Farewell to January

It’s almost the end of the month (thank heavens!)

If it were up to me, I’d give everyone the month of January off. I’d wave my magic wand and clear every calendar, enforce regular nap times, and pay all bills due. Yep. A whole month of vacation. Wouldn’t that rock?

Now that the resolution hoopla is finally over, the pressure’s off! We can recover from the January hype and urgency — and settle into a healthy pace. Whew! So glad THAT’s over for another year.

Truthfully, I’ve been grappling with mild depression all month — and I think it comes from a combination of insufficient sunlight and battling off the January “shoulds”. January is an INNER month. A reflection month. A store up starches so that we can bloom like crazy in springtime month.

It’s okay to be introverted. Especially in January. I’m making peace with this and learning to plan accordingly.

Planning organically for the upcoming year

While I’ve been playing at hibernation the last few weeks, I’ve also been planning like a crazy-woman and loving it. At this point, I have nothing to show for all this planning. There are at least 4 calendars in my office — some big, some small — all of them are helping me figure out how I want to spend my work and personal time. It’s totally awesome.

If I had any advice to share for the end of January, this would be it: Allow planning to be enough in its own right. Recognize the inherent value of contemplating your future before you step out into it.

What does your spirit cry out for?

Now through the month of February, immerse yourself deeply in this question: “What do I want?” And do something radical like really listen to what comes up when you ask it. This is your spirit’s longing speaking.

Knowing what you truly want this year does more than just help you create it. It helps you recognize what is expendable. Knowing what you want helps create the desire to release anything that doesn’t serve you — whether it’s clutter, or old books, or unhealthy beliefs, or soul-sucking projects, or people who don’t give you the respect you deserve. Knowing what you want makes saying “no” possible.

Discerning what you want is a powerful, precious gift that only you can give to yourself.

So I ask you: What do you want this year? Now that the January pressure is off, what is your spirit craving?

Do share your ideas below. I love hearing from you.

xo,
Jen

10 comments

You may have heard that the Northeast got an unexpected 16″ of snow at the end of last month — October. It knocked out power to millions of people far longer than anyone anticipated. My Connecticut family got caught in it and lived without power, heat or running water for nine days.

When the lights went back on and the furnace started up again, I asked my brother what he learned from the experience.  His email was so insightful and inspiring, I just had to share it with you. Enjoy — here are some wise words from my favorite (and only) brother, Mark Hofmann.

10 lessons from 9 days without power

1. We got lucky

Contrary to popular culture, our true basic human needs are not Starbucks, Tivo, and Facebook – it’s water, food, and shelter.

Our family was not prepared for this storm, but we were lucky. Lucky that we had enough water, food, and shelter to last all nine days. We were lucky that we were on city water and sewer. We were lucky that we buy way more food than we need, and we were lucky that the weather cooperated, by not dipping too far below freezing. We were lucky that it snowed so much, because we were able to use the snow in the coolers when no one had ice within a 50-mile radius. We were lucky that we finally trimmed most of the branches that hung over our house two months ago. It could have been much, much worse.

2. You need food, water, and shelter

We have an electric stove, so we were lucky that we had a gas grill with a side burner that had propane. I’m not the most diligent person, and I’m in charge of the grill. So it even shocked me that we had a reasonable amount of fuel when the power went out.

Have something you can cook with. If you don’t have something you can cook with, make sure that the food you stock pile doesn’t need to be cooked. You can subsist on dry pasta, but it’s not fun. We were amazingly creative with the grill, too. One morning we made eggs, bacon, and toast on the grill (but the eggs kept running through the grates). No seriously, it was the pancake batter that kept running through them. Had the power outage gone on another day, I would have tried to bake bread on the grill.

3. Enjoy your food before is spoils (or be forced to crunchy pasta for 10 days!)

When you’re out of power for this long, no amount of coolers and bags of ice is going to save what’s in your refrigerator. So don’t feel guilty about eating the stuff that you can. It’s going to get thrown away, anyway. The aforementioned morning I made a pound of sausage, 6 fried eggs, and a few slices of toast (made with more butter than I care to admit) Hey, if you’re going to be miserable, drawn your sorrows in some good food. It was a great breakfast, and gave us the juice to clean up a few yards, cut up some branches, and reorganize the wood pile.

