Literally.
 
As if an egg beater was turned on inside my brain and then someone else started adding the ingredients to make a dump cake. Sure, it will all be fine in the end, but for right now, THIS is a HOT MESS.
 
Anyone else feel that way?
 
8 days ago, I learned that I would be homeschooling my kindergartner and second grade girls…..for two weeks. I would have to cancel 8 clients. But we would reschedule. It would be fine.
 
And then the news just kept getting worse. While they powers that be haven’t officially announced that homeschooling will continue for 10 weeks instead of 2, that’s the general consensus as state-by-state announcements roll out the extensions. It’s to flatten the curve of the growing pandemic.
 
I get that.

I get wanting the world to shut down so that we don’t infect more people than necessary. I get the greater good.
 
But my brain doesn’t.
 
My brain understands schedules, benchmarks, activities, and time. My brain understands goal attainment and work.
 
Because of the Covid19 precautions, my world has been shaken like a snowglobe. Nothing is in the right place. Every anchor has been upended. And I am floating in an unstructured mess.
 
Immediately, I get the sense that I’ve lost myself. (sigh)
 
But that isn’t true. I am still ME. I haven’t traded my identity for something else; I’m simply spending extra time doing some things that I don’t enjoy as much and I’m not as successful with.
 
It doesn’t mean that I’ve lost the skills and talents that bring me joy, confidence, and strength; it just means that I’m exercising some weaker muscles.
 
It doesn’t mean the snow won’t settle; it just means that my current view is cloudy.
 
So who am I? Who do I want to be through this snowglobe shake up? Who will I be when the snow settles and my anchors return?
 
Who are you? Who do you want to be? And who will you be when the storm passes?
 
To help you weather the storm, I’m offering a FREE coaching session to ALL clients, old and new! Use coupon code COVID19 when scheduling! More time slots will be added as the school district announces their plans. 

Letting go can be difficult, so here are my top 3 strategies for editing your belongings.

#1 Pareto’s Principle.
While you might not be able to pronounce his name properly, this turn of the century Italian economist developed what we commonly refer to today as the 80:20 rule. Vilfredo Pareto determined that what we invest versus the return we get is unbalanced. Applied to our homes, it would appear that 80% of our things are used only 20% of the time. In simpler terms, this means that out of all of your t-shirts in your dresser drawers, over half of them (80%) are only worn less than half (20%) of the time. The flip side of that equation is that you’re wearing a very small percentage (20%) of your t-shirts the majority (80%) of the time. Sounds like it’s time to declutter some of those unworn shirts!
​
#2 One-In-One-Out Rule.
To avoid unnecessary overstock, you’ve got to have a plan to subtract whenever you add. We’re great with toilet paper – we buy lots, but we use lots, so the toilet paper supply never gets out of hand. However, when we’re buying things that aren’t consumable, those items tend to pile up. Consider purses. Although you might love purses (and bags of all sorts), it’s unnecessary to have ALL the bags. So, when buying a new bag, you must let go of an old one. Using the one-in-one-out principle helps us to establish healthy buying habits, which in turn reduces the potential for clutter. If you’ve got an excessive amount, then multiply this rule to read One-In-Three-Out until you can get your stash down to an appropriate level.

#3 Expiration Date.
As you continue on your decluttering journey, you’ll stumble upon items you think you might need one day. While this mindset has proven useful in past decades, it has followed Pareto’s Principle more than we’d like to admit: of the 80-100% of the things we keep for a delayed and unknown need, only 0-20% might ever get used. The replacement light bulbs that come with every strand of holiday lights, or extra buttons that come with your new cardigan. The dull hack saw you salvaged from a garage sale or the door knobs that came out of your renovated property. Maybe it’s the fancy table linens for the parties you never throw or extra sets of glass punch cups. You’re keeping these things because you THINK you’ll use them, but so far you haven’t. In fact, instead of using the old things, you actually just pick up what you need for less than $25 when you need it. Be honest with yourself. It’s time to let these things go. But if you don’t believe me, then place these items in a box with an expiration date clearly marked on the side. Once that date arrives, you’ll have no regrets donating those items because you KNOW you never actually needed them.
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What are your favorite strategies for cutting the clutter? Share them below in the comments!

This post originally appeared on The Good Life.

Who doesn’t love pouring over Pinterest’s images of a perfect pantry or savvy storage area? All those items neatly tucked into the color-coordinated bins that just ring with harmony. If only we could make our storage spaces look just as tidy?

