As my studies progress I am hounded by and forced to reckon with one of my big challenges in life--organizational skills. I have the skills but I tend toward maintaining a certain level of clutter. It's as if I need the struggle in order to keep engaged with a particular part of myself. It's a place where I meet my resistance.

Organizational experts will tell you--and I believe it to be true--that organization is the key to success in any area of life. Want to get a job promotion? Want to lose weight? Want to find a partner? Want to make more money? Whatever it is you want, to get more out of life the first step is to organize. Like many endeavors, there are large projects and small projects and breaking down projects into smaller bits can help to make them less daunting.

A good friend of mine has a technique toward those projects, and tackling resistance, that I have found works for me too: Commit to 15 minutes a day. Of course, once you get going, it often ends up that you work at that something for more than 15 minutes. But giving something regular, frequent attention makes it a priority and gives it momentum.

Through my studies I have found that making habits of small details can have a huge impact in getting organized and ends up saving me time and energy. For example, dating my notes, color coding information, and keeping a list of formulas on the front page of my notebook are ways that simplify the use of my notes.

Since one's home is one's refuge, organization here is most important. Here's The Complete Guide to Imperfect Homemaking, In Pursuit of a simple, fabulous, imperfect life at home. It's a 31-day blog that guides you on a gentle home-organizing journey.