Yes. It’s still officially winter, and our recent run of several warm days has reverted to colder temperatures. Despite the fluctuating thermometer, I notice hopeful signs of spring as nature begins its blooming ritual. Frequent sightings of green plants push through the ground to greet the blue sun-filled sky. They don’t hesitate. After being dormant for months, rejoining life with gusto is their next step.

Nature’s confident growth got me thinking about things that prevent us from moving forward.

• How about the mile-long to-do list?

• Is yours dormant and paralyzing?

• Or are you actively working on it?

• Is your list meaningful and necessary?

• Or is it filled with tasks that aren’t essential and you don’t care about?

• Is your list so daunting that it brings up negative feelings, regret, and disappointment?

• Or instead does it inspire you to act?

If you are struggling to determine your next step, here is a novel idea: Lose your ‘negative list.’ Crumple it up, let it go, and say buh-bye! That might sound radical, and perhaps it is. But can you imagine doing it anyway? And if you did, what might happen?

What’s On Your Negative List

Things holding you back can be concrete or emotional. They might include things like:

• Thought loops with messages such as “I can’t” or “I’m not good enough”

• Projects that would be nice to do, but realistically you’ll never get to

• Thank you notes that are years overdue

• Plans you wanted to make with friends or family, but never did

• Piles of magazines with articles to clip and file

• Stuff inherited from other people’s lives to sort and edit

• Papers and objects representing previous careers or life stages to curate and edit

Without realizing it, I had a negative list. It included feeling bad about not yet:

• Finishing my 2024 review or 2025 plan (and it’s already March!)

• Selecting my 2025 word or motto

• Choosing the topic and scheduling my next workshop

• Creating a video about virtual organizing

Make Your Next Step Easier

It may sound too simplistic to lose or release your negative list. However, recognizing how it might be holding you back makes it worth trying.

Maybe you’ll decide you still want to attend to some things on that list. And if so, perhaps a reframe of how you think about that ‘thing’ will make the difference. For example, instead of the projects you’ll never get to demotivating you, celebrate the ones you have accomplished. Review the remaining ones to decide if one is worth pursuing. If so, think about it as a project you get to, not have to do. Release the rest.

As Oliver Burkeman says in Four Thousand Weeks, our time is limited. “The average human lifespan is absurdly, terrifyingly, insultingly short.” We will never get everything done or be able to pursue every possibility that exists. Burkeman says, “we’ve been granted the mental capacities to make almost infinitely ambitious plans, yet practically no time at all to put them into action.”

Recognizing these limitations can be freeing. Don’t try to do everything. Instead, let go of what is holding you back and pursue what’s most meaningful and necessary.

Selecting next will become easier. Guilt will be gone. Action and intention will rule the day. What comes next will be joyfully embraced once you are unencumbered by the lingering tasks you’ve chosen to release from your list.

“The average human lifespan is absurdly, terrifyingly, insultingly short.”

— Oliver Burkeman

What’s Next?

I might forgo choosing a new word and motto this year and even skip a deeper review of 2024. Just considering that option makes me feel lighter and more energetic. After all, I imposed these things on myself, and I can just as quickly release them from my list.

My next steps will prioritize energizing and nourishing actions, projects, and ideas. What will be next for you? What can you release that is holding you back? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.

How Can I Help?

Do you want support organizing, 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. Change is possible, especially with support.

Happy New Year! Hello to you and to 2022. Your blank slate is ready to be painted with a wash of gorgeous colors. Behind are the successes and challenges you experienced during the last twelve months. A new level of energy and motivation is here. You can start again and chase the dreams and goals you desire. The New Year cues us for a do-over, reset, or reinvention.

Have you already done your reflecting and planning? Maybe you don’t like to reflect or plan. For me, there are years such as this one, where that process happens in January rather than December. There is no right, wrong, or one way. There are many paths, including making resolutions and setting specific goals, which will help you get the most from the New Year’s fresh start effect. I’m excited to share some ideas with you and would love to hear about your process.

In conjunction with using one or more of the ideas below, I re-read my personal journal entries from the past year and make a list of highlights, challenges, and ah-has. My perspective deepens where I traveled and clarifies where I’d like to go. 

