The most common reason clients ask me for organizing help is they feel overwhelmed or stuck. They have a deep desire to move forward and take action, yet those next steps feel elusive. I love helping them take a deep breath in, exhale out, and discover next. It’s exciting when their energy unleashes, and they take action on what seemed impossible. Once they begin and see progress, momentum takes over. It’s as if a switch gets flipped from “I can’t” to “I’m doing it!”

This past weekend I worked on a project in our greenhouse with my husband. Much like my clients, I felt that same energy surge and momentum they experience when their next step and goal is clear.

Here is what happened.

As some of you already know, our youngest daughter, Cassie, is getting married to Matthew in the fall. The complexities of the pandemic made them alter their wedding plans. They kept their original date but opted for a small wedding at our house instead of the larger celebration at the venue they had reserved. While they are planning and organizing the entire event, there are a few things Steve and I need to do to prepare our home. One of those to-do list items was power washing the greenhouse floor. In the past, we’ve hired someone to do it. This time, however, we decided to buy a machine and clean it ourselves.

My husband wasn’t ready to start the project, but he wanted to test the machine to see if it would work. He set it up and began experimenting. Several minutes later, he asked me to check out what was happening. I couldn’t believe how well the power washer worked. And then Steve said those five little words, “Do you want to try it?”  He handed me the wand, and I gave it a go.  That’s when it happened. It was like magic. Within moments, the force of the water pressure removed the dirt and moss from the brick floor. I couldn’t believe my eyes. 

“When you are stuck, reach out for help.””

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVPO

Doing the power washing was a different experience than watching someone else do the work. It was so satisfying to make and see the change happening before my eyes. I was hooked and driven. Momentum took over. Going brick by brick, section by section, I spent the afternoon power washing with Steve. We took turns, although truthfully, I was the power washer hog. While I washed, Steve moved things around to expose other parts of the floor. We helped each other while laughing and smiling as we transformed the space. It was even a bit messy, like how the organizing process can be. But in the end, we had one clean floor.

The takeaway here is that when you are stuck, reach out for help. When your next step and goal gets clarified, you will be unstoppable. Unleash your magic power that comes from taking action.

What positive enlisting help experience have you had? What encouraged you to reach out for help? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation!

The latest installment (v28) of the “What’s Interesting?” feature is here with my recent discoveries that inform, educate, and relate to organizing and life balance. I’ve included unique and inspiring, enlisting help-related finds, which reflect this month’s blog theme. You are such a wonderfully generous, warm, and engaged group. I am deeply appreciative and grateful for your 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? . . .

1. Interesting Read – Resilience Help

Life is filled with challenges. When you experience difficulty, disappointment, and disaster, what helps you bounce back? In Resilience, Linda Graham, MFT, author, therapist, and teacher share helpful insights and practices. Graham defines resilience as “the capacity to bend with the wind, go with the flow, and bounce back from adversity.” She believes that “resilience is teachable, learnable, and recoverable.”  The practices presented are based on the brain’s ability to adapt, and the recognition that flexibility is the core of resilience. It is easy to get derailed by life’s small and big challenges. By experimenting with some of the 130 plus exercises in the book, you can train your brain to “respond skillfully,” cope with stressors and difficulties, and not just survive, but “You will thrive.”

“Resilience is teachable, learnable, and recoverable.”

— Linda Graham, MFT

2. Interesting Product – Storage Help

The first phase for getting organized focuses on editing and letting go of things that no longer serve a purpose. I like to say, “Release the things that have overstayed their welcome.” However, once that first phase is complete, choosing how to organize the remaining items comes next. I discovered some beautiful organizing products from Open Spaces and couldn’t wait to share them with you. They are simple, elegant, and perfect for organizing like-with-like items. These small storage bins that come with or without lids in an array of lovely colors can be used in bathrooms, bedrooms, kitchens, offices, playrooms, and more. They are an excellent solution for storage help.

3. Interesting Resource  – Virtual Organizing Help

The pandemic has changed my organizing business. While I’ve been working in-person with clients for over 27 years, I’m currently only offering virtual organizing services. Existing and new clients love working this way, including the shorter, highly focused, and more frequent sessions. As one of my clients said, “Working virtually for one hour is productive, doable, and not overwhelming.”

