What can you do today to stop losing & searching for things?
What are the pain points?
- Misplacing items on a regular basis
- Spending time and energy to find items
- Feeling frustrated/annoyed by repeating the same tasks
- Feeling out of control in your environment
- Panicking when you’re in a rush
What are the causes?
- Items do not have a designated home (place of belonging)
- Stress, fatigue
- Multitasking
What is the solution?
Step 1: Designate a Home for the item(s)
When picking a location, pick a place that is:
- Easy
- Convenient
- Flows with your daily routine and lifestyle
Step 2: Pick a place to Store and Display
- Bin/Basket/Bowl on a counter
- Basket on a shelf
- Hook on the wall
- Rack on the wall
- Designate a drawer
- Box under bottom shelf
Step 3: Practice and Repeat Habits
- Try finding and putting items back regularly for 7 days
Step 4: Adjust and Evaluate
You know you need to readjust your system if:
- You place items in random places
- You place items outside of the designated home
- You have to search for items
Try to move the location to an easy and more convenient place that makes sense around your habits.
Example: “I always lose my keys, wallet, and glasses.”
Step 1: Designate a home
- Near the entryway so I can drop and pick up items easily at the door.
Step 2: Store and Display Options
- The right drawer in the entryway console.
Step 3: Practice and Repeat Habits
- For 7 days I will put my keys, wallet and glasses in the drawer when I come home.
- For 7 days I will retrieve my keys, wallet, and glasses from the drawer when I leave.
Step 4: Adjust and Evaluate
- After 2 weeks, I started to put items on the surface of the entryway console.
- I placed a beautiful glass dish on the entryway console to place my keys, wallet, and glasses.
- I find it’s much easier to empty my pockets and pick up my stuff easily off the counter rather than open a drawer.