But who really has a place that gorgeous?!

I’ve worked behind the scenes with a well-known blogger and learned a few secrets along the way. Have you noticed that their “after” pictures often have a few extra staging elements like fresh flowers or cut fruit, and a few less real-life elements like half-empty cereal boxes and make-up stained towels? It’s true! Bloggers KNOW which photos trend best, so they edit their shots just like they would edit their posts. They deliver the most beautiful, most desired content; not necessarily the most functional or realistic.

And now that you know, don’t be mad. Like every author, they are creating beautiful images in word and photo that encourage your imagination to bloom to greater heights. Rather, get excited. These behind-the-scenes truths translate into room for imperfection in real life and grace for yourself.
​
So now that you’ve seen the lovely linen closet, realized that the photo was a bit of blogger magic (with the reality tucked just out of lens’ reach), it’s time to evaluate your own space.

What items have you stashed on the shelves that don’t really belong there? What kind of blogger photo magic can you conjure up yourself just by returning the stow-aways? What things belong there but should be moved down a shelf or closer to their point of use? Finally, what categories of items do you have that could be neatly tucked away into a few containers to keep them organized?

This is where the real magic begins. The secret to creating a beautiful storage solution is to use bins that are the proper size for what you wish to contain.

Using your handy dandy measuring tape, get a rough estimate of how big of a bin you’ll need by measuring the length, width, and height of the category of items in front of you. Next, measure the available space on your shelf, or under the cabinet, or wherever you’re planning to place your items. These are your minimum and maximum container sizes.

​Next, go to your basket and bin stash. We all have one. It’s the place where bins go to die…ahem….I mean: earn inches of dust before we decide it’s time to donate them. No judgment. 

Identify Your Belongings
Use your driveway as a staging area to sort the items found in your garage. As you’re sorting, try to group similar items together. I always get a good laugh out of the number of brooms and bug spray come wandering out of corners and shelves. Are there any more items that you can donate or discard? Think wisely about the duplicate tools, coolers, gross yard shoes, and rags. When was the last time you used each of them? Isn’t your space more valuable than your collection of unused duplicates? I thought so! Offer those extras to your neighbor!

Keep it Simple
It’s easier to find (and return) items when you don’t have many places to look. Creating a handful of broad categories will help you to narrow down your search.

Classic garage categories and subcategories include:

• Home Care
  • Painting + Wall Repair
  • Hand Tools
  • Cleaning + Paper Products
• Car Care
  • Tire Repair
  • Oil
  • Car Wash Supplies
• Yard Care
  • Rakes + Shovels
  • Gardening Gloves
  • Potting Soil + Grass Seed
  • Hoses
• Outdoor Entertaining
  • Camping Chairs
  • Roasting Sticks
  • Citronella Candles
• Toys + Sports Equipment
  • Bikes
  • Rackets
  • Bats + Balls
• Pool Gear
  • Noodles
  • Puddle Jumpers
  • Sunscreen
  • Water Guns

Go ahead and start shifting your piles around on the driveway. This will give you a sense of just how much space you’ll need for each broad category.

Assign Zones
Next, it’s time to think about how those categories are used so that we can assign the best zone for them in the garage. Yard tools and outdoor gear are best kept near the garage door. Painting supplies can be kept in the back on a far wall because they’re used less frequently. Take a moment to review your broad categories and determine which need to go towards the garage door, which need to be close by the entrance to the home for quick access, and which categories can be tucked up high. Our pool gear hangs out on a top shelf during the winter but switches places with winter gear as the temperatures rise.

Invest in the Right Tools
Make the most of your storage space by going vertical. Install shelving, peg board, and large hooks to accommodate your storage needs. Clear, sturdy bins are a favorite of mine because you can quickly see what’s inside. Don’t forget to designate a home for your ladders, which I prefer to hang horizontally as to not shorten the length of shelving above. Ceiling mounted shelves are also a great storage solution if you need to get your seasonal items off the ground. These are difficult to access, so make sure the items you place up there regularly used. Bikes are my least favorite to store because, let’s face it, kids need to be able to grab and go. While we hang our adult bikes, the kids’ bikes line the wall.

This post originally appeared on The Good Life.

When we edit and reorganize closets for our clients, we come across two kinds of people: ones that organize by type and ones that organize by outfit.

​The “typers” are SO much easier to organize for because the process of reloading the closet requires so little thought. Short sleeves with short sleeves, pants with pants, sweaters with sweaters. (I personally like to organize my closet by type because it helps me to get the clean laundry off my bed and back where it belongs!)