Professional development has always been a top priority for me. Last month I completed my training and became credentialed as a Certified Virtual Professional Organizer (CVPO.) To acknowledge this shift to virtual organizing and express my gratitude to my clients for their loyalty and trust, I created a Client Loyalty Program. The more virtual organizing sessions you have, the more organizing credits you will receive. Are you curious about how virtual organizing can help you? If so, let’s talk. Call 914-271-5673 or email me at linda@ohsoorganized.com.

4. Interesting Article – Worrying Help

One of my favorite pieces of advice from my Uncle Lew is, “Let’s leave worry as a last resort.”  With an abundance of uncertainty and anxiety about tomorrow, it can be even more challenging to stop worrying. In Nicole Pajer’s Huffington Post article, 15 Things Therapists Do When They’re Worried About The Future, there are excellent coping strategies and ways to help you.  They include ideas such as keeping routines, developing a support system, practicing gratitude, being physically active, and remaining present. Practicing daily mindfulness meditation, doing yoga, and taking walks in nature significantly reduce my anxiety and worry. Those activities focus on presence, movement, and gratitude.

5. Interesting Thought – Enlisting Help

Every person experiences challenges at one time or another. Remember that when you are struggling, you don’t have to be alone on your journey. Enlist help. Find compassionate, helpful support from your friends, family, colleagues, and professionals, including organizers like me. We are here for you. “You are not alone in this.”

What are your interesting finds? Which of these resonate with you? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation!

For almost three decades, I’ve been joyfully helping my clients embrace change and work through their organizing challenges. I love helping people get organized, especially when they are stuck or overwhelmed. When the pandemic hit in early March, and New York went into lockdown, I stopped all in-person home and office organizing visits. As an alternative, I’ve been offering virtual organizing sessions to new and existing clients. It has been amazing! I love working in this more profound way, and my clients do too.

To give the best help possible, I continue to invest in my education. While I have attended many individual classes on virtual organizing, I wanted more in-depth knowledge. I recently completed and passed a six-week course, that credentialed me as a Certified Virtual Professional Organizer (CVOP.) It included 12 hours of class time, 20 plus hours of independent study, 15 hours of client work, and an exam. The training confirmed what I observed before. There is something extraordinary about working with clients virtually. Progress is faster, sessions are more focused, and there is a better transference of skills. 

Are you curious about what my clients appreciate about virtual organizing? I thought you might be, so I compiled a list, including several of the benefits. As an organizer or a client of an organizer, are there other positives you’ve discovered about doing remote organizing work?

8 Reasons My Clients Love Virtual Organizing

1. Time Help – Do you find it too intense to schedule three or four-hour in-person organizing visits? If so, you’ll love going virtual. VO delivers organizing support in short one-hour sessions.

2. Consistency Help – Do you find it difficult to regularly work on your organizing goals? VO sessions are more frequent (ideally, twice a week,) which encourages consistency, repetition, and progress.

3. Accountability Help – Do you need help with motivation and accountability? In-between session support by text or email is an integral part of VO work.

4. Focus Help – Do you have difficulty focusing on your organizing goals and projects? The short, highly focused VO sessions are less distracting due to the need for heightened listening and self-implementation.

“There is something extraordinary about working with clients virtually. Progress is faster, sessions are more focused, and there is better transference of skills.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVPO

5. Clutter Help – Are you overwhelmed by clutter and don’t know where to begin? VO sessions can quickly get you unstuck, offering support and accountability throughout the decluttering process.

6. Reflection Help – Do you value time to process the changes you’re experiencing? VO clients love reading, discussing, and commenting on the notes I share, including session description, accomplishments, challenges, and ah-ha moments for each session. This communication document helps to reinforce learning and neuron development in the brain.

7. Accessibility Help – Do you want organizing help, but there are no professional organizers in your area, or you have safety concerns with in-person work? Pandemic or not, VO is an excellent option that eliminates geographic and physical obstacles. Oh, So Organized! can now work with clients anywhere in the world.

8. Loyalty Help – To express appreciation and gratitude for my wonderful virtual organizing clients, Oh, So Organized! created a Client Loyalty Program. The more virtual organizing sessions you have, the more organizing credits you will receive. 

Life is changing all around, as we learn new ways to navigate the new landscape. Virtual organizing has become an avenue that allows me to continue doing work I’m passionate about with clients that I love. Have you offered or engaged in virtual organizing? What has your experience been? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation!

