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DETERMINATION, DRIVE, AND DISCIPLINE: THE MAKING OF AN ORGANIZATION JUNKIE

So you're tired of clutter and chaos? Are you ready for the challenge of learning how to organize?

Great organizers are made, not born. No matter how messy, disorganized, and out-of-control your life is, you can learn new behavior. If you find this excruciatingly difficult and discouraging, you're a normal human being who never learned how to clean up his or her act. If you discover that you are equipped with an Inner Organizer who believes in 'a place for everything and everything in its place', chances are that you have been influenced by a Power Organizer. Send this person a thank you note. Chances are that you underappreciated this neatnik mentor in the past.

1. SET PRIORITIES. If you try to do everything at once, you will fail. Write down all the areas where you long to draw order out of chaos, pick out the one which is the most important to you, and focus your energy there. Do you have too much stuff for your space? Are you unable to find things when you need them? Do you lose track of the plans of other family members? Is it impossible to find time for yourself? Are mealtimes chaotic? Pinpoint where Operation Organization will begin.

2. HAVE A PLAN. It's not enough to say, "We've got to have more communication around here." Get a monthly or weekly planner, put it in a prominent place, and introduce the concept to your family members. "From now on, any event that is not on this planner does not exist, and no one in the family will be expected to make allowances for it. In case of conflicting events, the one that was on the planner first will get priority, unless it is clearly something non-negotiable, like an emergency medical appointment." Then be prepared to enforce it.

3. START SMALL. Tackling something like getting the dishes washed after each meal, or the laundry put away in a timely fashion, will have a high probability of success, and give you confidence to take on a bigger challenge. Easy does it. Let each new habit get firmly established before trying to make another change.

4. GET THE REST OF THE TEAM ON BOARD. Like it or not, you can't do this alone. If you try, you will feel like Cinderella, and give up in disgust. All the people who share your space and your schedule are members of the team. You will need to sell the concept to them, and persuade them to take joint ownership. Explain the benefits of organization, as well as the consequences of non-participation. If you haven't

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