What's Stopping You?

You’ve got the symptoms of C.H.A.O.S. (Can’t Handle All the Overload Syndrome)

 Spending too much money and time replacing items lost to clutter
 A cluttered, crowded space – too many possessions and no storage system
 Mountains of paper and no idea what to do with it
 Wasted time hunting for important documents (paper or electronic)
 Late or missed appointments or meetings
 Crunched time schedules, feeling rushed – never enough time
 Spending too much time on low priority items, not aligned with important goals
 Unfinished projects or tasks which keep resurfacing and cause frustration
 The feeling you are constantly working but never accomplishing anything meaningful
 You aren’t enjoying your life!

Don’t believe the myths. . .

Myth #1: Getting organized is too complex and time consuming.
Fact: It doesn’t have to be! Take baby steps. Consistency on even a small scale will give you momentum, motivation, and results. Start right where you are!

Myth #2: If you’re disorganized in one area; you’re disorganized everywhere.
Fact: No one is disorganized everywhere. The trick is to use the skills where
you are organized to apply to the areas where you aren’t.

Myth #3: Being organized will stifle creativity and spontaneity.
Fact: Wrong! Organization increases your self confidence and adds to your worth and value both at work and in your personal life. It helps you deal proactively instead of reactively with people and situations. You are less distracted and therefore able to be more creative.

Myth #4: You can’t get organized unless you have time to do it all at once.
Fact: Organizing even a tiny area of your space, schedule, or priorities can bring immediate and satisfying results. The point is to just get started.

If you feel shame or embarrassment. . .
Reality: Facing your situation and making a decision to change is the first step to breaking the bondage of clutter. Congratulate yourself – don’t beat yourself up!

Cleaning Out Your Resolution Closet

It's easier than you think. Stop believing the gift of a healthy, organized lifestyle is too hard!

You've been asking me for simple solutions to your quest for fitness, an answer for overwhelm and SIMPLE solutions for disorder! While technical answers to these questions are easy, what continues to keep me up at night (in a good way) is WHY we do what we do (or don't do) and how that relates to HOW we are or aren't sticking with our healthy lifestyle goals.

Since I began the process of evolving my organizing business into healthy lifestyle coaching, I've been researching, masterminding, and coaching with other coaches.

And I'm excited to share with you my personal Top 7 Simple Mind Shifts I use with my private coaching clients and that have radically altered my life - meaning I have better health, more energy and have more time to do what I love - in an easy and relaxed manner and a healthy and positive way!

At 51 years of age, (my birthday is in two weeks!) I don't want to spend even one minute on a life I don't totally enjoy! I need my energy! No matter how you slice it, I've already lived more of it than I've got left! Regardless of your age, I want to create an urgency in you to live better now - don't wait!

What disorganization and life chaos does to you goes far beyond chronic lateness or not being able to find things. It's erodes your self esteem, your energy and well-being - making it harder for you to live your divine purpose and give the gift of yourself to those you love.

Getting to the benefits of stresslessness shouldn't be stressful! If you're wondering what happened to your life fitness resolutions (getting organized and fit heading the top of all lists!) you're not alone.

Henry David Thoreau said it best: "Things do not change; we change." When we address and deal with the fears and insecurities inside of us - real change happens. You take it one step at a time.

Making Peace with Order - and Disorder. . .

Last week I learned a little more about myself and my passion for organization. Or is it a little bit of OCD? My mother was here in August for her annual visit. We got to talking about "the old days" and she mentioned off handedly, "Well, you know what your uncle used to say about my mother's side of the family. The best way they could control their lives was to reorder the towels and make sure everthing was in its proper place. We couldn't even go out to eat until your grandmother had walked through the entire house making sure every room was in order."

Later I thought about that conversation and my possible roots of compulsion that lurked beneath my desire for order. Did I inherit my mother's and her family's belief that if our living space wasn't perfect, everything - not just the house - but our lives - would fall apart?

I think my grandmother and her siblings used the rituals of order to combat the powerlessness they may have felt as Italian immigrants struggling to make a life in a new country while their father slowly died of tuberculosis in the upstairs bedroom. Order was their survival kit, their way to stay in control.

Of course the reverse can also be true. Disorganization and holding onto too many things is a different kind of survival kit, a pattern inherited from the past. We can heed these patterns, but don't have to hold onto them.

If your relationship with clutter is a "living survival kit" - maybe passed to you from another generation or another time in your life, can you afford to let it go? If it's an outdated coping mechanism that makes your life difficult or tough for those nearest and dearest, can you afford not to?