“I am definitely going to take a course in time management . . . just as soon as I can work it into my schedule.”

— Louis E. Boone

We receive a gift each day with 1,440 minutes (aka 24 hours).

• What do you do with your time?

• Do you have enough time to work, play and relax?

• Do you desire more time with friends, family or self?

• Do you wish your time were more focused?

• Do you feel like your time is being wasted?

• Do you find it challenging to manage your time?

There are many ways to manage our time. One possibility is to organize using time blocks or containers. Time has a daily repeating pattern. Within that pattern, we need time to work, play, and restore. We each desire a different combination of the amount of time needed, how we define our various areas of priorities.

Set aside time to define your priorities. Think about:

• What’s most important to you?

• What are the different areas of life or “containers” that your time will get organized into?

• Which containers will be larger?

• Which will be smaller?

• What combination of containers is right for you?

Once your priorities are clear: 

• Choose your container sizes.

• Choose how to fill them.

• Arrange them in ways that best align with your priorities.

What if you introduced color-coding for your containers or time blocks to enhance visual understanding of where your time is going?

Color isn’t useful for everyone, but if you’re a visual processor like I am, it can work well. For my time blocks, I use purple for business, turquoise for personal, green for professional associations, and pink for kids. Within a given week, at a glance I can see what my time looks like with the big color blocks or containers and whether I’m in alignment with my priorities.

What do you do with your time? How do you organize it? I’d love to learn what works and doesn’t work for you? Come join the conversation.

As we welcome the new month, we also begin a new time of the year. New evokes opportunity, change, and growth. Time can feel expansive or limiting. What will time be like for you? Do you ever feel like you're not ready? Do you feel like it's not yet your time to do, to try, or to get out there?

“The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.”

 - Albert Einstein

Is fear or lack of confidence holding you back?

• Maybe you don’t feel ready for organizing your paper piles.
• Maybe you don’t feel ready to say “yes” to a job with more responsibility.
• Maybe you don’t feel ready to volunteer.
• Maybe you don’t feel ready to try something outside your comfort zone.
• Maybe you don’t feel ready to . . . (fill in the blank).

Here’s the good news. Time helps us get ready, though we might not realize it at first. The “ready” can involve acquiring new skills or making a gentle perspective shift. We’re never 100% ready for venturing towards uncertainty. However, there’s a good chance that we’re ready enough. Know the power of taking small steps. Acknowledge your previous challenges and successes. These prepare you, so when the time comes, you’ll be ready enough.

This past week, I attended the NAPO (National Association of Professional Organizers) conference in Phoenix where professional organizers from around the globe gathered to learn and exchange ideas about our industry. While there, I was invited to speak in Japan at the JALO (Japanese Association of Life Organizers) conference. I’ve never traveled to or presented in that part of the world. While I don’t have all the details worked out, time prepared me to be ready enough to say, “Yes” to this wonderful, exciting opportunity.How does time prepare you? What does ready enough look like? What becomes possible with a perspective shift?

Chronic disorganization and organizing industry innovator, Judith Kolberg, said:

“. . . the most significant things you get from your parents are non-material. Nothing you could throw away would damage your love for your parents, because the love is non-material. It’s in your heart.”

In our conversations this month about clutter, we’ve also dialogued about letting go, making room for what’s important, freeing our minds, space, time and energy by reducing the “stuff” in our lives. Judith's quote focuses our attention on valuing the non-material more than the material. It's interesting to think about it in context of the struggle many of us experience with managing our possessions.

If clutter and letting go challenge you or someone you know, consider these questions:

• Do your things overwhelm you?
• Do you having difficulty letting go?
• Is clutter blocking forward movement and growth?
• Is clutter causing stress or anxiety?
• What becomes possible when you let go?

When we have emotional attachments to our possessions, letting go can be more challenging. Maybe our things represent treasured relationships or conjure up memories from another time. There can be comfort and freedom in knowing that memories remain long after the stuff is gone.

I invite you to join the conversation. What are your thoughts about clutter, attachments, memories, or letting go?

