Posted By janice on January 23, 2012

It always sounds so easy. Grab a stack of magazines or a box still packed from your last move and just go through it.

Uh-huh. Getting right on that. But ooh, look. Something shiny and way more fun. Stack of what?

This happens to all of us. We have great intentions of accomplishing all sorts of things, but life gets in the way. Other stuff is always more fun than clearing clutter, unpacking boxes and folding laundry, but we know there are some things we have to do. Here are some ways to make time to clear clutter.

Take 15 minutes. Set the timer or put on some music (Lady Gaga gets me moving) and see how many items you can put in recycling, the donation box and trash. Do this several times a week, and you will see progress.

Other rooms. Grab a box or laundry basket and gather up anything you find that belongs in another room. Then take those items back to the rooms where they belong. Here’s a little trick several of my friends who are parents have told me. If items belong to your kids and they haven’t picked it up like you’ve asked, seize the item, and the kids have to “buy” their stuff back with chores.

Trash Day. The night before trash day, clean out your refrigerator and freezer. Dispose of any expired items. If you’re not sure if something is still good, check out Still Tasty. The website has an app that will remind you of expiration dates too.

Leave the “bad” room. If you are trying to clear the clutter in that room – the one that makes all the air leave your body, take a laundry basket, fill it with stuff and go to the happy room where there’s TV and snacks. Sort your basket and grab another load. If you stay in the “bad” room, it’s easy to get distracted with the other items you see. You will either become paralyzed and do nothing, or you start fiddling with other stuff all over the room and wind up accomplishing little.

Stay in the room. If you need to stay in the room and are not sure where to start, toss a hula hoop or embroidery hoop on the floor. Wherever the hoop lands, clear out the stuff inside the hoop. This works great for helping kids too. If you don’t have a hula hoop, then stick to one spot – one shelf, the top of the desk, the coffee table, the stack closest to the door. Whatever works, but just focus in on one area before jumping to another.

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Tags: organizing tips

Posted By janice on January 11, 2012

I don’t know who came up with the idea, but when I first heard it a couple of years ago, I liked the idea of picking three words to help you focus on the coming year.

So my three words for this year are Courage, Creativity and Health. Let me explain.

Health. 2011 was supposed to be a rebuilding year of sorts. Personally, I had spent 2010 crawling out of a serious depression so I faced 2011 with plucky optimism, and things were coming along. Then things took a turn. An icky one.

I began not feeling well in May. I thought it was my acid reflux acting up, but I only got worse, prompting a change in GI doctors and oodles of tests. A CT scan and a treatment of antibiotics helped resolve a majority of my issues – all except the nausea. It’s been annoying to say the least. I wound up not cooking my annual Thanksgiving dinner or traveling to Oklahoma for Christmas because I wasn’t feeling well.

I want my health back so Health is one of my words. I want to be healthy. I want the nausea to stop.

Courage. Courage has many connotations, and there are times when we throw around the word a little too freely. When I hear the word courage, I think of the Cowardly Lion from The Wizard of Oz and his pursuit of courage. To me, courage is about gumption. You need gumption to fearlessly pursue your dreams. You need gumption to get off the couch and get moving.

Creativity. It’s been hard to be creative when you spend months on the couch. I want to get back to a regular writing schedule and actually finish something. I feel stagnant when I haven’t explored this aspect of my life as much as I want. For inspiration, I love this video on 29 ways to be creative. It’s bloody brilliant.

So what are you three words for 2012?

29 WAYS TO STAY CREATIVE from Vimeo.

Category: Goal Setting | 1 Comment »
Tags: goals, health

Posted By janice on January 9, 2012

“Iron rusts from disuse, stagnant water loses its purity, and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigors of the mind.”
— Leonardo da Vinci

This quote paints a vivid picture. Without action, we became stagnant and live life without meaning and purpose.

With the start of the New Year, many things have been written about meaning, purpose, passion and goals. So let me ask. Are you happy? Are you living a meaningful life? And what is a meaningful life to you?

For me, writing, my nieces and nephews, and chocolate give my life meaning. I’m joking about the chocolate. Okay, not really. Chocolate is pretty necessary in my world.

