Do you remember the last time you took a walk in the woods?

Maybe you can recall the quality of the light, the views and scenes that passed you, the kinds of plants and trees along the way, or the companions who accompanied you. There’s something meditative about the woods.

Practically speaking, most people find that a walk in the woods is fairly easy to do. You simply choose a place to begin and then start walking. It’s so obvious how to take a walk in the woods that it hardly seems worthwhile to explain it.

You just start.

You don’t worry about step 247 or bridge number 2 or the fourth squirrel. You just walk.

Organizing is like that too.

Organizing is just like a walk in the woods. You begin. You take a single step forward – and another – and another, pausing occasionally to take in the sights.

Except when it isn’t.

Unlike walking in the woods, people do get stressed about where to put things (step 247) or how to deal with email (bridge number 2) or dealing with time management (the fourth squirrel). When you worry about these things, it’s as though you’re standing stock still in the middle of the path with your eyes closed.

You can’t get there any faster by thinking so hard.

Just take a step.

Depending on the length of your legs, a single step happens in about a half-second. Is there something you can you do in your space today that would take a half-second?

The idea isn’t to get to the end of the trail in one fell swoop. Your legs aren’t that long – and neither is your attention span.

Maybe, just maybe, you’d be willing to take a “walk” through your workspace today, taking half-second actions to move what you can.

That fourth squirrel will appear when it’s supposed to and no amount of thinking will make it come faster.

Enjoy your walk.

Care to comment?

Do you have an abusive relationship with your clutter?

Have you ever said something along the lines of:

I need to whip my office into shape, cut through the clutter, and/or kick my own butt.

A quick Google search reveals phrases like:

• Fight and Beat Clutter
• Conquer Clutter
• War on Clutter
• Clutter Busters
• Combating clutter

Um. What’s with the violence?

Seriously.

I mean no disrespect. If you use this kind of language, it reflects a certain degree of frustration with your circumstances. Overwhelm. Fed-up-edness.

Violent language is a concealed attempt to motivate. It’s arguably effective, but at what cost?

If you use violent language about your clutter, you are both the abuser and the victim at the same time. It means that every foray into your workspace to get work done  feels like a battle that you’re simultaneously winning and losing.

Not feeling inspired at work? No wonder.

Make peace with your piles

Making peace with your clutter begins with a simple thing: calling it by its proper name.

Is it really clutter? Or is it bank statements, notes from a conversation, and unsorted mail? Maybe it’s notes about a new idea. Or your kids’ drawings from first grade.

Call each object by its real name. And a lot of that anger and violence will dissipate.

What it’s there for

If you’re like a lot of people who remember only what they can see, having items around and visible is an intention to remind yourself. It may not always work well, but you’re making an effort to care for yourself.

The point is to reflect on the intention of saving the things you’ve saved and honor the choice you made.

We talk about this in more depth in Office Spa Day, but when you can find respect for your choices, the violent relationship dissipates. In its place what evolves is a desire to care for yourself, your space, and your stuff in a loving way.

Care to comment?

Without a trash can, nothing goes anywhere. Everything, but everything is on its way to the trash can – it’s just a matter of when.

Your trash can and recycle bins are like the drain in your sink. Without one, your stuff floweth over and your space gets pretty mucked up.

Yet, waste receptacles are an overlooked tool in many home offices. Sometimes they’re too small, too far out of reach, or completely non-existent. Any of these scenarios are invisible barriers that slow you down and distract you while you’re working.

The gift of having your trash in flow is that it gives you clear space to work, think, and focus. Ahhh.

Here’s what I do for trash in my own home office

What works well for me:

When I’m almost overwhelmed, I clean up. My office *always* used to be a mess. Now that it’s more manageable, I more easily notice when I’m at the threshold of overwhelm.

When about 80% of my desk surface is covered, I start feeling a little panicky and disoriented. When I feel this, I stop whatever I’m doing and clean up until my desk is almost (or completely) clear. This happens about every 1-2 weeks and takes about 15-30 minutes, but I don’t schedule it. I just pay attention – then act.

My trash can is located just to the right of my desk – within arm’s reach. I’m right-handed, so anything I need to throw away is usually in that hand already. I don’t have to get up. In it goes without a second thought.

The recycle bin is under my desk where I can reach it. I toss out more paper than anything else. No matter what direction I’m facing, I don’t have to think, I just throw it in there and keep working.

I tie an existing habit to a new habit. (Hat tip to Havi.) Our trash pickup is on Monday morning, so on Sunday night, along with the rest of the household, I empty my office trash as well. This keeps the unwanted stuff flowing out of my workspace.

