This week we're sharing examples of organizing goals and how to set them up for your own journey. We share personal anecdotes and address the feedback you've been sending in. We'll explore the nuances of organizing goals, how they differ from regular goals, and why clear objectives are pivotal to achieving a serene, functional space.
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In this episode we talk about:
- Practical tips on staying accountable and flexible along your organizing journey
- Understanding the difference between short-term and long-term goals
- Breaking down the “SMART” framework
Mentioned in this Episode:
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The Organized & Productive podcast is brought to you by The Organized Flamingo and hosted by Stephanie Y. Deininger! For those of you who love the thought of organizing & being more productive, but don’t know where to start or constantly up against hurdles that don’t let you advance the way you want to, this podcast is for you!
Review full show notes and resources at https://theorganizedflamingo.com/podcast
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Review the Transcript:
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:00:00]:
Welcome, organized and productive listeners. So happy that you're here this week. Okay, so for this week, we are talking about how to set your organizing goals. And let me give you a quick background as to how this topic came about. In the last couple of weeks, I have been asking you to send feedback over what topics you're interested in, listening to, learning more about what inspires you, what is a hiccup that you're coming across so that I can walk and talk you through it and answer all your, your questions, right? And you all did not disappoint. And let me tell you that one of the most requested topics was about goals. And then, funny enough, such a coincidence, right around the same time, my best friend and I were texting back and forth about things. And she's one of the things, many things was about her organizing journey.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:00:54]:
And she's doing so fabulous and so amazing. I'm so proud of her. And then somewhere in there, we, she said, I said to her, make sure that you have a very clear goal as to why you're doing this. And she replied with, what kind of goal? What do you mean? Can you give me some examples, something to that effect? And then between that, and then all of you sending me feedback and saying that I kept talking about goals in the episodes, but that you weren't sure what that meant. And so between those two, I thought, oh, my gosh, that is such an important topic for me to cover because it starts really, it sets you up for success with your journey. It starts your journey off on the right foot. So I thought, oh, my gosh, why? I can't, I can't believe I haven't made an episode about that. So let's get into it and talk organizing goals.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:01:47]:
I'm going to give you some examples on how you could be setting yourself up for success, what it is, and how it's different from, like, a work goal or like a regular goal, and how an organizing goal differs a little bit of and how to set yourself up for success. So let's get to it. Welcome to the organized and productive podcast with the organized Flamingo. I am your host, Stephanie, a professional organizer and productivity expert, ready to explore the right organizing and productivity solutions for you. Yeah. Well, then, let's go. So first things first. Let's talk about what an organizing goal is exactly and how it differs from a regular goal.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:02:25]:
Now, they're really similar. It's pretty much the same thing. Except here with an organizing goal, it's, it has, it has to, like, 99.9% be something that you, yourself, or the people that are involved in this project can make decisions on. So this isn't like a vision board. This isn't a what I wish my home, my pantry, my garage would look like. I mean, that will be part of the journey, but that is not the goal. That is a vision. That is an aspiration and inspiration.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:03:02]:
So the goal here with an organizing goal is things that you can control, that you can do yourself, that you can afford, that are within your means, that you can actually do and complete on your own or with the people that you have, and you're on your team within the. The amount of time that you have allotted yourself to complete this with. So it's not just about tidying up or getting rid of clutter per se, that that might be part of the actions, but it's a clear vision of what you want your space to achieve for you. So a very clear vision of what you want your space to achieve for you. So it could be creating a calm and peaceful environment. It could be that you want your home to be more functional, you know, something broad, but also that you can create on your own. Okay, so that's why it's a little different than maybe some of your other goals that are multifaceted. Like, you know, you would need.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:04:08]:
You know, if you're trying to remodel your house and you're looking to upgrade some of your, like your pantry or your, you know, your closets and stuff like that requires money. And if you are able and you have the money to, like, you are going to be able to get that money to do those things, then that becomes part of your goal. And that becomes clear because you understand very clearly that you need to get, you know, you work a certain amount or get this money by this, by. By the means of doing this thing in order to achieve what you're trying to do with your space, does that make sense? So it has to be very clear. As you can see, the more layers I add, even as I'm speaking, I was trying to give you some examples, right? Like, just to start us off, the more cumbersome and the more layers I add to this goal, the more messy and. And muddy it gets. And you don't want that. You want to know how you are going to get there.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:05:10]:
