We live in a world where we have the means to be “Do-It-Yourselfers.” Sometimes this is great and can save you a lot of money. It can also give you a wonderful sense of accomplishment and creativity. We even have instructional YouTube videos showing people how to do just about anything these days. I can attest, however, that almost all of the time when someone tries to “feng shui” their own house, that they usually have not learned or been exposed to the most important and personal aspects to analyzing a property. And, as lay people I don’t think we want to handle our own dental or legal problems either. We go instead to a professional and experts in their field.
Whatever needs to be taken care of in our lives, we have to consider not only the time it will take to just do something on our own, but also the research and materials involved. Time equals money in many instances. In the world of organizing, there is a principle about teaching people to be organized so that they can eventually do it themselves and sustain whatever organizational outcome they achieved initially with the assistance of a professional.
Sometimes, it just doesn’t make sense to do something yourself and it could be both a time saver and a money saver to let a professional handle the situation. This is not an admission of failure, but rather an astute observation or being realistic, like an executive being able to delegate duties to the appropriate people.
What if you have a block about working with an organizer? What if the shame of having such a messy space continually makes you procrastinate? I encounter many people who say they know exactly what they need to do to de-clutter, and yet it never happens. Sometimes the chronic disorganization and clutter really undermines the quality of life. It might be better to get professional assistance, for any number of matters, than to try to tackle it yourself, making costly mistakes along the way.
I remember when I was publishing my first book and sharing my experiences with other new authors. One fellow author was trying to wear all hats as a self-publisher by interviewing editors, book cover artists, paper suppliers, illustrators, formatters, printers, and attorneys for all the paperwork involved with Library of Congress and copyright submission. She was spending months of her time away from her other income-earning career to handle every detail that is required from a publisher.
In contrast, I hired a book production company which had all of those professionals in-house and who could all coordinate their schedules so that the product was delivered in the least amount of time. I didn’t have to worry about hiring the wrong person for each job because the book development company took responsibility for everything, like a contractor taking responsibility for the work done by all the sub-contractors. When I told this fellow author what I spent to have the book development company handle everything, I know she thought I over-paid for that kind of service. Meanwhile, I am absolutely certain that she ended up spending as much or more when factoring in all the time she spent, researching, interviewing and dealing with each person individually.
Sometimes, the most organized and economical decision you can make is to let someone else handle your project or at least assist you. This makes total sense for people who can easily get overwhelmed.
Author: Kartar Diamond
Company: Feng Shui Solutions (R)
From the Tao of Organizing Series
