organizing – Rolanda L., Professional Organizer

DECONSTRUCTED – DIY Freezer Organization

Your freezer is a powerful ally in preserving frozen foods. The following tips will help you bring clarity, accessibility, and order to your top freezer.

[credit: simplyorganized.me]

Tools:

Containers with handles

Alternative size – container with handle (optional)

Ice bins (optional)

Expandable Shelf (optional)

**Measure your freezer space and verify product dimensions before purchasing

Procedure:

Remove your freezer items.
[Optional] If your freezer DOES NOT have a shelf, you may be able to create one by inserting an expandable shelf.
Place frozen items into the assorted bins according to categories (meats, vegetables, ice cream, etc.) and size.
If you are using an expandable shelf that does not fit your freezer from end to end, consider using taller containers on the outside edge(s), and place the shelf in the middle.
Enjoy the newly-acquired visibility and accessibility to the items in your organized freezer.

Deconstructed – Easy Closet Design with Hanging Shelves and Shoe Storage

Sometimes we want a little more structure in our closets without the total confinement of custom shelves and DIY organizer units. This very basic closet setup featured on Real Simple shows us how we can achieve a very clean, easy-to-maintain aesthetic by adding just a few organizing products. Let’s deconstruct it!

What You’ll Need:

How-To:

Similar to doing a new hairstyle, closet organization projects have the best results when completed in a freshly cleaned, purged closet. Once you have determined the items you would like to keep in the closet, dusted any built-in shelves, and cleaned the floors, you can achieve the above-pictured organized closet design by following these steps:

1. Position your shoe rack in the corner of your choice. The two-tier wooden shoe rack listed above is designed to store six to eight pairs of shoes while the available three-tier option can store up to 12 pairs. Depending on the size of your closet, you may be able to fit more than one shoe rack if you have more shoes. In a standard, reach-in closet, I generally recommend positioning shoe racks against a wall or directly in a corner with the most frequently-worn shoes positioned on the side of the rack that is closest to the closet entrance for easier access.

2. Position your fabric hanging shelf to one side of your closet rod. Inside the fabric shelf, you can store small items like scarves, socks, tights, and folded t-shirts. Adding the optional drawers makes the fabric shelf more suitable for storing intimate apparel or items you don’t need to access throughout the year like hats, gloves, and earmuffs. I recommend using the drawers to store items you would prefer to have out of sight. However, it is also important that you remember what you decide to store in the drawers. Otherwise, you may unknowingly go out and purchase duplicates. If you are afraid you won’t remember what’s stored in the drawers, feel free to add discrete labels.

On the open shelf, I recommend sticking to items you can neatly fold. Alternatively, you can also store items that do not require folding like a few small handbags and clutches or perhaps a few stackable hats. Whatever you decide to store on the open shelf, be sure you are able to maintain the appearance of these items.

3. Decide which clothing items you would like to keep on hangers, and transfer them over to the wood hangers. The closet in the photo only shows tops on hangers. However, in the supply list, I’ve recommended sturdier wood hangers that will allow you to also fold pants over the bottom rung. While these hangers are a little bulkier than some other styles like the popular slim velvet hangers, the hangers I’ve selected will give your closet a more upscale retail aesthetic. They also feature notches that will allow you to secure tops that have very thin straps and are more prone to slipping off of standard hangers.

To achieve the color scheme pictured above, start by positioning your white tops on the left side, and gradually add tops of darker colors as you move rightward, carefully keeping clothing within each color group together. Beginning with your white tops on the far left side will also help prevent color transfer onto your light-colored clothes. If you would like to include pants in this particular closet layout, I would recommend putting them on hangers and keeping them together in a separate section further to the right and also organized by color. You can also check out my post on my quick, go-to color-coordinating closet-organizing strategy.

4. Lastly, place your small hamper adjacent to your shoe rack on the opposite side of the closet. I recommend keeping the hamper in a position within the closet that will allow fresh air circulation if possible. Place the wire cube bin onto your closet’s upper shelf to create easy storage for lint rollers, fabric sprays, fashion tape, and other closet supplies.

Now, step back and admire your work. We did it!

Once again, the following supplies can be found at Amazon and delivered conveniently to your home. Thank you for supporting me by purchasing through my affiliate links:

Stay tuned as we deconstruct more picture-perfect spaces and learn how to make them our own!