5 Ways That Will Make You Get The Most from Your Fresh Start

1. One Word

Choose a single word as your guiding force for 2022. I don’t do this every year but decided to select one word for 2022. It is flourishing. The past few years have been challenging. With my ‘word’ in mind, I want to cultivate the seeds planted and changes made in a positive direction. 

2. Three Things Reflection

A terrific way to look back on the previous year and ahead to the current one is with the Three Things Reflection. It includes seven pairs of questions such as:

• What are three things you said “yes” to this past year?

• What are three things you hope to have the opportunity to say “yes” to in 2022?

I’ve done this exercise for the past several years. I love reviewing the previous year’s reflection to see how many things happened as I had hoped. It’s a great way of gathering a quick overview of the past and future hopes.

“Your blank slate is ready to be painted with a wash of gorgeous colors.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVPO™

3. Intention

Consider the ‘intention’ strategy instead of planning every change, minute detail, or date of when “x” will be accomplished. Select an overall intent for your year and let that be your guiding force as you make decisions each day. A few months ago, I purchased the most deliciously scented Hive to Home candle at the Renegade Craft show in New York City. While it smells great, it’s the message on the container “Manifest Amazing Shit” that spoke to me. It is the perfect pairing for my “one word.”  Between “flourishing” and “manifesting,” I feel ready to embrace all that 2022 will bring.

4. More or Less

Using a single question can help you focus your choices and actions for the year. Are you curious what some of my colleagues like Judith Kolberg, Joshua Becker, Erin Doland, and Yota Schneider had to say about this when asked,

• What do you want more of and less of for this year?

The question will encourage you to think about last year and the current one to create a vision of where you’d like to be.

5. Past and Future Smorgasbord

A few of my blogging colleagues wrote great posts that describe detailed methods for setting goals and making resolutions. They incorporate the importance of looking back to move forward. Here are my favorites:

• Review & Renew for 2022:  Resolutions, Goals & Words of the Year by Julie Bestry

• Set Your Compass to Reach Your Goals for New Year by Janet Barclay

Did you select a word for the year, set an intention, or create a list of goals? Or, perhaps like me, you’re still in the process of discovering your way into the New Year. Which ideas resonate with you? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.

Wishing you health, happiness, and a joy-filled New Year!

After waking from a long, deep, dream-packed sleep, I thought about balance and the extremes we experience in life. We can feel calm and centered at one point. Those times are often preceded by chaos and stress. Feeling balanced is fluid and a continually shifting dynamic. The pandemic affected many of our experiences around balance. Maybe you’ve also noticed a shift in how you balance extremes.

In pre-pandemic days, the holiday season was filled with parties, gatherings, and engaging in “too much” type behaviors. Overdoing it disrupts our habits and sense of balance. This year, however, there will be fewer parties, if any. It will be easier not to overschedule and overdo. So our typical holiday stress, chaos, and lack of balance could be less this year.

“Feeling balanced is fluid and a continually shifting dynamic.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVPO

Of course, you might be experiencing anxiety or sadness from not having the usual festivities or gatherings with family and friends. I love the holiday season and extra time to socialize with our loved ones. I am going to miss the togetherness this year.

Finding Balance Through reimagined Traditions

One of the annual traditions I look forward to is the winter solstice party at our friends’ house. They have live music, dancing, great company, and food. But what I love most is the giant bonfire they build in their woods. In the dark of the night, we climb the hill, light the fire, and form a circle around it as we mark another year. Then each person tosses their candle into the fire, as they let go of the past and set an intention for the coming year. The ritual is grounding like a giant exhalation or balance reset.

Take a pause and enjoy the video below of the bonfire from several years ago.

I felt sad but resigned, knowing our friends wouldn’t have the party this year because of the pandemic. But just the other day, we received an email invitation for their virtual solstice party. So while we won’t physically stand around the fire with them, feeling the warmth and camaraderie, we will be together in a different way. And right then, I sensed it. That one email lifted my spirits with joyous anticipation. It tipped my holiday season balance in a promising direction.

Whether it is holiday time or not, our balance is continuously changing. It’s useful to be aware and notice where you are and what you need. Are you overdoing it? Do you crave quiet? Are you reimagining traditions? Or, are things like Goldilocks says, “Just right?” What do you need to infuse more balance in your life?

I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.