Most of my ministry life, I have often excused the appearance of my office by saying, “piles not files!”  But honestly, my office was a picture of my life. Very disorganized and always falling over or a feeling of chaos.

I wasn’t healthy in many ways and I knew I needed to make a change.  So I began to research, pray and talk to others about what they were doing to get more focus and organization into their life and ministry.  I began to consider coaching and there are many solid options out there.  If you prefer one on one coaching there are some great ones. There are others who offer a more group approach and this too can be very effective. What helped me was the second option.  I had a great opportunity presented to me to join Infuse. This is a 6 month, very intense look into yourself as a leader but also how to figure out how I could become more organized.

Lesson Learned –  Get Help- Trying to get organized when it’s not natural to you is setting yourself up for failure.

During Infuse8, Jim Wideman, challenged us to start taking a deeper look at who God wired us to be. That was huge. I had always been ashamed of the fact that I didn’t work by making lists, having color coded files, and using the latest apps to remind myself of my to-do list that told me to organize my files.

I learned by taking the PEP test that my personality has to work a lot harder at functioning as someone who is organized. But I realized, IT IS POSSIBLE! I had to stop making excuses and begin to study how to organize and develop my skills.

Lesson Learned – Know Yourself and Stop making excuses!

Finally for this post,  It was also during our first retreat that I was confronted with how I was thinking. My thinking about organization was all wrong. I was thinking I could never be organized. I was wrong.  I began to write what I needed to do and when it needed to be done. I started to set up a simple routine, then I set up some accountability and it worked!! I began to see changes in myself, my family, and my ministry.  It isn’t easy but it is totally worth it!

Lesson Learned-  Know what you want to do, and when you want to do it!

I know many of you know this but maybe you can share these thoughts with someone who struggles with a lack of organization or structure in their life.

Next post I’ll share some resources that have helped me move from discouraged to Driven!

What’s your number one tip for getting organized?