The newest release (v38) of the “What’s Interesting?” feature has my latest finds, which inform, educate, and relate to organizing and better balance. These unique, inspiring, life balance discoveries reflect this month’s blog theme.

You are a generous, communicative, and engaged group. I am deeply grateful for your ongoing presence, positive energy, and contributions to this community. I look forward to your participation and additions to the collection I’ve sourced.

What do you find interesting?

What’s Interesting? – 5 Best Life Balance Discoveries

1. Interesting Read – Happier Balance

Does life feel hectic this time of year? As we wrap up one year and head into the next, how can you move forward with a happier, more fulfilling life balance? In Happier Hour – How to Beat Distraction, Expand Your Time, and Focus on What Matters Most, social psychologist, professor, and researcher Cassie Holmes, Ph.D., shares her ideas on our most precious resource, time. Holmes says, “Our hours and days add up to years and decades, and ultimately our entire lives. How we spend our time defines who we are, the memories we cherish, and how we will be remembered by those we leave behind.”

Backed by research, wisdom, practical advice, and exercises, Holmes brings you through a doable process. You become aware of where your time is going, which activities are most meaningful, and how to use “time crafting” to “piece together your hours to design an ideal week, like piecing together the tiles of a mosaic.” With a focus on joy and meaning, Holmes says, “The mosaic you create is the magnificent life you get to live.” What makes your days happier?

2. Interesting Product – Office Balance

With a constant flow of emails, texts, calls, projects, and meetings, office life (be it at home or off-site) can feel anything but balanced. A simple solution to restore calm in this hectic setting is to bring nature indoors. Tons of research supports the positive benefits to our well-being when we’re in or near nature. The Container Store offers a simple solution with the Design Ideas Mini Succulent Planter Magnets. This set of three tiny magnetic plant holders is perfect for displaying small succulents or dried grasses.

While I don’t own the magnets, I have a small air plant in my office in a ceramic pot on a wooden stand that my daughter made. I love having greenery in view. It also brings me joy to care for plants. What helps bring balance to your office space?

“The mosaic you create is the magnificent life you get to live.”

— Cassie Holmes, Ph.D.

3. Interesting Article – Noise Balance

In Time’s article, How Listening to Silence Changes Our Brains, authors Justin Zorn and Leigh Marz remind us that the “world is literally louder right now than it’s been at any time in known history.” Research shows how excessive noise causes stress, hearing loss, cardiovascular disease, stroke, depression, and learning lags.

“While the costs of noise are increasingly clear, the power of silence for the mind and body is actually something bigger and deeper than the transcendence of stress or interruption.” Silence can accelerate the growth of brain cells. “The act of listening to quiet can…enrich our capacity to think and perceive.” Whether you meditate, practice yoga, or listen in a quiet environment, your mind and body will benefit from the silence. “In an age of so much noise, silence deserves our attention.” What is a recent experience you had with silence?

4. Interesting Resource – Mood Balance

My friend and colleague, Julie Bestry, is an incredible organizer, researcher, and blogger. In a recent post, she shared a visual breathing app for calming the system. I was intrigued and discovered this other one from eXHALeR designed to help with yoga, meditation, anxiety, or panic attacks. You can adjust certain variables, including the timing for inhaling, holding your breath, and exhaling.

If you want to create an immediate shift in your mood and be more balanced, experiment with the eXHALeR. Breathe in. Hold. Exhale. Hold. Repeat. How do you feel?

5. Interesting Thought – Boundary Balance

Especially during this season, we get asked to do, attend, and gather more. That isn’t necessarily negative, but all the extra doing and saying “yes” to things can create added stress. Setting some boundaries can significantly affect how you navigate the holiday season.

Perhaps you chose to celebrate with a smaller group, take a self-care break between events, or get takeout instead of cooking. There are many ways to enjoy your time and feel more balanced by setting a few well-placed boundaries. What boundaries will you create?

Do you have an interesting life balance discovery? Which of these resonates with you? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.

The newest installment (v35) of the “What’s Interesting?” feature has my latest finds informing, educating, and relating to organizing and life balance. These unique, inspiring, time-related discoveries reflect this month’s blog theme.

You are a generous, communicative, and engaged group. I am deeply grateful for your presence, positive energy, and contributions to this community. I look forward to your participation and additions to the collection I’ve sourced.

What do you find interesting?

What’s Interesting? – 5 Best Time-Related Discoveries

1. Interesting Read – Slow Time

Does life feel hectic? Are your days overfilled with endless commitments and to-dos?  In Seeking Slow – Reclaim Moments of Calm in Your Day, writer and photographer Melanie Barnes shares her philosophy and practices of “slow living.”  It’s “a lifestyle that encourages a slower rhythm and values a mindful approach…It is about intentionally doing things and being present for each part of our day.”

This small, beautifully designed book encompasses living in a digital age, managing our time, creating a slow home, establishing slow-living rituals, and more. Barnes emphasizes, “Time is a resource that we simply cannot get back. Once it has gone, it is gone.”

