It Starts with a Belief

“Consciously or not, we are collecting stories every day of our lives.
The stories we collect in our mind have a dramatic impact on the stories
that happen in our lives. Change your stories, and change your life.”

-Kody Bateman, Founder and CEO of SendOutCards
Author of “Promptings: Your Inner Guide to Making a Difference”

During a recent conversation with a friend, she said, “When I get organized, I can’t STAY organized!” I encouraged her to rework her belief and the messages that she regularly sends to her brain as a result of that belief.

Think of your self-image being like the auto-pilot feature on an airplane.  The auto-pilot is set to a certain course and corrects itself whenever the plane veers off course.  Your behavior patterns are like an auto-pilot.  They are a direct reflection of the messages you send to your brain on a regular basis.

If you believe that you can get and stay organized, then you’re right. This may require you to learn and put into practice some new behaviors. However, if you don’t truly believe that you are capable of being an organized person, what happens when you do experience some success?  You have a fabulous month maintaining your organized space. Then self-doubt sets in and your auto-pilot begins to "correct" by bringing you back to your old set course.

My friend’s beliefs are pre-set to send herself the message that she can’t be organized or stay organized because she has not historically been able to maintain an organized environment over the long term.  Perhaps others have reinforced this belief by telling her how disorganized she is.

In addition to external validation, it’s human nature to actually search for “evidence” to prove that your beliefs are true. In other words, if your mind is set to believe that you cannot get or stay organized, you will subconsciously produce evidence that this is true. The mind is so incredibly powerful!  

Your beliefs will either keep you from taking action or will set you in motion!

If you don't believe, you won't achieve!

If you don’t truly believe that you can get and stay organized, even if you manage to get organized, you probably won’t maintain it.  When you veer off course, your auto-pilot will bring you back to its original course. I know this from years of professional experience. When I first started my business in 1995 as a Professional Organizer, I would go into people’s homes and offices and help them “get organized.” After we completed our work, I would check back with them a few months later, and in most cases things had slid back to the client’s original state.

So how does one break this cycle? Without changing beliefs, habits and patterns (setting a new auto-pilot), it’s like fighting gravity. When you change your beliefs you will change your life. I discovered this early in my business start-up, so I became a certified professional coach to gain the tools needed so I could help my clients not only address their organizational process and systems, but also look at the underlying beliefs, habits and patterns.   For many years I have worked with clients as both a productivity consultant and a coach.  I have helped clients change their beliefs and form new permanent behaviors to support their new beliefs.

Once you choose to adopt a new belief, the next step is visualizing your life AS IF it is already exactly the way you want it to be.  Sometimes it helps to think of someone you aspire to be more like in that regard. Write down a detailed description of what your environment looks like and how you FEEL when you are in that new environment. Write each sentence beginning with the words “I am…” Here are some examples:

• I am enjoying peace and tranquility as I productively work in my clean and organized office.
• I am having a blast entertaining friends and family in our beautiful clean and organized home.

Notice in the examples above that I’ve included how I FEEL in the environment that is described. The more descriptive you can be and the more feeling you can put into it, the better. It’s the desired feeling that will provide the motivation necessary to get and stay organized. Without a compelling WHY, it will not be sustainable.

One more thing about effective I AM statements is that they are always stated in the positive ("I am" vs "I am not").  If I say, "Don't think of a purple elephant sitting in your living room!", what are you visualizing right now?  It's important that you visualize what you DO want, not what you DON'T want.

Once you have created your “I AM” statements, read them out loud daily. Over time you will replace the old beliefs with new ones.

I’ve introduced the importance of your beliefs here. Here are a few other suggestions that will support you in getting and staying organized:

• Identify beliefs that do not serve you and choose new ones.
• Install these new beliefs by visualizing things as you choose them to be, not as they are presently. (Read your “I AM” statements daily to reinforce this.)
• Create new systems and processes that will help you get and stay organized. If you need any tools, get them. My free Buried in Paper webinar will teach you a simple process for managing paper, electronic information, ideas, and tasks. (See the box below for details.)
• Get an accountability partner or work with a coach so you have support as you form new behaviors. Click here to view a great process to use with an accountability partner.
• Celebrate your wins once you’ve formed new habits that support you in staying organized.

By the way, you can apply this technique to anything, not just getting organized! 

What is one thing, that when you do it consistently, will have a dramatic and positive impact on your personal and/or professional life in 2010?  What new belief do you choose to adopt in order to support you in making this happen?

Here's wishing you a happy, healthy, and prosperous year!  

Fill out this form to receive my FREE report 7 Secrets to Fabulous Follow-up. *Required field

Name* Email* Address* Address 2 City* State* Zip*