When you start organizing your photos, one of two things will happen…

You will get into a groove and be so motivated to organize all of your photos, you’ll find it hard to stop

OR

The sheer number, effort, and time it takes to organize a large photo collection will overwhelm you.

If you find yourself falling into the second camp, here are a few ways to keep yourself motivated to continue organizing.

1. Focus on getting through only one box of photos or one photo album at a time. Celebrate that achievement because you’ve made progress in a project that has been looming (and growing for years). Remember, organizing your collection is not going to happen overnight.

2. Keep a tally. You’ll feel like a hero when you say you organized 400 photos instead of saying you organized one photo album.

3. Share your progress on social media. Let your friends cheer you on.

4. Better yet, share with friends the photos you rediscover during your organizing journey that reminds you of a cherished memory or a funny story. The whole purpose of organizing your photos is to be able to find the photos you want to look at and to share them with family and friends.

5. Write down why you want to organize your photos and post it over your work area so you can read it anytime you need a boost.

6. If you find a particularly great photo of a family member or friend, get a copy framed for them and give it as a gift.

7. Share the burden and stop doing it alone. Whether you ask a family member or friend to help or hire a photo organizer, having another person around to bounce decisions off of can make the process go easier and faster.

8. Stop thinking you have to do everything at once. You can just work on sorting the photos into A, B, C, and S piles one year. Then focus on scanning all of you’re “A” photos the next year and identifying them.

9. Mix up the tasks that you are doing and you will find the process less monotonous. For example, when you have an inch thick stack of “A” photos, scan them and work on identifying them. This way you get a break from just figuring out what pile photos go in.

Hopefully some of these suggestions will keep you moving forward on your project so that you will reach that peaceful state knowing that your photos are organized and taken care of properly.