I’m always fascinated with people I meet who are unhappy with some part of their life but act like victims. Their unhappiness is always someone else’s fault so therefore they can’t control it or change it. I’ve been there myself before, and it’s easy to feel sorry for yourself, blame everyone else and become paralyzed. At some point, I realized I had to make a change or lose my sanity.

In the work I do, most of the people I meet are at a crossroads of some sort. When someone is asking for help from a professional organizer, it’s because they want to change some aspect of their life. Granted, not all of the organizing clients I meet are asking for life-altering change. They just want less stress, less headaches and less stuff.

There are a few who have struggled most of their lives with the burden of disorganization, clutter and hoarding tendencies who want to change. A client decided to clear the clutter in her home because she’s tired of making excuses for why people can’t come over to her house. She has been incredibly enthusiastic about it, and it’s an honor to witness and help with her transformation.

One thing I’ve learned mostly the hard way is if you never attempt to change your circumstances, your life will be the same.

So let me ask again. Are you happy? Are you living a meaningful life? What is a meaningful life to you? If you’re not sure, journal about it, create a vision board to see what comes up, or work with a life coach.

Change is scary. Change is hard. If you want it, it’s worth it. I promise.

Category: Chronic Disorganization, Life | No Comments »
Tags: change, meaning, organizing

Posted By janice on January 4, 2012

It was a week or two after my birthfather Mike passed away that I met my friend Ellen Delap for lunch.

She asked how I was doing, and I told her that I made an appointment with a therapist to deal with the depression I had sunk into during the past year.

“Oh, good,” she said. “So we don’t have to have that discussion today.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. I am lucky to have such a dear friend who would speak up and tell me that it was time to seek help, and it made me love her even more. With the help of my therapist and medication, it took a good year for me to make my way out of depression. I didn’t realize how bad it was until I started feeling better. No wonder my friends and family were worried.

Earlier this week, one of my favorite bloggers – The Bloggess aka Jenny Lawson who is absolutely hilarious and irreverent — chronicled her battle with depression, and her post generated a huge response from her readers both on her site and on Twitter. In the post, she shares her hope of seeing  more people wearing silver ribbons, the symbol for the public awareness campaign for brain disorders and disabilities, including depression.

As someone who has dealt with serious depression, I cheered. I have talked openly about my issues with depression on my blog, with my organizing clients, during presentations…. You get the idea. I never have claimed to be a woman of mystery. I realized, like the lovely Bloggess has, that when you talk about depression or any other chronic illness, you find out that you’re not alone. You are in good company.

When I’ve talked about my depression, several people were shocked. “You? Depressed?” Yes, me. Yes, I know I’m outgoing and funny, but funny people can be depressed. Depression doesn’t really have a poster child. We’re not always in the corner, rocking back and forth. We go to work, go to the grocery store, pay bills and other normal things.

Most of us, depressed or not, walk around with some sort of weight on our shoulders. We all have issues of some kind, and some are more noticeable than others. Just because someone isn’t walking with crutches or is bald from chemo doesn’t mean that they aren’t fighting their own battle.

If you’re dealing with depression, please get help. Don’t try to do it yourself.
There’s no shame in talking to a therapist or getting on medication.

Sometimes, we all need a little help. If you have a loved one who is dealing with depression, check in with them, tell them that you care and encourage them to seek help if they haven’t.

This weekend, I’m going to buy my own spool of silver ribbon. It’s the sign for warriors.

Category: Depression | 4 Comments »
Tags: depression, silver ribbon

Posted By janice on January 2, 2012

I always love the start of a new year. It’s a clean slate and a fresh start filled with possibilities.

This time of year, lots of us think about making resolutions, setting goals, and changing habits, and there are different approaches you can use to make changes you want to make.

Albert Einstein said insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. The one guarantee I can make is that if you do nothing, then nothing will change. Many times when I read the cartoon Dilbert, I think to myself, “Seriously, this guy needs to get a different job.”

The key is to make small changes that lead to big changes. If you’re a couch potato and want to exercise, you can’t jump into a six-day workout routine and expect to stick with it. Start with walking three days a week and work your way up. You are more likely to stick with it.

So if you want to change some part of your life, then you can make it happen. Here are a few ways to approach your goals for the new year.