How to Keep a Small Apartment Organized

Moving into a new apartment can be an unnerving task, especially one with confined space. Home organization is not an easy task. It can be challenging for many reasons, from cleanliness to maintaining systems. You might be wondering how you could fit all your belongings into such a small place, but the good news is there are multiple solutions available to help you organize your small space.A cluttered home leads to a cluttered mind. A messy place can never bring mental clarity. No matter how small the place is, if you follow the below-mentioned rules, any place can become a happy place.

Living Room Organizing for a More Pleasant Gathering Space

Since the living room is the place where you spend most of your time when entertaining others, it is best not to keep it cluttered at all. Jackets, coats, and bags occupy a lot of space. As a space-saving solution, install hooks just inside the front door. Creating a mudroom or command center allows you to immediately store your outerwear and bags as soon as you enter the home. Creating coat and bag storage also makes things easier for visitors. If you do not want to hook a nail on the wall or door, simply use sticky hooks. To keep your entertainment equipment safe and away from sight, you may also incorporate storage furniture that blends well with your living room furniture. Many coffee tables come with storage boxes.

Bedroom Organizing for Strategic Storage Solutions

Making your bed every day can be a game-changer in your quest to keep your bed organized. When your bed is neatly made, the rest of the room will automatically appear to be more organized.Many people do not like storing things under the bed as they do not often clean under the bed. As an alternative, you might prefer a bed with drawers. You can keep often used things or off-season clothes in the drawer under the bed. Hang a shoe organizer inside the closet. An over-the-door shoe organizer can hold all types of footwear that might otherwise be cluttering your bedroom. There are many closet organizers are also available in the market today that help you organize things in a very elegant way. There are wire closet organizers and wooden closet organizers. You can hang clothes, place shoes and handbags and even display decorative pieces.

Bathroom Organizing for Space Maximization

Bathrooms are even smaller spaces. Make sure you get rid of the things you don’t need. Install utilitarian storage containers where you can keep your toothbrushes, toothpaste and other toiletries like soap and shampoo. Another small wall hanger can be installed to keep your hairdryer, etc.

Kitchen Organizing Solutions to Tame Clutter

The kitchen is another space that seems to attract clutter. Install wall hangers to hang the pots and pans. Use drawers and cabinets to store other utensils and cooking related gadgets. Keep items you seldom use on the top shelves.Take advantage of every hook and nook in the kitchen by installing a hanging spice rack. Place hanging storage containers at the back of the cabinet or pantry door to hold canned food or bottled food items.

By following some of the above-mentioned organizing suggestions, your small apartment will appear more orderly and spacious. A well-organized small apartment can feel as accommodating as any larger space as long as you keep these tips in mind.

5 Tools to Help You Organize Your Craft Room

If you love crafting in your downtime, chances are you also know the inherent clutter that comes along with arts and craft activities. The following tips and product recommendations will allow you to enjoy crafting while preventing your hobby from overtaking your space.

Keep small craft pieces contained by investing in a high-quality case.

The SnapCubes stackable arts and crafts case is a three-tier clear stackable storage container with compartments. It’s perfectly designed for jewelers, people who love to sew, as well as those who do beadwork. Small compartments within each layer of the case keep intricate pieces organized and neatly separated. A clear acrylic exterior allows for easy visibility. The case has a top handle which will make your craft supplies readily portable. The interlocking stackable design will save space.

A clear exterior and interior compartments make it easy to keep up with the tiniest craft supplies. https://amzn.to/2ILI5dz [affiliate link]

Grab a set of wheels, and put them in motion.

When organizing craft rooms, storage carts are typically a necessity. I prefer wheeled organizer carts with drawers over immobile pieces. While stationary furniture pieces make perfect sense in other parts of the home or office, arts and craft hobbies often involve moving from place to place to gather supplies. Many people also do their arts and crafts in rooms that serve multiple purposes. This is especially true of the confined spaces in metropolitan areas like New York City. If your crafting area serves multiple purposes, you likely find it necessary to occasionally stash craft supplies out of sight or in a more favorable location, especially if you typically convert the area the room to accommodate guests, to be used as a home office, or for any other purpose that does not immediately involve crafting.

The Seville Classics Organizer Cart is available in multiple sizes to suit your crafting needs and to complement the size of your space. The car is available with 6, 8, 10, or 15 drawers. Stylistically, the cart features multicolored drawers, which work well for categorizing and sorting arts and craft supplies and keeping them organized. The cart is wheeled, which makes it easy to take your crafting to other parts of the home or to stash your supplies quickly when you need to make space.