What I’m working on

Recycling. Because the recycle bin is under my desk, I can’t actually see it. We don’t have recycling pickup (like we do for garbage), so I forget to empty the bag and it gets way out of control. Sometimes I have to forcefully stuff things in. This is quite shy of my goal of flow.

I hate to vacuum. It’s loud, mind-numbing, and it upsets the Inspired Cat. Technically, though, tiny bits on the carpet constitute garbage. After a while, the schmutz starts to bug me, so I drag out the old watermelon of a vacuum to deal with it. Grudgingly. I confess, I’m not working very hard on this one.

What do YOU do for trash?

What works really well for you? What are you working on?

Share your insights and ideas! Remember to be kind to yourself and others.

10 comments

You are here.

Although you’ll rarely catch me at the mall, I’m a fan of those big kiosks that harbor a colorful, glowing diagram of the entire place.

No matter how lost, there’s a friendly star that tells me where I am.

Knowing where you are helps orient you. It helps you find direction to move forward confidently. It helps you appreciate where you’ve come from.

A map for an inspiring home office

Just for you, I made a map that shows how to create a workspace that nourishes you. It has seven basic steps. (You’ll just have to imagine the glowing colors.)

1. Feeling deeply stuck and unsatisfied.
2. Creating an idea of the workspace you really want.
3. Taking stock of how things are today.
4. Clearing out the things that no longer serve you or your business.
5. Finding intuitive places for the things you want to keep and use.
6. Enjoying a fairly functional, soul-nourishing workspace.
7. Creating fun, intuitive systems for projects and business tasks.

Where are you?

If you’re working on several of these steps at once, that’s totally normal. You may also find that you repeat some steps again and again. No judgment about it, that’s just how it works. It’s a process.

What step(s) are you on today – and how do you feel about it?

(Reminder: Comments before August 24, 2009 enter you to win some fun stuff from Inspired Home Office. Please feel free to participate!)

17 comments

There are some who say that email is dead. Obsolete.

Bah, I say! Email is alive and well. And growing, if the current state of my inbox is any indication.

It’s my intention to not let email run my life. I want to choose it instead of feeling controlled by it.

Here is how I prevent email overwhelm

What works well:

I give myself permission to not reply to everything. Even delete stuff without replying.

I sort out the non-urgent stuff without having to look at it. I set up filters and folders in my Gmail account which has been a lifesaver.

I use a vacation responder on the weekends. It tells anyone who emails me when I’ll be back. That way I’m absolved of the guilty feelings I get when I know someone is waiting for a reply.

As a general rule, I clear out my inbox weekly. I read email more frequently than that, but a mostly empty inbox is my goal once per week.

Lastly, I have an email account that is bottomless. Gmail lets me “archive” as many emails as I want so I don’t have to get rid of them, ever.

What I’m working on

Easing up. Email is often a somewhat helpful distraction when I’m trying to think up ideas. Instead of berating myself for checking email when I don’t need to, I’m getting better at being gentle with myself.

Starting at the end. Since my goal is to clear out once per week, I have begun responding first to the people who’ve waited the longest. This takes a HUGE load off my shoulders. It’s just hard to do because the new email always seems more fun and interesting to me.

What do YOU do to prevent email overwhelm?

What works really well for you? What are you working on?

Share your organizing insights and ideas! Remember to be kind to yourself and others.

36 comments

Surprising discoveries about the nature of your workspace

This week, I learned something that shocked me.

Not once, but twice – in one week – someone told me that they really liked my newsletter and that they would schedule a one-on-one with me once they got their office cleaned up.

This wasn’t a sales conversation, mind you, they just offered this information because they really, really like Inspired Home Office.

That last part – about cleaning up before getting help – totally shocked me.

Jen gets a clue

I talked over this discovery with Inspired Spouse. As a dental hygienist, she shared that if people don’t brush before their cleaning, “they feel embarrassed and are really apologetic.”

This made perfect sense.

It feels pretty awkward to be seen with your stuff hanging out. No wonder people want to clean up before getting help.

Reassurance for embarrassment

If you feel embarrassed about how your office looks, take heart. You are in good company. Two people last week and plenty more. In fact, I’m still blushing about the “before” photo I posted last week from the before-and-after photos of my own office redesign.

If the thought of sharing a photo of your space makes you squirm, whoo! I completely understand! I want to offer you reassurance that you don’t have everything figured out. Your space doesn’t have to be perfect or clutter free.

Your inner critic might have a million things to say about the current condition of your space, but rest assured – it is really okay as-is. Gummed up and uncomfortable is remarkably normal.

