We’re in the home stretch of the year with just a few days remaining until the New Year and decade. What has life been like for you these past few weeks? Have things been quieter, or have you experienced a flurry of activity? Has your balance felt off or just right? I’ve missed being here with you for the last several weeks. Between the holidays, parties, hosting, visiting, organizing, and launching my new website, I took a short blogging hiatus.

The last few weeks have felt different from other times of the year. It’s useful to do a simple “balance check-in. So if your scale has tipped too much in one direction, take a pause to reflect and adjust. I have five questions to get you started.

Simple “Balance” Check-In

1. Are you feeling exhausted?

If your sleep patterns have been off, evaluate the amount of sleep you need to feel better. Maybe you can turn in early tonight or sleep a bit longer in the morning. What do you need now?

2. Are you feeling stuffed?

If too many holiday cakes, pies, cocktails, and snacks are making you feel full and sluggish, pay attention to what you’re taking in. My eating patterns have shifted because of the holidays. My body is shouting- “Reduce the sugar and up the vegetable intake!” What is your body telling you?

3. Are you feeling talked out?

If you’ve been socializing more than usual, notice whether this is causing you stress. Maybe you need to balance the “outer” time with some alone time. While I love spending time with family and friends, I’m also aware that I need time to be. What are you sensing now?

4. Are you feeling disorganized?

If you’ve been traveling, entertaining, or disengaging from your regular routines, you might be feeling more disorganized than usual. It’s easy to get out of sorts when our regular patterns are altered. Edit the excess, revisit routines, and restore some order.

5. Are you feeling restless?

If you are winding up the current projects and also anticipating changes and goals for the coming year, you might be feeling anxious. Transitions can be challenging, especially when we shift from one year to the next. Reflect on past successes, let go of the ideas that no longer serve you, and set an intention for the New Year. Get ready for your clean slate.

Endings come, and new beginnings arrive. As you straddle the two, what is most helpful to restore balance? Do you have other questions to add to the mix? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation!

Figuring out your next step looks and feels different depending on your vantage point. Even with the best view, there are times when we get stuck. There are many ways to move forward and figure out what to do next. However, which type of next can influence the approach you choose.

When you feel unsure about your next step, choose one of these five strategies to help you move ahead.

5 Different Types of Next & How to Approach Them

1. Next for the Day

It can be the beginning, middle, or end of the day. You are ready to act, but you’re not sure what to start or stop working on next. Consider how much time you have for next. Do you have 15 minutes or several hours? Do you have time for doing a single task, or do you have hours to accomplish a larger project? What else is on your day’s agenda? What is your energy like right now? The answers become your clues to help you find your next step.

2. Next for the Project

Projects take multiple steps to complete. Some of those steps we can do ourselves. Certain steps require feedback or contributions from others before we can complete the project. Assess where you are right now. To move forward, is there a next step you can complete on your own? Do you need to reach out to someone for his or her help, input, or contribution? Do you have a to-do list? Are you keeping all the steps in your head? Will your next step be planning or action based? Getting the elements organized, so you know your timeline, what needs to be done, delegated, or researched will help you figure out your project’s next step.

3. Next for a Life Transition

Maybe you’re moving, changing jobs, having a baby, getting divorced, or becoming an empty nester. These are dramatic and stressful times. You’re going into unfamiliar territory. Your routines are turned upside down. You’re hoping to find that “new normal” soon…very soon. There are so many things to handle. Surprises appear each day. You don’t know what to do next. Take a deep breath. Exhale. Take another. Exhale again. Let yourself feel whatever you’re feeling. Acknowledge and label that emotion. Take another deep breath. Exhale. Again. Face the unknown and choose next anyway.

4. Next When Clueless

When there are too many choices, too many possible directions to go in, and not a strong sense of where to head, we might say something like, “I have no clue what I want to do next.” You might be experiencing decision fatigue, just thinking about making your next choice. Nothing is pulling you to act. You don’t know what to do. You’re drawing a blank. This happens. It’s normal. Give yourself a break. Get some air. Take a walk. Shift your focus to something fun and enjoyable. Let your thoughts percolate. Let yourself relax instead of feeling pressured to do something. Very often, the act of stepping away, activating our bodies, or getting outside can help clear our thoughts enough to find a way forward.

