07 | The Pre-Project Planning Phase
07 | The Pre-Project Planning Phase
In this episode, I discuss how pre-project planning improves every organizational undertaking. The hardest part about starting a project is ACTUALLY starting it. Feeling overwhelmed about a project is normal and can lead to procrastination. Knowing where you want to go with a project is essential pre-work. Start by identifying the scope of work you want to accomplish. Then, pre-plan deadlines, expectations, and goals to help your brain create boundaries. As a result, it will be easier to get motivated, overcome distractions, and stay on track to complete your project on time.
In addition, I share four key questions that help you find purpose and clarity around the project you want to pursue. The four questions are:
Why do I want this space (or my overall lifestyle) to be more organized?
How do I think I’ll feel once I become organized?
What obstacles do I think I’ll encounter for this project?
How will I know when I’ve become organized or reached the end of my project?
Spend time with these questions to dive deeper into the emotional journey of your organizational project. Allow yourself to become curious about the why, what, and where. These answers will help you become more invested in what you set out to complete. This process is an essential step to pre-project planning and alleviates pressure and stress so that you can reframe your mindset.
MENTIONED ON THIS EPISODE:
National Assoc. of Black Professional Organizers
National Assoc. of Productivity + Organizing Professionals
Institute for Challenging Disorganization
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Intro: Welcome to A Pleasant Solution, Embracing an Organized Life. I'm your host, certified life coach, professional organizer, and home life expert, Amelia Pleasant Kennedy and I help folks permanently eliminate clutter in their homes and lives. On this podcast, we'll go beyond the basics of home organization to talk about why a clutter-free mindset is essential to an aligned and sustainable lifestyle. If you're someone with a to-do list, if you're managing a household and if you're caring for others, this podcast is for you. Let's dive in.
Amelia: Welcome to Episode 7, The Pre-Project Planning Phase. One of the most valuable things a professional organizer can help you with is determining exactly where you want to go with your specific project. I'm a member of several professional organizing communities, the National Association of Black Professional Organizers, the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals, the Institute for Challenging Disorganization and Black Girls Who Organize. And within each, there's always a conversation around determining the scope of a project and setting expectations with the client about what can reasonably be achieved during our time together. I'll link each organization in the show notes in case you're looking to hire an in-home organizer or productivity professional.
Knowing where you want to go with a project, even if it's a whole home makeover, is essential pre-work. Now, I want to remind you that you already have a relationship with organization. You also have systems in place in your home. Sure, you may desire to get them functioning more effectively than they currently are. However, your systems do exist. You're more organized than you know. You're not starting from scratch. On today's episode, I'll define what I mean by the scope of your project and share my thoughts on the, “I just got to get started” line of thinking. Then I'll outline four key questions for you to think through in advance of beginning any type of organizing project in your home or in advance of hiring a professional to help you execute one.
Spending some time with these questions in advance of your project will help eliminate many of the mind drama obstacles that are sure to appear while the project is in process. Investing time in the pre-project planning phase is one tool that you can repeat with each individual project. First, you'll want to define the scope of your project. The scope is basically the boundaries you're putting on the project you've decided to work on. Let me be clear. Your brain needs boundaries to stay out of overwhelm. It's one of the most loving things you can do for yourself. Organizing your whole home is not the scope. Organizing your main bathroom is. Organizing your entire photo collection is not the scope. Decluttering and organizing physical photos from your childhood through age 18 is. Putting boundaries or guidelines on the project helps narrow what your brain is required to attend to during the course of the project.
Think about the what, the where, and how long you'd like to spend on the project as a whole. When in doubt, start small. I'll be getting into this a bit more as I go through the four questions here in a bit. For example, the scope of your project may be getting your toddler set up for their next stage of growth, clothing-wise, this is the “what.” The “where” is your child's bedroom, closet and any items in longer term storage. You may give yourself two weeks for this project. Define your start and end date. Giving parameters to a project before you begin, keeps your brain on track. Whenever you notice yourself drifting off to declutter toys that are no longer needed, you can bring yourself back to the scope of the project, toys are not clothes. It doesn't mean that toys aren't important, it just means that you'll get to them when this project is complete. You're welcome to be as specific as is helpful when defining the scope.