Your office is like a puppy

Have you ever tried to train a puppy? They are so cute and wiggly and (ahem) kind of messy. Your workspace is kind of like a puppy – it’s creative and wiggly and it gets messy all over the place. Believe it or not, that mess is actually quite useful (I’ll get to that in a minute).

Requiring yourself to clean up your office before getting support is kind of like insisting your puppy be obedient before taking her to puppy school.

If your puppy is still in that goofy phase, she might not be perfect in class, but you get a lot out of taking it together. It’s fun to learn and grow together. And you can use what you learn later when you’re both more experienced.

Mess is useful.

If you have a messy office, starting from where you are right now can be good for the same reasons. You may not be able to implement everything immediately, but you’ll learn a lot of skills you can use again and again.

The other thing? With no puppy, it’s hard to practice teaching her to “sit” and “stay”.

Mess gives you the raw materials for an organizing system. If you throw it all away, it actually slows down the organizing process. You have to wait till it all comes back again and then organize.

You might look around you and think, “Well, if mess is useful, I have a lot of useful in here.” If you do, I invite you to notice if you’re isolating yourself because you think you have to figure it all out before you can get help figuring it out.

Nothing to do – no judgment – just notice if you expect that of yourself.

Things to try

1. Inquire. If you want more structure in your space, think about what your needs are. Do you need a buddy? Do you need a clear goal? Do you need an incentive (chocolate, anyone)? What would give you the support you need?

2. Try a little tenderness. Practice being gentle with yourself and create compassionate expectations (not brutal ones). Treat yourself like you would a cherished friend. If puppies get pats and rewards, so can you.

3. Notice if you want support. Support can look like a lot of different things. You may have someone you trust that you can include in your process. You can read this to feel encouraged and nourished. Think about if there’s support you’ve been missing.

What’s important is that you find a way to begin.

As you create organic systems in your space, you’ll get more focus in your business, more spaciousness for your creativity, more income (who couldn’t use more of that?), and more confidence to move your plans forward.

Organizing doesn’t have to be embarrassing or painful, it just has to work for you. What do you need to move forward today?

2 comments

How to clear stuff organically and with minimal resistance

75% of Inspired Home Office newsletter readers say their #1 problem is clutter.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by clutter, take solace in the knowledge that you’re not alone and in very good company (people who read the newsletter are awesome).

However, solace alone isn’t enough to dissolve your overwhelm, right? And the clutter doesn’t go away on its own. You’ve probably noticed that.

The downside of “kicking yourself into gear”

The downside? It hurts! Kicking is ouchy.

Instead of feeling guilty, frustrated, and trying to kick yourself about your clutter, how about trying a gentle, non-violent process that honors all of you – and still gets results?

I offer to you a non-traditional way to work through clutter. Follow the steps below.

Where is the clutter?

Look around your space and zero in on where the clutter is and what it is. Is it a box? Some piles? A piece of furniture full of magazines? Is it everywhere? Just notice.

What does it mean to you?

Take a moment to look at one area that’s really bugging you. Chances are good that the stuff there holds some emotional significance.

When you look at the clutter, notice: what emotions come up for you? Maybe you feel overwhelm, or resentment, or apathy, or confusion. Or something else. Can you tell what you’re feeling? Give that feeling a name.

Open up to the feeling

Lots of people think that moving the clutter will make their feelings go away. Sometimes this works. Sometimes it’s more loving and respectful to feel the feeling first and take action after.

Once you have named the feeling, make some space in you to feel what comes up. Let it be okay that you feel this way. Emotions are good and they give us useful information.

What does it remind you of?

Stuff hold memories.

I worked with a client recently who had several boxes of things that belonged to a beloved family member. Although she didn’t like the cluttered boxes, she realized that she still felt grief over the loss of this special person. This is what the “clutter” reminded her of.

Another woman realized that the clutter in her office reminded her that her husband had “taken over the house” after he retired. Her feelings were about the clutter and also her loss of space and control. Big stuff.

So, I invite you to gently inquire if the stuff you have reminds you of something unresolved. It’s okay if it doesn’t. But ask. It might be helpful information.

You might have more emotions. That’s okay and totally normal. Just let yourself feel whatever comes up.

Ask yourself what you need.

This is the most important question at Inspired Home Office: What do you need? If you have clutter, if you have feelings, if they remind you of something, ask: what is it that I need?

When you ask yourself this question, trust. Trust what comes up for you. Give this process some time and really listen. You might even want to write the words down.

Asking this question will give you better ideas because, in the end, no one knows how to care for you better than you do.