However, the “typers” always run into one major problem that the “outfitters” avoid — overstock. They’ve fallen into the trap of buying random pieces because they liked the feel, shape, pattern, you name it, but they rarely have plans to put their new found pieces into use beyond the full-length mirror. So the pieces sit. And collect dust. And our “typers” are burdened by the fact that although their closet is well-stocked with beautiful pieces, they’ve still got nothing to wear.

If you’re a “typer” (like me), don’t fret. There’s a proven solution for loving your wardrobe AND sorting it by type. You simply must define your outfit possibilities.

Start by snagging your favorite top and asking yourself a lot of questions. Which bottoms work best? Would it look better with a skirt or does it belong with trousers? Do you even own the trousers in the right color and cut to pull that top off? Asking questions means being brutally honest. Your pieces are guilty of not belonging until proven otherwise, so be merciless if you really want to create a closet you love.

Try on everything to ensure that each outfit works in reality, not just in theory. As you edit, you’ll naturally develop a pile of pieces that simply don’t match anything else in your closet. You could totally donate all of those right off the bat (…nobody is going to be mad about that brand new blouse with tags ending up on a rack at Goodwill for a FRACTION of the original cost). You could also take one more pass through the pile and decide if any of those pieces could be put to use if you invested in one more foundation piece. (A foundation piece is like the bottom brick of a tall building — it matches with everything else and is used frequently. Foundation pieces typically include the classic black pant or white collared shirt.)

Bottom line is the “outfitters” have a leg up on “typers” when it comes to getting dressed and feeling great. You don’t have to organize your closet like theirs, but you should always take the time to think like them to ensure a winning wardrobe.

Looking for fashion inspiration? Check out The Simply Becca Facebook page where Becca is constantly posting the greatest deals on fashionable pieces!

This post originally appeared on The Good Life.

But here are some tips to help curb the amount of clutter:
​

• Encourage kids to put away games and toys before taking out new ones. Kids don’t typically like this tip — they prefer to have all of the fun stuff at their fingertips. Volunteering to help them quickly clean up the old before getting out the new will help your kids to temper their emotions and learn patience.

• Help kids take 5 minutes before bedtime to spruce up their rooms. Putting away all the items from the day, including dirty laundry and worn shoes, develops the skill of follow-through. Completing tasks is not a skill that comes naturally. It is one that must be nurtured and encouraged. Teaching your kids to finish the day by resetting for tomorrow will help them to finish doing the dishes when they’re older. —And who doesn’t want their kids to be able to wash, dry, and put away the dishes one day?!

 

• Provide kids with toy boxes, colorful bins, and shelves for their books and toys. When we like our storage solutions, we’re more likely to use them. The same is true for little ones. Purchase easy to use solutions that allow kids to toss, dump, and pile their belongings. It won’t look like Pinterest, but it will develop the habit of using storage containers rather than leaving piles of items all over the floor.

 

• Give each child a memory box where they can keep treasured items. This is one of my favorite tips! Kids need to know that there is a safe place for the things they love, but they also need the healthy boundaries of a box. You can read more about how to create your child’s memory box here.
  ​
  
• Set a good example by maintaining your own bedroom space. Kids learn how to organize from what they see occurring in their own home. Take the time to set the right example. Simply follow the same tips you’ve read above.

Need help tackling the clutter? Check out our in-home services here.

This post originally appeared on The Good Life.

As a professional organizer, donating is all that thrills my soul! Loading my van up to the brim and buckling items into my seats for safe passage; I just can’t get enough of it. It’s so exciting to see gently used items get a second chance at life. And I’m fairly sure that if I listened hard enough, I’d hear shouts of joy coming from the unloved coffee mugs and barely worn jeans.

But all too often, these items slated for departure never actually leave. They sit in boxes, bags, or random piles around our homes and inside the trunks of our cars. They are SOOOO close to new life, and yet so far away. The poor things!

So how can we actually get our donated items where they need to go?

