Organized Living

What is Organized Living?

Often when I share with individuals that I am a professional organizer and provide organization for a living the response is, ‘Oh, I could use THAT!’ or ‘My goodness, my mother needs you!’ When I share that I work with the chronically disorganized population as well the next statement is a listing of that person’s friends and family members that are ‘hoarders.’

The truth is that my goal is not to organize you to perfection, to clean out your space and make you get rid of everything or to stage a reality tv-like hoarding clean out.  My desire for you is the mission for my business and for my life.

Empower YOU to Take Control of Your Life.

Do you see the emphasis here? You are in the center of your organizing project and you must be the one to take control.  My job is simply to give you the tools and encouragement to do so.  It is you life.  You need to be in charge of it.  So often it seems that outside forces are directing us: our jobs, our family, physical and emotional crises, financial burdens.  It may seem that all of these things are outside of your control.  On one hand, they are.  But your solutions, how you approach each situation is within your control.

Empower YOU to Live More Purposefully.

Do you schlep through every day running from task to task?  Are you often late?  Do you crash at the end of the day dreading the next day and ALL that it has in store for you?  When you live purposefully you know where you are going.  You have all those same chores but they all lead you in the direction of your vision and your dreams.  You may be tired at the end of the day but that sleep is well earned after a day of work, family and effort towards your greater goals.  Lewis Carroll says, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.”  We live to help you determine where you are going and find the road to get yourself there.

Reveal What is Essential.

before

So often what we think is essential is not.  One of my favorite quotes to this effect come from Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince, “It is only with the heart that one can see clearly, what is essential is invisible to the eye.” How often to we “see” with our eyes and put extraordinary meaning in material things? We are surrounded by stuff and it is my goal to help you determine what is ‘essential’ in your world.  When we talk about clutter there are three kinds: physical, time and mental clutter. Letting go of clutter in even one area will help to reveal what is essential in your life and open doors for you to live more fully.   Take a peak at this story and photo series by Gabriele Galimberti showing children with their most prized possessions.  Tell me your thoughts and how this photo slide show affected how you feel about what is essential.

Create Systems.

after

Creating systems is a process through which we can habituatlize and routinize regular tasks so that we no longer have to spend time and energy on completing them.  Here are places where creating systems makes sense: handling the mail, packing for a trip, completing household chores, making purchases.  When we create a system we remove the guesswork so that decisions do not have to be made every time that task is performed.  Some would argue that this confines us to a rigid set of rules so that creativity is lost.  In fact, the opposite is true.  When we have systems, we free our mental space so that we can think and live more fully and  not be lost in everyday minutia.

Shed the Excess That Is Holding You Back.

We have already talked about clutter but it is really at the heart of this discussion on organization.  First we determine where we are going, then we see what we have and last we let go of the excess in order to make room for the important stuff.  Are you holding on to too much?  Do you just not know what to do with it or how to let it go.   The process of shedding the excess is incremental but once you start you will find that you gain momentum and it becomes not only easier but also very freeing.