Call me a dreamer, or perhaps an idealist. But when I first picked up the book It’s Hard to Make a Difference When You Can’t Find Your Keys: The Seven Step Path to Becoming Truly Organized by Marilyn Paul, I thought I’d learn tips and tricks to help me manage my time so I’d be able to, oh, I don’t know, make a more profound impact on the world.

I’m the type of person who has more ideas than I know what to do with. I often feel like I’m drowning in “someday” dreams, big schemes, and to-do list items that I just can’t seem to mark off my list. I’m not lazy. And I certainly have lots of ambition and drive… so why on earth can’t I seem to finish so many of the things that I start? The answer is not as easy as Just DO IT (it makes a better slogan than a life philosophy)! (NOTE to potential future employers: This problem only seems to apply to my personal projects, and not to my work projects which have always always been a top priority and get done promptly and efficiently.)

But after I dove in, I realized this book didn’t have a ton of advice on time management and getting more BIG tasks done (not directly, anyway), but it did have lots of advice on handling the little tasks that I neglect in an attempt to finish something that I deem more important by a deadline. It offers strategies to help with the big dirty dish pile in the sink, that laundry pile that you never put away, and the toys (So. Many. Toys.) that always litter the living room floor. Frankly, I never would have read a book about household chores, but it turned out to be exactly what I needed to read.)

Paul doesn’t just explain all the reasons (and there are many) why you should adopt the discipline of living a simpler, less cluttered existence. She completely shifted the way I think about the mundane household chores that I used to hate so much. When I stopped thinking of doing the dishes and cleaning the floors as things that kept me from doing more important things, and I started seeing them as an act of self love everything shifted right away. You read that right. I now put organization and household chores in the same category as bubble baths, massages, and yoga classes because they really are a way to make me more efficient, less stressed, and more free to tackle those big projects that I really want to work on. (See also Clear Inbox, Clear Mind.)

Staring at piles of things slows me down, makes me anxious, and is simply not the way I want to live my life. Once I had a better system for putting the laundry and the dishes away, it only takes a few minutes to get it done and move on with life. YES!

It’s Hard to Make a Difference When You Can’t Find Your Keys is a must-read for anyone who’s ever struggled with organization, time management, and, yes, clutter. You can do it, too! Don’t procrastinate: Read it NOW.

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