But do people really stay organized after you’re gone?

It’s not so much prospective clients who ask me this, but often when I explain what I do for a living to someone, they ask:

"But do people really stay organized after you're gone?” 

My honest answer is always along the lines of:

“For the most part, yes. Inevitably, piles creep back in because life isn’t a magazine, but if my client has 15 or so minutes to clean up, they can do so properly because things have places.”  

I was reminded that this is indeed the case when a client from last year emailed me last week and said unsolicited:

"The table functions way better than before you came here. However, I don’t clear it daily. I still have some postponed decisions lying there. My mess is consistently less than before your visit. I’m using a notebook more and post it notes less. (Although post it notes are still great for some things.)"

Here’s the transformation we made together on the day I left:

There you have it.  I’not sure exactly what her table looks like today, but I’m very proud of her. I’ll never promise that anyone can get organized once and for all, but if for years you had been living with a dining table covered in paper and painful decisions, wouldn’t this be organized enough?