5. Next When Overwhelmed

Overwhelm is probably the most common type of next that my clients experience. They feel so overwhelmed by the volume of things on their to-do lists, the volume of spaces and areas they’d like to organize, and their time constraint that they get stuck with figuring out next. Next seems too big, too impossible, and too far into the future. They hear and feel the noise of the volume, which prevents them from moving forward. The key here is to think small…really small. Big is overwhelming, but small is doable. Things will move forward one small step at a time. What is the smallest action you can take? Build from there.

Have you noticed another type of next? Which of these five resonate with you? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Come join the conversation.

There’s nothing like embarrassing yourself to crave a do-over or fresh start. It’s often a minor perspective shift that helps us to reflect and begin again. How timely that my year started with such an incident.

I was ready for that first Monday back from the more leisurely holiday schedule. I woke up knowing where I needed to be and when. My morning routine resumed with my wake-up alarm, exercises, shower, dressing, breakfast and deskwork. To gear up for the day and week, I double-checked my schedule and list of to dos. The New Year had arrived and I was looking forward to the first organizing session of the year.

Like I often do, I set a timer as my auditory cue, so that I wouldn't be late to my client's. The timer rang so I got ready and left. The day was going as planned. Even with some traffic, I arrived at my client’s on time…or so I thought.

As it turns out, I got there two hours early. My client wasn't home. After some confusion (it still hadn’t occurred to me that I was early), when I realized my mistake about the start time, I explained and apologized to her gracious husband and said I'd return at the correct time. So much for the organizer being organized, right? This was embarrassing to arrive at the wrong time...the really wrong (as in two hours early wrong) time.

Next steps…laugh at self and find the nearest Starbucks. Having this unexpected block of time, I enjoyed slowly sipping a latte and writing this post. I used to write at Starbucks, but hadn’t done that in a while. This was a welcome change of environment. And somewhere during the latte drinking and writing, I came up with a few reminders that helped me shift my perspective and embrace a fresh start. I hope that the lessons I found would be helpful for you the next time you have an incident.

Linda’s New Year's Lessons:

• Mistakes happen.
• Discover the gift in those mistakes.
• Be flexible.
• Don't assume.
• Improve looking and listening.
• Find the humor.
• You’re human.
• Add this one to my bloopers reel.

Are there any “situations” you’d like to share with us? What were your takeaways? What helped you to move forward after an embarrassing incident? What allowed you to embrace a fresh start? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Come join the conversation.

Do you wish your kids were more organized? Do you get frustrated trying to help them? I was curious about how others taught and transferred organizing skills to their own children. So, I enlisted help from a wonderful group of colleagues (Stephanie Calahan, Leslie Josel, Helena Alkhas, Ellen Delap, Yota Schneider, Diana Quintana and Aby Garvey.) I asked them, “What organizing success strategy have you passed on to your children? How did you accomplish that?”  Their responses are motivating and inspiring. My gratitude goes to each of them for sharing their personal stories with us. If you want your children to become more organized, keep reading to discover some kid-tested organizing success tips that might work for you.

What organizing success strategy have you passed on to your children? How did you accomplish that? . . .

7 Kid-Tested Organizing Success Tips

1. Small Steps

“Ever since my son was small we have worked with him to understand how to take big projects and break them into simple doable steps. For example, cleaning his bathroom breaks down into gathering the supplies needed and then cleaning the mirror, counter, sink, tub/shower, toilet and floor. We did this by sitting with him and having him think through the steps and we'd fill in the blanks when he would get stuck. Now that he is twelve, we use the same strategy for his school and extra curricular activities. We found that by giving him the opportunity to think it through first, he is quite independent with most of his work and often gets it done ahead of schedule because he has thought through the variables.“

Stephanie LH Calahan– The Big Vision Catalyst, Business Strategist, Author and Producer

2. Prompts

“The organizing success strategy that I’ve taught my children is to use external prompts to remind them of tasks or responsibilities they need to get done. So if they need to do homework, call a friend, walk the dog, put dinner in the oven, etc. They’ve been taught to set timers, phones, alarms, or use visual and written prompts. I started teaching them this strategy by asking them the question, “How are you going to remember to…” and having them work out the strategy that would best fit the task. It’s not enough to ask them to do something but ask them how they are going to remember or prompt themselves to do it.”

