Peace of Mind Organizing

Life is what you make it

5 May 2008

On my way to a client’s house this morning, listening to NPR, I heard a story that made the hairs stand up on my neck. It was a story on Morning Edition about Larry Woodard, a Dallas, Texas, man who was falsely convicted of raping and murdering his girlfriend. He languished in prison for 27 years, all the while writing letters asserting his innocence and requesting re-investigation of the case. He refused to apologize for a crime he didn’t commit, even after being told if he did, he’d get parole.

Last week, Woodard was released from jail after DNA evidence proved he did not commit the rape. Current Dallas District Attorney Craig Watkins is re-investigating many convictions, using the DNA evidence that Dallas has saved. Woodard is the 17th exoneration out of 40 re-examined cases.

Aside from the obvious travesty of justice (these stories are so heartbreaking), what gave me goosebumps was Mr. Woodard’s attitude about his situation.

No one would blame him for being angry or bitter. But he isn’t. Here’s what I heard on NPR (the text of the whole story is available here, including pdfs of his heart-rending letters from prison):

But for one innocent man, life is beginning anew after 27 years of waiting.

“Like an adventure,” Woodard says. “I mean, there’s so many different things to see, and I like people, and I like seeing different things and new things.”

Woodard doesn’t know how a cell phone works and has no inkling of Macintosh versus PC. He’s neither bitter nor angry, and he will not agree that those years in prison were for naught.

“Time is what you make of it,” he says. “You’re living no matter where you are. I think I came out pretty good. I think I won. I think I’m a winner.”

I so admire his amazing viewpoint. Our lives are our own to make what we will of them. Mr. Woodard is most definitely a winner, in that he actually was (finally) acquitted of a heinous crime.

He’s now 55 years old and his life is just beginning. With his incredible outlook on life, it certainly will only get better.

Next time I feel that something hasn’t gone my way, I’ll remember Mr. Woodard. If I can model my outlook on him, life will always be sweet.

Packing for the plane

1 May 2008

I’m flying home from Hawaii late this afternoon. It’s an overnight flight and I arrive in St. Louis at 8 in the morning. That’s an eleven hour journey, not counting the time I spend waiting for my flight at the Honolulu airport.

When I flew here last week, I packed my carry-on as though I were traveling with a toddler I feared would get bored and start screaming (in this analogy, I’m the toddler). I hauled more stuff on board than I even looked at. I spent most of my time watching a DVD on my computer and the plane’s fairly wretched movie (National Treasure).

So as I contemplate packing for my ride home, I realize I need to lighten the load. Part of me wants to take advantage of all that free airplane time and concentrate on my business and do some all-important planning. I’ve been so focused on my client this past week that I can’t even remember what’s going on with my real life. I know I still have follow-up to do from the NAPO national conference.

I want to re-read Do It Tomorrow since I’ve fallen a little off the wagon with that system. And I need to re-visit my to-do list.

But the other part of me wants to take a novel and call it a day (and night). I’ll have my computer, so I can watch the last episode on Season 4, Disk 1 of The Wire, an amazing HBO series. Between that, my knitting (I’m making a burgundy cabled wrap), and my iPod with all its podcasts, I really don’t need anything else.

So I think the conclusion I’m coming to is that less is more. I don’t want schlep a heavy bag around the Honolulu and Chicago airports (my 13” MacBook is heavy enough on its own). I’m going to take to my computer, my knitting, my iPod, and the novel I have from the library (Linda Fairstein’s Bad Blood). And I’ll throw in a notepad to write down some to-dos.

That still seems like quite a lot of stuff, doesn’t it? I’m actually hoping that I sleep so much I don’t need most of it!

Change in newsletter pub date

29 April 2008

If you were looking forward to receiving my monthly newsletter tomorrow, I have to break it to you: I’ve decided to change the publication date to the 15th of each month.

I made this decision not because the May newsletter isn’t ready (which it isn’t), but because I noticed that my own email box is inundated by e-newsletters on the first of the month. I don’t want mine to get lost in the shuffle.

If you’re not a subscriber to the newsletter, you can subscribe by clicking here (and you can read the most recent newsletter). Each month I have a timely feature article, a tip, and an offer.

Watch for it in your email inbox on the 15th!

When good things happen to great clients

29 April 2008

I mentioned last week that I was leaving for Hawaii to help a client get settled in there. We’re working hard, having some fun, and accomplishing a lot.

I’ve been working with this client since September 2006 and she serves as a fabulous example of the benefits of getting organized.

