It’s summer and the weather has been so beautiful. The air smells sweet. The light is spectacular. Everything in my garden is popping up so fast you can almost see things grow. I love gardening this year. But it wasn’t always so. 

Growing up in New York City, I never had an outdoors of my own. I didn’t know the first thing about gardening. I thought all houses came equipped with gardens; but not our little farmhouse in the Berkshires. Oh no. If I wanted flowers I was going to have to buy tools, figure out where to dig, what would grow in this zone, (what’s a zone?) what plants to buy and where to get them. I had a zillion questions and I was truly overwhelmed. Where do I start?

I was facing a blank canvas. Well, not exactly blank: there were lots of weeds, branches, aluminum pie plates and old dog toys. It became clear that I couldn’t begin to plant flowers until I tidied up. I dug and raked and pulled up broken bits of plastic. I got rid of all the outdoor clutter. Slowly I gathered information.  I bought some plants, nice people gave me some and experience taught me a lot.

Now each spring along with the weeds and forest litter, perennials return faithfully. Each year it seems like I’ll never tackle clearing the mounds of post-winter clutter. Somehow it all gets done but it may take until July before I catch up. The great part is that I’m enjoying my garden.

Indoors or out, getting organized is the same. The tasks may be different, but the challenges are similar. Where do you start? What do you do first? Each day there’s a whole garden of decisions to be made. How do you make productive choices and stay focused?

It can be useful to simply ask yourself some powerful questions to cut through the clutter in your head, get to the business at hand, and direct your thinking towards your top priorities.

1. What am I trying to accomplish?
I started with a wish to have a garden. I made a master list of all the tasks that would be needed to achieve my goal. Writing it down means you don’t have to keep it all in your head and it helps clarify your thinking.

2. What are my three most important projects or tasks today?
I couldn’t expect to complete my whole wish list in a day. Deciding on only three things (or even one or two) allows you to forget about all the other things on the list and focus on what’s in front of you.

3. What is the most valuable use of my time right now?
I had to ask myself what to do to get the most out of the time I had.
Some days I only had an hour so I picked a job like weeding a small area. I kept my shopping list with me for when I went into town. You can’t always do the biggest job or spend the time you’d like, but there’s always something useful to be accomplished in the time allotted.

How do I start? Cutting through the clutter is the same indoors and outdoors. Answer these questions honestly and thoughtfully and you’ll make a powerful start. Breaking it down into smaller parts and taking baby steps will get you where you want to grow.

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