We’ve all been through a lot with the pandemic, change, loss, political unrest, uncertainty, and this sense that life is and will continue to be different. We’ve had to be flexible, resilient, and creative. Last year, many of us canceled Thanksgiving and other holidays that we usually celebrated. Instead, we found different ways to “be together.” Zoom was our new best friend. It was a lost year of non-celebrations and sadness for some of us because we missed the human contact and in-person gatherings. 

Personally, I’ve felt a great hole from the loss of my mom, who died this year. Yet somehow, as the months have passed, while I miss her greatly, I’m also feeling such gratitude for the wonderful people who are here. Through the tumult, friends, family, and colleagues have brought moments of joy and lightness to a challenging time. We’ve stayed connected through texts, emails, phone calls, social media, Zoom, FaceTime, and in person. 

My conversations this fall, which often were “walk and talks,” covered everything from challenges to successes, plans, hopes, dreams, family, friends, work, travel, feelings, stories, tears, laughter, and so much more. Many of these treasured moments happened while we walked side-by-side, taking in the beautiful views of nature or hearing the crunch of the leaves as our feet made contact with the forest floor. 

What does any of this have to do with organizing? Organizing can be about managing our physical stuff and also how we use and prioritize our time. Between pivoting my business to virtual organizing and letting go of things to “live with less,” I made time to stay connected. Life isn’t all about working and doing. It’s also about having time with the special people in your life. 

“Life isn’t all about working and doing.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVPO™

I am so profoundly grateful for my family, friends, colleagues, and clients. Life would not be the same without you. There are too many people to name. But I’d like to give a special shout-out to my wonderful husband, Steve, our amazing kiddos Cassie and Allison, and beautiful friends old and new Joanne, Yota, Christine, and Juliet. Thank you for the many ways you share your wisdom, love, and light.

Grateful for wonderful family and friends who bring their special blend of wisdom, compassion, humor, love, and light to this world.

As we navigate the holiday season, who do you want to connect with? Who are you grateful for? How do you connect with the people most important to you? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.

One of my obsessions, which you might not know about, is “tiny houses” and the tiny house movement. I am in awe of living with less (less space, less stuff) and how small spaces are designed. I love watching the Netflix show, Tiny House Nation, adding images to my Oh, So Tiny Houses! Pinterest board, and reading about people living the tiny house lifestyle. My fantasy is to sell our home (and most of our stuff) and move into a tiny house.

My husband, Steve, doesn’t share my enthusiasm for this idea. He has expressed many times, “I don’t want to live in a tiny house and get rid of all of my stuff. I like my stuff. Where would I put all of my signs?”  Steve is a collector of many things, including large porcelain advertising signs.  Then he clarified that if we did move into a tiny house, we’d need two of them to “keep the peace.”

In the early summer, with tiny house fantasies and vacation planning on my mind, I discovered a unique place in the Catskills. A Tiny House Resort, where we could experience firsthand what tiny home living was like. Steve was game and knew this would be fun, but also help me experience viscerally what tiny living was all about. I booked us an adorable 350 square foot little house complete with a full kitchen, bathroom with five-foot tub, space to sleep four people, fire pit, pergola, and outdoor gas grill. What fun! This family-run resort is situated along the Catskill Creek, has beautiful walking trails, a waterfall, and an outdoor heated swimming pool. There are farm animals, including goats (available for Goat Yoga,) sheep, free-range chickens laying fresh eggs that guests can have, vegetable and herb garden to pick from, giant-sized (not tiny) outdoor chess, and checkers, and so much more.

Four Tiny House Life Lessons

Life Lesson One: Defining Too Cozy

My ah-ha moment came when I approached our tiny house, opened the door, and walked in. I knew in an instant that I could never live full-time in one. Why? It was too small. I told Steve, and he smiled- well, maybe he belly laughed. While it was fantastic spending a long weekend there with him in this cozy and unique space, it is not how I want to live all the time. Although we both agreed that we could if we had to.

Life Lesson Two: Not So Small Afterall

The second ah-ha came when we returned back to our own home, which we’ve always called “small.” Our home felt spacious after four days of living in the tiny house. This realization reinforced that my tiny house fantasy is just that- a fantasy. I am happy and deeply grateful to live in our rightly sized home. I felt very much like Goldilocks when she sat in the “just right” chair. I discovered that our house is “just right” for us.

“I want to prioritize being and doing over acquiring and managing. ”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVPO™

Life Lesson Three: Live With Less

I also recognized that even though I no longer aspire to live in a tiny home, which is defined as between 100 to 400 square feet, I am interested in living with less. It was so apparent how little we needed when we stayed at the tiny house resort. Instead of 30 drinking glasses, there were four. Instead of silverware for 40, there were 4 spoons, forks, and knives. We had just enough, but not more than enough. It felt liberating. 

So when I returned home, I started to not just think about editing my stuff. I actually began letting go. A bag of books was filled and donated to the library. I went through my files and filled up three large bags of paper to recycle and shred. That’s just the beginning. My plan is to go through each room and find things that no longer have value, are taking up space, or have overstayed their welcome. 

I don’t feel pressure or have a specific timeframe for doing this. It will be a relaxed and ongoing process.

Life Lesson Four: Clarifying My Why

Our tiny house experience inspired me not to move but to discover what living with just enough feels like. I’m hyperaware of the 80/20 rule and frequently share this with clients. We only refer to 20% of the papers we file, wear 20% of the clothes we own, read or refer to 20% of the books on our shelves, use 20% of the kitchen gadgets, and so on. I want to review and potentially let go of close to 80% of the things I never use, access, or need. I recognize this is ambitious, but I am open to the process. Why should the stuff I collected and don’t use take up valuable physical real estate and emotional energy? Why should I leave the things I no longer want for our kids to have to sort through when I’m gone? I acquired these things. It’s my responsibility to decide their future.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, our tiny living weekend allowed us the freedom to live and not spend much time caring for the physical stuff of life. Less time cleaning and decision-making meant more time for kayaking, walking in the Catskill Creek, hanging out by the waterfall, swimming, picking peppers and basil from the garden, preparing and eating meals together, and enjoying our time together. Yes. I get that we were on vacation. But even so, going forward, I want to prioritize being and doing over acquiring and managing. We only go around once. 

Have you considered tiny house living? If so, do you need help editing? Do you feel overwhelmed by your things, or do you have just enough? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.

As a professional organizer, one of the primary aspects of my work is to facilitate change. While helping my clients develop mindset awareness, organize the physical environment, prioritize what is important, or better manage time, it’s easy to become so future-focused that we lose sight of the present moment.  It’s beneficial to combine gratitude for what is with the desire to change things that are no longer working. This may seem contradictory or even impossible. However, practicing mindfulness for the beauty of now can ease the stress that comes from transitions and change. It will also help you create a more authentic, balanced, and successful outcome.

One of the mindfulness teachers that I like is Tara Brach. Her guided meditations, which I enjoy practicing with, are lovely. She often includes poetry during her teachings. One of my favorite poems she shared is one by Wu-Men Huikai. In it, he gracefully combines the value of presence, clarity, and gratitude.

Ten thousand flowers in spring, the moon in autumn,

a cool breeze in summer, snow in winter. 

If your mind isn’t clouded by unnecessary things,

This is the best season of your life.

- Wu-Men Huikai

As you pursue the success that you desire, also notice what is here now. That could include the changing colored leaves, a hug from a loved one, or the sound of their voice. Your success begins with the appreciation of the present, for the moments small and large.

What are you noticing now? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.

“In our fast-paced, always on world, it’s not difficult to access information. It comes at you at breakneck speed. Articles, blog posts, status updates, tweets- there’s never a shortage of ideas to consider.”

— Lori Eschene, Tiny Buddha founder

We're humans living in a digital world. Having 24/7 access to our technology can make us feel overwhelmed, stressed, challenged to prioritize what’s most important, and un-motivated to move forward.

By identifying some of the sources and challenges of our digital overwhelm, and by learning how to better manage them, we can increase our sense of well-being, motivation, and focus. Some of the overwhelm sources include our digital devices like our smartphones, laptops, and desktops. The addictive nature of those devices lure us with their unlimited access to emails, texts, Internet surfing, social media communities like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn,Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube. There’s no shortage of digital accessibility vying for our time and attention.

Common digital overwhelm challenges include:

• Interruptions - We can be working productively and suddenly get interrupted by our phone vibrating, an email alert dinging, or a new text message buzzing. We find it difficult to ignore these distractions. We check, we respond, we lose our focus, and it takes time to get back to what we were doing.

• Difficulty Prioritizing & Focusing – In the article “Is Modern Technology Creating a Culture of Distraction?” Mathew Ingram asks the question, “Are modern devices and digital conveniences making us more distracted and less able to concentrate?” The constant barrage of continual digital input and easy accessibility makes it increasingly difficult for us to prioritize and focus on what’s most important.

• Endless – Judith Kolberg, organizer, author and industry-futurist, writes about the concept of “endless” in her book, Getting Organized in the Era of Endless. She says that there’s an endless quantity of information, endless availability, and endless accessibility. This is juxtaposed to a finite amount of time. Choice becomes essential. Judith suggests placing parameters around endless so that we can prioritize and make better decisions.

• Addiction & Reward – Researchers from a University of Chicago study found that "tweeting or checking email may be harder to resist than alcohol,” and that “social media was ‘more addictive’ than cigarettes.” According to a post by Buttoned Up,we are rewarded with feelings of “belonging and significance” when we respond to our digital devices. Responding makes us feel good and this adds to the addictiveness.

Are these challenges familiar? If so, experiment with strategies that will reduce your overwhelm and re-focus your energy.

Solutions for managing digital overwhelm include:

• Establish Boundaries – Information and demands to engage are coming faster and in larger quantities than ever before. Be clear and selective about what you will and won’t do. Align your "yeses" with your values and priorities. Have your “no” statements prepared. For example, you might say- “No, I’m not going to text while I’m having dinner with my family.” “No, I’m not going to engage in social media until I finish my report.” “No, I’m not going to check my email every 5 minutes.” “No, I’m not going to . . ."

• “Ding Management” – Reduce the sounds, alerts and pop-ups that we’re wired to respond to and find extremely hard to resist. When you need to focus, turn off your alerts. I’ve opted to turn them off permanently. There are also apps and programs like Freedom, Focus, and Self Control that enable you to lock yourself out temporarily of "rewarding" programs like email and social media sites. Here's a recent review of Self Control to give you an idea of how these types of programs work.

• Digital Blackouts – Getting "unplugged" has become a cottage industry with detox retreats, digital diets, and unplugging-themed conferences. I've noticed that more people are taking personal digital blackouts on certain hours or days. They get a mental break to unplug and focus 100% of their energy on their friends, family, or non-tech activities. If the thought of unplugging makes you anxious, try it for a short duration and build from there. In the New York Times article, “The Risks of Parenting While Plugged In,” one mom blogger who decided to establish a personal daily email and Internet ban between 4-8pm said, “If I’m at all connected, it’s too tempting. I need to make a distinct choice.” Her kids were thrilled.

• Green Breaks - Ever-present technology is designed to constantly pull our attention that can lead to mental exhaustion, overwhelm and burnout. Scientists, like cognitive psychologist David Strayer, Ph.D., agree that nature restores mental fatigue and increases creativity. Take a walk in the woods, sit under a tree, or dip your feet in the river. Unplug from your devices, go outside, and feel the positive affects on your well-being.

• Slow Down – Don’t buy into the 24/7 busyness and access. Decide to slow down and enjoy human, face-to-face people interaction, outdoor activities or, leisurely meals with your family or friends. Take time to renew, recharge, and shift your pace. One of my favorite posts, "The Elegance of Slow" by DeeAnne White, is a wonderful reflection about the benefits of indulging in non-tech, leisurely time.

I’d love to hear about your digital overwhelm challenges and solutions. What have your noticed? If you're curious, ask me my "ding management" experiment. Come join the conversation.