The latest installment (v28) of the “What’s Interesting?” feature is here with my recent discoveries that inform, educate, and relate to organizing and life balance. I’ve included unique and inspiring, enlisting help-related finds, which reflect this month’s blog theme. You are such a wonderfully generous, warm, and engaged group. I am deeply appreciative and grateful for your presence, positive energy, and contributions to this community.

I look forward to your participation and additions to the collection I’ve sourced. What do you find interesting?

What’s Interesting? . . .

1. Interesting Read – Resilience Help

Life is filled with challenges. When you experience difficulty, disappointment, and disaster, what helps you bounce back? In Resilience, Linda Graham, MFT, author, therapist, and teacher share helpful insights and practices. Graham defines resilience as “the capacity to bend with the wind, go with the flow, and bounce back from adversity.” She believes that “resilience is teachable, learnable, and recoverable.”  The practices presented are based on the brain’s ability to adapt, and the recognition that flexibility is the core of resilience. It is easy to get derailed by life’s small and big challenges. By experimenting with some of the 130 plus exercises in the book, you can train your brain to “respond skillfully,” cope with stressors and difficulties, and not just survive, but “You will thrive.”

“Resilience is teachable, learnable, and recoverable.”

— Linda Graham, MFT

2. Interesting Product – Storage Help

The first phase for getting organized focuses on editing and letting go of things that no longer serve a purpose. I like to say, “Release the things that have overstayed their welcome.” However, once that first phase is complete, choosing how to organize the remaining items comes next. I discovered some beautiful organizing products from Open Spaces and couldn’t wait to share them with you. They are simple, elegant, and perfect for organizing like-with-like items. These small storage bins that come with or without lids in an array of lovely colors can be used in bathrooms, bedrooms, kitchens, offices, playrooms, and more. They are an excellent solution for storage help.

3. Interesting Resource  – Virtual Organizing Help

The pandemic has changed my organizing business. While I’ve been working in-person with clients for over 27 years, I’m currently only offering virtual organizing services. Existing and new clients love working this way, including the shorter, highly focused, and more frequent sessions. As one of my clients said, “Working virtually for one hour is productive, doable, and not overwhelming.”

Professional development has always been a top priority for me. Last month I completed my training and became credentialed as a Certified Virtual Professional Organizer (CVPO.) To acknowledge this shift to virtual organizing and express my gratitude to my clients for their loyalty and trust, I created a Client Loyalty Program. The more virtual organizing sessions you have, the more organizing credits you will receive. Are you curious about how virtual organizing can help you? If so, let’s talk. Call 914-271-5673 or email me at linda@ohsoorganized.com.

4. Interesting Article – Worrying Help

One of my favorite pieces of advice from my Uncle Lew is, “Let’s leave worry as a last resort.”  With an abundance of uncertainty and anxiety about tomorrow, it can be even more challenging to stop worrying. In Nicole Pajer’s Huffington Post article, 15 Things Therapists Do When They’re Worried About The Future, there are excellent coping strategies and ways to help you.  They include ideas such as keeping routines, developing a support system, practicing gratitude, being physically active, and remaining present. Practicing daily mindfulness meditation, doing yoga, and taking walks in nature significantly reduce my anxiety and worry. Those activities focus on presence, movement, and gratitude.

5. Interesting Thought – Enlisting Help

Every person experiences challenges at one time or another. Remember that when you are struggling, you don’t have to be alone on your journey. Enlist help. Find compassionate, helpful support from your friends, family, colleagues, and professionals, including organizers like me. We are here for you. “You are not alone in this.”

What are your interesting finds? Which of these resonate with you? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation!

When we're feeling stuck, it's especially challenging to get motivated. During several recent organizing visits with clients, I was reminded about one of the benefits of enlisting help as a way to boost motivation.

My clients were feeling overwhelmed and stuck. Those feelings resulted in procrastination and lack of motivation to tackle their organizational challenges. Yet in each of these cases, they recognized that no movement forward was going to happen unless they reached out for help. They had hit a wall of overwhelm. They called me for help.

It was fascinating to see the transformation. By talking about their goals, offering organizing support, and working by their sides, their feelings of overwhelm lifted and their motivation returned. In between organizing visits they were able to accomplish a lot on their own. They no longer felt stuck and had a renewed sense of purpose and energy around what they wanted to accomplish. They found the path forward.