A pro may be more detailed, yet general guidelines are enough for you to get started. So, I'm sure you're thinking, “Why is starting so hard?” Starting something new is hard because it feels heavy and difficult. You may be feeling confused or unsure of where to start. Yet you know you are more organized than you think. Once you dive in, the steps will become more clear and the confusion will begin to melt away. In future episodes, I'll speak more to the role of emotions in decluttering and organizing. For now, let's look at how it feels to think, “Ugh, I just got to get started.”
Do you know how many times I've told myself I just got to get started? I said it over and over to myself when I was launching my business, I said it loads. It was like a tape loop running through my mind. I'd do a little research. I'd hear the refrain. I'd talk to my friends about it. I'd hear the refrain. I'd register for a class. I'd hear the refrain. I even got a job at The Container Store. That was my first step back into the working world from being strictly at home. I still heard the refrain. “I just got to get started on my business.”
The words you say to yourself matter. They create your reality. They also create the emotional experience you are having day to day, moment to moment. I just got to get started, is the type of seemingly harmless phrase that causes more internal suffering than most of us like to admit. It feels like pressure. Anytime you hear the words should or just in your brain, that's a clue that you may be setting yourself up for a serving of internal pressure. This pressure creates an additional layer of stress and anxiety that sometimes is obvious and sometimes is floating below the surface.
The pressure builds to make the idea of the project worse than taking action. I know y'all feel me. Take your brain out of the feeling of pressure and return your focus to the scope of the project. Remind yourself of the boundaries and limits you've put on it. Then look for ways that you've already gotten started. For example, you've done this process at least once before. You decluttered the newborn clothes for the baby clothes. See you've already gotten started. It doesn't matter if that step one was a year ago. Highlight for yourself how you know exactly what to do because you've done it once before. Let's say it's been 20 years since you last decluttered your garage. No problem. Define the scope of the project. Break the garage into sections and plan to handle only one of the four walls.
Start small. Then when the refrain, “I just got to get started” pops up, remind yourself that by defining the scope of the project you've already started. Look at that! Perhaps the project has been swirling in your mind for two years. That's it. You actually started two years ago and your first next step is right on time. Give yourself credit for thinking about it the last two years. That counts. Notice what conversations you've had with your partner around the topic. Maybe they didn't move the needle, yet the conversation is evidence that you've already started. You've learned that you have to take the lead. Look for other places in your home that you've made decisions about in the meantime. Every week you've taken the garbage and the recycling out. That's an act of being organized and a way of decluttering your garage.
I'm sure you're rolling your eyes right now. Trust me, giving yourself credit for every small decision, every conversation, every thought, every time you've taken the garbage out will help loosen the overwhelm. Redirecting your brain to the positive takes effort and it reaps rewards by lightening the pressure. Validating yourself internally has long-lasting benefits and will help to counteract any shame or blame that pop up. This is also what a mindset reframe looks like.
For the second half of this episode, I'm going to shift to four key questions that will help you find purpose and clarity around the project you want to pursue. I'll post the questions in the show notes so that you don't have to jot them down right now. My work with clients always goes deeper than the beautification of a space, and by spending time with these questions, you can dive deeper too.
Thinking through your emotional journey will help make the beautification, the results - it'll help them last longer. The first of these four questions is, “Why do I want this space or my overall lifestyle to be more organized?” Again, this is about getting curious and digging below the surface. When you get your first answer, ask yourself why again. Ask why a few times and give yourself space to answer it. There's no rush.
Let's go back to the example of clearing out the outgrown clothes for your toddler. On the surface the reason why may be so that you can find what you need when you need it. However, when you begin to dig a little deeper, you may discover that you occasionally grit your teeth or roll your eyes when your partner dresses your child. They don't choose clothes that coordinate and that bothers you. You know that the dresser currently has clothing that's a mix of sizes.