Nutella sandwiches can be a treat, however we found that below a certain temperature, it is impossible to spread. It is, however, still delicious eaten right out of the jar. One family cooked up an entire beef tenderloin and shared it with their immediate neighbors (mental note: I need to make friends with those people). Once we could get to a grocery store, we shopped and ate like the Europeans – buy only what you’re going to eat for that day.

4. It’s going to be cold, but you’ll get used to it

Some physical changes happen, too. You get used to the cold. I mean, really used to it. When you’re used to an average temperature of 50, walking into a house that’s 70 is a shock. No matter how many layers you shed, you’ll sweat and your cheeks turn bright red. The act of washing your hands in cold water becomes routine… well, eventually. And with a little bit of gallows humor, we quipped that we should give out “frozen tushie” awards to all the families that stayed in their homes without power. You have no idea how freaking cold that toilet seat is. By the end of 10 days, though, you get used to it. We knew someone was going to the bathroom by the audible yelp they made when they sat down. By the end, even I was hardly even letting out a girlish squeal. And if you want to get warm during the day? Do something. Move something heavy. It is amazing how just a little bit of strenuous physical exercise can keep you much warmer than a bunch of layers of clothes.

5. Take care of your basic materials

Some fireplaces are built to keep the house warm and some are just there to look good. Mine was built for looks. In order to raise the temperature in the room the fireplace was in, I had to cut the pieces smaller and burn the fire hotter – which meant that we went through our wood faster. A stack that was 3′x4′x1′ lasted approximately 18 hours and should have lasted much longer.

Oh yeah, that’s another thing – if you have fire wood, take care of it. At least half of my wood pile (which was beautiful red maple) was ruined because I didn’t take care of it. I let it rot, because I didn’t always keep it covered and let it get exposed to the elements. The point here is, have an alternate fuel source that can keep you warm through a certain period and maintain it.

6. Wool is your friend

Body heat is an amazing thing, but modern bed coverings suck. Getting into bed at night was one of the worst things of the day, but spending the next 8, 9, even 10 hours next to someone warm was the best. I can’t explain it, but out sheets felt so cold and I never figured out why. But we were given a nice wool blanket for our wedding, and using that was like someone turning on the furnace. Having a warm body next to you sped up the process greatly.

7. Have plenty of batteries on hand

You need batteries. Why? To power all of the portable electronics you need to occupy your kids with! (Just kidding) For light, mostly. There are some surprisingly dark places in our house that were unusable without a flashlight or lantern. (Oh yeah, you should have both of these.) You also need batteries to power a radio or portable TV, so you can understand what’s going on in the world. After you have no TV or internet access for a day or two, you realize exactly how cut off from the “real world” you feel.

8. Make sure your emergency source of information works

We have really refused to upgrade to the whole TV, flat screen, HD craziness over the last 10 years. This caught us off guard, though, since our portable, battery powered TV was the old analog tube type. Imagine our surprise when we could get exactly zero TV stations. They had all converted to digital.

And don’t count on your cell phones to save you. In ice and snow events like this one, it can take out the power and/or the link to the cell. We went two days without cell service, and it wasn’t quite right for almost a week. Calls couldn’t get through, internet and email didn’t work, and only the occasional text messages get through.

9. Take advantage of the time together

Most of all, the people you live with are close to you, both physically and emotionally. Take advantage of this time together. It will draw you closer if you work as a team, communicate well, and take the time to care for each other.

Play games, take hikes, do yardwork – any of this will draw you closer. The pettiness of day to day falls away when there’s water to boil for washing the dishes and making breakfast, and prepping for meals, and getting the fire going and, and, and… Doing these things together brings you together in a way that nothing else will. At least it did for us.

10. Everything takes 3x longer than you think it should

Relax and enjoy the process (cause you’re not going to make it go faster!).