Think about how you’d like to meet that need.

Once you get a tiny idea about what you need, begin to think about how you might like to create it. Take some small steps. Reach out for support.

Repeat.

Yes, repeat. This is because clutter will continue flowing into your space. Clutter is a lot like leaves in autumn. Leaves fall and scatter, so we rake them up. Spring and summer create more leaves, and then they fall again. So we rake them up.

There’s nothing unnatural about that. That’s just how nature is. It’s the same with clutter. Paper. Email. We can spend a little time paying attention to it, asking some insightful questions, and the way to rake them up appears.

Doesn’t that sound nice?

Why these steps work

Usually clutter exists for more complex reasons than we realize.

This process creates space for the whole story instead of treating clutter like The Problem. After working with me for a while, some people report that the clutter just doesn’t come back. And they feel peaceful about the stuff that does appear. So cool!

When I work with people 1-on-1, I use the very same process with them and it works magic. The discovery in this process can feel exciting. The amazing part is that people really do get excited about cleaning and decluttering. And so can you.

The non-violent process is organic and can meet your need for a clear space in a way no “handy organizing tips” ever could.

Give it a try, and let me know how it goes.

Care to comment?

People often tell me that they feel constricted in their office. Squeezed. It’s a place that’s cluttered and provokes anxiety when they try to spend time there.

Surrounded by things to do and things neglected, it can be so hard to concentrate on the stuff that really matters. And, in these challenging economic times, there really is no better time to take your office relationship seriously.

Office relationship?

Yup. Just like a friend, your office needs your attention. It has one job to do: support you.

And with your help, your office can be a place that you love. A place that encourages your creativity. A resource that helps grow your business and helps it thrive.

Sounds good, but really?

Do you find that when your office feels out of control it’s hard to know where to start working on it? Me too. It’s all so overwhelming. It’s so much easier to ignore all that stuff, shove things out of the way.

Easier, that is, in the short term.

If you want to pay attention to your office space, the first thing you need to do is set aside the time. It doesn’t have to be a lot. Making an appointment with your office on the calendar is a great way to get things going in the right direction.

Agh! An 8-headed hydra!

Clearing a space, any space, can become an out-of-control project, running down winding rabbit trails. Because of this, it’s key to make an effort to end when you say you will.

Once you make that appointment, stick to it.

Can you imagine if someone asked for 15 minutes of your time and then took up half of their day? I don’t know about you, but I’d be kinda ticked off.

It’s the same thing when you work on your space. If you say 15 minutes, don’t force yourself to do it for a half day – or you’ll harm your relationship with your space. Keep a timer handy or a reminder of when it’s time to stop.

If you stop when you say you will, it’s a profound way to care for yourself. It’s respectful to you. You’re more likely to feel good.

Respect your time and calm the 8-headed hydra

I usually recommend that if you’re clearing out a space, a pile, a closet, that you pick up a single object and decide what to do with it before moving on to the next.

This approach works well for people who get overwhelmed by the immensity of the project. Bite-sized bits.

You’ll be surprised how much you can clear in a short amount of time. And it makes a huge difference in how you feel in your space.

Why it matters

It’s not news that we’re in an official recession – you can see signs everywhere if you look. It’s more vital than ever to have a clear strategy through this. To have a good sense of where you stand financially. To feel grounded and solid about the path you’re on in your work.

When I’m scattered, I lose things that affect my business: receipts, checks, bills, potential new clients – you know, important stuff like that. Maybe you do, too.

Caring for your office can be fun – and it can really give your business the stability it needs.

Taking action

So, here’s my challenge to you today:

1. Ask your Wise Self: “What is the one area in my workspace that, if I addressed it this month, I’d feel a lot more solid about my business.”

2. Notice what ideas come up for you. And write them down somewhere (go ahead – get a pen!).

3. Get out your calendar and decide the best times to work on this area.

And see if this investment of time helps heal your relationship with your space – and your spirit.

Care to comment?

Your best buddy has a perfect office, neat as a pin.

You notice the display at Office Big Box has furniture that look so organized and tidy.

You drool over the latest office feature in Martha’s magazine that looks so adorably perky.

The green-eyed monster has moved into your office and has taken over whatever semblance of  confidence you may have had.

How’d that happen?

It’s natural to look around you for solutions – especially if you’re stuck or dissatisfied with something in your life. And while searching for ideas and inspiration is great, it’s downright depressing to look at how others do it and compare theirs to yours.

