Let’s face it 8% odds in achieving most anything are not very inspiring to say the least! That’s a whopping 92% chance that you will not, yet 92% is the percentage of people who set goals and don’t achieve them.

Seems impossible doesn’t it? Yet studies by the University of Scranton have determined that 92 percent of people that set New Year’s goals never actually achieve them.

There are countless reasons why this may happen.

You put things off  (“I’ll start on the weekend”), commitment wanes (“I just don’t feel like I have the energy today”), you under estimate what is involved (“it won’t take that long once I start”), whatever the reason and there are lots of them things just don’t seem to get done.

We all tend to set lofty goals for ourselves, goals that show us at the very least we’re committed to accomplishing this herculean undertaking we’ve set. But almost immediately it seems we are not able to stay on track, our focus of the end goal blurs, we start to find reasons why it can’t be done or should be done later. Before long you can’t even remember what, your goal was and nothing has changed (for the better).

As Professional Organizers we have confronted this repeatedly with those we assist. Many times, it occurs when unrealistic objectives or expectations are established. The entire house may need organizing but is this something one can accomplish on the weekend? By yourself? Smaller more specific goals are more easily achieved and can provide that feeling of success required to continue.

Pick a single room and make it your goal for the weekend, put a plan together how you will achieve this. Set timelines, if 8:00am Saturday is when you plan to start, adhere to this, work in manageable time frames. While it may take 8 hours to finish this it’s unlikely you will want to work for this long at one time. Perhaps working to noon having lunch and then enjoying the rest of the day is a better way to go. Finishing off the job on Sunday allows you to complete the goal you set without feeling like you have spent the entire weekend at it. Now you can see the transformation in the room, feel great about what you have accomplished and put a plan in place for the next room.

You owning the room instead of the room owning you is a great feeling! Once it’s organized the majority of the hard work is behind you, now everything is in a place and there is a place for everything you are on your way to keeping the area organized and clutter free. You will still need to be resolute in making certain each person in the household is continuing to do their part to ensure clutter does not repossess the area again.

Congratulations!

Now you are on your way to becoming the 8% of people who set goals and see them through.