There are times when you’re in a state of flow. You work almost effortlessly on your projects and goals. You lose track of time and are in that creative, exciting phase. At other times, you’re not just stuck but overwhelmed. It feels impossible to move forward and determine your next step. The deluge is heavy, like a huge weight pressing down on you. The list of what needs accomplishing seems so large that it interferes with your focus and motivation. Instead of moving forward, you procrastinate, engage in distractions, or do nothing. Do any of these scenarios sound familiar?

Being overwhelmed is the number one reason my clients contact me for help. Organizing their space, time, or stuff can seem insurmountable. We work together with the big picture in mind, approaching it one small step at a time. And you know what? When we do that, we break through the overwhelm barrier and make progress.

My clients aren’t the only ones who get inundated. It happens to me too. I recognized that something had felt off for me this winter. It hasn’t been a typical season in the Hudson Valley. We barely had any snow, which disturbed my sense of balance and seasonal cycles.

Recently, I came across an image and phrase that resonated with me. An author described the feeling of a winter’s snow and wrote, “the quiet is even quieter.” When I read that, I recognized it was what I’d been missing. It’s not that it’s loud where I live. However, a significant snowfall covering the woods with a thick white blanket creates calm, silence, and that long pause. Things stop.

That unique winter quiet settles my mind as a deep, luxurious exhale. The silence helps me reset. Guess what happened? Last week, we finally got substantial snow. I was so excited when I woke up with the backwoods covered in white. I felt lighter, with a positive shift in my energy and mood. The frosted, peaceful landscape reduced my overwhelm and opened my mind enough to figure out what to do next.

A Simple Path Forward

After enjoying my breakfast and sipping my hot mug of coffee, I had an idea for encouraging forward movement. Using a low-tech solution, I grabbed a piece of paper and some pens to make a chart. It took about 10 minutes to create. I listed my upcoming projects for the next several months. It included project names, due dates, brief notes, and the next step for each project. It felt good to get them on paper and out of my head. I experienced an immediate sense of relief seeing this high-level view on a single sheet of paper. But the most significant benefit was the next step column. Rather than listing the bazillion tasks for each project, I listed only one tiny thing to focus on.

This simple exercise propelled me forward. Within a few days, I completed one of the projects. Now I have my roadmap with clear instructions of what to do next for the others.

“Consider the big picture, yet approach it one small step at a time.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™

I recognize how the snowfall helped me overcome my overwhelm and inspired the chart. However, snowstorm or not, you can use this helpful tool anytime you feel overwhelmed. There are moments when it’s beneficial to do an entire brain dump of all tasks, steps, projects, and thoughts. However, that doesn’t always work when you’re upset. Doing a total brain download can intensify those feelings. When that’s the situation, consider my ‘next-step’ approach instead.

What helps you figure out next when you’re overwhelmed? 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 enthusiastically helped people edit and get organized. Recently, I’ve become my own client and leaned into some organizing self-help. My motivation to let go of the extraneous was partially influenced by this summer’s tiny house vacation. While I no longer am obsessed with moving into a tiny house, I want to live in our right-sized house, but with less stuff.

Our home isn’t disorganized or cluttered. Things have a place. My husband, Steve, and I can easily retrieve and return items to their designated ‘homes.’  However, there are belongings that have overstayed their welcome. Those are the things that have been stored for a long time and are no longer used, needed, or wanted. They are taking up physical and emotional space. Their time has come to move on.

After returning from vacation, I set a long-term goal to reduce the amount of stuff I own. My plan isn’t a detailed room-by-room-do-this-by-x-date proposition. It’s a low-pressure, loose plan. I added one simple daily repeat on my to-do list that says, “Edit & release some stuff.”  There is no expectation other than to do something. I spend 15-60 minutes editing what I feel like working on that day.

In the last two weeks, I edited and organized clothing, shoes, handbags, toiletries, cleaning products, paper goods, dishes, and glasses. Additional edits included candles, vases, office supplies, books, photos, cards, letters, memorabilia, personal and business files, and email inbox. These items were from the dining room, entryway, laundry room, kitchen, office, main bedroom, and bathrooms.

I let go of

• Five 13-gallon bags of trash

• Two 30-gallon bags of trash

• Two 30-gallon bags of clothing and home goods for donations

• One bag of books for donations

• One bag of paper for recycling

• One bag of paper for shredding

• One container of pens for a friend

Like with all experiments, come learning. My ‘edit & release some stuff’ plan is no exception. There will be more insights, but here are seven discoveries I made so far.

7 Best Organizing Self-Help Discoveries Made With My New Simple Plan

1. Track Your Progress

There are many ways to enjoy progress, but for me, tracking with a simple chart helps me review and acknowledge my accomplishments. I created a Word document with three columns- date, area worked on, and result. Taking photos or journaling can also be helpful.

2. Respect Random Approach

Typical organizing wisdom encourages us to organize one area before moving on to the next. I’ve shared that advice with many clients. However, as logical as that sounds, it’s not always possible or desirable. Clients sometimes get bored working in one area or encounter emotionally charged belongings they are not ready to organize. With my approach, I gifted myself the option for randomness. Instead of a specific plan of what to edit each day, I let myself choose more intuitively. Which area do I feel like working on today? It keeps the pressure low and the satisfaction high.

3. Honor Your Emotions

Is organizing emotional? It can be. While editing, I experienced a range of feelings like happiness, joy, sadness, ambivalence, resistance, frustration, annoyance, guilt, exhaustion, satisfaction, and love. I let my emotions have the space to surface. When editing my cards, I found a beautiful, love-filled note written by my mom for my 40th birthday. I felt sad that she is gone and simultaneously felt her love and encouragement. 

4. Trust the Exit

Honestly, if I wasn’t logging my progress and noting the stuff I said goodbye to, I wouldn’t remember what was gone. I have no regrets and don’t miss anything that I released. It feels good.

“It’s liberating to live with less.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVPO™

5. Live With Less

As each area or space is edited, I appreciate having less. For example, when I open the sticky note drawer, only my favorites are there, and the never-used ones are gone. When I get dressed, the clothes I like and wear most are in my closets and drawers. They have space to breathe, and it makes it easier for me to select what I’m going to wear. It’s liberating to live with less.

6. Rethink Your Space

One of the benefits of letting go is the opportunity to rethink your space. Having less visual and physical clutter makes it easier to improve flow and organization.  As I released stuff, I cleaned and asked a few questions. Is the space working as is? Or, could it use a slight tweak? Some areas were set. However, for others, I made improvements. For example, after the kitchen edit, I inserted freestanding cabinet shelves. This made use of wasted vertical space and also improved access to frequently used dishes.

7. Engage Self or Outside Help

While I’m making progress, I recognize the value of enlisting help. While I have released a lot, I’m pretty sure if someone supported and asked me questions as I edited, I’d let go of more. Help with facilitating decision-making is invaluable. For now, I continue to go it alone, coaching myself through the process. I will leave the door open to reach out for help if needed.

Have you been editing and organizing? Are you doing it on your own or did you get help? What did you learn? Did any of my discoveries resonate with you? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.