Sustainable Goal Setting for the New Year

What I Want to Be, Do and Have

Here we are, many of us, back in front of that blank piece of paper, wondering what to resolve for the new year. Some of us will set our goals out in the stratosphere, so high that we court failure. The pessimists among us will not even bother with goal setting, “bah humbug.” The realists among us will choose goals which are a stretch but within reach. And year after year our successes will build upon themselves. Subtle differences often set these 3 groups apart, and with some simple coaching dramatic shifts of perception may occur.

What do coaching, purging, clutter control and space planning have in common? These are just a few of the functions shared by professional organizers. Not every organizer performs each of these services, but most do. The universal benefit of working with a professional organizer is stress reduction.

There are many roads to Rome.

A road I’ve taken for each of the past 33 years goes like this. On or before December 31st I write down “What I want to BE in 2012,” “What I want to DO in 2012” and “What I want to HAVE in 2012.” Then I list some goals under each heading. I challenge myself, but reasonably. After all, if I meet my own challenges, next year I will want to up the ante another notch and bit by bit I will get to Rome! I keep these yearly lists in a journal and each Dec. 31st I revisit the list from the current year, noting my progress. This reinforces the process and serves as a guide for the following year.

What do New Year’s Resolutions have to do with Organizing? Everything. An organizer is so much more than a person who sorts items into piles by categories. While the sorting process is indeed important, organizers are teachers, coaches, counselors, motivators, and encouragers. Teaching of prioritization and time management are hallmarks of a professional organizer. The organizer-client relationship is one of collaborative support. The basic concept of goal setting for a New Year encapsulates the very soul of organizing.

May your dreams and reality be one and the same. Happy New Year, and I’ll see you in Rome! 2012.