What do tea bags, Elfa drawers, and virtual organizing have in common? The tea bags represent what needs organizing. The Elfa drawers embody an organizing solution. Virtual organizing is the bridge that transports you from where you are to where you want to be.

One benefit of the ‘bridge’ (virtual organizing) is the traveling-the-road aspect. In the time it takes to move from one place to another, you get to:

• Rethink what’s working and what isn’t

• Clarify your goal

• Open your mind to alternate solutions

• Think creatively

• Discover alternate possibilities

• Identify what’s holding you back

• Mentally prepare to take action

• Brainstorm with a professional who is 100% focused on your success

In essence, virtual organizing affords you the time and space to think through your organizational challenges and solutions. There’s nothing intrinsically wrong about diving into the action piece. However, designating time to discuss, reflect, and clarify can enrich and empower your organizing outcomes.

Virtual Organizing Benefits in Real Life (IRL)

For example, a client might need one or more sessions to discuss their challenges with letting go of sentimental or aspirational clothing. It’s valuable to tease out the thought patterns and potential obstacles. They take time to consider and sit with those ideas before taking action.

Sometimes, they move forward on their own. Yet, often, they find it helpful to devote some virtual organizing sessions to work with me on active editing, decision-making, and letting go. That means we’re not only talking about it, but they are doing the physical work as I support them through the process.

Releasing Stuck Energy

I’ve observed something fascinating for myself and my clients. When you begin editing, letting go, and clearing a space, it creates a path for new solutions and ideas. When things remain status quo, the energy in a space and your thinking can get stuck. But once you stir the pot, incredible changes happen.

“Virtual organizing is the bridge that transports you from where you are to where you want to be.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™

An Unexpected Project Outcome

One of the recent projects I’ve been working on is redoing our guest bedroom, which was our daughters’ bedroom. Renovating it has been on my ‘want to do’ list for many years. Finally, its time arrived. I will share more about that exciting transformation in the coming weeks.

However, for now, I’ll tell you about an unexpected outcome. One of the unanticipated side benefits came when we emptied the room to prepare for painting it. I removed the small Elfa drawer unit and temporarily placed it in the pantry. I wasn’t sure if we’d put it back into the bedroom post-renovation. After a few days of observing the cabinet in this other location, I decided to make it pantry-worthy.

I removed the games and playing cards and repurposed the cabinet for tea, spices, and food-related items. I also found these fabulous Container Store Elfa drawer dividers, which keep the items in the drawers organized and in place. It makes me giggle whenever I open the drawer and see those dividers. I love the reimagined cabinet!

If I hadn’t been willing to disrupt one space, I might not have improved another. Like my clients, I gave myself time and the opportunity to think through my organizing systems, get creative, and try something new.

Disrupting a space has value, as does having a thought and accountability partner to help you navigate to the other side of the bridge.

Virtual Organizing is an Empowering Path

What have you disrupted lately? What benefit have you received from your virtual organizing sessions? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.

Do you want help getting unstuck, planning, or creating new organizing systems? If so, I’m ready to help. Please email me at linda@ohsorganized.com, call 914-271-5673, or schedule a Discovery Call. Moving forward is possible, especially with support.

Rumination is a common cognitive pattern that feeds on negative thoughts and worries. Noom, a behavior change wellness company, says, "Rumination is thinking repetitively about causes, processes, and consequences of something that’s happening or happened...It's focusing on the problem over and over again instead of looking for solutions."

To improve your mental well-being and ability to move forward, shift from ruminating to focusing on solutions. Help is here.

6 Self-Help Strategies to Stop Ruminations

1. Mindfulness and Self-Awareness: Practice mindfulness to help develop awareness when you're ruminating. Pay attention to your thought patterns and notice when you're stuck in negative loops. Self-awareness is the first step in breaking this cycle.

2. Problem-Solving Techniques: Once you notice you're ruminating, shift your thinking towards problem-solving. Instead of dwelling on the causes or consequences of a problem, focus on finding solutions.

3. Positive Visualization: Visualize the desired outcome rather than getting stuck in the negative aspects. Imagine what a successful resolution looks like and how it would feel. This positive visualization can stop the negative thought loop and motivate you to take action.

4. Time-Limited Reflection: Give yourself a specific amount of time to reflect on the causes and consequences, but set a timer. Once the time is up, switch your focus to solutions. This technique helps prevent excessive rumination.

5. Action-Oriented Approach: Take small, actionable steps toward solving the problem. No matter how tiny, each action will build momentum and confidence.

6. Growth Mindset: Consider what you can learn from the situation. Challenges and setbacks provide helpful insights that can be used in the future.

“To improve your mental well-being and ability to move forward, shift from ruminating to focusing on solutions.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™

5 Ways Virtual Professional Organizers Can Help

What if you want additional assistance to break your rumination cycle? Virtual professional organizers can provide valuable help, especially when you're overwhelmed or stuck in those negative loops. Here are five ways organizers can help:

1. Objective Perspective: A professional organizer can offer an unbiased viewpoint and help you view things differently. 

2. Expertise: Professional organizers are skilled in organizational strategies, problem-solving, and collaborating. With additional support, you will move forward with less stress and more ease.

3. Accountability: Having an accountability buddy is an effective strategy for making progress. A virtual professional organizer can help you set goals, track progress, and encourage positive actions.

