This is the newest release (v46) of the “What’s Interesting?” feature, with my latest finds that inform, educate, and relate to organizing and life balance. These unique, inspiring enlisting help discoveries reflect this month’s blog theme.

You are a vibrant, generous, 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?

“It is 100% okay to ask for help.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™

What’s Interesting? – 5 Best Enlisting Help Discoveries

1. Interesting Read – Effortless Help

When you’re struggling to take action and make progress, doing so effortlessly may seem impossible. However, with this refreshing approach, help is here.

Greg McKeown, author of Effortless – Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most, said, “Not everything has to be so hard.” McKeown’s concept is “a whole new way to work and live. A way to achieve more with ease- to achieve more because you are at ease.”

There are three parts:

• Effortless State – How can we make it easier to focus?

• Effortless Action – How can we make essential work easier to do?

• Effortless Results – How can we get the highest return on the least effort?

In describing the Effortless State, McKeown said, “When our brains are at full capacity, everything feels harder.” The first step he suggests to “making things more effortless is to clear the clutter in our heads and our hearts.”

Everything can’t be effortless. However, “you can make more of the right things less impossible- then easier, then easy, and ultimately effortless.”

2. Interesting Perspective – Life Help

Have you ever experienced a difficult time triggered by a specific event? It was so dramatic that it changed your perspective and the course of your life. The death of a loved one, loss of a job, a move, health crisis, or divorce can cause significant pain and also be catalysts for growth and reimagining.

The word lifequake beautifully describes this phenomenon- “A significant, sudden and unexpected shift in the trajectory of your life that initially feels devastating but has the beneficial outcome of catalyzing personal growth, transformation, and rebirth.”

During times of change and transition, it is especially beneficial to ask for help. What lifequake have you experienced? What type of support was most valuable?

3. Interesting Resource – Win-Win-Win Help

Do you own new or gently used furniture, appliances, housewares, and building materials you no longer want? However, it’s not easy to find a taker. You’re confident someone else can use them. You don’t want your discards to go into the landfill.

Habitat for Humanity is the resource you need. Habitat ReStores across the United States accept small and large donations of these items. The sales help Habitat’s work locally and globally. They offer free pickup of large items and tax donation receipts.

This is a win-win-win for the donors, the buyers, and the planet. You gain space, reduce clutter, let go of things you don’t want, keep items out of the landfill, support others, and receive a tax donation. People who need goods can purchase them at a reasonable price. The proceeds from Habitat Restores help families build decent, affordable homes to “achieve the strength, stability, and independence they need to build a better future.”

Click here to arrange a pickup from a Habitat ReStore near you.

4. Interesting Product – Organizing Help

There are tons of great products to help organize like-with-like. Bins, boxes, and dividers are organizing staples. The classic zipper pouch is another example.

EOOUT’s translucent waterproof mesh zipper pouches are an excellent solution for organizing:

• Cosmetics

• Toiletries

• Cords and chargers

• Game pieces

• Documents

• Projects

• Gadgets

• Toys

• Snacks

• Writing tools

• Office supplies

• Travel accessories

• Receipts

• Bills

While EOOUT offers several options, the 42-piece set is an excellent value at $19.99. It includes eight different-sized bags and 17 zipper colors. What items will these pouches help you organize?

5. Interesting Thought – Normalizing Help

Are you hesitant to ask for help? Do you feel guilty or feel like you “should” be able to do everything yourself? Are you afraid of getting support for fear of being judged? These are normal responses.

Here’s the thing. Without asking for help, you will potentially struggle longer than is needed. Without help, you might be more frustrated, stressed, and paralyzed.

Struggle no more. You deserve to get unstuck and move forward. It is 100% okay to ask for help. Who will you ask to be on your support team?

Can you share one enlisting help-related discovery? Which of these resonates with you? I’d love to hear your thoughts and invite you to join the conversation.

Do you want help getting unstuck, reducing overwhelm, or getting organized? If so, I’m here for you. Contact me, Linda, at linda@ohsorganized.com, call 914-271-5673, or schedule a Discovery Call. Making progress is possible, especially with support.

What pace are you traveling as you transition seasons and greet the summer? Are you slowing down and taking time off for vacation? Or are you quickly filling your days to the point of exhaustion and overwhelm? Your pace directly correlates to how well you manage your time and enjoy life.

Whether or not you’re on vacation, you can integrate regular pauses during your week. Without breaks or stops, you become less efficient and productive. With moments to restore and refresh, the quality of your decisions improves. Pacing matters, especially if you want to let go of the extraneous and become more organized. Give yourself the best chance for success. Activate the power of lingering.

How can lingering increase happiness and make you a better time manager? While it may sound counterintuitive, lingering presents an opportunity for a mindful break while focusing on something enjoyable and restorative. Lingering lets you pause, appreciate, and slow down moments. You can then return to your day with a renewed focus on what you’re doing next.

Monthly Meditation and Writing Retreat

Most months, I participate in an inspiring virtual retreat led by my wonderful friend and Clarity Coach, Yota Schneider. She creates a safe, supportive space for women to gather, meditate, write, and share.

Several months ago, the retreat’s theme was “linger.” After our meditation, I wrote this passage during our free-write. It illustrates several ways lingering has had a positive effect on my life.

Thoughts About Lingering

Wet paws, conversations, and gelato. Those probably aren’t the first things that come to mind when you think of linger. However, as I calmed myself in the darkness, the faint sounds of train horns blowing juxtaposed with coyotes howling and the clock ticking. Wet paws, conversations, and gelato lingered in my mind.

Lingering is about time – the stretching, expanding, and slowing down of moments. While lingering can be thought of positively and negatively, happy stories and memories surfaced for me tonight.

Wet Paws

First, the wet paws. Our beautiful black lab, Norton, now long gone, loved going on forest walks with us. We often walked (the five of us – Steve, me, the girls, and Norton) down our block to the path in the woods that led to the Croton River. We’d go to this one spot where we climbed on the big flat rocks – each taking a seat.  We’d sit barefoot with feet dangling in the water as we watched the river flow and heard its thunderous sound. Sun rays coming through the canopy of trees warmed us.

Norton, like us, picked his rock and submerged his front paws in the river. We lingered – each enjoying this beautiful time with no agenda and nowhere to go as if time stood still. And then, for unknown reasons, Norton would get up and decide it was time to leave. So we did. The lingering was over.

Conversations

Second – conversations.  I’ve been missing my mom and two aunts (my mom’s younger sisters) a lot lately. We talked often. Our conversations meandered. Time felt like taffy – stretching and unending. We talked about love, family, and matters of the heart. We laughed, cried, and enjoyed our time together as we lingered leisurely and easily in free-flowing conversations.

The conversations with these three amazing women have ended—at least the out-loud ones have, as they are all gone.

“Lingering has restorative powers when you focus energy on positive moments.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™

Gelato

Lastly, gelato. I recently had a gelato ice cream cone experience that I didn’t want to end. I tried to linger as long as possible while eating it. But you know how gelato goes—it melts, so my lingering time was limited.

But as I ate this delicious mocha gelato in a cone drenched in freshly dipped warm dark chocolate, I stretched out the enjoyment for as long as possible.

Linger. To linger. Lingering. The precious moments time offers. The beautiful moments I allow myself to savor.

Wet paws, conversations, and gelato.

Lingering has restorative powers when you focus energy on positive moments. Do you linger? If so, have you noticed helpful effects on your well-being or time management? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.

If you want help letting go, organizing, or managing your time better so you can enjoy life more, email me at linda@ohsorganized.com, call 914-271-5673, or schedule a Discovery Call.  Change is possible, especially with support.

The newest release (v39) of the “What’s Interesting?” feature has my latest finds, which inform, educate, and relate to organizing and life balance. These unique, inspiring, embracing change 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 Embracing Change Discoveries

1. Interesting Read – Life Change

Do you want more happiness in your life? In The Fun Habit – How the Pursuit of Joy and Wonder Can Change Your Life, behavioral scientist, organizational psychologist, and author Mike Rucker, Ph.D., shares how happiness is a state of mind which can feel elusive and dependent upon your circumstance. Yet fun is action-oriented and something within your control. He says, “In contrast to happiness, I’ve come to learn fun is less think and more do. You’re either having fun or you’re not.”

Backed by research and personal experiences, Mike shares ways to be intentional about fun. While he is not opposed to striving, he says, “instead of auditing your calendar for productivity, audit it for fun.” Use the PLAY model to identify and sort activities based on their level of challenge and degree of fun. Create your “fun file” to document and prioritize your fun habit. This book is for you if you’re ready to change and add more delight to your life. Mike says, “We don’t get through life without enduring periods of disappointment, pain, and loss. Fun is the magical balm that makes the slings and arrows bearable.”

