By Christina Morton DesAuguste
Christina is the founder of The Organizing Company and has been organizing professionally since 2013. She is currently grateful for the daffodils blooming, Spruce Cafe in Boulder, and Park Church.
No A.I. copy & paste here! All our blogs are still written by professional organizers or other humans.
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First quarter is over and it's a great time to check in on how your year is feeling so far (and this still applies no matter when you find this post!).
Does it feel hectic and chaotic? Exhausting and like you're always behind?
Now is the perfect time to reevaluate and make some tweaks so that the rest of the year can feel more calm, smooth, and peaceful with breathing room for whatever life throws at you.
I call this practice Reflect & Refocus. Here's what that can look like in your life.
Reflect:
What specifically feels chaotic to you right now? Is it the house, parenting, finances, your work life? Are you struggling to cook healthy meals and find time to move your body? Are you "behind" on a project?
What do you want more of this year? Think in terms of how you want to feel, such as feeling less overwhelmed, more calm & peaceful; having more harmony in your marriage; feeling more connected to your kids/friends; feeling more in control at work, etc. Think big picture and reflect on how you would rank your priorities. We can't always focus on all the things all the time. So evaluate how you want to prioritize and on why certain things are more important/urgent than others.
This is a great time to journal and get some feelings, ideas, and notes down on paper just to get them out of your head. Brainstorm, dream, and let yourself envision the life you want to create.
Once you've reflected on the big picture and your priorities, take a look at the specific things you were/are doing to create the life you envision.
If you made intentions as New Year's Resolutions, April is an especially good time to check in and get "back on track."
Whether it was a resolution or simply a plan or intention, there are probably some areas of life that were working well for awhile.
Maybe it was an intention of limiting yourself/your family to one show on weeknights.
Maybe it was health, fitness, wellness related. Your eating/exercising habits, your goal to spend more time in nature, your goal to prioritize monthly massages in your budget.
Or maybe it was about keeping your home tidy and organized. Keeping a daily and weekly rhythm so that things don't get out of hand. Using calendar reminders to stay on top of more periodic tasks. Delegating to family members so everyone does their part.
Reflect on specific goals like these and evaluate what has been working well and what hasn't (and why).
Refocus:
Once you've spent some time reflecting on your priorities and on what specific goals/intentions are working/not working, it's time to refocus on what's most important to you.
As I mentioned already, you can't do all the things all the time. You're only one human. Not prioritizing something during this season of life doesn't mean it's not important to you overall. Nor does it mean that you'll never make time for it in the future. It simply means "not right now." Remove the guilt of not doing everything at once, and narrow it down to what is realistic right now.
Once you've narrowed it down, start honing in on what needs to adjust to achieve your goals.
Look at your schedule and see what can change to make room for your priorities. What can you remove from your schedule for right now? When you're struggling to cut something, remind yourself of why a goal was important to you in the first place and that the other things aren't your priority right now.
Start taking broad/general goals like, "exercise more" and get specific with how many times per week, etc. Look back at the old goals/resolutions and refine them to be more specific and manageable. If it's too broad it can be both overwhelming and unmotivating.
For your organizing goals, see if you can take some time to get the house reset with everything back in its place and then you can reimplement the habits and chores to keep it that way. If that's too much right now, just start with implementing those habits/chores/rhythms to keep things manageable and then as you have time you can schedule in more time to work on any areas that need more of an overhaul/major reset.
Whether it's organizing or something else that has gotten “out of hand" and needs more time, consider how you can outsource or delegate to get back on track (and to maintain it).
As you're refocusing on your goals and priorities, remind yourself that imperfect progress is better than no progress. Or, as you may have heard, choose “progress over perfection."
If you're reading this and thinking, “Yes! I need to get my life under control again! I want to refocus on my goals, but I am still overwhelmed and don't know how to start," I get it. It can be difficult to know what's next or what's more important, especially if you're starting from scratch.
If you feel like you need a bit more help, I created a printable journal with you in mind.
My Reflect & Refocus Goals Journal will guide you through major areas of life to organize your thoughts, refine your priorities, and clarify your goals. All so you can have more time and energy for the people and passions that give you meaning.
I can lose the forest for the trees myself and often find myself overwhelmed by too many to-dos. I created this goals journal so I could do an annual retreat to set my intentions for the year and have structure to revisit it to stay on track throughout the year.
It's an instant download that you can print as many times as you need. And even though it'll bring you much more value than this, for a limited time I’m only asking $3 so that it's accessible for everyone.
Click below to get your copy of the Reflect & Refocus Goals Journal!
However you tackle this process of creating more breathing room and peace in your life, set aside time this month to work on it and you'll already feel more calm.
Happy Organizing!
Christina
PS: The Goals Journal has 13 categories of life to evaluate, but feel free to pick and choose just the ones you’re feeling overwhelmed by right now. You can reprint the Journal as many times as you want, so you can always come back to the other categories as needed.
April 2nd, 2026
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