Launch Pads Are a Necessity.
Do you have a place where you store items that need to leave your home? Everyday items like your wallet, briefcase, book bags and even the sports equipment required for tonight’s game should have a place near the door you most frequently exit when leaving your home. Most likely you’ve already got some hooks, a table, and a closet near this zone we’ll now call your Launch Pad. (It’s not just a clever name. It’s meant to launch those items so that you can complete all your tasks for the day without wasting valuable time searching for misplaced keys, phones, cash, or projects.) Your donated items deserve a spot too. Picking a primary place to store your donated items will help everyone in the home know exactly where to put something that is no longer used or loved but still has life left in it. I’d recommend a sturdy bag or bin.
​
Keep Your Eyes Peeled.
Storing your donated items near your launch pad ensures that you’ll pass them daily. You’ll have an excuse to evaluate how full the bin, bag, or box is so that you’ll know when it’s time to deposit its contents. If you dig donating as much as I do, then you might have additional collection points around the home. Keeping a secondary bin in a child’s closet provides a quick place to drop the gently used shirt that no longer fits or the toy that is no longer interesting. Check the additional collection points weekly (like when you’re collecting the dirty laundry) and don’t forget to transfer those items to your primary collection point in or near your launch pad.

Complete the Cycle.
This is the hardest step of all because it takes something most of us feel like we don’t have time to do: follow through. Now that you have a place to collect your items and you know how often the bin fills up, you’re better equipped to plan for your drop-off. Having a plan is the game-changing secret to success! Quickly make a list on paper (or in your head) of the donation stations near you. I personally recommend manned stations because I LOVE a good tax-deductible receipt for every donation made. Now think about the week ahead. Will you be going by any of these donation stations? Most likely your answer will be affirmative with multiple options. If you’re not sure of a donation facility near you, click here to find them!

If you think you’ll forget to bring your donations with you, set a reminder on your phone or stick a big, bright Post-It to your bin with the day you’ll be headed that direction. Habits are hard to form, but keeping your bin near your keys will help you build that new habit much faster. After each drop-off, make sure to bring your empty bin back to your launch pad and pat yourself on the back for a job well done. Your donations put people back to work. Never underestimate the power of your efforts!

Need a pro to help declutter? Click HERE to learn more about our hands-on services!

This post originally appeared on The Good Life.

This post may contain affiliate links, which means if you purchase one I'll receive a small profit with no additional cost to you whatsoever. Thanks for supporting our site. Click here to learn more.

Like most parents, you save your kids’ stuff: their artwork, tests, poetry, notes.

You save it because you enjoy it. Or because your child was so proud and you want to remember the look on his face and the sound of his voice. Those mementos are visual reminders of exciting times.

But those mementos are growing a tad cumbersome. The piles aren’t looking so neat and tidy. Maybe the memory box isn't working for you, and you’d prefer to SEE the art, the graded papers, and the handwritten notes.

(panic ensues)

You really want to get on the ball and scan those projects or maybe photograph them and print them into a photo book, but who has time for that? Not you. Nope. You spend over half your day just driving the kids to school and extracurricular activities. Then there’s the grocery shopping and meal prep and budgeting. Yeah, that's a definite no.

(defeat)

The point is, dealing with the piles is LOW on the priority list. In fact, it’s so low, that you’ve just come to terms with the fact that those piles will continue to grow and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Until now! Click on the video below to see what I mean!

ARTKIVE is every busy parent’s solution to the piles! They send you a LARGE, postage paid cardboard box to corral your pile as well as a form to list out all your kids’ precious artifacts. When you send it to ARTKIVE, the good folks professionally photograph each item and upload it to an online database. You can stop there if you want, and simply save those items to an external hard drive OR you can organize those images into a hardback photobook. The best part? They’ll dispose of the originals for you so that you don’t have any guilt!

You can save $15 when you use code DECLUTTER at checkout!

Each kit (or cardboard box) holds approximately 200 pieces and is priced at $39. You can include more than 1 child’s artwork within each kit. ARTKIVE will automatically offer to send you a USB of all your images ($25) as well as return them ($20). If you aren’t interested in either of these, simply click the green checkmark next to each option at checkout to decline.

Each hardback photo book contains up to 200 images of art or keepsakes. To determine the cost of your book (billed separately), use the slider at the bottom of this page.

Now, I’m not going to lie. The books are pricey. Could you come out cheaper by doing the work yourself and ordering through Shutterfly, yes. 100% yes. Here’s an ordering scenario just in case you’re interested:

• ARTKIVE Box Service: $39
• Choose 5 artifacts from each year of schooling (Kindergarten-12th grade) that are professionally photographed and cropped: $153
• Total: $192

So why in the world am I telling you about this concierge service? Because this is a worthwhile investment if you’re just too busy to get it done on your own. For $200, it’s taken care of. You don’t have to manage those piles any more! Plus, once you place your first order, ARTKIVE will send you a referral code that you can share with your friends. They’ll save $20 off their order and you’ll earn $20 in ARTKIVE credits!

