Have you experienced stress and anxiety when working out what to do next? Those negative emotions and thought loops can contribute to doubt and inaction.

What if instead, you chose a more supportive way forward? What if next wasn’t so stressful?

There are lessons to learn about figuring out what’s next from various sources. These can help you progress in a quieter, more curious, and gentler manner. How would it feel if the next step was less contentious?

I will share three sources that have inspired and helped me: a crocus, a quote, and a message. I hope they will be helpful for you, too.

Three Lessons About Next

1. The Purple Crocus

I’m taking one cue about next from nature’s playbook. Spring is my favorite time of year. While I love the entire season, I especially enjoy pre-spring. Seeing tiny signs of color and growth slowly transform the gray winterscape is uplifting.

One of my most joyful sightings is when the purple crocuses with their bright green stems emerge from the dirt to bask in the sunshine. I’ve often written about my delight in spotting the crocuses and the hopeful feelings they evoke.

Lesson for Finding Next: Channel the confidence and energy of the crocus. Envision yourself emerging from indecision and gently take your next step. Allow the hopeful feeling that new growth brings to guide you forward. The crocuses bloom, and so will you.

2. The Quiet Quote

In Oliver Burkeman’s book Four Thousand Weeks, he shared a Carl Jung quote about next that resonated with me. I thought you would appreciate it, too. Jung said,

“. . . quietly do the next most necessary thing.”

I love the emphasis on “quietly.” Do you often go forth loudly, brimming with self-doubt, putting up obstacles, or fighting every step of the way? Instead, what if you approached that next thing in a calmer, lower volume manner?

Lesson for Finding Next: Change the volume of your approach to next. Turn down the sound and minimize the obstacles to help you find next with greater clarity, curiosity, and focus.

“. . . quietly do the next most necessary thing.”

— Carl Jung

3. The Internal Message

The messages you tell yourself can help or hinder progress. I recently wrote about deviating from my routine for wrapping up last year and planning the current year. My departure from previous patterns, wasn’t just a change. It was more like I didn’t do any of those rituals, at least, not in the formal way I had been for many years.

Wrapping up the year and planning for the future involves several steps and requires considerable time. Given all that was going on, it didn’t happen. Here we are and it’s almost spring. I officially decided to stop berating myself for not accomplishing my self-imposed expectation, and instead focus on what makes sense at this juncture.

One of the tasks was figuring out my motto for the new year. It didn’t happen. Instead, I decided that the theme from last year, which served me well, gets to have another year to work its magic. With quiet ease and a gentle prompt, I remind myself, “You got this.”

Lesson for Finding Next: Repeating something that works isn’t cheating. Using the familiar to build from is a kinder, gentler path forward. Next doesn’t have to be complicated or completely different. Let next make sense for this present moment.

Reimagining How Next Happens

There are various ways to reduce stress and anxiety about determining your next steps. Nature's prompts, inspired quotes, and reframed internal messages can help you change how you navigate next.

How would reimagining next make a difference in your life? Which of these ideas resonate with you? What helps you figure out next? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.

How Can I Help?

Do you want support organizing, editing, planning, or figuring out your next step? I’d love to help! Virtual organizing is an extraordinary path forward – local feel with a global reach.

Please schedule a Discovery Call, email me at linda@ohsorganized.com, or call 914-271-5673. Figuring out next is possible, especially with support.

With new flowers and buds appearing daily, spring brings hope and encouragement. My clients are letting go and lightening up. However, they sometimes place obstacles that make the process more challenging. Those roadblocks appear as unhelpful thoughts.

Have you noticed the power of the words you say and think? Your messages can inspire action or inaction, trigger motivation or discouragement, and help or hinder the letting go process.

Suppose you have decades of old bills in filing cabinets, piled on shelves, or stored in boxes. You’re questioning whether to keep or release them. The internal struggle begins. They aren’t bothering anyone and have an established ‘home,’ but they are taking up space. You haven’t looked at them in years and will unlikely ever refer to them. They have no financial value or record-keeping significance, yet they sit. You remain undecided about their fate.

The debate about the documents will continue until you make a decision. You might choose to keep or shred them. But until you decide, the papers will occupy physical and emotional space. Their weight is felt. Sometimes, you hold on because you anticipate the potential effort required to edit and let go. Yet, it also takes energy not to decide.

Deciding to hold on instead of letting go is a valid action. You can stop investing your mental energy once you choose to keep or release. Remember that choosing to hold on is not the same as ignoring to make a decision.

“Your messages can help or hinder the letting go process. ”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™

A Great Question When You’re Struggling to Let Go

I promised to share a great question when you’re struggling with decision-making. Your words have power, and semantics are potent. A slight tweak to how you pose a question can significantly affect the outcome. Inquiring in a particular way can make it more purposeful, encouraging, gentler, or less guilt-inducing.

A great question is the one that works best for you. The options below have similar meanings yet are phrased differently.

• Is it time to let it go?

• Is it time to put it down?

• Is it time to release it?

• Is it time to edit it?

• Is it time to reduce it?

• Is it time to move on?

• Is it time to let it be?

Which one resonates most with you? Which one will help you choose and act? I’d love to hear your thoughts and invite you to join the conversation.

If you need help letting go, I’m here to help. Please email me at linda@ohsorganized.com, call 914-271-5673, or schedule a Discovery Call. Letting go is possible, especially with support.