2013.

A year of transformation.  As you recall the most notable events of the past year, whether they be global, local or personal, why not take a moment to reflect on your life today, right now, in this moment. Because it will change.

If you’re not even sure where to begin, here are a few thought provoking questions to help you get started.

Did you accomplish what you set out to do?

Did you take the time to focus on what is really important to you?

Do you recognize the areas where you succeeded and where you would still like to grow?

Can you see how your contributions fit into the grand scheme of life?

Transformation takes mental and physical sweat, I once read. It also takes intensity mindfulness and focus. It’s not easy to know who we are supposed to be let alone know how to fully inhabit ourselves.  At the beginning of this year, I decided it was time to think bigger. It was time for LET’S MAKE ROOM to make room to grow.

I love helping people get organized, however, I felt I could accomplish more for my clients if I wasn’t working alone as much.  I also realized, after several people hired me to help them get organized to move, or empty a family home they were selling, or help them get unpacked, that there was a need LET’S MAKE ROOM could fill, especially in the San Francisco/East Bay Community where I live.

I realized, we could take the stress out of moving for busy families and other homeowners because we could fully dedicate ourselves to the process allowing our clients the flexibility and time to work or simply enjoy their lives, even when they didn’t live here.

Thus the idea of becoming a complete residential organizing service, one that would help people Get Organized, Get Moved and Get More Done, was born.

At first I resisted the idea of growing. I felt unsure of what it would mean in terms of my ability to keep ‘tabs’ on my little business. Then a series of big jobs came my way and I realized that I could no longer limit myself. Life presented me with a choice. Some people would say it was “luck.” I’ve always believed that luck is nothing more than an opportunity meeting with persistence.

Opportunity is like a strong wind you can’t escape from. You just have to hold strong and at the same time let yourself be carried forward, or backwards, or sideways.

Sometimes opportunity comes in the form of an unexpected loss or change. It can even be an expected change, such as growing older and you find yourself suddenly having to make a choice.

Pulitzer Prize winning Poet Mary Oliver writes about this in her poem entitled, The Journey:

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice—
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world
determined to do
the only thing you could do—
determined to save
the only life you could save.

Her words have followed me from my old career through launching LET’S MAKE ROOM. I have it posted on the wall next to my desk in my office along with a collage of other inspiring words and images.

And in case you’re wondering, they are not neatly hung in frames but rather displayed, somewhat haphazardly.  Sometimes that’s the way life is, even for an organizer.

My friend and Yogini extraordinaire, Deborah Saliby, called me on Sunday asking for my advice.

Deborah Saliby, Yoga for Health

Deborah has been teaching Yoga for more than thirty years.  There are a lot of Yoga teachers out there but relatively few hold the special certification that she does in Iyengar training. The certification signifies that she has undergone extensive training as an instructor in a particular method of Hatha Yoga called Iyengar, named for B.K.S. Iyengar, one of the foremost Yoga teachers in the world.

Whenever I have a question about Yoga, I call Deborah.  The moment I feel like my body, mind and spirit are crying out for a little restoration, Deborah is the first person I think of.  On Sunday, however, after her class, Deborah’s mind and spirit were crying out for a different kind of restoration, in her home.  I am grateful she called me.

“I want to organize three closets in my house,” she told me,
“but I’m not sure where to start.” She asked if I would mind sharing some of my professional organizing tips.  “Of course,” I told her. I enjoy it when anyone calls me with a specific organizing question. To me if you are willing to ask the question, you are definitely in the mindset to get organized.

As a professional organizer,  the most common questions I get involve the how and where of organizing, as in “how do I do this?” or “where do I start?”  Typically this follows an extended period of gradual awareness which eventually transforms into “I really wish my (fill in the blank) was more organized. But it’s not until the defining moment when the thought, “today is the day I’m going to do something about it,” that change can occur.

For my friend Deborah that moment came after she got home from teaching one of the many Yoga classes she leads in Berkeley, California.

“So where do you want to start?” I asked. “I don’t know, she said. So I probed a little more. “Which of your closets bugs you the most, that is, which has the most impact on your daily life? “My bedroom closet where I keep all my clothes,” she said, with a little giggle, “you know how much I love to shop?”

“Okay,” I said. “So why do you want to do this at all?” She explained to me that she wanted to hold a sidewalk sale. “Yes,” I said, “that’s good, but why do you want to get organized?” I asked again. “Because I can’t stand looking at the mess in my closet anymore. I know I have a lot of nice things in there that I don’t want anymore and half the time I can’t find what I’m looking for. I’m wasting time and I want to be able to wear what I love.”

Deborah understood what was bothering her about her closet but even more she knew what organizing it would mean to her (not to anyone else) and she was motivated. Plus she had the added incentive of making a little extra money. I told her, “Yeah, you could sell all the clothes you don’t want anymore and with the money you make go out and buy new ones.”  We both laughed.

I offered Deborah a step-by-step plan to get all three of her closets organized.  I shared some strategies for how to overcome some predictable obstacles such as what to do with items that had more “emotional value” than “wear-value.”  I took her through exactly what I would do with her if I were physically doing the work with her and then I asked her if she had any questions. “Nope, I’ve got it.”

Before we hung up I told her to feel free to call me when she was done with the first closet.  Even though Deborah was doing this for herself, I wanted her to know that I was interested in hearing about her progress.

The next day, Deborah did call. She sounded really happy.  She told me how she had followed my plan including emptying the entire closet first, sorting items by category, parting with what she no longer used, wore, or loved and got rid of things that brought in bad “mojo.”  She reorganized the items she kept by type and color and put aside those things she plans to include in her sidewalk sale.  In total it took her two hours. I was impressed.

“How do you feel now?” I asked her, “Great! Just walking past my closet makes me happy.”

I offered Deborah some final tips about items she was still undecided about and suggested some ways to contain items on the shelves using what she already had around her house, before saying goodbye.

After we hung up I went in to my living room and took a big breath and stretched.  Thank you for that, Deborah.

Have a question about organizing? Getting ready to move or start a home renovation project and need to get things packed, donated and organized? Call or email me. I promise you’ll come away with something you can use.

As I told Deborah, I love to be a catalyst for change.

Recently, I was asked to speak to a group of small business owners about organizing and how I became a professional organizer.   Curious? Watch this short video and get a taste of how I work with different organizing ‘personalities.’  Have a comment or question?  Include it below.