Just Start.

If you want to tidy up, you must take action. Have you heard this adage: How do you eat an elephant? The answer is: one bite at a time.

I want you to imagine your Tidying Festival–where you mindfully tidy your whole home in a short span of time–as the elephant. You will never succeed in eating an “elephant” unless you take the first bite.

The True Story of an Overwhelmed Client

I once saw a client who had read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up years ago.  She loved the book, and believed in the Method.  She joined KonMari®-themed groups on Facebook and told her friends about the book.  Then, she tidied her home… in her head.  Thoughts without action got her nowhere. Years went by.  

And.  She.  Never.  Got.  Started.

I asked her why she didn’t take action to tidy, and her answer surprised me: the simple idea of actually pulling ALL HER CLOTHES out of her closet was OVERWHELMING.  I get it.  If you’ve seen Marie’s first Netflix show, Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, you get it too. On the episode featuring Ron and Wendy Akiyama, Marie Kondo instructs Wendy to pile all the clothes on the bed, and it reaches almost to the ceiling!  Click here for a look at “Mt. Wendy” if you haven’t seen it.  Marie gently announces without batting an eye, “I’m going to be honest with you. This is the biggest pile I’ve seen of all my clients.” See below for a not-as-large pile I tackled with another one of my clients.

Do the Tidying that Makes Sense for You

Taking all of your clothes out and making a big pile may be the “ideal” way to dive into the tidying process, but it doesn’t make sense for everyone.  It makes for great reality TV, however leaving a client’s home with a mountain of clothes still untidy doesn’t make a great reality.  Most of the families on Tidying Up with Marie Kondo received assistance with their tidying assignments from a Certified KonMari Consultant after Marie left. Truly, tidying is much easier with an organizing expert to assist you. Watch my client successfully tidy her space with some rock-solid guidance and support in the following video.

Smaller Bites Make More Sense for Some

What do you think? Is the big pile overwhelming? Let me just say that the big pile is not for everyone. In fact, in the years since these photos were taken, I have learned to take care in organizing items into subcategories as we get them out of the closet. It really does help the process go more smoothly and is usually very easy to do. Here are a few situations where taking small bites might be a good fit for you:

• You have more clothes/papers/books than you can confidently tidy in the 5 hours of time (gold standard) you have set aside for it. 
• You have small children.
• You have a small house and need to be able to use the space where you put your clothes/papers/books later that day.
• You have a demanding schedule that keeps you from being able to set aside more than a few hours a week for tidying.
• You have anxiety, ADHD, depression or other mental health issues.
• You have experienced a past trauma that will be revisited during the tidying process.
• You have recently suffered a loss.

Any of these reasons or more may be the source of your inertia.  Know that you’re not alone if you have trouble starting things.  One of author Gretchen Rubin’s secrets of adulthood is: “Nothing is more exhausting than the task that is never started.” You’ve got that right! Just looking at or thinking about your messy closet is weighing you down more than you realize.

Elephants in the Closet? Time to Take Action

Please stop exhausting yourself and take action to tidy up. Whatever the reason for your lack of motion on tidying up, an outside force like a Certified KonMari Consultant may be the impetus you need to get the ball rolling.  I help you let go of the weight of your belongings with gratitude and joy. Tidying is healing, and I urge you not to postpone your tidying any longer. It is time to let go. I mean, just look at the change below! It feels so good to do this!

If you resolved sometime in the past to get your house in order, and here you are now, still staring at that “elephant” (or closet) and feeling overwhelmed by the enormity of the task ahead, then now is the time to contact us to help you take action to tidy up. Tidy Upgrade offers an initial session where we get your closet neat and tidy. Sometimes getting started is the hardest part. Once you get your momentum going, the next bite may be easier. Don’t wait to clear space for joy.  Just start. Take action to tidy today!