So if your ultimate goal is, I am, you know, I just want more, more serenity in my life. That's beautiful. That's wonderful. That is going to be a great goal. Like, that will get us started. And then as I continue this episode, I will give you examples and tips on how to get even more specific so that goal becomes so, so clear and so manageable that you can see it, you can taste it, you can see the actions of you getting there ultimately and not being so broad that you don't even know how you're going to get there. So you don't, you don't. You get stuck somewhere in the middle or maybe don't even start because it becomes overwhelming.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:05:51]:
Okay, so that's, that's why it's a little different than maybe other goals that you might have set. You just have to be really clear and as direct as possible. Okay, so let's talk about the types of goals that are out there. There's so there's quite a few out there. The ones that I like to talk about when it comes to organizing is there's like, there's about a handful. So the first is the short term versus long term. So determine, is this something that you're trying to do as soon as possible? I talk about this in the seven steps of organizing almost anything, which is our framework. If you're, if you're new to us here, it is where you pick what is the ultimate outcome at the end? Is it time? Is it.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:06:33]:
Are you trying to design to the space? Meaning you have all the time in the world. It just, everything has to fit in that space. So anyway, there's, if you listen to the seven steps of organizing almost anything, podcast, episode, then I go into detail on that. But the short term versus long term is important for you to understand because there are going to be layers to your journey where some things you can achieve in one day or within 24 hours or a week or a month or whatever that may be, we try to stick to three months or less for short term. And anything that's more than three months, which is like a quarter, essentially, or one season, if you will, then it becomes long term. Not always, but that's kind of the rule of thumb because you can, you know, the three months is a very quick timeframe, and then anything past that just will take a little bit longer. So determine if this is like a short term or a long term goal, then you also will. So some of the, one of my most favorite part types of goals, excuse me, is the smart goals that you can apply to your organizing journey.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:07:40]:
And the reason I like the smart goals, I'll explain in a second. If you have not heard of Smart, it's an acronym and also a word. Yes, but it's an acronym for a type of goals, goal setting is that I like this method because it's measurable. So in organizing, feeling has a big part of this. It's how you feel about the space. And it could be the most neat, everything in its place, color coded space. But if you can't find the thing as that you're looking for as efficiently as possible, and it's frustrating you, then it's really not organized. No matter what the magazine says, no matter what youre Pinterest board says, then it's not organized for you and the people living in the space.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:08:26]:
That is where a lot of relationships have this battle over. Is it organized or is it not? Or you need to get rid of stuff because one partner will be a minimalist and the other one a maximalist, and then, you know, the conversation will get nowhere because one feels a certain way and the other party feels a certain way and there's no middle ground. So we like to define it somehow and measure it somehow so that you can actually have something that you can see, you can measure, you can, you know, you can, you can see the progress. So that's why I like the smart. So smart goal stands for. Is it specific? So make your goals specific, make them measurable, make them achievable, make them real, relevant, and make them time bound. So for the, you can look more into that, you know, on your own. But I'll give you a quick example and overview.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:09:22]:
So specific. So know exactly what you want to organize, you know, is it these pencils and erasers and craft items? I mean, be super specific. As specific as you can. Make it measurable. This is why I like smart goals. Because when will, you know when you're done? Like how do you know you are making progress? Measure it somehow so everyone will, will find the measure a little bit different. For some of you, it will be by time, by, you know, in 2 hours. I need to have made, I need to have cleared this space or made a dent or gone through all this stuff.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:09:59]:
For some of you, it will be a much bigger space. Like I will know I, you know, I am achieving my goal or I am making progress when this entire room is, you know, is halfway done. Or boxes. For some of you, it's, I want to fill three boxes. Boxes is really a big, a good measure for if you're just trying to do maintenance decluttering or maintenance organizing so that you know that what's coming in, you know, what, however many number of things are coming in are also coming out. So you don't avoid the so you can avoid the overwhelm of having too much stuff. Even if you're a maximalist, even if you love stuff, you can still be organized. But if you don't have a sense of control of your stuff, and they will control you.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:10:49]:
And so measuring what comes in and out is, is a good way for you to have a goal. The third letter here is achievable. So set goals that are challenging but realistic. You want to make sure that you. It's within your control that you can actually do them yourself or that you have the means to have a team to do it for you, you know, but even that is almost, you know, you're relying on other people. So I always like to tell people, have realistic goals that you can achieve that, you know, you can, you can control the. The project as much as possible. So there's a lot of flexibility in here that you will need to add.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:11:29]:
Another reason why this is, you know, organizing goals are so a little bit different because you do have to have so much flexibility anyway. Okay, the next letter. R. The r. Keep them relevant. Your goals should align with your overall lifestyle needs. We've talked about this, you know, in quite a few of the episodes where your organizing goals should fit your lifestyle, not the other way around. The other way around is a magazine shoot or cover.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:11:57]:
Okay? You are living in this space. It's supposed to work for you in the way that you're living your life. For those. Those of you who are caregivers, who are living with different generations in the same household, that's. This is a very important part of the goal. You may want this space that looks untouched, like a museum. It's minimalist. It's beautiful.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:12:19]:
It's just so clear and clean. But you have multiple people living in your house that may not believe or want that same style or can't. Especially caregivers. If you are having medical professionals coming in and out, or other people that help you, or you're in a place of life that's not reachable for you in this moment, then having that goal can be very frustrating because it's not relevant to you. It doesn't align with your lifestyle. So I want you to make sure that it does fit into, realistically into the lifestyle that you have right now. And then the last letter is the time bound, which is when do you. When do you have a clear closure? When do you think you will have a clear closure for this project and for your organizing project? So use smart goals for, as a great guide for your organizing goals, because it's just so specific and it can guide you through, like through just the acronyms and the letters.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:13:20]:
By just on its own, it'll guide you very nicely to make a goal for yourself and your project. So, moving on. If that is just too boxy, that's what I call it. When it's so square, when it's just. There's too many rules. If smart goals are just too, too specific for you, then at least break down your overall goal and make sure you have little goals underneath it, sub goals that you can be crossing off. So it could be. The main goal is I want to fill three boxes full of stuff either to donate or sell or give away or throw away or whatever it may be for that room.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:14:02]:
And then within that main goal, there's going to be several. So it can be, it will take me, you know, four days. So that's one of the goals. Like the bigger kind of sub goal. Four days, three boxes every day. I want to fill one box by the end of that day. And then the last day I'll just do like, you know, a quick scan through the room. Another example of breaking down big goals is if your goal is to organize your entire garage.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:14:32]:
Start by sorting through one section or category at a time. Like maybe you first start off with tools, maybe holiday decorations next. So this way each step feels doable and you can see the progress as you go. So that's another example of breaking it down. And if you don't want to have be so specific and time bound, because sometimes when you're so specific for, for some of you, that makes you feel claustrophobic, and then you don't get anything done because you feel really restrained. So I want you to know that you have flexibility on what kind of goals and how the system of making a goal can go. It doesn't have to be one type, but I definitely want the, like, the most clear part of this is that I want you to have some way to measure it, some way to see the progress, to feel it and to see it so that that momentum, momentum keeps going. That's going to be a big key factor in creating your goal.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:15:35]:
As you're creating your goals, I want you to think about staying on. Like, how do you think you're going to stay on track? Do you need accountability partners? Do you need a worksheet? Do you need a map? For some? I've. I've had clients wherever, I'll ask them this question, and they really are visual people and they like having a meter that they can see the progress. So every time we have a box that is on its way out, we put in a big sheet and then we do a graph, or we do check in so that you can see how many things have been cleared out. So determine that for you and incorporate rewards within that visualization. So have some way of staying on track that works for you within the goal. So put that into the equation here. How will you be measuring your progress visually? Or how will you be able to know so that you can feel it or touch it or whatever is your preference here? Okay, so if you've listened this far and you think it's all good in concept, or you, you've heard this before and you're semi rolling your eyes wondering, okay, yes, I get all this, but you still have not helped me find how to do it.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:16:59]:
Okay, well, first off, that goal has to be yours. Like, you have to be able to do the work, because the motivation behind the goal is really important. Even if you work with the most, the best, most wonderful coach, pro organizer, accountability person, they can only do so much. And if you plan on being involved, you absolutely need to have the why behind the goal. Now, if they're doing it for you and you're standing back, that's amazing and wonderful, but you still should have some kind of why to guide them and so that you can feel fulfilled at the end, so that you can feel like it was a complete project. Because if not, then you will feel unsatisfied. It will feel like, okay, well, this is still, you know, it's pretty, but I still feel disorganized because there was no motivation behind the goal. So it's really important for you to have one and do, if anything, that's the work I want you to do.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:18:01]:
What is your why? Because that's where motivation starts. Why do you want to get organized? Here's some examples. Is it to reduce the chaos in your life, to make your daily routine smootheren? Maybe make a, make all that noise, actual noise. Oh, here's a quick example, a great example. I had a client who was overwhelmed with all the noise. And I asked her, I said, well, what do you mean by the visual noise? And she said, yes, the visual noise, sure. But the actual noise that every time she walked around her house, she had this really big clock and all these decorative little trinkets and stuff that were really pretty. But, you know, there's a lot of them.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:18:44]:
And what happened is the house, over time, the, you know, the, the flooring was moving. And so now when she was walking down that area, those areas of her house, those items would rattle and the clock would clink and or do. Do its hourly think, you know? And it was just too much for her. She's. She changed. She herself changed through the life. Her house changed, though. You know, flooring changed.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:19:12]:
So it brought new noises and new things she had never seen or noticed or cared about in the past because life was different. And so now she was ready to let the actual noise, the actual little clinking and rattling every time she walked by. She was ready to let that go. So that is another example. So maybe it's to create a more welcoming space for your family and friends. Empty nesters. This is a big, kind category for you. When you, your children or your family members are off to their new lives and different chapters in their lives, you're left with a home that feels emptier and that is.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:19:54]:
That's different. And maybe you want to convert some of these spaces into a place where all of these people that have left will be coming back and will be visiting. So now it's more like a. Like a cozy bed and breakfast, right? I'm not saying that you will be serving them like a bed and breakfast, but maybe that's the feel that you. You want. So the why behind that is very specific and the motivation. Like, you want it to be inviting to those people. And that is why you're trying to, you know, get rid of all the stuff that you've been putting into that room and now just accumulating clutter, because you want it to be nice and cozy and welcoming when they come in.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:20:27]:
So whatever your reason, keep it at the forefront of your mind when you're doing this goal. When you're doing this project and you're. You're putting together your goals, it'll help you stay committed. It'll help you. It'll give you those reminders when you're feeling exhausted and wondering why you're even doing this. So keep these at the forefront, even when it gets really tough. The last part I'll mention about this is the flexibility component of it. I mentioned it early on the episode here where you will need to have flexibility.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:21:01]:
Because what I have seen happen with the motive, like, the why, the behind, you know, the why behind your goal and then putting together your goal and then doing the work, is that sometimes there will be this evolution of re finding yourself and readjusting those goals according to what you have actually found. Like, literally found, right? Because you're digging through stuff and looking through stuff. And so what I see a lot in the, or in the, in the decluttering, organizing, downsizing of stuff is that as you're uncovering and doing the actual work, even if someone, someone else is doing it for you, okay? Even if you've hired an organizer like us or whoever it may be to do it for you or an assistant to do it for you, you essentially, you know, you at some point will, will come across the stuff, the items as well, and it will start to uncover these feelings. And that is where that flexibility needs to come in. Now, I don't want you to be afraid of that flexibility. Still do the exercising and the exercises of the why or finding the why and doing the goal setting. Even if it changes, don't be discouraged. That is beautiful.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:22:11]:
That's part of finding at the end, the results and finding what actually works for you. There will be a lot of that. And that's why I want you to be compassionate with yourself and or your loved one. If you're doing this for someone or with someone, for someone else, and be flexible. Don't be afraid of the change and know that it's just part of the journey. Okay? So again, keep that open, but don't let that stop you from creating the goal because that will happen 99% of the time. That is not my scientific measurement here. Okay? But I've seen that quite a bit.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:22:49]:
And then I see when people get discouraged when they did the work, the pre work, and then life changed. Right? Or you uncovered something that it all up. That's okay. That is okay. Now, this is a guide. Your goal is your guide to that. You can always come back to to get you to the finish line, but somewhere in the middle you might have to change it up a little bit so that you can still get to the end goal. It just might look a little different.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:23:17]:
Okay? So make sure that you don't give up when, if you do find yourself in that predicament, you've got this. I believe in you. So go get your goal written down. Find your motivation. Share it with us if you want, if you can. And until next week, happy organizing. Thank you for listening to the organized and productive podcast with the organized Flamingo. If you enjoyed today's episode, I would love it if you'd leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast player.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:23:47]:
It helps with letting people know that we're here. For full show notes and resources, head on over to theorganizedflamingo.com slash podcast Happy organizing.
