The word clutter often evokes a powerful image: stacks of newspapers, magazines, old mail, brochures, and leaflets piled high and littered about every surface; items shoved haphazardly into any available nook, crany, or crevice; closets overflowing with shirts and sweaters you haven’t worn in years; chaos, disorder, and mess as far as the eye can see. But what about the invisible clutter, the intangible clutter? Time clutter.
January is National Get Organized Month, and this year it is the beginning of a brand new decade — a wonderful chance for reflection and a fresh start. For me, the theme of 2020 is Clarity (just think 20/20 vision). It’s about being clear on who you are, what you want, and what makes you happy. And creating the space and time to make it happen by getting organized.
As an organizer, I have long been fascinated by museums: the way they’re curated, how the exhibits are arranged, and why they’ve chosen to acquire and display the pieces in their possession. So it may come as no surprise that one of the highlights from my recent trip to St. Petersburg — aside from seeing the beauty of the city itself, a long time dream of mine — was visiting The State Hermitage Museum and discovering the beautiful history of organizing.
There is a weird contradiction between the image of the holidays as an all-relaxing, warm, and fuzzy time and the reality that, as we try to fit in all this yuletide joy, we still have our jobs, and all the standard routines of running our personal and family lives. This year, try these 5 holiday tips to do a little bit more with a little bit less!
The moment we get busy, taking care of ourselves is usually the first thing to go as we put caring for others and job responsibilities first. Many of us take our bodies for granted, pushing ourselves to the limit, basically ignoring our physical and emotional needs until the body screams out and demands attention. But, what can we do to build healthy habits to go the distance? Here are three areas to focus on…..
For many people, breaking away from the gravitational pull of work is extremely difficult. Our drive to get things done, feel a sense of accomplishment, and succeed often keeps us working well past the point of diminishing returns. We find ourselves saying, “Let me just squeeze in one more thing from my to-do list and THEN I’ll go home for the day,” or “Once we get past these huge projects, THEN I’ll take a vacation.”
Your energy levels have a profound impact on your effectiveness. Think about it. Amongst your circle of friends, you can see the differences: there is the friend who is up at the crack of dawn, to the one who always hits a workout after 7pm, to the one wide-awake working on proposals well after midnight. Harnessing your energy cycles isn’t a “one-size-fits-all” conversation. So how do you figure yours out?
There’s only one thing more frustrating than not being able to clear your own clutter—and that is coming home at the end of a stressful day and being confronted with your kid’s mess. It feels like facing your own failure as a parent. You want to teach them a life skill that you know will make their life easier and lead to more success... But how can you teach something you yourself don’t even know how to do?
