3 Keys Thursday: 3 Key Tools for Marking Progress

Yesterday, I wrote about the beauty of progress, which got me thinking about some of the ways we can mark progress, whether it pertains to organization or life in general. 

Here are a few of my favorites.

Lists. I don't think I know anyone who doesn't enjoy the satisfaction that comes from checking things off a list! No matter how we do it -- a checkmark, an X, or crossing out the item entirely -- marking things as completed is a visible sign that we've made progress. And, for those days when it feels as though I'm doing a whole lot of nothing, I like creating a backwards to-do list -- a running list of the things I actually did in a day. Sometimes, I create the list as I go, and other times, I look back over the day and make the list then. Either way, I'm usually surprised by how much I did.

Timers. I'm a firm believer that taking small steps leads to progress but, often, the progress is hard to see. Setting a timer gives us permission to stop when time is up, even if we don't see as much progress as we'd like when that timer finally goes off. But an interesting thing often occurs when we use a timer -- the momentum we create as we work and the small bits of progress we see can motivate us to keep going after the timer goes off. Time permitting, of course.

A whole new view. For me, clear space is not only the greatest motivator of all, but proof of progress as well. Going from piles to empty space is an unmistakeable sign of progress. So, too, is reorganizing a space that wasn't working and using style-specific tools to turn it into something that does work. 

As I said yesterday, process and progress go hand-in-hand. Understanding that getting organized is an ongoing process helps us to get comfortable with the idea that making progress, even if it's only a little at a time, will get us where we want to be.