4. Customized Solutions: Organizers provide personalized strategies to address your specific challenges and to help create a more organized and positive environment.

5. Flexibility: With virtual professional organizers, you can access their services from anywhere, making it convenient and flexible to fit into your schedule and location.

I encourage you to find a virtual professional organizer who can help with your goals and needs and who you feel comfortable working with. They can be a valuable partner in your journey for less ruminating and more solving.

How can I help? Contact me, Linda, at 914-271-5673, linda@ohsoorganized.com, or click here.

One of my favorite authors and creative thinkers, Todd Henry, regularly introduces me to new concepts. I admire how he connects ideas from different places to offer fresh perspectives and understanding. Recently, he wrote about the “noise floor,” an audio production term. I equated it to the ‘noise’ clutter makes in our lives.

Todd defined the noise floor as “…the amount of unwanted signal coming from any source other than the one you’re actually trying to record. Listening to someone speak in an environment with a high noise floor is like trying to have a conversation at the beach with a crashing ocean ten feet away. You can make out what they’re saying, but it’s not easy to do.”

He explained how we often “not only allow but invite a high noise floor into our lives.” These “signals” are inputs, requests, demands, and stimuli. If the noise floor in your life is too high, Todd says you might experience things like:

• Feeling overwhelmed without knowing why

• Having difficulty with short-term memory and confusing simple concepts

• Experiencing ongoing distractions and struggling to focus on one project

While you might be functioning with clutter in your life, it could be creating more stress, overwhelm, and challenges than you realize. Are you collecting clutter instead of editing, eliminating, and creating boundaries to keep it under control?

6 Types of Clutter

Think about the noise your clutter makes and how it affects your daily experience. There are different types of clutter, including:

• Mind clutter – Negative thoughts, thought loops, and disorganized thoughts make activating difficult.

• Physical clutter – Paper, clothing, toys, and items filling up your environment make it challenging to know what you have.

• Space clutter – Overfilled rooms, closets, and drawers, make it challenging to move about and locate things.

• Calendar clutter – Lack of time awareness, chronic lateness, overscheduling, inability to say “no,” and unnecessary meetings affect your stress levels and overall functioning.

• Digital clutter – Tech devices, email, social media, Internet surfing, dings, and pop-ups create continual distractions, decreasing focus and productivity.

• Someday clutter – Postponed decisions about things you “might need someday” prevent you from being fully present and available to enjoy now.

Refer to 10 Top Clutter Areas & Solutions That Will Help for clutter-reducing strategies.

“Clutter can create more stress and overwhelm than you realize.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™

What becomes possible when you lower your clutter noise floor? What will a less cluttered mind, home, or calendar look and feel like for you? Which area needs your time and attention?

Do you want help eliminating the clutter in your life? I’m here for you. Reach out anytime by emailing linda@ohsoorganized.com, calling 914-271-5673, or contacting me with this form. Virtual organizing is a beneficial path forward. Let’s talk. I’m ready to help.

Have you ever ignored the signs that it’s time to make a change? Then something significant happens. What was invisible moments ago becomes something you can no longer ignore. You might wonder, “How did I not see this before?”

It’s often the case that we conveniently ignore the signs. Why is that? Change can be scary. Its pursuit can require you to do uncomfortable things, like creating new habits or stepping outside your expertise or comfort zone. Instead of embracing change as a positive, proactive choice, we meet it with hesitation or fear.

Recently, I had an experience that made me think, “How did I not see this before?” I was going about my morning routine. I just applied my face moisturizer, looked in the makeup mirror, and was about to tweeze my eyebrows. Then I saw it. In the middle of my forehead, sticking out, was one long, white coarse hair. What? It wasn’t there yesterday or the day before. Did it grow overnight? How did that happen? Or had it been there for days, and I hadn’t noticed it? Well, I saw it that morning and quickly plucked it out.

Are you wondering how this relates to change? Once I saw the hair, I couldn’t unsee it, and I felt compelled to do something. Yes. Pulling it out was making a change of sorts. While my story might seem silly, it highlights how awareness drives change.

Are these scenarios more familiar?

• Papers are piling up on the coffee table. You walk by them every day without giving them much thought. One evening, you wonder how the piles got so big. You can no longer pass them by, so you edit, let go and regain your surface. Your awareness drove change.
  

• Clothes are overflowing in your closet. You navigate each morning irritably as you get dressed. One day, you recognize how much stress this causes you. You can no longer ignore it, so you edit and organize, which creates a smoother morning routine. Your awareness drove change.
  

• Your computer is slow. It crashes, takes time to respond, and doesn’t function well. Each day you continue to work with a slow, unpredictable computer. At a point, you recognize this isn’t a tolerable way forward. You spend countless hours with tech support, hire a tech person for more help, and ultimately purchase a new computer because your hard drive is failing. Why did you ignore the signs for so long? Finally, awareness drove change. If you’re curious, that was me and I love my new computer.

“Awareness drives change.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™

The other side of change is a wonderful place to be. But getting there can be slow when we ignore the cues. Once you ‘see’ and acknowledge the challenge, your mind creates space for finding solutions and taking action. While the initial noticing and awareness can be painful, as in “How did I not see this before?” don’t let that derail what happens next. Use your awareness as the impetus to embrace change. Once you see clearly, you have an opportunity for improvement.

Have you ever experienced a sudden awareness of a challenge that helped you make a change? Or do you have the understanding but are stuck moving forward? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.