2. Interesting Perspective - Slow Change

Change can happen quickly, but more often, it occurs slowly after percolation and transition. During a recent talk, Todd Henry, author, speaker, and creative thinker, described “how ideas tend to come in seasons, not moments.” He started to say, “there is a slow emergence.” Instead, he accidentally combined the words and said, “there is a slowmergence.” A new phrase was born.

Todd further described slowmergence and said, “We tend to think that ideas are sudden clicks, or a-ha’s, but they more often emerge as networks and patterns over time until one inciting incident illuminates what’s been developing for days or weeks.”

I often see this with my clients when they are seeking change. While it might appear as if a change is happening suddenly, it usually has been simmering for a long time. There can be an “inciting incident,” as Todd mentions, that brings clarity and action.

“Fun is the magical balm that makes the slings and arrows bearable.”

— Mike Rucker, Ph.D.

3. Interesting Film – Navigate Change

Recently, I had the joy of privately screening Kate Schermerhorn’s incredible award-winning documentary film, Do I Need This? The film is about “American excess and the stuff from which happiness is truly made.” While the stats are compelling, with American homes containing an average of 300,000 objects, or 93% of Americans using their garages for storage, this film explores so much more.

Kate shares about the environmental impact of our stuff while weaving in her family’s story and personal experiences of acquiring and letting go. These themes are supported by interviews including the leading expert in Hoarding Disorder, Dr. Randy Frost, Plentitude author and economist Juliet Schor, and artists and environmental activists Judith Selby Lang and Richard Lang.

Change is another theme in the film. We witness shifts in relationships with people and their stuff. Dr. Frost recognizes how “possessions often have an essence for us.”  That “essence” can make it challenging to release. Kate said, “I just want to hold onto the past while simultaneously letting go.” This film is an honest, beautiful journey about openings for change and the impact of stuff on our lives and the planet.

4. Interesting Product – Easy Change

There are times while going through a change when you wish it were “easy” or “done already.” There’s nothing like adding some humor to a stressful situation. Knock Knock has a great way of infusing playfulness into their organizing products.

The I Just Want It All pad brings whimsy and order to task and change management. You can select the options quoted above along with the third choice, “dipped in chocolate,” and then list your things to do below. The bottom of the pad asks, “Is that so wrong?” I think not. Change can be challenging, but with this list, you’ll be able to focus with a smile.

5. Interesting Thought – Accept Change

Change can be messy and challenging. It involves doing new things, altering habits, reframing perspectives, and stepping outside your comfort zone. You will make mistakes, experience adversity, feel vulnerable, practice new skills, and test your patience. It’s normal to have some “oops” moments along the way. In fact, it’s a great sign which is a change indicator. Embrace the mistakes. They will bring growth, learning, and the changes you seek.

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

Over 13 years ago, the first blog post I wrote was Waiting for Something. I acknowledged how waiting is part of our daily lives and how we often meet these times with impatience or annoyance. I offered a perspective change. Instead of considering waiting as an inconvenience, what if we treated it as a gift?

While waiting, we have an opportunity for something wonderful to transpire.

• If we consider the waiting or transition time a gift, does that alter your experience?

• What happens when we remain open and available to change?

• Would you extend more love to yourself?

• Would you be more willing to navigate the frustrations and challenges pursuing changes can bring?

Recently, I read a quote that brings another dimension to waiting and change. Trust is an essential aspect of your journey. This encourages a deep belief in trusting yourself, the process of change, and all that’s available on the other side. I offer author Mandy Hale’s perspective to you- “Trust the wait. Embrace the uncertainty. Enjoy the beauty of becoming.”

When I work with my virtual organizing clients, we begin with their big why in mind. We clarify what is driving the changes they desire. And why now? Understanding the why is integral to the change process. It provides the anchor and motivation when the process of change becomes challenging.

Clients might find it easy to let go and move forward during one virtual organizing session. They experience the state of flow, where their actions align with their goals, and they feel and acknowledge the progress. At other times, they feel stuck, frustrated, and impatient. This is normal. We lean into trusting the big goal and adjusting the organizing process if needed.

“Trust the wait. Embrace the uncertainty. Enjoy the beauty of becoming.”

— Mandy Hale

Change is exciting, but it can also be difficult getting there. With some new tools available, you can trust yourself and the process, embrace the learning along the way, and bask in the joy that comes through your effort.

How do you navigate waiting? What enables you to embrace change? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.