Multi-color compartments are great for organizing and color-coding according to category. https://amzn.to/35yyukn [affiliate link]

Another wheeled option, the IRIS 7-Drawer Rolling Storage Cart includes an organizer top, which is a simple compartmentalized tray that can house scissors, a hole punch, and other hand tools. The seven drawers are comprised of four shallow drawers in three deep bins. The shallow drawers are ideal for storing smaller crafting supplies while the deeper drawers are the perfect places to stash away incomplete craft projects that require days or weeks to finish.

A combination of large and small drawers accommodates smaller craft supplies and unfinished projects that require an extended period of time to finish. https://amzn.to/2OI3RTy [affiliate link]

Organize your desktop.

Keeping your craft room desktop organized can be a challenge. This is especially true for those who need boundaries and separation, neither of which a which an expansive open desktop provides. Fortunately, there are tools that can help you compartmentalize and organize your crafting desktop. The mDesign Lazy Susan Turntable Storage Organizing Container is perfect for organizing larger craft supplies. Divided into five compartments, the turntable storage container is spacious enought to accommodate supplies like glues, containers of glitter, and tubes of paint. A small cylindrical center compartment is sized for supplies like paint brushes, glue sticks, Exacto knives, and sponges.

Turntable organizer keeps desktops neat and attractive. https://amzn.to/2paBVgd [affiliate link]

Get a good desk or craft table.

In a craft room, your work surface is everything. A good craft desk will eliminate the need to purchase many different organizing and storage products. The South Shore Crea counter height craft table is a versatile piece of furniture for novices and for avid crafters. Taller than the average desk, the Crea craft table lends itself to working while standing or while seated on a stool or bar height chair. This craft table has ample storage including interchangeable modules, a wide drawer, and removable shelves. Its scratch-proof work table surface means your Crea craft table will retain its appearance and last for years of continuous crafting.

Removable drawers and shelves make this counter height craft table extra versatile. https://amzn.to/2MzHGMC [affiliate link]

Live in New York City? Need help organizing your space? Give us a call, or book your appointment online.

On Balance and Perfection

Many busy professionals, and especially entrepreneurs, express exasperation at the notion of achieving life “balance.” Some even say the concept of balance is a myth. Before approaching the questions of whether balance exists and how it can be achieved, there is an important distinction that must be drawn. When people say they are in search of balance, they oftentimes use the benchmark of perfection. Using perfection as a standard automatically sets up the individual, who by this point is usually tired and somewhat frustrated, for failure.

Balance vs. Perfection

Balance is a scientific concept. It requires adjusting the distribution of weight to remain upright. While the positioning may not appear to be ideal or comfortable to onlookers, the end goal is to remain upright and stable. Therefore, achieving balance may not necessarily feel pretty at first. It may require strengthening muscles you’ve never used before, doing exercises that are not necessarily comfortable in the beginning, and stretching yourself in ways that may seem painful, but will eventually help you move more efficiently. The perfect illustration of what balance looks like is ballet. Anyone who has taken a ballet class knows it is not the most comfortable dance art to learn and requires a great deal of conditioning. But once dancers achieve a certain level, the beauty of the art form is undeniable. Like many areas of our lives, the beauty of ballet is all based on the foundational concept of the dancer being able to readily identify his or her center of gravity and move in ways that allow him or her to remain in a balanced state. You can always tell when a ballet dancer is not balanced because he or she will bobble or even fall. In these ways, life and ballet are very similar.

The Problem with Perfection

Many of us seek perfection, but oftentimes people achieve what they perceive as perfection only to realize “perfection” ain’t so perfect. How many times have we thought someone lived a perfect life until we saw what goes on behind the scenes? Some of us have thought we would be perfect if we were to gain or lose 10 pounds only to discover the weight did not necessarily go (or leave) wherever we had intended it to. Some of us chose the perfect major in school and later discovered we hated it; others of us may have even graduated and discovered that the chosen course of study was not necessarily the most employable degree, or perhaps you graduated just as job demand in that particular field changed. All these examples illustrate that we have to set benchmarks that are firm, but flexible enough to be adjusted to accommodate changing conditions. Otherwise stated, identifying an ideal and striving for it is a fantastic idea; however, in doing so, it is important that we spend time thinking about how we can incorporate a sense of balance into that equation.

What Does Balance Look Like?

