To Pinterest or Not? Set Realistic Goals to Create an Organized Office
You can’t escape it these days… everywhere you look, on television, in magazines, online… there are images of perfectly organized, beautiful workspaces. A simple Pinterest search can bring up thousands of ideas for organizing your desk drawers and even more possibilities to consider for organizing your home office. Is it realistic to expect that you can easily replicate what’s depicted in these images in your own space? Your NYC Professional Office Organizer takes a closer look at setting realistic organizing expectations.
What we see on TV:
As we watch shows like “Marie Kondo’s Tidying Up,” “Clean House,” or “Mission: Organization,” we see transformations take place that we wish would happen in our personal spaces. Needless to say, the television shows don’t focus on the pre-production preparation and all that is happening behind the scenes during taping. The final 30 or 60-minute episode is the result of hours of video footage being shot and a significant amount of editing time. In many ways, the final program is like watching a highlight reel. Another very relevant data point that we may overlook is that there are experts working on these problems and it takes more than waving a magic wand to get the job done.
What we see on Pinterest:
It’s definitely fun to scroll through Pinterest and get inspired by all the picture-perfect images. As you click on beautiful images of organized spaces and pin them to your own boards, you can curate a list of ideas you’d love to try in your own space. Occasionally you’ll be able to click on one of these pins and follow a link to a step-by-step process to achieve the look you are interested in. However, most of the time, the links lead to nowhere, and you are left with just images of pretty boxes and organized spaces with no clue what it took to achieve the look. Many are staged images designed to sell products you may not need.
What we can do different:
Can the organized office spaces that you see on TV and on Pinterest be duplicated? Possibly! You have to be realistic and understand that to achieve those exact same results, it will likely take time and money. The real question is whether or not the new look that you want to create fits your needs and is appropriate for the type of work that you do. There’s chance even with instituting office organizing strategies and systems for the new space you may end up with lots of clutter.
So, I would suggest tackling this project by first defining your goals for the new space and then finding an appropriate furniture layout and organizing solutions. Use the SMART method of goal setting: S – specific, M – measurable, A – attainable, R – realistic, and T – Timely. By applying these five steps to your goal setting, you’ll be able to set expectations that you’ll be able to meet, leaving you with an organized office AND strategies and systems in place to help you stay organized and be productive long term.
Another idea? Call your NYC Professional Office Organizer and find out exactly what I can do to support you in achieving your office organizing goals.