Leslie Josel – ADHD Specialist & Author

3. Routines

“I am a believer in having routines to structure our time, know what comes next and to be more productive. We have a clear routine that "guides" us through the day and the kids grew up with that. From the moment they wake up, through going to school and back, all the way to going to bed at night we follow a "self-care/school" checklist that helps them cross the dots of daily life and lets them know when is work time, when is play time. This also teaches them to be independent and to self-guide. As a parent it is my hope that this will stay with them and help them when they have to leave and be on their own.”

Helena Alkhas– Professional Organizer & Virtual Assistant

4. Practice

“My kids are amazing, organized parents! They are list makers with a family calendar in their kitchens. They organize not only their closets, but also their children’s clothes.  Each has a file cabinet with easy access, simple filing. How did this happen?  It’s all about talking the talk and walking the walk.  Living in a home with organized parents created the expectation that organizing is an important life skill.  We focused on strengths, talked about organizing, and down played perfectionism.  They practiced as teens and young adults.  Now as parents of young children they have created organizing solutions in their own homes.”

Ellen Delap, CPO®  – Professional Organizer, Productivity Consultant & Family Manager Coach

5. Preparation

“August is traditionally Back to School month and there's tremendous marketing pressure to get out there and buy. The girls, high school juniors, know that I'm not going Back to School shopping unless they've inventoried their closets and desks, assessed their needs and wants, and de-cluttered their space.

Piles of paper, old homework and folders head to the recycling bin, used up school supplies are thrown away, and clothes they've outgrown and are usable head to the donation pile. Next, they create a prioritized list of their needs and wants. I assure them that they'll always get what they need and occasionally what they want. What they’ve learned is that, in order to make room for the new, we simply have to let go of the old and outdated!"

Yota Schneider, Seasons of Change Certified Master Coach – Life Transitions Coach, Workshops & Retreat Facilitator, Blogger, & Mindfulness Meditation Practitioner

6. Completion

“There is a saying that goes like this: Don’t put it down, put it away. I used this saying over and over with my two boys. When they were very young I asked them to put something away when they were finished with it. This translated to games they were playing with when they were very young. As they grew older this saying could also be applied to things like clothes (in a laundry basket or hung up), dishes in the dishwasher, homework in the correct binder, and taking things they belonged to them back to their rooms.”

Diane N. Quintana, CPO®, CPO-CD®– Professional Organizer & Author

7. Letting Go

“By organizing and decluttering with my kids since they were very young, I've taught them how to let go of things they no longer use or love. For one of my kids, letting go didn't come easy. It required a lot of patience and a long-term focus on my part, as we spent hours going through her stuffed animals, clothing, toys, and books. I always let my kids make the decisions, and never let go of anything behind their backs. In the process, I've taught them that letting go is a natural part of life and maintained their trust.”

Aby Garvey – Professional Organizer, Author, & Online Class Instructor

I love this collection of strategies from my colleagues! As a parent with two daughters in college and beyond, I have spent a lot of time teaching them organizing skills. The investment was worthwhile. I marvel at how they’ve integrated those skills regularly and naturally into their lives. Here are some more articles about transferring organizing skills to our children:

Failing Your Way to Success by Linda Samuels

Moms’ “To Do” Lists by Linda Samuels

Cutting the Organizing Umbilical Cord by Leslie Josel

11 Tips to Conquer Your Child’s Clutter by Aby Garvey

Which organizing success tips resonate with you? Do you have additional ones to share? Come join the conversation.