Thoughtful questions include:

• How can we use our time in a way that makes our lives meaningful?

• What are we here for?

• What is our purpose?

• What is important to us?

• What are our priorities?

2. Interesting Product – List Time

If you are easily overwhelmed by your daily tasks, Today’s Plan of Attack 4”x6” sticky notes by Knock Knock will help focus your thoughts and time. The categories and allotted space on the pad encourage a realistic approach to your day.

Organize them by what’s “most critical,” “would be nice,” or “not a chance.” Planning and prioritizing your tasks will give your day better flow and more satisfaction.

“Time is a resource that we simply cannot get back.”

— Melanie Barnes

3. Interesting Article  – Productivity Time

In the “Your Productive Brain” article in BBC Science Focus, neuroscientist, author, and comedian Dr. Dean Burnett shares his best and worst productivity tips. He identifies which productivity strategies are myths versus ones that work and are backed by science. For example, it is a myth that waking at 4am will make you more productive. However, waking up when you’ve had a sufficient sleep is more advantageous (and productivity-inducing) than waking at 4am.

Other science-based productivity tips include listening to “some sort of background noise,” incorporating greenery in your workplace, exercising regularly, and eating healthfully. These have a positive influence on how our brain functions and result in boosting productivity. What enhances your productivity?

4. Interesting Resource – Reflection Time

FutureMe is a simple, surprising, and powerful resource. Go to their website to write a custom letter to yourself. It will be delivered by email at a future designated time you choose. Reflect and engage with time to send a positive message, capture a significant moment, create accountability around a goal, or share a challenge. You decide your message’s content, purpose, and delivery schedule. What a fascinating way to live in the present while touching the future. What message will you send to your future self?

5. Interesting Thought – Happy Time

As we transition from one season to the next, focus on being productive, and organizing your life, don’t neglect to make time for those things that bring you joy and happiness.

Over the last few weekends, I had some “make your soul happy” times. Exploring new places, meandering in nature, spending time with my husband and kids, eating special and delicious meals, walking along the High Line, and seeing “The Music Man” on Broadway helped restore and replenish my being. Making time to do things that make you happy isn’t frivolous. It’s essential to your wellbeing. What’s on your list?

What are your interesting time discoveries? Which of these resonate with you? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.

For almost three decades, I’ve been joyfully helping my clients embrace change and work through their organizing challenges. I love helping people get organized, especially when they are stuck or overwhelmed. When the pandemic hit in early March, and New York went into lockdown, I stopped all in-person home and office organizing visits. As an alternative, I’ve been offering virtual organizing sessions to new and existing clients. It has been amazing! I love working in this more profound way, and my clients do too.

To give the best help possible, I continue to invest in my education. While I have attended many individual classes on virtual organizing, I wanted more in-depth knowledge. I recently completed and passed a six-week course, that credentialed me as a Certified Virtual Professional Organizer (CVOP.) It included 12 hours of class time, 20 plus hours of independent study, 15 hours of client work, and an exam. The training confirmed what I observed before. There is something extraordinary about working with clients virtually. Progress is faster, sessions are more focused, and there is a better transference of skills. 

Are you curious about what my clients appreciate about virtual organizing? I thought you might be, so I compiled a list, including several of the benefits. As an organizer or a client of an organizer, are there other positives you’ve discovered about doing remote organizing work?

8 Reasons My Clients Love Virtual Organizing

1. Time Help – Do you find it too intense to schedule three or four-hour in-person organizing visits? If so, you’ll love going virtual. VO delivers organizing support in short one-hour sessions.

2. Consistency Help – Do you find it difficult to regularly work on your organizing goals? VO sessions are more frequent (ideally, twice a week,) which encourages consistency, repetition, and progress.

3. Accountability Help – Do you need help with motivation and accountability? In-between session support by text or email is an integral part of VO work.

4. Focus Help – Do you have difficulty focusing on your organizing goals and projects? The short, highly focused VO sessions are less distracting due to the need for heightened listening and self-implementation.

“There is something extraordinary about working with clients virtually. Progress is faster, sessions are more focused, and there is better transference of skills.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVPO

5. Clutter Help – Are you overwhelmed by clutter and don’t know where to begin? VO sessions can quickly get you unstuck, offering support and accountability throughout the decluttering process.

6. Reflection Help – Do you value time to process the changes you’re experiencing? VO clients love reading, discussing, and commenting on the notes I share, including session description, accomplishments, challenges, and ah-ha moments for each session. This communication document helps to reinforce learning and neuron development in the brain.

7. Accessibility Help – Do you want organizing help, but there are no professional organizers in your area, or you have safety concerns with in-person work? Pandemic or not, VO is an excellent option that eliminates geographic and physical obstacles. Oh, So Organized! can now work with clients anywhere in the world.

