Without This Your Organizing System Can’t Last

I’ve seen it time and time again. My client has revamped their organizing system and is no longer letting tasks fall through the cracks.

They have created productive time in their calendar for focused work without interruptions. Their productivity has skyrocketed.

They’ve built their own beautiful task system for knowing what it is they need to do and when they are going to do it.

And yet they are still feeling anxious.

Why you ask?

Because they still don’t fully trust that they could build a system that works. That they can handle maintaining it.

They are still waiting for the next crushing blow that renders their new system useless.

It makes sense having experienced many years of “evidence” that their systems don’t work or don’t last.

Which is ultimately why my job as a time coach has much more to do with re-building your trust in yourself than pretty much anything else.

Because without this trust your organizing system really won’t last. You’ve got to believe in yourself first.

Here are my favorite strategies for helping you trust yourself again:

1. Notice all of the systems that have worked well enough to get you where you are today. This is critical. I’ve never met anyone that didn’t have tons of strategies already in place that were serving them beautifully.
2. Give yourself time to practice. That’s all we are really doing everyday with everything – practicing. Over time you will develop more and more confidence that you and your systems can handle what life throws at you.
3. Celebrate the small wins. This is actually scientifically proven to dramatically encourage new habit formation and sustained change. Noticing and celebrating each ‘win’ along the way keeps the momentum going.
4. Recognize that “There is No Failure, Only Feedback” – A quote by Robert Allen that changes your years of “evidence” into years of “feedback” for how you ultimately operate best in your life.
5. Don’t grip too tightly. Your systems – like your life – need to continue to evolve to be effective. Let this happen naturally and organically. Release the need for it to stay exactly as the book, the coach or the TV program says and let your systems conform to your own way of living.
6. Notice all of the times you reached out for support in your life when you needed it. This is you listening to your body, your intuition. This is you taking care of you.