In these times of uncertainty, it might feel like a superhuman feat to think about setting big goals. However, in many ways, it’s the perfect time to stretch. The change going on around us encourages more experimentation and flexibility. You might notice your internal obstacles dissipating, which makes way for new ideas. Maybe you’re on the other side and have recently completed a long-term goal. If so, I hope you stopped to acknowledge and celebrate your accomplishment. 

A goal doesn’t happen in a vacuum. We need help with accomplishing our goals and celebrating them along the way. Think about a big goal you set. While you were undoubtedly the driver, who helped and supported you?

“A goal doesn’t happen in a vacuum. We need help with accomplishing our goals and celebrating them along the way.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVPO

Talking about milestones, my good friends at Smead just hit a huge one. Over the past seven years, I’ve loved being a regular guest on Smead’s Keeping You Organized podcast series. The host, John Hunt, has done hundreds of interviews with professional organizers and productivity consultants on chronic disorganization, getting organized, time management, change, coping during a crisis, and more.

Smead just celebrated their 300th podcast and start of their eighth year. What an incredible achievement! As John told me, he didn’t set out to do 300 podcasts, but here we are. I was thrilled to be John’s guest on this special episode where we talked about setting big goals and ways to include celebrating in the process. Listen to the podcast below to learn more.

Setting and Celebrating Big Goals

Have you recently set a big goal? Are you in the process of working towards one? What help have you received? What ways do you celebrate? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.

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!

Have you ever experienced that intense, inner push that propels you towards your desired goal? Or perhaps, you’ve felt the opposite and lacked the energy and motivation to move forward. In Kendra Cherry’s article, What Is Motivation? she explains,

“Motivation is the process that initiates, guides, and maintains goal-oriented behaviors. It is what causes you to act, whether it is getting a glass of water to reduce thirst or reading a book to gain knowledge.

Motivation involves the biological, emotional, social, and cognitive forces that activate behavior. In everyday usage, the term ‘motivation’ is frequently used to describe why a person does something. It is the driving force behind human actions.”

There are many reasons why we become motivationally challenged, including fear of failure, comparison, and drudgery. In one of my most popular posts, 10 Most Common Motivation Challenges & Easy Solutions, I explore these and other ideas. Since motivation concerns is a topic many of us are currently struggling with, I decided to expand on the original post to give you some other relevant motivation challenges and solutions.

3 Reasons for Lack of Motivation and How to Get Motivated

1. “Fuzzy brain.”

With the hundreds of Zoom calls and conversations I’ve had in these past months, there have been countless times when someone connected feeling unmotivated to “fuzzy brain,” “brain fog,” “bunker brain,” or “COVID brain.” Lack of motivation is understandable since we live with intense uncertainty and stress caused by the pandemic and the current political, social, and economic climate. Neuroscientists Hilke Plassmann and Benjamin Kessler, describe this mentally fuzzy phenomenon. They explain that “the combination of impaired analytical thinking and heightened external sensitivity creates what can be called ‘Covid-19 brain’ – a fragile, frazzled state that keeps our thoughts simultaneously on edge and unfocused.”

Solution:  To heal the brain fog, Plassmann suggests using music to restore your equilibrium, regulate your emotions, and increase your focus. She also suggests engaging in mindfulness meditation, especially breathing focused practices, that regulate brain activity.

2. Emergency, emergency!

As if the pandemic isn’t enough, many of us are also experiencing life emergencies such as loss of loved ones, medical challenges, or loss of jobs, income, or housing. When these events happen, it’s hard enough. But when they occur in this extreme environment, it is even more likely your motivation will get disrupted. When your days are spent putting out the emergency fires, and there are underlying stress and anxiety because of the pandemic, there might not be much oomph remaining to expend energy on your goals.

Two weeks ago, my 91-year old mom, who has dementia, broke her hip. She ended up in the hospital, had surgery, and is now in rehab. As if that weren't enough, she had two additional emergencies and ER visits during this time. Talk about being on high alert! Let’s just say that while I have been doing my best to work on my goals and stay motivated, there were moments when I felt like I was walking through molasses, as in slow in going.  One of my weekly goals is writing my blog post. While I am motivated to write, with the mom stuff happening, it has been challenging to focus. So when I sat to write what was going to be a ten-point post, I gave myself some slack and reduced it to three.