8. Loyalty Help – To express appreciation and gratitude for my wonderful virtual organizing clients, Oh, So Organized! created a Client Loyalty Program. The more virtual organizing sessions you have, the more organizing credits you will receive. 

Life is changing all around, as we learn new ways to navigate the new landscape. Virtual organizing has become an avenue that allows me to continue doing work I’m passionate about with clients that I love. Have you offered or engaged in virtual organizing? What has your experience been? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation!

Have you ever experienced that intense, inner push that propels you towards your desired goal? Or perhaps, you’ve felt the opposite and lacked the energy and motivation to move forward. In Kendra Cherry’s article, What Is Motivation? she explains,

“Motivation is the process that initiates, guides, and maintains goal-oriented behaviors. It is what causes you to act, whether it is getting a glass of water to reduce thirst or reading a book to gain knowledge.

Motivation involves the biological, emotional, social, and cognitive forces that activate behavior. In everyday usage, the term ‘motivation’ is frequently used to describe why a person does something. It is the driving force behind human actions.”

There are many reasons why we become motivationally challenged, including fear of failure, comparison, and drudgery. In one of my most popular posts, 10 Most Common Motivation Challenges & Easy Solutions, I explore these and other ideas. Since motivation concerns is a topic many of us are currently struggling with, I decided to expand on the original post to give you some other relevant motivation challenges and solutions.

3 Reasons for Lack of Motivation and How to Get Motivated

1. “Fuzzy brain.”

With the hundreds of Zoom calls and conversations I’ve had in these past months, there have been countless times when someone connected feeling unmotivated to “fuzzy brain,” “brain fog,” “bunker brain,” or “COVID brain.” Lack of motivation is understandable since we live with intense uncertainty and stress caused by the pandemic and the current political, social, and economic climate. Neuroscientists Hilke Plassmann and Benjamin Kessler, describe this mentally fuzzy phenomenon. They explain that “the combination of impaired analytical thinking and heightened external sensitivity creates what can be called ‘Covid-19 brain’ – a fragile, frazzled state that keeps our thoughts simultaneously on edge and unfocused.”

Solution:  To heal the brain fog, Plassmann suggests using music to restore your equilibrium, regulate your emotions, and increase your focus. She also suggests engaging in mindfulness meditation, especially breathing focused practices, that regulate brain activity.

2. Emergency, emergency!

As if the pandemic isn’t enough, many of us are also experiencing life emergencies such as loss of loved ones, medical challenges, or loss of jobs, income, or housing. When these events happen, it’s hard enough. But when they occur in this extreme environment, it is even more likely your motivation will get disrupted. When your days are spent putting out the emergency fires, and there are underlying stress and anxiety because of the pandemic, there might not be much oomph remaining to expend energy on your goals.

Two weeks ago, my 91-year old mom, who has dementia, broke her hip. She ended up in the hospital, had surgery, and is now in rehab. As if that weren't enough, she had two additional emergencies and ER visits during this time. Talk about being on high alert! Let’s just say that while I have been doing my best to work on my goals and stay motivated, there were moments when I felt like I was walking through molasses, as in slow in going.  One of my weekly goals is writing my blog post. While I am motivated to write, with the mom stuff happening, it has been challenging to focus. So when I sat to write what was going to be a ten-point post, I gave myself some slack and reduced it to three.

“When life’s emergencies occur in this extreme environment, it is even more likely your motivation will get disrupted.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®

Solution: Life emergencies are the time to be especially kind to you. Acknowledge how your high alert state is depleting your reserves. The crisis will eventually pass. Make sure that you increase your self-care with enough sleep, hydration, nutrition, and movement. Minimize your self-expectations. What can you let go of? Focus on what’s most important now. Reach out to your friends and family for support. As your emergency passes, you will have more energy and motivation to work on your goals.

3. Can’t take the heat.

Yes. I know it is summer. And with this season comes hot weather. I don’t know about you, but it’s harder for me to activate when it’s hot. I remember the many summer vacations spent with our daughters in The Outer Banks. It was sweltering in North Carolina. The heat was tolerable when we were at the beach or in the air conditioning. However, when we explored the local towns, it felt like we were walking in an oven. Our energy and motivation to do anything were compromised. It seemed like a significant achievement just to choose and eat an ice cream cone. Even though New York (where I live) isn’t North Carolina hot, the temperature can still affect my motivation. Are you climate-sensitive?

Solution:  If you are affected by the warm weather, notice and acknowledge that. Consider some workarounds that will help increase your motivation. Things as simple as changing your clothing to lighter fabrics and colors, adding a fan to your workspace, or taking your brisk walk in the early morning or late evening, can help. Remember to hydrate, hydrate, and hydrate some more. Plan projects like garage or attic organizing for the colder weather. 

Take a moment to recognize that motivation can wane. It doesn’t mean it will be gone forever. It does mean you might need to experiment and make a few adjustments in behavior or perspective to nurture its return. What motivation challenges are you experiencing? What helps you get motivated when you are struggling? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation!