When I share with someone that I am a professional organizer they automatically assume I am a perfectionist. They start hiding their purse behind their back, or ask me to drive so I don’t see the inside of their car. They would never dream of inviting me into their home as a guest. They assume that everything in my life is perfect and therefore I would judge them in some way because their spaces aren’t perfect.

They’re surprised when I tell them that I don’t even strive to be a perfectionist. Truth be told I would love for everything to be in its rightful place at all times, but reality is I have never met a happy perfectionist and being happy is a very big goal of mine.

It’s impossible to be perfect in everything you do yet many of you are trying to do just that. When I see this happening with clients I ask, “Do you consider yourself to be a perfectionist?” The reply I most often get is, “Yes, but you would never know it by looking around at how disorganized my home is.”

Their perfectionism is the very thing that is keeping them from getting organized.

If your home is disorganized, your perfectionism may be holding you back. Perfectionists often don’t start a project unless it can be done perfectly. You focus on the perfect ending. This becomes intimidating and you fear not doing it right so you don’t start the project at all. This fear becomes paralyzing so nothing gets done.

Perfectionists often won’t start a project unless they can complete it from start to finish without interruption. In our world of constant interruptions this is usually impossible. So now your projects don’t get started.

You can’t do it perfectly so you don’t start. You don’t start and nothing gets done. When this cycle continues you fall behind. You fall so far behind you become overwhelmed. Your spaces become cluttered and you get in so deep you feel paralyzed and don’t know where to begin.

Your personality wants everything around you to be perfect and yet nothing is.

This is where unhappiness and depression can set in. You feel ashamed and embarrassed and start pushing others away.

If you have others living with you, many times your perfectionism is affecting your relationships with them. They begin to feel bad or fight back.

If perfectionism is holding you back from an organized home and damaging the relationships of those you love, you must start to let go and believe that it’s more important to be happy than be perfect.

What you want to strive for is a home that is just organized enough. Just organized enough to find what you need when you need it. A safe home, that is easy to clean. Home where family members can relax and feel peaceful.

If being organized is a goal of yours, let go of perfectionism. Get your spaces just organized enough and be happy instead of frustrated all the time.