Balance looks different for everyone, but it is generally characterized by a lack of chronic stress. If you find yourself constantly stressing over the same thing (money, relationships, weight, work-life balance), there is usually something you may be doing or allowing that is no longer working for you. An effective approach to discovering what may be contributing to imbalance is to evaluate every area in your life, write your findings down, and even track your moods and behaviors over the course of a week. Many of us have taken on practices that are in direct opposition of our overall goals and objectives, but we are unable to readily identify which part of our life is out of alignment because we adapt and continue to repeat counterproductive behaviors until they become habits. I should note that achieving a state of balance will not necessarily mean that you will not have to make sacrifices. Oftentimes, living a balanced life may mean cutting back on work to support children in their after school activities or enfing the party earlier in the interest of getting home earlier and waking up at a comfortable time to prepare for the upcoming workday. Once you achieve balance, you will know. Your basic needs will be met, you will feel less “strained” in certain areas of your life, and you will generally be at peace. Experiencing your personal version of true “balance” will ultimately compel you to continue to prioritize things in your life in a manner that allows you to maintain your newfound peaceful state.

Follow me on Instagram for daily tips on how to live a more balanced life.

Brain Dump Strategy – Creating a Chronological Notebook

Most of us can relate to having stray thoughts that emerge throughout the day while we are trying to complete our scheduled tasks. For some, these thoughts come one at a time and are generally not too bothersome. Others may be plagued by nagging recurring thoughts or a mind that constantly races and makes focusing on any task a challenge. This particular method of brain dumping is a quick way to transfer stray thoughts from your mind onto paper. By transferring things from your head to a physical page, you can permanently save the thought and revisit it later when you are not attempting to focus on another unrelated task. Storing your thoughts on paper can also help ease the anxiety that drives some people to replay the same thought over and over again. When you have written the idea down on paper, you no longer have to burden yourself with repeatedly reminding yourself of it.

How to Maintain a Daily Brain Dump Notebook

Select a small, portable notebook, and keep it accessible throughout the day.
Begin a new page each day by labeling the page with the current date.
Whenever you have difficulty focusing, write down all stray thought, reminders, recurring ideas that enter your mind and distract you. Make a note if the thought requires revisiting.
Once the thought is written down on paper, give yourself permission to move on and complete the current task at hand.
At the end of each day, set aside 15 minutes to review what you have written on the current page of your brain dump notebook. Revisit all thoughts that required further evaluation or action. If you have written yourself reminders, transfer them to your upcoming to-do list and/or daily calendar.

OPTIONAL: Reserve the first two pages in your notebook to create a running index. As you fill in pages chronologically, update your index by labeling each week or calendar month and listing the page range that covers it (example: “January: Pages 3 to 32” or “January 1st – 7th…….Pages 3-11”). Labeling your index according to corresponding dates will help in the event that you need to review your notes from several weeks or months ago.

Quick-Start Solutions: Simple Rescue Strategy for Rooms That Are Buried in Paperwork

Sick and tired of unorganized…*things*? Feeling overwhelmed at the thought of getting tackling that nondescript pile of stuff? I’m here to help. This exercise will help you move one non-painful, very manageable, highly productive step toward getting organized.

Problem: Help! My living room/dining room/bedroom/office/kitchen/the doghouse is overflowing with papers that are of questionable importance!

Solution: Go grab some empty file folders. If you don’t have any lying around the house, run to your nearest office supply store/drug store/grocery store…or scroll to the bottom to see some cool folders Amazon can have on your doorstep within 1 to 2 days…depending on your shipping preferences [note: affiliate links included].

If you don’t have folders right this second, you can still separate the papers into piles, but label the piles CAREFULLY, and clip the papers in each pile together using a paperclip or binder clip. Now. We’re ready to begin:

1. SET A GOAL, and determine how much paperwork you would like to clean up in your current session. Be realistic. If you know you only have the energy to work on the task for 30 minutes, set a timer for 30 minutes. If you can work for a full hour…POWER HOURRR! Let’s Go!

2. Create categories, and label each folder according to the types of papers you have. If you can’t think of categories, try starting with these: Health, Home, Work, Finance, Bills, Leisure. Some of you may need to add a category for School. If you have kids, each child should have his or her own folder…but for starters, you can keep them all in one folder. For now. You WILL have to go back and separate everything out, though. So it’s best to just make a folder for each child if you have a massive amount of paperwork coming in from school, hobbies, etc.

3. Pick up one piece of paper. Determine which category the paper best fits. Example, if you pick up a car insurance bill, file it in the “bills” folder. If you can’t decide within 30 second, set the paper aside, and revisit it at the end.

