My very first post on perfectionism

15 January 2026

Back on June 23, 2007, I wrote a post about perfectionism. It was fun to read it today, 18.5 years later. I had no way of knowing that 11 years after writing that post I would end up co-hosting a podcast on the topic. After a two-year hiatus, Getting to Good Enough is back and going strong. (A new episode dropped today!) Even though I was a relatively new organizer when I wrote this post, I think it’s insightful and I stand behind every word. If the post resonates with you, I encourage you to check out the podcast wherever you listen to your podcasts. You can subscribe at the bottom of the website, if you’d like, to have new episodes land in your email inbox.

I’m a Virgo. Well, actually, I was born on the cusp of Libra, but I’ve always identified myself as being a Virgo. Many professional organizers happen to be Virgos. If you’re in a room of professional organizers and you ask the Virgos to raise their hands, you’ll see a sea of raised hands. Most Virgos are perfectionists. Not me, though. I’m actually a “good enough” person. But many of my clients (Virgos or not) are perfectionists.

At first glance, it would seem odd that a disoriganized person would be a perfectionist. Wouldn’t a perfectionist insist on order? The trouble is that many perfectionists want to make sure they do everything right. They don’t want to get started decluttering until they know exactly how they’re going to do it. And exactly what systems will be in place to prevent the clutter from reappearing. And while they wait for the perfect plan or system to appear, clutter continues to accumulate. And then overwhelm sets in.

I try to encourage my clients to be “organized enough.” To me, that means you can find what you need when you need it. That even if a room gets messy, you can get it back in order fairly quickly.

Take, for example, storing your keys to avoid a mad key search every morning. Keys don’t have to be stored on neatly labeled hooks that would make Martha Stewart proud. They can be tossed into a bowl by the door. If you toss them into that bowl as a matter or routine and if you know to look in that bowl for your keys when you’re on the way out the door, then in my book you’re organized. And that’s a beautiful thing, even if the bowl isn’t (though it could be). Best of all, it’s fairly easy to attain.

The trouble comes when you don’t want to create a place to store your keys until you have just the right key rack. Or you don’t want to get started because your labelmaker is out of tape (or you can’t find it). Or maybe you don’t have the perfect screws to affix the key rack to the wall.

If you’re a perfectionist and you find that’s paralyzing your organizing efforts, I encourage you to let go of the perfectionism and embrace the concept of “organized enough.” Take imperfect steps toward getting organized and before you know it, you’ll have made progress that will make your life easier. Just get started!

Tagged with: organized, perfectionism, worth repeating