Have you been without power? Any insights to add or share? Please feel free to add your thoughts!

4 comments

What?? How the heck do you pronounce that?!

na – no – rhy – mo

National Novel Writers Month – November 2011

It’s a 30-day writing plunge for people all over the world. It helps people get motivated to do the writing they always wanted to.

The goal? 1666 words per day – or a total of 10,000 words for the month.

Technically, I’m not writing a novel. I’m writing non-fiction, but I’m participating anyway.Isn’t it fun to write your own rules?

Here’s a short synopsis of the book:

Creative people have such an incredible capacity to change the world through their ideas. Yet, if they have no physical space to do this work, all the accumulated clutter blocks their ideas and motivation. This non-fiction book helps cluttered creatives bring ingenuity and spirit to their spaces and to create environments that support and inspire their best work.

How I’m getting ready

Never having done this much writing before, I’m nervous! Whew! Here’s how I’m getting ready:

• Assess whether I really want to write 10,000 words (or if a different goal is more realistic)
• Set aside time in my calendar to write
• Flip through my notecards that outline the book (just to shift the stuck energy)
• Mention it on Facebook to connect with other writers
• Sign up for a NaNoWriMo account (free!)
• Write about it on my blog (yay!)

Insights?

If you’ve ever participated in NaNoWriMo or written a book or done something big that you were nervous about, I’d love for you to comment below. Please share your experiences about what worked for you and what you learned. I welcome your insights!

2 comments

You’re invited!

Did you know that if you own a copy of The Wish Kit you can attend an awesome class that helps you get the most from your purchase — at no cost?

It’s true! It’s called The Wish Kit class (fancy, huh?). So many people purchase the Wish Kit with good intentions and don’t get around to completing it. Totally normal! So, I created this class to be sure you get the most from this small-but-mighty tool.

This Monday!

I don’t teach this class often, but I thought you’d want to know that it’s coming up on Monday, October 10 at 9-11am Pacific/12-2pm Eastern.

The Wish Kit class inspires, motivates, and helps you shake out the gunk you’ve been struggling with in your workspace. You end up with clear steps forward that you feel excited to take. Chances are good that your workspace will improve because you’ll create a clear, exciting plan.

I really think you’ll like it. Many people have told me this is their favorite class that I offer — the normal cost would be around $60 — and I don’t charge a thing for it.

Get signed up!

Would you like to be there? Would you like a more inspiring workspace before the end of the year? Let me know you plan to attend!

Send me an email saying 2 things: “I own a Wish Kit (Scout’s honor) and I’ll be there on Monday!”
I’ll follow up with all the juicy details the day before.

Don’t own a Wish Kit, but want to be there? Not to worry! Just get yourself a copy and then send me an email like the one mentioned above. I’d love to have you there!

Care to comment?

Have you ever had one of those projects?

You know, one of those “I just have to push through this” kind of projects? Maybe it’s your quarterly taxes, or a holiday is coming and you just have to get the dining room table cleared, or your newsletter is way overdue. Maybe it’s that overwhelming stack of books I wrote about in the last newsletter. Something has reached the breaking point.

If you felt motivated about this project, that would be great. You could use that momentum to fuel yourself. But, unfortunately, the project I’m talking about is something you’ve been dreading. Something that’s tedious and loathsome. This project will take a lot of effort and you don’t feel like doing it. Can you feel it? Got something in mind?

The usual strategy is to push

I’m not a mom, but I know enough people who’ve given birth to know that there’s only one time in that whole process that it’s helpful to push — and that’s at the end. If pushing starts too soon it doesn’t just complicate matters, it also wastes precious energy needed later. That baby won’t join the world until it’s good and ready.

With a loathed project, a lot of people start pushing at the very beginning. Sometimes this works initially, but it leaves you exhausted long before you reach the finish line. In fact, one of my intrepid researching clients found a study that shows that exerting willpower actually lowers your blood sugar. So, pushing isn’t just emotionally and mentally draining, it affects your metabolism too.

Take tax prep, for example

As I write this, I’m vaguely aware that the quarterly tax for self-employed folks is due this week. I’ve been spending a lot of energy avoiding thinking about it and telling myself that I’ll get to it. Interestingly, I’m using up energy just to push away the project. When the time comes to do it, it would be a prime opportunity for me to push through and do a lot of inner damage.

In the past, I would have stayed up late, gotten overwhelmed, and berated myself for waiting so long. I would have pushed through with insufficient sleep, tearful outbursts, and days of recovery time. Now I have more effective strategies (which I’ll share with you in a moment), but this is one example of how pushing doesn’t really work.

Mean self-talk makes everything worse

The biggest problem with pushing is that when your energy for a project starts to flag and you become fatigued, you switch gears into a kind of self-loathing, “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” talk. It’s an insidious inner dialog that includes nasty jabs at your own value. A few of mine include “What the hell is wrong with you?” and “You idiot! Why did you wait so long?” (and those are on a nice day). I suppose some people’s inner dialog is directed at the complexity of IRS forms and the agency in general, but my mean-talk is usually directed at me. You too?

Here’s the thing: the mean self-talk is intended to motivate us. No matter how miserable we feel about these inner exclamations, they’re misguided attempts to prod us into action when we’re tired. But now, instead of having a loathsome, tedious, dreaded project — you also feel like crap. Yuck.

Been there?

Alternatives to pushing through

Make space:

Back to the baby analogy for a moment – what’s the one thing everyone learns to do in preparation for birth? Breathing. When it comes to projects, you can do literal breathing to get calm. You can also give yourself breathing room by taking a short break, physically leaving the space you’re in, getting outside, taking a shower. You can do any number of things that will help you get out of the spin and feeling more grounded again.

Talk nicely:

How would you talk to your best friend if she were in the same spot as you, struggling with a project? Being the kind of person you are, you’d offer support and solace and commiseration. Chances are pretty good that you’d offer encouragement.

What would it be like to do that for yourself? One thing you can try is pausing to notice the steps you’ve already taken. Say them out loud or in your head. Say encouraging things. Try being your own best friend and supporting yourself when the chips are down.

Explore small steps forward:

One of the things that makes big projects harder is their complexity. So it can help to take a moment and jot down the next 3-6 steps in your project. Baby steps. For my taxes example, I first need to get a summary of the last 3 months’ earnings. Secondly, I can then divide that number by 33%. Thirdly, I can get out the checkbook and an envelope. When I write out these steps, I start feeling calmer. My brain engages. It begins to seem possible that I can complete this by Thursday.

Ask for help:

When you’re struggling and isolated, this sometimes compounds the difficulty of doing something big. It helps to share your struggles with someone you trust to be supportive. To participate in a class that focuses on your project, like decluttering your office. To find a buddy who struggles with the same project and work encouragingly side-by-side. Just because you got here alone doesn’t mean it has to stay that way.

In short, you’re worth it!

Applying these alternatives takes time, but it’s worth it because they can decrease the amount of stress you feel when working on a big project. Over time, you feel less dread and more confidence in doing things that seem hard. Best of all, bringing kindness to challenging projects leaves you with extra energy to spend on yourself, fun activities, and with those you love!

Feel free to share your experiences with hard projects!

2 comments

This is the chair I didn’t want anymore… at the end of my driveway.

With a “FREE” sign attached.

Yes, it’s my old cat-scratched chair on a Sunday evening, on our not-too-busy street.

Can you guess how long it took for a grateful someone to snatch it up? 64 minutes. No Craigslist ad, no Freecycle post, not even a trip to Goodwill, and it’s gone.

This is just a friendly reminder about how easy it can be to release what you no longer need.

The best part? The grins, waves, and shouted “thank yous” from the folks who carted it away. B’bye old chair!

4 comments

Two monitors?

I always thought that one computer monitor was sufficient until I worked in an office that had all the computers set up with two, side-by-side.

image source: computershopper.com

Just like the picture — except without the creepy staring eyes. You get the idea, right?

Why it’s useful

One of the limitations of a single monitor is that switching between documents or programs is challenging without getting the tabs all confoozled. In the real world of paper we hold documents side by side to compare them, to switch between them easily. Imagine trying to balance your checkbook with the bank statement directly underneath it. It’s confining. It’s not efficient.

Spreading stuff out, especially for visual creative types, makes information easier to process. Having two monitors allows you to duplicate this spaciousness in your computing.

In case you’d like to do this weekend project, this great how-to video from cnet walks you through the process step-by-step and tells you want equipment you’d need to make the switch.

Have you tried this? What do you think?

3 comments

I have the right to express myself
to live my life as I see fit
to say no and mean it
to say yes with my whole being to what I love

I have the right to my own creative space
to draw a real or imaginary line around my domain and claim it for myself
to a door that closes
to absolute silence when I need it

I have the right to spread out
to interact with my ideas
to see them
to touch them
and doodle in the margins
until the ideas seep into my bones and become mine

I have a right to a sacred space
that is free from intrusions
that is free from guilt
that completely supports my spirit
that is truly sacred space
powerful as an ancient circle of standing stones

I have a right to fully inhabit my body and treat it with loving care
to a good night’s sleep, to clean teeth, warm hugs, and supportive ears

I have a right to a healthy relationship with myself
to choose gentleness
to change
to grow more deeply into my magnificent self
to learn to be my own best friend

I have a right to a space that allows me to become who I am
that helps me visualize my dreams so I can make them happen
that celebrates my gifts and all my senses
Because when I can hear my own deepest knowing, self-criticism dissolves
and in finding my own voice, I am better able to hear yours

I have a right to contribute something valuable to the world
I was born with gifts, talent and abilities that the world needs
While the world hungers for compassion, for wisdom, for beauty, for healing
my space gives me the grounding I need to courageously offer my service

I have a right to be here, in this world, at this time in history
Despite the risks of living, I know I am safe
I am loved
I belong
This life I’ve been given is a gift
and each day, I find gratitude
and new courage to live it

Comments? You’re invited to share thoughts or feelings that reading this brings up for you.

No comment to share? Feel free to add a little stone  -o-  to let me know you’re here and took the time to read (this delightful idea courtesy of Darcy).

18 comments

I played two rounds of Monopoly® this weekend. I normally hate this game with the fiery passion of a thousand suns. I hate that it pits normally kind people against each other, transforming them into competitive jerks who wish ill on their friends. I hate that it brings out sneakiness and greed. It’s also one of the few games that, if you play well, goes on and on interminably. Sorry. Not interested.

However, we had an unopened National Parks version that intrigued me. It has lovely pictures of Yosemite, the Grand Canyon, many other places I’ve never been. The Chance cards were birds and animals. This was not the game I grew up with. And the game pieces? Adorable! I also discovered that there are several “fast game” options. So, I chose a hiking boot and a bicycle and played a round against myself.

Right away, I started rooting for Boot. Boot was a hard worker and Bicycle liked to coast through life. 30 minutes later, Boot had lost and Bicycle was barely ahead as the winner. In evaluating the first round, I noticed that Boot and Bicycle both purchased land and tents as soon as possible. They spent beyond their means of $200 per go-around. When disaster struck (like getting caught littering – a $200 fine), they were unprepared. Major tent repair caused Boot to lose.

As I reflected on the game later, I realized that these spending habits reflect my own relationship with money (not coincidentally). I started to wonder if I used some structure, some kind of rules to guide my spending, would the game last longer? Would I collect more national parks? Could I buy more tents?

I wasn’t looking to defile the national park system, I just started feeling curious. What could I learn about money systems from this game? On my second round the following day, I decided that Boot and Bicycle would be more discerning in their purchases. Collect properties you can afford, but nothing more than a quarter of your total cash. In addition, I set up a rule that they would reserve a $500 bill they weren’t allowed to spend, to create a cushion.

I started the game and immediately a trend showed up: Bicycle was luckier than Boot. Within the first half hour, Bicycle had won a fishing contest ($200), become a Junior Ranger ($60) and saved a rare bird species ($200). Boot had gone to jail twice (-$100) (I didn’t ask why), missed several opportunities to collect $200, and had to pay unexpected fees (-$300).

In a way, this variability is kind of like life. Sometimes things are lean. Sometimes you luck out. Having spare cash for the challenging times can tide you over. This time, neither side blew it. Despite the bad luck, Boot hung in there. I played for 2 hours with no sign of ending and I was actually enjoying myself.

No ending was foreseen, that is, until I walked away from the game for a snack. Our tuxedo cat, Pepper, lay down in the middle of the board and discovered that game pieces make fantastic toys. When I returned, my little domain was demolished. Game over. So, I counted up my cash. Boot: $1750, Bicycle: $2485. A win, but not a landslide. Interesting!

Despite everything I’ve said about Monopoly® before, this was a really fun experiment for improving my financial health. In my business this year, I’ve started thinking about creating spending and saving goals. I like the idea of creating some structures that encourage flow without increasing fear or scarcity.

• Create a cushion of cash that I simply don’t spend
• Save a larger portion of my income for taxes and unexpected expenses (like repairs)
• Continue to pay down debt aggressively, but not to the point where it affects cash flow for normal expenses
• Decide which tools would help me accurately see and understand my current financial position so I can make healthy decisions

I may never play another round of this game, but the lessons I learned were so useful, you could say I’m taking them to the bank! Running a business from my home office can be more effective if I have financial processes along with paper management, marketing, etc.

As a side note, some Monopoly affectionados have made a science of winning at Monopoly. I suspect there are some lessons that can apply to running a small business as well!

Have you learned about money structures or systems in fun ways? Feel free to share!

3 comments

Do we have any garam masala??

It didn’t dawn on me until I attempted to make my first real curry dish: I had no idea whether we had the right spices. I couldn’t reach most of them. The other half were in unmarked baggies.

My spice cabinet was an organizing project in waiting.

Since this is a home office blog, my spice cabinet is a stand-in for just about any organizing project you might have in your office.

• You might be out of shelf space and have no room for all your books.
• The cords under your desk look like a pit of vipers.
• You’re planning to teach a number of classes this year and have nowhere to put all the related ideas and information.

They’re all spice cabinets of the mind.

When you have an organizing project ahead, it’s helpful to know the terrain. I chronicled the steps of my own organizing process in the hopes that you’d gain some tools for your own.

Here’s what my starting point looked like:

The 6 things any organizing project needs

1. Vision

Inspired by Darcy and the images of organized spice cabinets I found on Tea & Cookies, I imagined an ideal image of what our spices cupboard could look like. I fell in love with the idea of enjoying cooking because I could find all the ingredients without swearing or knocking something to the floor.

The more photos I looked at, the more excited I became. Consistent sizes! Easy to read labels! Alphabetized! Pretty spices in pretty jars!

2. Spending plan

Being averse to the word budget, I created a spending plan. We use our spices a lot and we had some gift money from Christmas, so I planned my spending. Even though I wasn’t sure it was possible, I decided to commit $50 for the spice cupboard project.

Money is one consideration. The spending plan is also about time. How much time are you willing to devote to a project? I counted the spices and figured that 45 spice jars would take me about 2 hours to complete. Heh. More on this at the end.

3. Research and Design

With a dollar number and a time frame in mind, the next step is to start figuring out the steps to implement your vision. Research and design have to hold hands to work well together. Do a little research, sketch a rough design. Do a little more research, edit the design. Repeat.

To start, take a look at what you currently have that might be helpful to your project. I took measurements of our cabinet, checked that the shelves were truly adjustable, and counted how many spices we had.

Research your options. After looking at all the jars on Tea & Cookies, I went to a couple of local stores to compare prices and couldn’t find any I liked. I decided to order these adorable square spice jars that are the right size and capacity and were $1.10 each including shipping.

When the jars arrived I thought about how to display them. I googled images of spice racks and ended up on another organizer’s site with this brilliant, inexpensive solution to creating “stairs” that could display the spice labels (the way I saw it in my vision).