So while enlisting the help of a professional organizer isn't the only way to jumpstart your waning motivation, it is definitely one of the effective strategies.

If you're struggling with moving forward and your lack of motivation and clarity is blocking you, reach out for help. You may be surprised at how valuable it is to hire a professional organizer or enlist the help from a trusted family member or friend.

Have you ever experienced positive change in motivation after enlisting help? I'd love to hear your thoughts. Come join the conversation!

As this year is almost over, many of us are reflecting about the past twelve months and the year that’s about to begin. I’m thinking about the many wonderful conversations we’ve shared together on the blog. This free exchange of insights always sparks new ideas. Our conversations about change, clutter, letting go, time, organizing, motivation, life balance and more are one of my greatest sources of joys and inspiration. Thank you for being part of this special community. You inspire me to write, to think, to experiment, and to engage.

I’m grateful for and inspired by the thoughtful words and generous sharing of this community. I’ve curated twelve of my favorite quotes this year by my top engagers, Janet Barclay, Jill Robson, Seana Turner, Ellen Delap, Diane Quintana, Sabrina Quairoli, Sarah Soboleski, Hazel Thornton, Nacho Eguiarte, Jaime Steele, Autumn Leopold and Liana George, selecting one from each month and topic. I’m deeply thankful for them and everyone that adds to our conversations. You bring hope, light, curiosity, and learning each day.

Enjoy the year in review, one quote, insight, and inspiration at a time . . .

Fresh Start

“I love the energy that comes from a refreshed space. It’s clearing out the stuff but also freshening up your perspective by viewing what’s left. I take the opportunity at the new year to make the most of clearing out.”

Ellen Delap on How to Use That Energy Boost You Get From a Fresh Start

Embrace Change

“I guess letting go of what once was, and appreciating what now is, is kind of like focusing on what good things (stuff) you have, and not feeling compelled to accumulate more. Or being grateful for what’s going well in your life as opposed to being resentful about what’s not going well. Any way you slice it I think gratitude is the key.”

Hazel Thornton on Appreciating Genuine Joy With Life’s Inevitable Changes

Next Step

“Knowing what’s the next step is just part of the equation, but knowing why it is important gives us the ultimate reason to go for it.”

Nacho Eguiarte on What Is Your Next Step And Why Is It Important?

Letting Go

“Setting parameters in our lives can help us at so many levels but I think you are so right when you apply it to letting go. It can help with decision fatigue and make the process much easier! I always encourage my clients who are having trouble making a decision to give themselves a time parameter, such as I will make a decision about this item in 'x' minutes, hours, days, etc.”

Liana George on Learn One Amazing Secret That Helps You Let Go

Clutter

“I’ve identified another challenge in my home: framed pictures. Whether they’re family photos, needlepoint projects made by loved ones, or other types of art, they tend to stay on the wall long after I’ve stopped enjoying them, and then they sit in a corner until I’m willing to part with them. I think it’s because they will have little or no value to anyone else, so it’s harder to get rid of them than more useful items.”

Janet Barclay on Why Do We Hold On To Treasures, Clutter And Stuff?

Time Management

“Wow how the time has flown by. We need to drink in every moment.”

Jill Robson on Hydrangeas in Bloom Means the Wonderful Time Has Arrived

Motivation

“What motivates me to get organized is a day off…organizing is my relaxing time. A time when I can reassess and revise systems.”

Sabrina Quairoli on How to Use “Dumpster Envy” to Get Motivated

Enlisting help

“I am working on my mindfulness and finding that it does indeed increase happiness. Putting down the technology has allowed me to focus on what is here and now. By not being distracted I have been able to interact with those around me.”

Jaime Steele on 3 Useful Ideas to Help Increase Your Happiness

Success

“I need to start each day with breakfast by myself before my toddler wakes up. While eating I listen to daily mentoring recordings from Darren Hardy. This precious time really helps me set the tone for a successful day if my batteries have some solo recharging time.”