4. Repeat process until you can see the table/desk/floor/interior of the oven (yes, I’ve seen this before) or wherever your unruly papers have been landing. Advanced tip: (file your papers in chronological order as you add them to the folders; doing this now will save time when you need to access these papers later…and you WILL need to access your papers later: either to use them, to file them more permanently, OR to throw them away).

5. When finished, store the folders in a standing file box or file cabinet so you can access them later.

***If you still have remaining papers to clean up, don’t worry. Pull out your calendar, and schedule another time WITHIN THE NEXT 7 DAYS to continue the task. Write it down as an “appointment!” Keep repeating these “appointments” until all papers have been cleaned up and appropriately filed.

Maintenance: Set aside a general basket, bin, or letter tray to collect paperwork throughout the week. Choose one designated day each week to clear out the basket and file paperwork in its rightful folder. Eventually, the papers should go into a permanent file cabinet or drawer. But I will discuss that in a future post in the interest of keeping it simple and just focusing on quick cleanup strategies for now.

Recommended Supplies:

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Organizing Your Life 202: Setting Yourself Up for Success by Creating a Morning Routine (and Sticking to It)

Virtually all of the leading business and lifestyle magazines regularly report on the critical role the early morning hours can play in determining the outcome of the rest of your day. For this reason, having a set morning routine can literally change a person’s life. While it is true that some things are simply out of our control, we can largely control our mindset and how we respond to whatever our workday or off-duty time with family, friends, and neighbors throws at us. What we do within the first few hours of waking up sets the tone for the rest of the day. Therefore, creating a morning routine and sticking to it is one of the most impactful ways we can set ourselves up for success in every area of our lives.

Beyond Waking Up and Getting Dressed

Some of you may be tempted to say, “But I have a morning routine. I wake up every day. I take a shower, then I rush off to work.” While that series of tasks does, in fact, constitute a routine in the most basic sense of the word, there are ways we can super-charge our morning activities to give us a boost that will last for hours and help us become more patient, more alert, more focused, and ultimately more productive. The morning is also a very opportune time to implement activities that can help us achieve a greater sense of calm and a peaceful disposition prior to interacting with the overbearing manager, annoying coworker, or the digital mountain of repetitive emails that ALL require answers. Think of your morning routine as the moment you look up an address (or find a destination on a map), then enter the address into your GPS and determine how you will get there.

Activities that Create a Sense of Calm

If you suffer from anxiety, the morning may especially be a critical time for you. Getting out of bed is a tremendous feat when you lack a general sense of physical or mental wellness, much less have the desire to leave the comfort and perceived security of your pillows and blankets. People who have difficulty getting out of bed for any reason may wish to begin each day with a combination of activities that both comfort and invigorate the mind and body. Immediately getting out of bed and taking an aromatherapy shower (there are several simple ways essential oils can be used in the shower to produce a fragrant steam) is a very gentle, but effective way to awaken the senses and lift the mood. Setting an alarm that plays uplifting music, then continuing to listen for 15 minutes can also help ease anxiousness and make getting out of bed a little easier. The rule is once you are out of bed, move on to an activity that will keep you out of bed and help you build the momentum you need to prepare for work (or whatever comprises your to-do list). At this point, moving away from the bed to meditate, have quiet reflection, or simply listen to or play music (if you enjoy playing an instrument) can further put the mind at ease.

Exercise

Some people prefer to exercise in the evening or at lunchtime, but for the first time ever, I (a non-morning person) challenged myself during the month of March to try working out in the morning. As a result of that personal “challenge,” I will likely never go back to p.m. workouts. Working out in the morning boosts endorphins, creates a sense that you have already accomplished something before the day even begins, and is beneficial to overall health. I do 30 minutes of cardio, but each person’s exercise needs and preferences will depend on the individual. Going for a 15-minute walk to get a healthy breakfast can also serve as a lower-impact alternative.

Plan the Day Ahead

I, personally, am a p.m. planner. I feel at ease when I write out my schedule for the next day on the night before (also a very effective way to boost productivity…and also a new habit I developed as a result of a person “challenge” to try a new goal-setting strategy). Nevertheless, some people prefer envisioning the day ahead and writing out a schedule early in the morning. Planning can be incorporated into journaling and doing mindset work to shift from negative thinking to a positive mindset.

Drawing/Painting

People who are very creative may find it helpful to set aside 15-30 minutes to “create” something for the sole purpose of leisure and enjoyment before beginning the day. Anything from drawing and painting to composing music and writing can serve as a vehicle for eliminating anxiety, processing emotions, and building optimism about the day ahead.