Before heading to the hardware store, I drew a sketch — a design — of what I needed.

I didn’t end up with this exact plan, but drawing it helped me figure out a better solution. I bought three 1″x 2″x 8′ boards and a friendly helper-person cut them into 9″ lengths for me (props to Lowe’s for providing this service!).

All told, the supplies and materials cost $49.20. Woohoo for the spending plan!

4. Doing the plan

Note: I didn’t say, “Follow the plan.” If you’ve ever done a project like this, you’re probably aware that it’s not a linear, Point A –> Point B process. There are detours. There are discoveries. Ideally, you roll with them and make adjustments as you go. At least I tried to.

As I arranged the shelves and played with the label maker, things started to come together according to plan. I was so happy to see how well the shelves worked — it was like playing with blocks. Fun!

My new label-maker worked like a charm, although I did have a few labeling mishaps.

It definitely got messier as I worked. This is normal. Don’t be alarmed.

And then messier still…

As the plan came along, I started to feel really great. The first shelf of spices looked awesome — just like I envisioned.

When I got to the second shelf, I realized I had a problem.

Because of my height, I couldn’t see the spice labels on the second row. Or the third. Inspired Spouse is 5 inches shorter than me, so just tippy-toeing wouldn’t work. I figured this issue would be worse up on shelf #3, the highest one. It never dawned on me in the Research and Design phase to measure myself.

I tried redesigning the plan. I played with the configuration of blocks to give the jars a boost up. And then, just like that, I got stuck. Nothing worked. I wondered angrily, “What’s the point of labeling if you can’t read the labels?” I started to think the whole project was a bust.

Anxiously, I sought the ear of my devoted, patient Inspired Spouse who listened as I recounted everything I’d tried.

–  Shit! It’s not working!

– It’s okay. No one’s going to die.

– (pause) (laughter) Oh, right. I’m taking this too seriously.

Sometimes a loving, level head is just the thing. In fact, the shelf issue got better from there and I found a decent solution. A re-re-re-re-re-re-design.

However, lots of people get to this stuck/angry/helpless point and don’t know it’s totally normal. Doing the plan includes getting stuck and taking detours. When it happens, take a little space or share it with someone who’s willing to listen. When you resolve the stuckness, you’ll get moving toward your vision again.

Before and afters — coming up next.

5. Clean up

This is the part of the creative process I usually put off. It’s no fun. I had all these glass and plastic jars left over, old spices to compost, unused wood blocks and new jars to find homes for. This is why I do Office Spa Days — we all have cleanup to do and encouraging support can help. It’s also helpful to build cleanup time into your spending plan since ideally the whole project includes the time it takes to truly complete it.

I did get it all cleaned up — partly because I knew I would be blogging about it and showing you my before-and-after photos. So, without further ado, here they are!

* The big reveal *

Before and after:

6. Celebration

Look at what you’ve created. Really look at it — and partay! It’s so easy to rush to the next thing without pausing to enjoy it.

I called Inspired Spouse back into the kitchen for the nth time and we looked at my creation together. I held up the camera to compare it to the starting point. We marveled together.

It’s okay to feel proud of yourself and pause a while to recognize your accomplishment. In fact, we’re more likely to do something like this again if it feels good. So celebrate you! Celebrate your vision — even if it didn’t come out exactly the way you expected. You did it!

I did it! Yay!

How long did it take?

Good question. Most people under-guess how long a project takes to complete. It’s part of our natural optimism. One of the interesting and fun things we do in the 6-month clutter-clearing class is practice guessing (in advance) how long a project will take from start to finish.

Want to play?

Comment below how many hours and minutes you think it took me to do all the steps mentioned in this project. The first person to guess the exact duration before this Friday will receive a $25 gift certificate to Spice and Tea.com to add to your own seasonings collection! Everyone else will receive Jen’s Semi-Famous Fajita Seasoning recipe (it’s awesome!).

So that’s organizing projects in a nutshell!

Feel free to share your about your own organizing project experiences – past, present or future.

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