Our “Ask the Expert” interview series connects you with dynamic industry thought leaders. This year we’ve spoken with author Francine Jay about letting go, author Todd Henry about next steps, psychologist, Dr. Debbie Grove about change, and author Joshua Becker about fresh starts. For May, I’m excited to have with us organization expert and author, Erin Doland to share her insights about clutter.

Erin’s book, Unclutter Your Life in One Week, shares a plan for quickly clearing your clutter and simplifying your life. As someone that was challenged by clutter, Erin shares from the perspective of someone that gained new skills, cleared her clutter and became more organized. My gratitude goes to Erin for joining us. I know you’re going to appreciate her unique perspective about clutter. Before we begin, here’s more about her.

Erin Rooney Doland is Editor-in-Chief of Unclutterer.com, a website providing daily articles on home and office organization, and author of the book Unclutter Your Life in One Week. You can connect with Erin on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, website.

Linda Samuels:  As an organization consultant, author, blogger, and speaker, you specialize in inspiring others to live an uncluttered life. What suggestions do you have for those that feel overwhelmed by clutter?

Erin Rooney Doland:  Remember that being organized and living without clutter are skills, just like the skills involved in playing a sport. Sure, some people are naturally gifted, but being 6’7” doesn’t guarantee someone will play in the NBA. It takes practice to learn any skill and to maintain it. Just because life is chaotic now doesn’t mean it’s always going to be that way. With regular practice, you’ll eventually find order and you’ll discover the skills that work best with your personality and preferences.

Linda:  In your book, Unclutter Your Life in One Week, you define an unclutterer as “Someone who choses to get rid of the distractions that get in the way of a remarkable life.” What are your favorite strategies for identifying and uncluttering distractions?

Erin:  You need to define what a remarkable life is for YOU. What does it look like? How does it feel? There are many ways to discover your definition of a remarkable life – chart it out, draw it out, create a vision board, meditate on it, talk it out with a family or friend, write it down. Once you know where you want to go, it’s a lot easier to get there.

Linda:  Some of us tend to accumulate more than we release. What makes it so challenging to let go?

Erin:  There are as many reasons as to why we want to keep things, as there are items to keep. These multitude of reasons cross our minds whenever it comes time to part with something. We “just in case” and “should” ourselves into holding onto all our stuff. It’s a very natural human instinct that almost all of us possess. It’s not bad or good, it just is. Problems only arise when keeping things distract us from the life we desire.

Linda:  What is your most surprising discovery about clutter?

Erin:  I’m continually surprised by how an individual’s value of an object changes with time. One day, a pair of earrings can be your go-to piece of jewelry. You’re a little heartbroken if one earring goes missing from the pair. Two years later, the same pair of earrings is taking up space in your jewelry box and you wouldn’t even remember it was in there. The object hasn’t changed, but how you value it has. Changing perceptions is vital to the uncluttering process and how this value change comes about is fascinating to me. Ultimately, someone has to choose the life they desire over their stuff if they want to be uncluttered, but how they get there is different for everyone.

Linda:  What has been your biggest personal challenge around clutter?

Erin:  My challenges are constantly changing, but right now a lack of energy is my biggest challenge with clutter. I have an infant and a very active four year old. It has been five months since I’ve had a solid night’s sleep. What little energy I have is going toward the basic routines that have to be accomplished for our family to function. I see clutter coming back into our lives and I just keep reminding myself that when we all start sleeping better and our energy levels return, so will the order. Until then, I’m trying not to freak out about my crazy pile of filing and all the other distractions.

Erin, you’re in good company with other parents of young children and how sleep, or lack their of influences energy, functioning, and clutter levels. This circles back to your idea about living a remarkable life, which involves knowing your priorities. Your clarity is evident that sleep, basic routines, and raising the kids trump filing papers. Clutter has an ebb and flow. How we handle or reconcile those variations vary for each of us.

Please join Erin and me as we continue the conversation. Share your ideas about clutter, living a remarkable life, and discoveries. What are your thoughts?