Read Alicia and Sarah's recent GO post here.

By Alicia Rockmore & Sarah Welch

Hello! Thank you for stopping by GO! Chances are you’ve landed here because you’re looking for good, practical advice on how to stay a few steps ahead of the chaos —and we’re delighted to help in any way we can.  We are Alicia Rockmore and Sarah Welch, co-founders of Buttoned Up, Inc., and working women on a quest to help busy people everywhere get a little bit more Buttoned Up.  

We know that today’s jam-packed lifestyles can make staying on top of it all seem overwhelming and even downright exhausting.  That’s why we focus on a revolutionary approach to getting and staying organized: you get more done by organizing less.  That’s right, when it comes to organizing, we will show you how less is more. We’ve even given our philosophy a revolutionary name, “Imperfect Organization™”.  Our secrets for getting organized are different, because we don’t obsess about what you need to do—we simply tell you what you don’t need to do.

1. You Don’t Need to Be Perfect
The pursuit of organizational perfection takes a superhuman effort to achieve and a superhuman effort to maintain. You have enough work on your plate already; you don’t need another full time job. So we encourage you to let the need to achieve perfection go. 

2. You Don’t Have to Do Everything on Your Lists
In 1906, the Italian economist Pareto came up with The Pareto Principle, otherwise known as the 80/20 rule.  It basically states that in any pursuit, 20 percent of causes drive 80 percent of the results.  When it comes to getting organized, the 80/20 rule is crucial – if you focus on fewer tasks that really matter you’ll make a big impact with less work and stress. 

3. You Don’t Have to Do It All Yourself
This may sound liberating and puzzling all at once.  You might be asking yourself, “If I don’t do it, who will?”  Admittedly, delegating is a challenge, but it’s also a very learnable skill with a sweet payoff. 

Our company, Buttoned Up, makes lots of practical products that put these principles to work for you.  And we also write lots of articles and tips on how you can apply them to your everyday life.  Check in every day for new tips.  You can also use the comments and GO User Forum to give us tips and feedback on organizing tactics that work for you (some of our best ideas come from the lives of our readers)!

To browse all of Alicia and Sarah's articles, click here.