Three Words. For the last couple of years, I began hearing about the idea of picking three words to describe your goals for the coming year, and I like the idea of using three words to help zero in on what you really want. Author and social media expert Chris Brogan picked his three words and encouraged his readers to post their own. Mine for this year are: Courage, Creativity, and
Health. I’ll explain my three words in another post.

Create Rituals. Tony Schwartz, author of The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working, encourages the use of rituals to help you reach your goals. If your goal is to exercise every morning, the ritual you could create around this goal is to pack your gym bag each night. If your goal is to eat better, make the decision to eat your lunch away from your desk so you can focus on your meal.

The 30 Day Challenge. A friend on Facebook posted this TED talk on trying something new for 30 days. It takes 27 days to create a habit so 30 days is a good amount of time to devote creating a new habit. Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project, adopted a similar tactic in her book, and she devoted a month to pursue a new adventure. On her website, check out information she has on creating your own Happiness Group and tackle what Rubin cleverly calls your “pigeons of discontent.”

What are your goals for the coming year?

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Tags: goals, resolutions

Posted By janice on December 30, 2011

As 2011 rushes to a close, it’s the time of year when we all publish Top Ten lists and recaps of the year’s events, and I’ve already written two others for my own blog. As I wrote the other recap posts, I perused the year’s events, and I saw stories about people – amazing people. I knew I had another list in the making.

There are many people I could talk about. I could talk about the soldiers we have asked to sacrifice time with their families and even their lives. We ask so much from them. I could talk about the protesters who joined the Arab Spring movement in several countries to fight for what we take for granted.

I could talk about the amazing Gabrielle Giffords, who has shown stunning determination after a tragic shooting. The loving relationship between Giffords and her astronaut husband Mark Kelly are the ones we should talk about instead of the shallow ones lasting a handful of days.

I could talk about the Fukushima Daiichi workers in Japan who went back into the nuclear plant after the devastating earthquake and tsunami set off a meltdown. They could have easily said no, but they didn’t. They stepped up to the plate with great peril to themselves to save their fellow citizens.
But to make this list have real meaning, I’m going to write about the people in my life who amaze me.

Melanie Notkin of Savvy Auntie. Melanie’s first book – Savvy Auntie: The Ultimate Guide for Cool Aunts, Great-Aunts, Godmothers and All Women Who Love Kids – was released earlier this year, and I was proud to be part of her project. I love being an Aunt to my 10 nieces, nephews and godchildren who range in age from 19 to 1, and they are the joys of my life. Melanie is a fearless dynamo who saw a niche for we single women who love the children in their lives, took a brave leap of faith, and created an outlet for us. I’m a proud PANK – Professional Auntie No Kids, and I thank Melanie for giving us a voice.

Ellen Delap of Professional-Organizer.com. My fellow organizing colleague Ellen totally rocks. Ellen and I became organizers around the same time and have similar styles. Ellen and I can talk about pretty much anything, and we love to bounce ideas off each other.

My sisters-in-law Dawn, Katharine and Kimberly. I have an expanded family with my adoptive family and my birthfamily, and I am lucky to have such amazing women in my family. Dawn is a brilliant and compassionate doctor here in Houston, and many of my friends see her as their doctor. Katharine is so outgoing and perky, a great cook and an awesome mother to my two nephews. Kimberly is a dynamic woman who is a great mother and stepmother to three of my nieces and nephews.

Lisa Boesen. Lisa and I were introduced by a mutual friend during my early days at MD Anderson. Lisa has always amazed me with her compassion, optimism and kindness. She always sees the good in people and situations – a feat that I still struggle with. After her father and mother passed away within months of each other, Lisa turned her grief into something much, much bigger and created Compassionate Connections, a program she developed to put the “care” into healthcare for patients, their families and healthcare workers. Check out her website.

We also bid good-bye this year to several amazing people, the ones who left a gaping hole when they left. My own family and I lost my amazing Uncle Cletus, a giant who fought dragons.

Other notable passings I was sad to see were Steve Jobs, a man who made us want things we didn’t know we wanted; Elizabeth Taylor, the famous beauty who championed AIDS research and education before it was fashionable; Christopher Hitchens, the blunt and brilliant writer you loved, hated or both at the same time; and Patrice O’Neil, who was just damn funny.

As we stand on the verge of 2012, I wonder who will amaze us in the coming year.

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Tags: amazing people of 2011