“When life’s emergencies occur in this extreme environment, it is even more likely your motivation will get disrupted.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®

Solution: Life emergencies are the time to be especially kind to you. Acknowledge how your high alert state is depleting your reserves. The crisis will eventually pass. Make sure that you increase your self-care with enough sleep, hydration, nutrition, and movement. Minimize your self-expectations. What can you let go of? Focus on what’s most important now. Reach out to your friends and family for support. As your emergency passes, you will have more energy and motivation to work on your goals.

3. Can’t take the heat.

Yes. I know it is summer. And with this season comes hot weather. I don’t know about you, but it’s harder for me to activate when it’s hot. I remember the many summer vacations spent with our daughters in The Outer Banks. It was sweltering in North Carolina. The heat was tolerable when we were at the beach or in the air conditioning. However, when we explored the local towns, it felt like we were walking in an oven. Our energy and motivation to do anything were compromised. It seemed like a significant achievement just to choose and eat an ice cream cone. Even though New York (where I live) isn’t North Carolina hot, the temperature can still affect my motivation. Are you climate-sensitive?

Solution:  If you are affected by the warm weather, notice and acknowledge that. Consider some workarounds that will help increase your motivation. Things as simple as changing your clothing to lighter fabrics and colors, adding a fan to your workspace, or taking your brisk walk in the early morning or late evening, can help. Remember to hydrate, hydrate, and hydrate some more. Plan projects like garage or attic organizing for the colder weather. 

Take a moment to recognize that motivation can wane. It doesn’t mean it will be gone forever. It does mean you might need to experiment and make a few adjustments in behavior or perspective to nurture its return. What motivation challenges are you experiencing? What helps you get motivated when you are struggling? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation!

When you embark on doing something new, what keeps you motivated? What helps you follow through with a project or new habits even when your goal feels big or hard to reach? I’ve said it before. The pandemic has encouraged experimentation and creativity for many of us. The uncertainty in the world created an atmosphere of trying things we’ve never done before. I’ve noticed a shift, “Life is so unpredictable, what do I have to lose?”

This brings me to a recent lesson I learned about motivation. In the spring, I planted a tiny herb and vegetable garden in our greenhouse. You can read more about it in my post, How Has Uncertainty Inspired Your Time to Be Different? After decades of convincing myself that I’m not a gardener and could not grow food, I felt motivated to try. The effect of the pandemic enabled me to try out a different script. It was a “Why not?” attitude, rather than an “I can’t” perspective.

“Motivation is in the growing.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®

The Story

My motivation to create a garden came from wanting to grow my own fresh food. It turned out that selecting plants, and finding the right spot to place them was fun and straightforward. I opted for a tiny garden, which wasn’t overwhelming. Each day I cared for the plants by touching their leaves, smelling them, saying “hello,” and watering them when needed. My daily reward is that I get to pick fresh basil, dill, or cilantro to add to our salads or mint to my iced tea. The herbs have been immediately available and continue to grow.

The cherry tomato plant, however, needed time. Does that sound familiar? How often do we need more time to grow? So while I was picking my basil and dill, I cared for the tomato plant, fascinated by its growing process. Little flowers appeared. From there, tiny green tomatoes grew. Finally, one single tomato turned a luscious bright red color. I sent photos to my gardener guru friend for her advice. She confirmed that it was picking and eating time. So with great delight, I plucked the tomato, cut it in half, and shared it with my husband. It was delicious, worth the wait, and so joyful to share it with someone I love.

Big Lesson Learned

My small garden has taught me that with an open attitude, care, and patience, not only will the plants thrive, but I will also grow. Motivation is in the growing. As you take on new projects or habits, it is the journey where the magic happens. And when you arrive at your destination, I hope that your ripe red tomato will be waiting for you to appreciate and enjoy.

What motivation lessons have you noticed? What motivates you? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation!