The Mantra to Keep You Organized by @MelindaMassie

by Melinda Massie | Featured Contributor

Have you seen the DirecTV commercials for dumping cable? They start with a simple scenario – paying too much for cable – and then through some creative logic put you into a TOTALLY different and crazy place. Since I was an event planner, this one is my favorite:

“When you pay too much for cable, you feel powerless. When you feel powerless, you want to take the power back. When you want to take the power back, you take karate. When you take karate, you want to use your karate. When you want to use your karate, you become the Fist of Goodness. When you become the Fist of Goodness, you run along rooftops. And when you run along rooftops, you fall into a dinner party. Don’t fall into a dinner party.”

Many times, a big reason why my clients’ homes are cluttered is because something just wasn’t seen through until the end. The VERY end. When this is the case, I prescribe this mantra and drill it into their heads until it sticks … or until they get sick of me harping on it and just do it.

Po-tay-to, po-tah-to.

So the mantra that keeps them, and will keep you, organized?

“I commit to seeing things through to the VERY end.”

What do I mean by the “very end?” Like the commercial I discuss at the beginning of this post, it goes further than you probably think (if perhaps not as far as they take it). For example:

• Dinner isn’t finished until the dishes are washed and put away—with the cabinets closed (yes, I’ve told people they needed to close their cabinet doors).
• The grocery run isn’t finished until the food is put away—and prepped as well if you prep all your food in one day (which I HIGHLY recommend).
• Laundry isn’t finished until all the clothes are folded or hung and put away (technically … although is laundry ever really finished?).

See what I’m getting at here? It’s okay if your head just exploded a little—I’ve been told on more than one occasion that this has made someone’s head spontaneously combust.

All too often, we see tasks as separate—cooking dinner, eating dinner, doing the dishes (later)—instead of as a whole. This allows us to easily stop each task too soon, which in turn leaves us with a progressively messy house. By seeing things through to the very end, we’ll naturally have a more organized home.

So repeat after me:

I commit.

I commit.

To seeing things through.

To seeing things through.

To the VERY.

To the VERY.

End.

End.

Awesome, Sunshines! Now go forth and do it!

How do you remind yourself to keep up with organizing maintenance tasks?

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Professional Organizer – Melinda Massie of Organizing with a Side of Fabulous – Ft. Worth, TX

Often called a healer, therapist of stuff and the organizing ninja, Melinda Massie is the owner of Organizing with a Side of Fabulous in Fort Worth, TX. If your home is a hot mess then she’ll help you take control over the clutter so you can make your home fabulous. Combining her sensible, no-fuss organizing philosophies with a vivacious personality and healthy dose of “redhead,” she makes getting organized suck less. As a former professional ballroom dancer and event planner, she also brings in some sparkle and entertainment to the process.

Melinda was named Best Personal Organizer 2011 by Fort Worth, Texas Magazine and Most Glamorous Home-Based Business in the 2011 StartupNation Home-Based 100. Her tips have been seen in Woman’s Day, SHAPE and many other local and national publications.

In her free time, Melinda enjoys yoga, cooking and eating indulgent food and believes that champagne is meant for the everyday.

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Melissa Stewart

Melissa Stewart is the founder of SheOwnsIt.com. She is a Purveyor of Possibility, Entrepreneur Advocate and Coffee Addict. She believes that behind every successful woman is her story. What’s your story?