Sarah Soboleski on How to Strengthen Your Foundation For Fantastic Success

Possibility Thinking

“…you should schedule time for yourself. To think big! Make sure you have some white space in your week. If I look at my week and it’s too full it causes me anxiety right there. I have truly tried to change that. I want more white space! More time to be spontaneous with my family and more time for myself to walk, read, cook, etc.”

Autumn Leopold on Practical Possibilities For Deciding When to Think Big or Small

Wonderfully Human

“…one of the hardest things to do is to take a hard or close look at yourself and identify your own strengths. So often we focus on our weaknesses. If we turn it around ask ourselves ‘which strengths do I have to help me compensate for this weakness?’ we would be so much better off.”

Diane Quintana on Interesting Connection With Politics, Being Human and Organizing Habits

Life Balance

“If I had to single out one of your ideas for maintaining balance, it would be ‘You Are Here.’ Especially at this time of year, our minds seem to be constantly trying to fix, address, handle, solve, and deal with a constant stream of issues that bombard our brains. This just steals attention (and joy!) from the moment. I need to continually work on closing the door to the noise and live in the now.”

Seana Turner on How to Find Your Balance During This Season

What resonates with you? Is there one idea that you’d like to bring forward for 2017? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Come join the conversation!

The latest installment (v11) of the “What’s Interesting?” feature is here with my newest discoveries that inform, educate, and relate to organizing and life balance. I’ve included unique and inspiring enlisting help-related finds, which reflect this month’s blog theme. You’re a fantastically engaged group. I look forward to your participation and additions to the collection I’ve sourced for you. What do you find interesting?

What’s Interesting? . . .

1. Interesting Read – Decision-Making Help

Living requires us to make millions of decisions. Are you overwhelmed by choice? If so, you’re not alone. Barry Schwartz, author of The Paradox of Choice – Why More is Less, sheds light on how the abundance in our culture has made us become less satisfied and more stressed about our daily decisions. He says that while choice improves the quality of our lives, helps us control our future, and is essential to autonomy, the overload of choice comes at a price. Schwartz explains why this has happened and suggests ways to overcome it. He concludes with, “Choice within constraints, freedom within limits, is what enables [us] to imagine a host of marvelous possibilities.”

2. Interesting Study – Productivity Help

While traveling on one of my favorite airlines, Southwest, I read about an interesting piece in their onboard magazine. The University of British Columbia did a study where the results determined that desk clutter lowered your attention span. Interpreted another way, an organized desk increased your attention span by 167%. A different experiment concluded that study participants in a cluttered workspace took 10 percent longer to complete a quiz than the participants situated in a neat workspace.

3. Interesting Conference – Disorganization Help

The Institute for Challenging Disorganization (ICD) will have its’ annual conference in Portland, Oregon, September 22-24, 2016. Organizers and related professionals will convene from all over the globe to learn about aging, ADHD, productivity, mental illness, hoarding, time management, and the latest research on chronic disorganization. I’m looking forward to attending and learning from the experts so that I can better help my clients. Are you going? I’d love to see you there!

4. Interesting Product – Paper Organizing Help

Have you noticed the adult coloring book craze? They are in bookstores, conferences, airports, hospitals and everywhere. They’re even on file folders. One of Smead’s clever new products is the coloring file folder, great for organizing your papers.  Available at myOrganized.life, you no longer need an excuse to doodle on your files. Get out your colored pencils and have fun while you’re organizing your paper piles.

5. Interesting Resource – Repair Help

I’m all for letting go of things that no longer serve a purpose, are beyond repair, or have overstayed their welcome. However, what about those finer shoes or handbags that could be repaired, but they sit around waiting for a way to get that done. Cobblerconcierge.com is a convenient service that meshes the skill and traditions of expert cobblers with the ease of using the Internet. The process is easy. Fill out an online form, receive a shipping box, and your shoes or handbags will be quickly refurbished and returned right back to your home.

6. Interesting Thought – Exclamatory Help

We all do it, don't we? Swearing that is. Especially when we need help, those expletives can arrive fast and furiously. However, they only go so far for handling a moment of frustration. If you’re struggling with overwhelm, with a challenge that seems unsolvable, or with figuring out how you’re going to move forward, it’s probably time to reach out for help. Be brave enough to ask.

I’d love to hear your thoughts. What are your interesting finds? Do any of these resonate with you?  Come join the conversation!