Have you ever experienced that intense, inner push that propels you towards your desired goal? Or perhaps, you’ve felt the opposite and lacked the energy and motivation to move forward. In Kendra Cherry’s article, What Is Motivation? she explains,

“Motivation is the process that initiates, guides, and maintains goal-oriented behaviors. It is what causes you to act, whether it is getting a glass of water to reduce thirst or reading a book to gain knowledge.

Motivation involves the biological, emotional, social, and cognitive forces that activate behavior. In everyday usage, the term ‘motivation’ is frequently used to describe why a person does something. It is the driving force behind human actions.”

There are many reasons why we become motivationally challenged, including fear of failure, comparison, and drudgery. In one of my most popular posts, 10 Most Common Motivation Challenges & Easy Solutions, I explore these and other ideas. Since motivation concerns is a topic many of us are currently struggling with, I decided to expand on the original post to give you some other relevant motivation challenges and solutions.

3 Reasons for Lack of Motivation and How to Get Motivated

1. “Fuzzy brain.”

With the hundreds of Zoom calls and conversations I’ve had in these past months, there have been countless times when someone connected feeling unmotivated to “fuzzy brain,” “brain fog,” “bunker brain,” or “COVID brain.” Lack of motivation is understandable since we live with intense uncertainty and stress caused by the pandemic and the current political, social, and economic climate. Neuroscientists Hilke Plassmann and Benjamin Kessler, describe this mentally fuzzy phenomenon. They explain that “the combination of impaired analytical thinking and heightened external sensitivity creates what can be called ‘Covid-19 brain’ – a fragile, frazzled state that keeps our thoughts simultaneously on edge and unfocused.”

Solution:  To heal the brain fog, Plassmann suggests using music to restore your equilibrium, regulate your emotions, and increase your focus. She also suggests engaging in mindfulness meditation, especially breathing focused practices, that regulate brain activity.

2. Emergency, emergency!

As if the pandemic isn’t enough, many of us are also experiencing life emergencies such as loss of loved ones, medical challenges, or loss of jobs, income, or housing. When these events happen, it’s hard enough. But when they occur in this extreme environment, it is even more likely your motivation will get disrupted. When your days are spent putting out the emergency fires, and there are underlying stress and anxiety because of the pandemic, there might not be much oomph remaining to expend energy on your goals.

Two weeks ago, my 91-year old mom, who has dementia, broke her hip. She ended up in the hospital, had surgery, and is now in rehab. As if that weren't enough, she had two additional emergencies and ER visits during this time. Talk about being on high alert! Let’s just say that while I have been doing my best to work on my goals and stay motivated, there were moments when I felt like I was walking through molasses, as in slow in going.  One of my weekly goals is writing my blog post. While I am motivated to write, with the mom stuff happening, it has been challenging to focus. So when I sat to write what was going to be a ten-point post, I gave myself some slack and reduced it to three.

“When life’s emergencies occur in this extreme environment, it is even more likely your motivation will get disrupted.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®

Solution: Life emergencies are the time to be especially kind to you. Acknowledge how your high alert state is depleting your reserves. The crisis will eventually pass. Make sure that you increase your self-care with enough sleep, hydration, nutrition, and movement. Minimize your self-expectations. What can you let go of? Focus on what’s most important now. Reach out to your friends and family for support. As your emergency passes, you will have more energy and motivation to work on your goals.

3. Can’t take the heat.

Yes. I know it is summer. And with this season comes hot weather. I don’t know about you, but it’s harder for me to activate when it’s hot. I remember the many summer vacations spent with our daughters in The Outer Banks. It was sweltering in North Carolina. The heat was tolerable when we were at the beach or in the air conditioning. However, when we explored the local towns, it felt like we were walking in an oven. Our energy and motivation to do anything were compromised. It seemed like a significant achievement just to choose and eat an ice cream cone. Even though New York (where I live) isn’t North Carolina hot, the temperature can still affect my motivation. Are you climate-sensitive?

Solution:  If you are affected by the warm weather, notice and acknowledge that. Consider some workarounds that will help increase your motivation. Things as simple as changing your clothing to lighter fabrics and colors, adding a fan to your workspace, or taking your brisk walk in the early morning or late evening, can help. Remember to hydrate, hydrate, and hydrate some more. Plan projects like garage or attic organizing for the colder weather. 

Take a moment to recognize that motivation can wane. It doesn’t mean it will be gone forever. It does mean you might need to experiment and make a few adjustments in behavior or perspective to nurture its return. What motivation challenges are you experiencing? What helps you get motivated when you are struggling? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation!