Don't you just love Fridays? It's the perfect time to curl up with a notebook and plan the weekend ahead. When it comes to organizing or even just regular old cleaning and maintenance, planning out what you want to accomplish turns boring old chores into projects. Better yet, you get to play Project Manager, which is sort of a cross between a busybody and a task-master. Even if you're heading up a team of one, you can adapt Project Management (PM) techniques to gain some traction with your Organization Quest. Here's a short list of considerations to get you started:
Identify the #1 priority
If you're just getting started or have let things slip, it may seem like everything's a priority. Sometimes it helps if you can identify the one thing that will make the greatest impact in how you feel about your place. For some people, this may mean clearing pathways; for others, it means alphabetizing their spices. Most of the time, it's something in-between, which brings us to . . .
Define the scope
Let's say your priority is "work on the living room". Does this mean basic maintenance along the lines of picking up, or does it involve heavy-duty cleaning like steam-cleaning the carpet, getting the drapes cleaned, and washing the windows or the walls? Or maybe the "work" that needs to be done involves organizing the bookcase? Or painting the walls?
What you can accomplish when is impacted on another PM consideration:
Do you have a deadline?
If so, what is it "internal" (expectations or preferences unrelated to outside events) or "external," in that it's tied in some way to something happening outside of yourself: maybe you're hosting the Superbowl get-together this year and want the place presentable, or maybe you want to prepare nowfor what you know is going to be a crazy time at work when you won't have time for much around-the-house maintenance.
Determine the time line
Once you know when something needs to be accomplished, you can backtrack and decide how much can be done and when. In the absence of any event/deadline, your time line might be simply be a timecommitment, as in "three hours on basement." But in any case, you'll need to:
List the tasks
Make it as simple or detailed as you need to keep on track and motivated. My own lists have a strange tendency: I can reduce a multi-task maintenance project ("clean kitchen") to a couple words, but if I'm avoiding something, I find it helpful to write out specific tasks, even if they are simple. There's something about this I that I find reassuring; it also helps keep me focused. So last week when I returned a book to Amazon something I did not feel like figuring out, my list looked something like, "find book; find box to pack book in; find tape for box; pack box; read instructions on Amazon" etc.
Allocate resources
Do you have help around the house or for your project? Will you be asking the kids to pitch in, or maybe your spouse or roommate will lend a hand? Perhaps you've decided to hire a professional to tackle a few home repairs? Whatever the case, decide who does what.
Communicate deliverables
Remind anyone who's helping of their specific task/role, along with applicable time line or deadline information. This can be as simple as saying, "let's spend an hour going through the boxes in the basement before lunch tomorrow". I've had friends with kids who swear the family white board, complete with different colors for each family member. Kids love crossing off their chores!
Visualize the goal
Oftentimes, things will look much, much worse before it gets better. Your job as PM is to keep yourself and anyone on your team on task and motivated. Keep your goal in mind and keep moving forward.
Celebrate success
When you meet your goal, do something fun to celebrate and reward everyone who has helped. This can be as simple as making popcorn or getting ice-cream in several different flavors and an evening of board games for those with kids, a special home-cooked dinner for couples, or a book and a bubble bath for yourself. Whatever the case, it's especially nice to enjoy the space you cleaned or organized. Doing so re-enforces why the effort was worth it!