Is the culprit your boss, your spouse, teenagers, roommate or a parent?

Working to obtain a clutter free environment for the organized can be overwhelming when you are not having any cooperation from your loved ones. This can leave you feeling agitated, stressed and sometimes helpless.

Is there anything you can do about it? Is there a way to work with the relationship that makes you feel like pulling out your hair?

There are some realities with regards to living and working with people. People do not change unless they have a desire to change. If the chaotic disorganized person sees no problem with the way they are living you are going to be challenged.

It is the old saying you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink. You can’t motivate someone to do anything they do not want to do. It takes work, persistence, determination and desire to make change.

The one thing you can really do is to help the person see how the situation is affecting their life. Nagging and similar behaviors can make the situation worse.

When I was a young teen, my room was always messy. My mom tried countless times to get me to clean my room. As a teen, It was easy to throw worn clothes on the floor. Mom was going to do the laundry.

One day my mom made me think, although she was teasing, she said to me that if I did not clean my room I would have bugs! There were no plates of food or bug attractors, but a messy room. The very thought of bugs motivated me to clean up my room! The secret here… My mom knew how to motivate me. The “pain” of the thought of bugs was much greater than a messy room.

We laugh about it today especially being a professional organizer who dislikes clutter. They hidden key is to tap into a person’s own motivator. What will make someone take action? When you figure this out, you will begin to make some progress.

It isn’t an over night fix, but it will help!