She called me in originally when she decided to focus her attention on getting her life in order. She wasn’t a hoarder, or even very cluttered, but as a working mother of three active kids (and active wife to an active husband) her attention had been focused squarely on family. As a result, some parts of her life had gotten a little out of control—things I see all the time with my clients (and sometimes myself). There were stacks of papers and other stuff here and there, aging bags of paper that had been stashed when company was coming, an unruly basement that hadn’t been cleaned out in quite some time. You get the picture. Nowhere near horrifying, but not exactly tranquil.

This dream of a client decided to retire from her job and focus on getting her life in order. She sought my help. And she made the time and financial commitment to have me in twice a week. Over the next twelve or fifteen months we cleared the piles, set up systems, plowed through hundreds and hundreds of photos of her kids, and got her life humming along. She became a pro at making really sensible decisions about what to keep and what to part with.

It looked like we were finished—and in fact we’d checked off everything on the list we’d created at our very first meeting (an Eyes of a Stranger needs assessment). I was getting sad thinking that our time together was coming to a close.

Once she started lightening up her life and letting go of possessions (stuff that had been accumulating through the years just because she hadn’t made a decision about it), great things started to happen.

High up on the list of great news was that her husband was being transferred to Hawaii. He was offered a nice promotion and they were moving to a tropical paradise. Two years before, that news might have sent her into a tailspin. Moving down the street—let alone part way across an ocean—would have felt like an impossible challenge.

But she’d decluttered. Her life was in order. She knew how to manage her time. She had support. This big move was definitely doable. A bit of a pain, yes. (Another round of decluttering was in order!) But doable—and worth it.

It was fairly easy for her to whip her house into marketable shape. She and her husband followed the real-estate agent’s instructions to stage the home (which required minimal effort, since she was so organized). They priced it fairly. And the house sold within 36 hours, at full asking price. In 2008.

They easily found a home of comparable size (if not price) near her husband’s work on the island of Oahu. Financing was a piece of cake. The move couldn’t have gone more smoothly.

When it came time to think about unpacking all the boxes once they arrived in a big container on a giant boat, she had the good sense to know she didn’t need to tackle it alone. Her husband was travelling at the time the container arrived. So she called in the one person outside her family who really knew how she lived. And I was happy to come here and help. (A real hardship, I realize.)

What I love about this client is that she really lives the principles I try to instill in all my clients. She takes care of herself. She understands the value of the stuff she wants to keep and doesn’t keep the stuff she doesn’t value. She stays on top of her paper and her life and if it veers a little out of control (like it did in the last month, quite understandably), she knows she can whip things right back into shape.

She also understands how getting organized helped lead her to where she is now. “If you get your act together,” she’s told me, “being organized doesn’t have to be a pipe dream anymore and you set the stage for other choices and decisions to happen.”

In other words if you actually take steps toward getting organized—rather than just dreaming about it—you open yourself up to all sorts of possibilities. I’m so glad it worked out this way for this wonderful client. She’s a shining example.

Historical clutter

28 April 2008

When I was cleaning out my email inbox, I came across a link to a New York Times article called The Ghosts of Clinton Street. My husband had sent it to me last fall. I don’t know why I didn’t click on the link back then, but I’m glad I did last week.

It’s a story of a four-story house in Brooklyn that’s been owned by the same family since 1866. In that time, the family, as the New York Times writer put it, “discarded practically nothing.” I think it’d be fair to call them packrats. The house is chock full of historical artifacts. I think it’s utterly fascinating.

I feel for the couple who lives there now—the woman is the reat-great-great granddaughter of the first owner. They’re trapped by family tradition and sentiment. As an organizer, I’d be hard pressed to urge them to clear the place out, because I’m a sucker for history. But it’s really no way to live.

Check it out! And don’t miss the slide show.

Looking for a good novel?

24 April 2008

The Department of Lost and Found, by Allison Winn Scotch, is out in paperback this week. I know Allison from a freelance-writers’ web forum I participate in, Freelance Success, and enjoyed reading this book when it was out in hardcover.

The novel’s protagonist is a super-driven, hardworking aide to a senator who is diagnosed with breast cancer. As sobering as that topic sounds, the book is infused with humor (the scene at The Price is Right still lingers in my memory) and is indeed a terrific read.

Check it out!

Aloha!

22 April 2008

I’m the luckiest organizer. I worked with a wonderful client here in St. Louis for eighteen months. Last month she moved to Hawaii. Last week, her family’s stuff, which was shipped by boat, arrived. This week, I’m going there to help her set up household. I leave early (and I mean early) tomorrow morning.

I’m hoping to blog regularly from Oahu, but I’m not positive that will be possible. I’ll be back home on May 2.

Aloha!