3 Keys Thursday: 3 Strategies for Chipping Away at those Piles

Dodgerton Skillhause via Morguefile

Yesterday, I shared my back-to-school piles woes. I am happy to report that, slowly but surely, they are disappearing in favor of that most wonderful of all organizational rewards.

Clear space.

No, I didn't cancel classes or abdicate all household responsibilities (though I must admit that the latter is tempting). I'm just endeavoring to reduce the piles, little by little, using three key strategies.

• Pick up one thing and put it away.  I can do this as I pass by a pile on my dining room table, or any time I leave a room in which I have piles. The item can be as small as rubber band or as large as a stack of file folders. The idea is to reduce the pile, one thing at a time. This only works, however, if I don't continue to add to the piles in between which, needless to say, only lengthens the process.

• Pick up as I go. This is tremendously challenging for an I need to see it person with a drop and run organizational style. Those of us who drop and run have come to associate the dropping of the pile of things with the end of the task; learning to retrain ourselves and master the habit of picking up as we go along can help prevent the dreaded piles in the first place. Or, in the case of those of us with an I need to see it personal style, we can at least learn to limit the piles to the things we truly need to see, like a list or the things we need to take with us when we leave the house. The first step? Putting away anything we're finished with, like pens and pencils, extra file folders, or anything else that's just taking up space.

• Don't put it down, put it away! Once the piles have formed, this ship has sailed, but getting on board this plan can prevent the pile from forming in the first place. And, once the piles are in place (out of place?), sticking to this habit can keep us from contributing to the clutter.

I love seeing progress, especially when I'm busy, and these rules help me to regain a sense of control when things are busy and it seems as though my good habits have slipped away. The more organized I get, the less I tolerate clutter, so the more motivated I am to keep after the piles that have found their way onto my surfaces.

And, as we well know, it's a process.