But if you did want to save some money, you can simply have ARTKIVE digitize the files. At checkout, use code DIGITAL (instead of DECLUTTER), and 40% will immediately be taken off your total.

Or, simply download the ARTKIVE app and upload all of your own photos, that can be organized into books at a later date.
 
Have more questions about ARTKIVE? Check out their FAQ.

Got a filing cabinet on the brink of explosion? Maybe the binders you’ve been using to store your documents just won’t stay closed? You aren’t alone.

When we begin our paper organizing journey, we aren’t big fans to tossing things. Instead, everyone seems more interested in sorting and saving. There isn’t anything wrong with that until the sorting and saving becomes a bit overwhelming to maintain. Eventually the folders outgrow the cabinets, and piles of papers waiting to be filed cover countertops.

The piles create this annoying buzzing sound in our heads. We know the piles of inaction are staring us in the face, taking up precious active space we desperately need, but we’re paralyzed.

It’s okay if you aren’t ready to pitch those old things. It’s okay. But, they can’t stay here. They’re taking up valuable space. We’ve got to put them elsewhere. Somewhere that takes up little to no space at all.

Your computer.

Now before you freak out, let’s go over a few things.
​
Be Brave. You are totally capable of tackling this stuff because you’re bigger, stronger, and faster than any paper pile. You’re the guaranteed winner in this fight. So take heart! It’s just paper.

Make Decisions on the Old Stuff. Starting with the old is typically easier, and starting easy is the best way to maintain motivation. Walk past those piles that need to be filed and go straight for the system you originally put in place. Get rid of all the stuff you know you won’t ever need to access again. Keep the stuff that you will need to access in an unfortunate event (i.e., the trade confirmations from that one stock company that later has a class-action lawsuit for overcharging you, insurance policies, warranties), stuff that is difficult to duplicate (i.e., marriage license, passport), or the stuff that you just WANT to be able to reference should the mood strike (i.e., the first investment you ever had, but has since been rolled over into something else).

Create Folders. Using your old system as a guide, you can create a virtual filing cabinet with the same folder and subfolder names. Yes, you could wait until AFTER you finish processing all the NEW papers to do this, but I find that starting small and attaining small wins is what keeps our clients motivated.)

Decide on a Naming Convention. Once you start scanning, you’ll realize that you won’t be able to “see” your documents the same way you always have. Instead of being able to just glance at a date of a statement on the top right, you’ll have to actually open a file. So save yourself some time, and use a filing naming system to help you know what exactly is each file. I like to use dates for statements, so that I can sort them quickly: 2018.05.31 Statement, or if I’m doing a batch scan of all my old statements then I record the range most recent to oldest: 2018.05.31 to 2013.06.30 Statements.

Review the Contents. Go through the old filing cabinet folder by folder. Do you need to keep all these things? They’re SO old….you don’t even live at that address any more…and that investment was rolled over to another investment at least 4 years ago. (If you aren’t sure what’s safe to pitch, check out our Document Retention Guidelines.) If you need help processing your papers, join us for a Sunday Basket workshop! We can help you distinguish between active and archival papers, as well as make decisions on what to keep and where to keep it!

Start Scanning. Invest in a scanner that is going to help you knock this job out as painlessly and quickly as possible. Your bravery will be tested. Paper organizing isn’t for the faint at heart, so make sure you’ve got the right tool on hand to help you in the fight. Try to scan an entire folder before you head to a coffee break. Remember, we’ve got to keep inching toward achievement. If you want to make it SUPER easy on yourself, get a scanner that can do the following:

• Auto Feed
• Prompts You To Choose Storage Location/File Name
• Doesn’t Make You Restart if There’s a Paper Jam
• Allows You to Scan to ANY Device (because sometimes you don’t need those documents on your hard drive --- sometimes they can go directly into Evernote or an email)
• Scans BOTH Sides at the Same Time
• Creates Searchable PDF’s
• Scans in Color (so you can use it for photos too)
• Scans Multiple Sizes of Documents Within Each Stack
• Is Easy to Operate

If you don’t have one like that, do yourself a huge favor and buy the Fijitsu Scansnap. I’ve got the ix500 and it’s a workhorse with a relatively small footprint. I can easily take it into a client’s home, or keep it on the corner of my desk. My favorite part is the speed. This bad boy does 50 pages front and back in just two minutes. I’m also a fan of the fact that when I scan in all my tax documentation, I don’t have to sort my documents by size. It can scan business cards, receipts, manuals, and standard sheets of paper all in one go. The Scan Snap also resizes my PDFs to the exact size of the scanned document, so there’s no weird white space.

