bedroom closet that have worked up until now, some of those things are actually leaving the home altogether. And it's going to create space to where I have a few things in a coat closet, which is off of the kitchen, are going to get pushed back to that back closet. And then also in my kitchen, I have some items that I need to go through and pare down things I need to get rid of altogether because I've stopped working on the project that those items correlate with. And then I'm also shifting some items on shelves. And I have one or two items that I tried that didn't work out organizing wise in the kitchen. And so I'm going to pack those back up and send them back to Amazon. Now I'm choosing to do this today because I don't have to leave today. I'm working from home. Not only am I working on the podcast, I'm working on a client project, and then I'm also loading the car for when I do leave tomorrow because part of my plan for tomorrow is to return the items for Amazon and to go donate the items that are going to be donated. And I also have a couple of eBay sales that I'm going to take to the post office. So instead of trying to leave today to do one or two or all of them, today is going to be the day that I'm going to work from home 100%, even if my son and I take a break later and go for a run around the building because we are practicing for his upcoming cross-country season. So we're home today. And then we're going to come back in and eat. And then we're going to wrap up our projects. Now, one thing I said to him was you need to have your project wrapped up by 6 because by 6:30 or 7, we're going to go run once the heat cools off a little bit. So we actually blocked off his time, not just for today, but for tomorrow and Thursday to get this specific book read and all the notes taken because he goes with his dad Thursday evening through, I believe, Sunday afternoon or evening. So I told him once we're done with this book, we have to go on Sunday to Barnes and Noble and pick out his second book from the list because school starts in three weeks and both books and both note-taking slash book reports have to be done. So we kind of mapped that out today because he's working really hard. He's been taking breaks. But I said, listen, you're doing a great job. You are over halfway done. But now you really have to look at how much time you have and what you want to do today, tomorrow, and then the first part of Thursday, because then he goes to tennis at three, and then his dad's gonna meet us there at four. And then I told him, you're gonna have two full days of breaks. You're gonna have Friday and Saturday. And then Sunday, we go pick out the new book, and then that schedule starts all over again. So we've already managed his project. So you want to make sure that you're not gonna be interrupted by other people. Even if he comes in and asks me a question, he's not going to quote unquote interrupt me because there's nothing due today, and there's nothing that he has to be at this evening, early tomorrow, tomorrow afternoon. So I thought, okay, today is the perfect day to mess up my main areas of my place because I can get a lot done and then I can clean up and put back. And I can do part of that before we go on the run, and then I can finish up after the run. But what I'm doing right now and what I want you to do is I actually want you to time and plan out what you're going to do and when you're gonna start cleanup. And I used my son's book report as an example in the way that we've timed that out, because sometimes if you don't work backwards, you underestimate how long something's gonna take or how much time you actually have throughout the day. So for instance, right now it's about 2.30 in the afternoon. Like I said to him, we're gonna go run around 6.30 or 7. So instead of thinking, oh, I've got four hours to do this project, I need to break it up into sections. And I also need to pay attention to what category I put myself in. Just because I'm a professional organizer doesn't mean I'm in the top category of I never get distracted and I always complete projects. For me, I am a blend. I tend to fall somewhere in the middle. I will work on a project, I'll go off on a tangent, and then I'm like, oh, in order to do that, I have to do this. And so then I start that. And then I'm also trying to make sure I catch up on laundry today, and I'm also trying to make sure that I do some podcast items and I do some work items. And so what I'm doing is I'm naturally creating breaks, just like my son did, where it's like, okay, I'm gonna start on this project. I'm gonna take a break and go switch the laundry because I've got to keep that going today. I'm also gonna take that break and I'm gonna do some stuff for the podcast. I'm also emailing regarding the podcast with some potential guest and a different hosting site. And so those are things that I'm trying to keep up on because I have some action items that I'll have to do with that. But again, there's nothing due today and there's nothing due tomorrow at any time. The next time I absolutely have to be somewhere is Thursday afternoon. And even if I do stuff tomorrow, I am not locked into a specific structure. Okay. So what I'm gonna do, and then we're gonna end this episode, is I'm just gonna tell you quickly what my plan is. It's 2 30. I've already had stuff pulled out for the last two hours. I have done probably 40% of what I wanted to do with this project. I also know that I fall in that middle category of being 50-50. I know that I have gone off on a couple of tangents today, but they've also been productive. So instead of kicking myself and saying, you know, I probably could have spent another hour on the thing that I originally started out to do. Now I'm gonna focus on once the laundry gets switched over and once I answer this next email, I am going to spend the next two hours on the main project that I started. If any tangents pop up, I can put the most important tangent to the top. For instance, if you're hanging something and all of a sudden you don't have your hammer, then you can't do the project if you don't have your hammer or a screwdriver. So I can't say, oh, you can't go find your hammer or screwdriver when the whole project was hanging something, right? So with this project, I've had a couple of smaller tangents that I allowed myself to go off on, but now I'm back. And so the next two hours, I'm gonna allow myself to work on this project to whatever extent I want. I may go full force and try to do it as quickly as possible. I may throw in an extra task to complete the project. But the thing is at 4:30 p.m., I have to start cleanup because by 6.30, I'm gonna be starting a run with my child. And if we're out until 7:30 and we come in and, you know, we take showers and we put PJs on and we eat and we start watching our television show that we watch every night. Like as we start our nighttime routine, I don't want to have to try to pick up around him while he's sitting trying to watch the TV. I don't want to be like, oh, excuse me, excuse me. And that's not really winding down for me. That's not really helping me in my situation because I had all day. I don't always have all day to work on a personal project, but I did today. I want to make sure my stress level stays down because working on the project is definitely going to reduce my stress. But if I don't have the cleanup part done by the time it's time to exercise and then wind down and eat and do all the other stuff, then it's not gonna feel as productive, even if I got a lot of stuff done. So ask yourself realistically, what category do I fall into? Am I going to be able to start this and completely wreck the area that I'm working on, get the thing done I need to get done, and then be able to clean up and put everything back before I get tired, before I get hungry, before my kid comes home after practice, before we are gonna go do something this evening. If you have four, six, eight hours to work on something, you wanna make sure that you have enough cleanup time. And for me, I have worked on this, like I said, already two hours. I'm gonna work another two hours. I need to make sure I at least give myself an hour or two to clean up because cleaning up is not gonna be as quick and easy as what you think. You're gonna have to make some decisions and you don't want to just shove everything back on a shelf or in a closet because that's gonna defeat the purpose of the project. So figure out what category you're in. That will help you decide how much cleanup time you need. So I'm gonna give myself two hours. If you're in category one and you're like, I can do this quickly, you maybe can give yourself 30 minutes to an hour to clean up. If you're in category three and you're like, I'm gonna work on this all day, but I'm probably gonna get really, really distracted, then work on the project for X amount of time, but make sure you have two to three hours to clean up because you may have to physically clean up. You may have to clean the counter or the shelves, you may have to throw some stuff away, you may have to take out the trash. So just try to keep realistic on what your project is and don't forget that wrapping it up at the end is just as important as starting the project itself. All right, I hope this episode was helpful. Please make sure to subscribe to the bonus content. The minimum contribution is only $3 a month, and you can listen to all the previous bonus episodes that I have posted in the last two and a half years. Make sure to follow us on YouTube and Instagram at labeled organizing, and I will see you in the next episode.