Make Your Morning Routine Non-Negotiable

I know what many of you may be thinking: who has time for any of this? Answer: you. You just have to prioritize it. Actively schedule time for your morning routine, even if it means going to bed earlier or managing your time better the day before. Try the morning routine out for a week, and evaluate its impact on how you feel as well as your overall changes in productivity. Most people find the sacrifices (waking up earlier, not staying up as late, watching less TV the night before) that must be made in the interest of sticking to their new morning routine to be well worth the trade-off.

If you need help getting started with designing a morning routine for yourself, join my Facebook group, or send me an email. I’d love to help you get started on the right track!

New Facebook Group

If you have not liked my Facebook page, please do so! In addition to the page, I recently started a Facebook group for like-minded professionals who simply want to be more productive at home and at work. I regularly offer tips and lead discussions on time management strategies, focus-building strategies, goal-setting, and general organizing.

This week, I am walking the group through setting monthly goals and creating a weekly action plan and daily schedule to break down the process of achieving those goals. Join us if you love talking about organizing and productivity or if you need a little help in those areas!

Combating Indecisiveness

Most people who have been paralyzed by indecision also know the deleterious effect the chronic inability to make decisions can have on an individual’s life. Being caught between two equally appealing plans for a Saturday morning may end in spending half the day in bed laden with guilt. Inability to decide whether to start a home organizing project by rearranging the kitchen cabinets or purging the linen closet may quickly lead to clean towels remaining on top of the dryer for a week and a load of dishes that never really make it out of the dishwasher. A plan to start exercising and lose weight may be completely derailed when it’s time to choose a gym. While most of us have experienced indecisiveness on a comparatively small scale (“Should I wear jeans or something less casual?…Now I’m running late.”), there are people from virtually every walk of life who find themselves gripped by the inability to feel at ease when prompted to make a decision. As a result, their lives become stagnant and are oftentimes filled with anxiety at nearly every turn.

If the notion of struggling to make basic decisions resonates with you, you may be wondering whether you can be helped. The answer is yes.

Your Life is the Product of a Series of Choices

At first, imagining that a person’s life is the sum of his or her choices might seem like more of a reason to feel overwhelmed. However, re-imagining decision-making as the act that propels us through each day can also help us feel less pressured from moment to moment. Instead of concentrating on the potential for things to go very badly as a result of one misstep, a more empowering approach is to view each opportunity to make a decision as another chance to right a wrong or to build upon a previous good decision; focus on the good that may result from your choices. Shifting your perspective to one that looks forward to deciding, observing the outcome, and using that outcome as the basis upon which to make better decisions will eventually replace the familiar feelings of indecisiveness and dread with a sense of moving in a much more positive forward trajectory.

Decision-Making is Information-Gathering

Most of us are familiar with some variation of the phrase “Live and learn.” We can, in fact, learn from our experiences and use them to predict outcomes, oftentimes with a reliable degree of accuracy. However, sometimes, our progress may be hindered if we begin to think irrationally and become overwhelmed by emotion in attempting to predict the future. Harboring the fear of not making perfect decisions can have an impact that extends beyond preventing an individual from moving forward. Refusing to make a decision may also rob the individual of the opportunity to gather new information through experience. Over time, a consistent pattern of avoiding new experiences may eventually result in stagnation and lack of growth.

What’s the Cure?

The cure to indecisiveness is fairly straightforward: make a decision; then make another one. Through my work, I have found that among people who describe themselves as very disorganized, there is a certain subset that experiences severe anxiety in combination with paralyzing indecisiveness. My recommended approach to combating indecisiveness is the same as my advice to anyone who is attempting to accomplish any seemingly insurmountable goal: start small. One decision will literally lead to another. Small accomplishments will help you make decisions in areas that are highly unlikely to have lasting detrimental effects, but over time they will enable you to build confidence in your decision-making abilities.

Celebrate Your Successes

When it comes to replacing negative habits with positive behaviors, repetition and recognition are equally important. Pausing to acknowledge progress encourages the continuance of the positive behavior and can make the individual feel less frustrated and more apt to try again if he or she experiences a moment of regression along the way.

Realize Most Decisions Are Impermanent

Overall, decision-making is like wandering through a city park. It is entirely possible to get lost for a while, but parks are finite structures, and so are most of life’s situations. If you observe and note where you’ve been and remained focused on where you want to go, you will most likely find yourself on the right path sooner or later.