Shred or Burn. As you finish scanning the documents, take one final look. If these documents are truly archival (not actionable and not something you would need the original of), then go ahead and put them in the shred or burn pile. I’m not a fan of buying shredders because non-commercial ones don’t work well for large amounts of shredding. You’re better off just taking your large piles of papers to a document destruction facility (i.e., Staples and most UPS stores can shred) and paying about $1/pound of paper. For reference, a banker’s box holds about 25 pounds of paper. If you’ve got a fire pit, you can also just burn the old documents you no longer need. This is the cheapest way to dispose. I would not recommend throwing your documents in the trash. You can, but I wouldn’t.

Process the NEW Piles. Now that you’ve victoriously conquered all those old papers, you’ve got your filing cabinet back! It’s ready for the new stuff. But, as you may have discovered while processing your OLD files, you won’t want to keep nearly as much as you did five years ago when you first set up the system. Use the tricks you’ve learned going through your OLD to help you go through the NEW. Keep only what you NEED/WANT to keep. Don’t keep things out of some random tinge of guilt. If you know you won’t look at a year’s worth of utility bills, then don’t keep them. However, if you will actually look at them, keep them, and take heart that you’ll eventually scan them so that half inch of filing cabinet space they take up won’t last forever.

Scan Some More. You may find as you sort your NEW that you don’t even want to let it live in the cabinet. That’s great! Go ahead and scan it into the same folders/subfolders you did with your old.

Maintain the System. Whether you’ve decided to go fully paperless, or just partially paperless (scanning only the really old stuff), remember that a system only works if you continue to maintain it. You’ll need to schedule quarterly dates with yourself to file or scan the papers. You’ll need to schedule times when you dispose of the rubbish. You’ll need to schedule annual checkups to make sure the system isn’t getting too full or confusing.

You can do this! I know you can! We’d love to partner with you as you begin your paperless process. Follow us on Facebook to ask questions or contact us to help you one-on-one.

Much like driving, the fastest way to reach your goals is by taking the best route. Careful planning is necessary to think through the rest stops and shortcuts along the way: What do you do here? Which resources are available there? What will you do if something causes you to reroute?

Begin your analysis by writing your goal (or final destination, if you’re really into analogies) in the center of your paper. Use the remaining space to brainstorm all of the potential steps (or stops) you’ll need to take in order to maneuver toward your goal. (If you’re more of a kinesthetic learner, try writing each of your steps on Post-It notes. Visual learners might prefer using various pen or Post-It colors to group their thoughts.) Here are some questions to help you think through potential steps:

• What do you need to do to prepare for your goal? What classes, activities, or calls will you need to make in order to bring your goal one step closer?

 

• Will you rely on anyone else to achieve your goal? Who will you need to work with in order to make this possible?

 

• Does your goal have a deadline? When will each smaller task need to be completed in order to meet your goal on time?

• Do you see any possible red-flags or detours in your task list? How do you plan to respond if your paperwork is lost in the mail, you miss the gym because of extended illness, or your sales don’t reach their benchmarks?

Recording all these thoughts can feel overwhelming, but relief is coming. Now that you’ve completed your initial analysis, it’s time to put the steps in order to create a path to success! You can do this a few different ways. I recommend numbering your steps OR cutting them out and physically moving them around to establish your order. (If you used Post-It Notes earlier, then you’re in luck — no cutting for you!) This arrangement isn’t set in stone. Give yourself the freedom to re-order, delete, or add tasks during the process. Life rarely goes as planned, which is why we prepare for detours.

Now stand back and look at your task list in all its glory. What is your first step? If it isn’t easy-peasy, and quite honestly “laughable”, then break down that task into smaller steps. Research has proven that if the steps we want to take require too much effort, we will choose defeat and derail our goals. Instead, make it easy for yourself to change your habits and work toward that wonderful goal.

The other derailer is perfectionism. When we get caught up in the nitty-gritty, must-do-it-perfectly mindset, we lose sight of our end goal. Don’t go missing in the abyss of the unattainable. Realize perfection isn’t helpful, but progress is! Keep moving through your steps, even if you’re dragging one leg behind or the deal didn’t close as smoothly as you had planned. Progress will help you push through unavoidable detours and delays as you advance toward your goal.

Here’s to a successful year!

This post originally appeared on The Good Life.