 You know that feeling after a good summer rain and the fresh, crisp smells that go with it? The rain knocks the dust from the air, cools the blacktop, and drops the temperature. Streams that were low are flowing again. The world feels refreshed. The focus is not on the rain or the dust or the dried streams but on the results that appear after the rain. The fresh environment feels open and available.
Likewise, your focus should not be on the organizing project or the clutter or your current lack of productivity; but instead, focus on the results that appear when you create an environment that feels open and available. Take a moment now to think about how you feel and how your space feels when it is clear. Your quest for productivity and organization will never be complete. There is no end to the clutter and stuff that appears. The mail will still arrive in both digital and paper form daily. And when you focus on how much you are (or are not) letting go it can feel like you will never finish. But, there are real, tangible, physical, spiritual and temporal effects that come from letting go of the excess and clearing your space. These effects are significant enough to move your summer rainstorm up in priority. Don’t wait to declutter. Start with a fresh slate, like that which comes after a rain, to give yourself space and time and mental clarity to feel better and get more done. You can either: 1. Dedicate a day or even two work on clearing your space and schedule.* 2. Clear the spaces by boxing things up and working from the boxes in smaller scheduled, increments of time.** Either of these options will give you a fresh slate which is typically enough to reduce your stress, increase your creativity and productivity. Here are 5 things to let go of during your own personal decluttering rain storm. 1 – Anything that is passed or expired: invitations, mail, medication, bills, coupons, etc. 2 – Anything that is broken 3 – Most items on your desktop/workspace/counters 4 – Things you were keeping to read later 5 – Half-used items that you were keeping because they might be useful or you could repurpose them. This list may sound ruthless and harsh. You may worry about letting go of your stuff, worried about making the wrong decision, worried that the process will be difficult, time consuming or boring. I promise that the results will be worth the discomfort, the pain will be manageable and that healing, if needed, will begin as soon as you make the decision to act. If you need help, it is only ever a phone call away. Schedule a time to talk. Register for the next Monthly Organizing Class here. * If you choose this option, unless your space that needs to be refreshed is small, 1-2 days will not be enough but you should be able to provide yourself a ‘jump start’ and then plan for another 1 day work session or a regular basis or use daily decluttering sessions to keep going. ** It is extremely important to note that boxing things up does not make them go away and that scheduling time to work on these boxes is not optional.
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 Photo Credit Nettie Owens 2017 It’s true. I am not productive every single day. There are times, like you, I am just not in the zone, not playing my best game, that I lose my mojo. Even though I have the regular ups and downs that come along weekly and monthly (ok, sometimes daily). The “big one” hit last spring. Spring 2017. I was riding pretty high and feeling that most of what I wanted was coming into alignment in my business. Since 2004 I had built a residential organizing business that had grown and developed such that I had three to six organizers in the field at varying points in the company history. I ran and over saw the marketing and new client development and I provided training and professional development but the rest was systematized, organized and outsourced to employees or contractors. At the same time, I was developing my organizing coaching program, The Take Control System™ and building the corporate consulting portion of the company. I knew that if I just pushed a little harder for a little longer, focused my efforts a little more, everything I wanted would come into focus and each business would be operating on its own and humming along. Fortunately (yes, that is correct), God had other plans. Instead, all of my employees quit within a six month span. All of the support that allowed the residential services portion of my company to operate so well, vanished. I had my ‘come to Jesus’ moment and could either accept the changes that I had been unwilling to create for myself or I could close up shop and find employment outside of my business. I know for a fact that if you have been in business for more than a day then at some point you questioned whether it was even worth it to continue on the path you were on or whether you would be better off shutting the doors, selling the inventory and returning to the workforce. I cried. My most memorable was standing over the kitty litter box, scoop in hand, while my husband held me tight and let it all come out. I called business friends and confidants to garner their support and insight. I let go. This was my opportunity to let go of what was no longer serving me and reach for something more. But, while I had employees, my feet where positioned squarely one on each side of the gap, unwilling to commit to either option fully. Here is what I did:
In less than six month’s time I recreated my business to the level it had been. I used the knowledge of the past 13 years and I used the tools I share with my clients, and I learned to rely on my own natural intuition (thank you, Victoria Whitfield). It worked. If you get stuck, just give me a call. I am right here to help you get back on track. PS - Victoria Whitfield is offering her amazing program The Master Manifester 5-Day Challenge starting again April 23-27, 2018. You can find out more and join in here http://victoriawhitfield.com/master-manifestor-5-day-challenge/   Given that twice as many entrepreneurs start their business after age 50 as before age 25, it’s likely you have already had experience in an office setting. You have had a boss, supervisor, management team, human resources, finance department, and the full support of being part of a larger company. But now, YOU are the boss. YOU own the office and the only support or structure that exists came from your brain (or you delegated it). In the end the catalyst was YOU! How do you structure your day when there is no one else directing what you do and when you do it? This is what I have seen:
Does one of these types sound familiar to you, or something else?  So, how do you jump off of the crazy train. Put the CEO hat squarely on your head and define a structure that balances what you need, what your clients need and what your business needs?
 Sometimes, even when you do all of these things, you may still wonder why it is not working for you. Sometimes, you are just too close to see what is getting in the way. If that is happening to you, I’d love to chat and help you sort it out. Grab a time on my schedule by clicking here:
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AuthorHi! I'm Nettie Owens, Certified Professional Organizer in Chronic Disorganization and Productivity Consultant. Archives
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