“That’s so expensive, I don’t have that kind of money to spend.”
“That looks impossibly neat, I could never keep my office as clean as she does.”
“My office isn’t that big, I don’t have anywhere to put anything!”
“I’ve got so much paper and stuff, I could never get my office to look like that.”

Do these comments sound depressingly familiar?

Or, worst of all, there’s:

Thank God no one sees my office.

Comparison, unveiled.

When you compare, you see differences. And they keep you stuck. Comparison can make you feel badly about how your office looks, your self worth, and even doubt whether you’re an effective business owner. Comparison can become a downward spiral of self-doubt and self-loathing.

If you feel some of those terrible feelings about yourself or your office, you’re not alone.

The answers aren’t out there. They’re in here.

If you’re struggling to put order and beauty in your workspace, I want to let you in on a secret: the key is inside you.

You can look at a million websites for ideas and read dozens of books about organizing, but all that information will not change how your office looks or feels. I’ll bet you already know that.

If you’re looking outside of yourself for answers, you’re missing out on a valuable resource: your own wisdom.

Self-defining vs. comparison

All those people you were comparing yourself to? They all had something in common:

• Your best buddy knew what she wanted.
• The Office Big Box furniture designers knew what they wanted.
• That Martha Stewart – she knew what she wanted (doesn’t she always?).

It’s not like they all had some magic formula that you can’t access. Each of them had a vision – and then they created it in real life.

Find your vision

To banish the green-eyed monster and gain back your workspace mojo, here are 3 practical steps to take:

1. Ask yourself what you want.

What is it you need to work peacefully in your office? No matter how far from it you may feel, write it down or draw a picture of it – and describe it in as much detail as possible.

The purpose of doing this is to forge a clear idea of what your perfect office is like. When you see ideas in magazines, they become tools rather than deterrents to your progress.

2. Figure out what your parameters are.

What’s your budget, space needs, storage needs, etc. This puts your vision into real-life perspective.

3. Start taking small steps toward your vision.

Once you’re clear, the best thing to do is take action. Sitting on your hands will just make you frustrated. What’s one small thing you can accomplish toward your vision? What’s a tiny thing you can do today?

The important thing is to focus on small steps, because they add up. And they’re so much more compassionate.

Care to comment?

Have you ever had to dig to find an important piece of paper? Okay, who hasn’t?

Generally speaking, the stuff on your desk is made up of three things:

• projects in progress
• things “to do” that aren’t urgent
• miscellaneous stuff you don’t have a home for

Beyond that, there are also file cabinets and bookshelves and closets that contain storage. There’s a lot of stuff around!

One day it dawned on me that all of this paper – every last piece of it – was eventually going to end up in the trash can.

It could be tomorrow or it could be after your death, but all the stuff you’ve got is temporary.

When do you want to deal with it?

In my Inspired Organizing class, we’ve been talking about the concept of office maintenance. The root of this word means “to hold in your hand” – to physically pick the thing up and do something with it. Maintaining your accumulated papers is an important key to having a resilient business and organized office.

Sounds bone dry, doesn’t it? Keep reading, though, there’s more to it.

Space care is self-care

See, creating a habit of picking up things in your workspace and deciding what to do with them can be a really profound way to care for yourself and your business.

Maintaining your space provides an opportunity to make decisions about things you’ve been considering. It diminishes visual distraction. Most of all, this maintenance helps your business and your brain stay in a state of flow, rather than stagnancy.

How do you like to maintain?

When it comes to maintaining one’s office, there three kinds of people: Schedulers, Tenders, and Buddy-uppers.

• Schedulers like to treat their office as if it were a real client. You like to make appointments in your calendar that set aside time to work on maintaining your office. This system works as a reminder and it helps you prevent procrastination.

• Tenders treat their office like a houseplant. When the office starts wilting or gets chaotic, Tenders people will take time out and deal with the clutter. You’re not crazy about being pinned down to a specific schedule, but when things get out of control, you go into a flurry of activity to get it back again.

• Buddy-uppers like to have real live humans involved in the maintenance of their office. Having someone’s support that you’re accountable to is key. Having a sounding board is extremely helpful because the companionship is reassuring and it helps you stay focused.

The love behind the maintaining

It’s important to know that no maintenance style is superior, just unique to you. If you haven’t done maintenance in your office for a while, give some thought to what approach might be most helpful for you. And take the next step.

The end goal of maintenance is to help bring each paper, each item, to the next place it needs to go – when the time is right for you. Sometimes it’s to a file or back into the mail, sometimes it’s the trash can or the recycle bin.

If you take one item at a time and choose its next destination before moving on to the next, it can be a few short minutes before your office is a spacious, invigorating place to work.

Care to comment?