It's easy to find tips and ideas about how to get organized. But I can’t count how many times clients have told me that no matter what strategy they've tried, nothing sticks. In reality, getting organized is personal, intimate, and individualized. Tips and ideas are important, but only inasmuch as they apply to you. Folding your underwear in colorful origami shapes can make for delightful instagram pics but it may not be your most practical underwear storage strategy.

So, how do you know what tips and ideas will work? By observing yourself in your life-spaces and then by writing down what you observe. 

We see our lives from up close, in fragmented details - the running thoughts, the nagging frustrations. We live within our routines and habits. And from that close perspective, the whole landscape is impossible to see. Taking the details from inside your mind and putting them onto paper, offers a distance that helps you understand the big picture. 

So, step back. Start by making a deep commitment to journal about your thoughts and feelings as you live in your spaces. For a week, or a month, or however long you need, record your thoughts and feelings as you notice them coming up. If a thought comes to you, write it down.

Good, positive, hopeful thoughts - write them down. Uncomfortable feelings - write them down. If you notice a habit - jot it in your notes.  If seeing dirty dishes pisses you off or getting dressed gives you anxiety or if you don’t feel inspired by the color of your walls, whatever comes up, write it down. Don't discriminate. Every thought and feeling is equally useful. The mere practice of noticing will organically illuminate so much - your unconscious habits, your patterns of accumulation, and your fantasies about your space.

My best friend recently told me that she enjoys making lists because it means she doesn't have to do anything, which is the perfect description of this step. At this point relax and take no other action than this. It’s enough for now. It’s more than enough. It’s everything.

You've cleared your mind of the mental clutter that plagues you as you live in your spaces. And, by default, you’ve created a big picture. You’ve captured the whole landscape.

From these notes you can learn what you already knew, but hadn’t fully seen as well as bunch of stuff you really didn't know., yet You can learn your style and aesthetic and the size or shape of your bottlenecks in your home. You can potentially create whole diorama of what you do, how you do it, of what you want and how you want it. And, most importantly these notes can easily show you where to start.

This may seem like some kind of magical wizardry, but I promise it’s not. It’s simple self-observation through journaling. And it works.

The next step is to use the notes to their full advantage. So, go easy on yourself. Have fun. And keep reading! This is all very exciting!

Next up: If Marie Kondo Method didn’t work for you, you’re most people.

Next up in this series: How to put your notes to use.