It also has items that were given as a gift and you've kept them out of obligation. They're not your style, so you don't choose those items. However, your partner isn't taking your thoughts and feelings into consideration. Maybe you've mentioned something around the topic, yet your comments about what items fit and what items are for special occasions or what items are just a little cuckoo to be honest, it just hasn't stuck for them. Take a deep breath and dig a little deeper. Why does this matter? It matters because it affects the way you feel. You don't want to grit your teeth or roll your eyes, nor do you want to think, “I guess I'm the only one who can get our child dressed properly.” There's a low level of irritation that you haven't noticed before or have always laughed off.
This brings me to question two, “How do I think I'll feel once I become organized?” If you've dug a few layers down with question one, you'll have clues to the answer to this question. Feelings are at the core of everything you do or don't do. How you’re feeling drives your next steps. Most of us haven't received an education in how to feel our feelings. Your brain is great at running things and it often drowns out the feelings happening in your body. Use the information you've gained from question one to keep going. So, back to decluttering your toddler's outgrown clothes. You can predict that by following through with this project, you'll feel less irritation. You'll be gritting your teeth and rolling your eyes less. You'll be judging your partner less. You won't judge yourself for judging your partner as much. Hmm, you're getting somewhere. Becoming more organized in this one little corner of your world will alleviate a few stressful feelings and interactions. Now, that's a reward for your efforts.
To recap, you've defined the scope of your project. You've set aside your brain's nonsense about just getting started. You've identified your why for this particular project, and you've identified the reward that clearing out the clutter will create for you, and you haven't even done any physical work yet! This pre-project planning work truly sets you up for success. There are two more questions before I let you go today.
Next up, consider question number three, “What obstacles do I think I'll encounter for this project?” Identifying obstacles in advance will save you time. It's kind of like chopping all the vegetables and prepping the ingredients for a meal before you cook. Everything goes a bit more smoothly when you're confident about what goes in the skillet when. Common obstacles to home organization projects include not having a landing place for donations or items that are headed out of your home, not knowing exactly how to dispose of items, not actively scheduling time to work on the project, not giving adequate notice to or informing others in the home about the work you'll be doing, not asking for help or lastly, not having a firm end date for the project. If you were to work with a professional organizer in home, these are a few of the items that would be ironed out before your project began. Give yourself a break by planning like a professional.
The last of the four questions is, “How will I know when I've become organized or reached the end of my project?” Just like defining the scope of the project, clarifying the finish line will help your brain stay laser focused. Reaching a place where you're “organized enough” is a decision. I've worked with plenty of clients who begin projects on their own and then choose not to follow all the way through. Perhaps you get distracted. Perhaps a life interruption disrupts the project. When you identify the finish line, you're more likely to follow all the way through. Your brain wants to visualize the stop sign. It wants to sit down and eat the meal you've taken the time to cook. It wants to pull into the garage and park. Give it that opportunity by deciding what “done” means. Then if there's an interruption, you can always come back and continue until you're done.
Here are some examples. You'll know that your toddler clothing project is complete when all the clothing items that have been outgrown or are deemed unsuitable have been removed from the drawers and driven to donation. You'll know that there aren't any lingering clothing items in the laundry cycle. You'll have made all the new items accessible and communicated the update to your partner. You'll be thinking less about what your child is wearing and more about what your child is saying or doing. You'll be rolling your eyes a little less. The mental and emotional load will have lifted.
You'll have identified specific signs to look for to prove that you've reached the end. You can even write these down in advance to create a visual reminder for the project pathway. My experience has shown that 30 minutes or an hour of this pre-planning for a project will save you hours. It'll limit potential dips into overwhelm. It'll guide you towards action, and of course, it'll ensure that your project gets off to a solid start. Remember, by listening to this episode, you've already gotten started. You've got this. You're more organized than you think.
Outro: Hey, y'all, I'd be honored if you'd take three minutes to leave a review of this podcast. Your time is precious and by leaving a review, A Pleasant Solution will reach more listeners and lives. I'd also love to hear your feedback and share your review on a future episode. Talk to y'all soon and remember, you are more organized than you think.
