Organizational Triage

Standing knee deep in boxes after moving into my townhome on Friday, I realized I still needed some serious organization triage.

Do you know what I mean?  I’m talking about looking critically at your space, possessions, and commitments to see what’s working, what no longer fits, what you’re holding onto that sucks your time and energy and – I’ll be blunt - needs to be cut out of your life.

I’d done the requisite purging prior to moving, but the new place is a lot lighter on storage than my other home.  While I’m impatient to get everything out of the boxes and away, I made myself do an assessment first.  I could add more storage, which was tempting.  But that’s like putting a BandAid on a festering wound.  You might slow the bleeding temporarily, but eventually it has to be treated.

This is the beginning of a new phase in my life, and organizing my space to reflect my new lifestyle felt even more important than it had during my prior 6 moves in 8 years!  Grown kids, a lower maintenance home, the desire to travel more and work virtually means a lot of things I’d held onto just didn’t fit.  Saying goodbye to some of them was hard, but I reminded myself what I tell my clients:  Anticipate the fun that’s ahead, because you’re clearing the way for your highest intentions to manifest!

The point is this:  A life transition is a sure fire way to motivate you to triage.  But you can – and should – do it more often.  First, make a list of what’s really important to you, like family & friends, community, work, hobbies, a dream of starting a business or changing careers.   Then evaluate all the stuff you’ve been holding onto in terms of your list.  Are you draining energy away from what you say is important because you’re still burdened with things and commitments that no longer serve you?  What’s that costing you?

Painful as it might be, organizational triage will guarantee you a super speedy recovery from chaos and help you feel more confident in every area of your life.

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