Get Organized Tip: Change Your Self Talk

Have you ever noticed that that the organizing process is filled with emotional highs and lows? If you enjoy the process of organizing, you’ll find more highs along the way than if you’re someone who enjoys the results of organizing more than the actual process. Either way, the emotions we experience are often the result of our self-talk. For example, if you feel badly about the clutter and disorder in your home, you may find yourself thinking (and possibly saying out loud) lots of negative thoughts while you’re organizing. Do any of these sound familiar?

• I can’t believe I let it get this bad.
• What’s wrong with me?
• This place is such a mess!
• I’m so overwhelmed.
• I’m so mad at myself. How did I let things go for so long?
• I’m such a mess.
• This is going to take forever.

Whether you use these words or different ones, if your self-talk is negative, then your feelings about organizing will be negative, too. Next time you hear that little voice in your head start to go negative, say the following out loud:

Then, quickly change your self-talk to something more encouraging and supportive, such as:

• This is going to feel so great when I’m done!
• Look at you – diving in there and getting it done. Woohoo!
• Soon this place is going to look and feel amazing!
• I’m going to focus on one small area at a time and in time, I will get it done.
• I’m choosing to forgive myself for letting things get this way. What matters is that I’m making progress now.
• I’ve been so busy with other things. It feels great to be taking time to reclaim my space.
• This is going to take some time, but it’s going to be so worth it!

If you know you’re prone to negative self-talk, take a proactive step and write down some more encouraging messages on a notecard and tuck it into your organizing toolkit. By shifting the way you talk to yourself while organizing, you will enjoy the process more and be more likely to stick with it when the going gets tough.

Happy organizing!