January Mixed Bag

Happy New Year and welcome to the first Mixed Bag of 2024! New Year’s has evolved over the years to be a very mellow affair at our house. We do a lot of hosting over the holidays and in addition to being tired I’m eager to declutter the bread/cheese/sugar/alcohol in my gut as well as the Christmas decorations from my living room. I love the thought of starting off a fresh year armed with everything I’ve just learned from the past twelve months, so in addition to striking the holiday set I’m setting aside time to reflect on what my biggest learnings were.

It’s amazing how many parallels there are between the habits work I do with my organizing clients and the habits work I do with myself. It’s an ongoing journey that continues to inspire me so I’m sharing some of my best habit-related wins and learnings from 2023 – hopefully you can take away something that will help you in the New Year!

NEW IS UNCOMFORTABLE AND SO SO GOOD

I got out of my comfort zone in 3 areas this year: I started running again after an 8 year absence, I started playing Pickleball (I see your eye-roll!) and I overcame my fear of Instagram Reels. Each challenged me in a different way. The running was physically challenging as I had to work through several injury-related hurdles. The Pickleball was a challenge for my ego because I HATE being a novice and looking stupid in front of other people, even my friends! And learning how to create effective and engaging reels was mentally taxing because the learning curve was steep and required a lot of trial and error before I got the hang of it. With all three I learned that if I push through the discomfort I will be rewarded with that intoxicating feeling you get when proficiency starts to set in. But you have to get uncomfortable first!

‘New is Hard’ is not a new concept but I feel like ‘You Can Do Hard Things’ is something we don’t tell ourselves enough. Just because it’s new and hard doesn’t mean you can’t do it so don’t let that be a reason not to start. I see it over and over again in my organizing life – expect the discomfort and push through it, you reap so many rewards when you do! 

PREPARING THE ENVIRONMENT IS HOW TO WIN

Preparing your environment when you have something hard to do is a way to make it easier. It can be removing friction points that add time or decision-making between you and the hard thing. It can also be sprinkling some things you like into the mix to make the hard thing more appealing. I use both strategies often in my organizing life – making a home easier to maintain is how I ensure that clients don’t have to have me back 6 months after we’ve finished a project.

In my own life prepare my environment for everything that I don’t want to do, from my workout (night before stack workout & set clothes out) to walking Gus in the rain (cute gear ready in mudroom for both Gus and me) to taking donations to Goodwill (fold into errand run + Starbucks reward.)

I will be preparing my environment in 2024 for the once-a-week cold plunge I plan to do in Lake Washington – I already have my new swim coat and Yeti tumbler and will be roping in some friends for accountability, stay tuned!

SMALL BITS ADD UP

Small efforts have really big impacts. Starting (and even staying) small when you are doing something hard makes it easier to stay consistent, and consistency wins every day over larger and fewer bursts of effort.

The 2 things I’m proudest of this year are passing 25,000 active minutes in 2023. I captured every ride, core workout, run and walk with Gus. 25000 minutes for the year equates to an average of 68 minutes a day!  It sure didn’t feel like that much! That 25000 includes many 5 minute Core workouts, 10 minute Yoga classes and 25 minute Gus walks. When I can’t motivate myself for a long workout, I dial it back so it’s less intimidating. That way I keep consistent!

The other thing I’m proud of this year is growing my Instagram following to 30K+. I did this by staying consistent and posting 2 short reels every day. That may not sound hard but for me IT WAS (see NEW IS UNCOMFORTABLE above!) By keeping my focus small and my efforts consistent my content began to resonate on a whole new level and I’m so thrilled about the community I’m building around decluttering your home and organizing your life!

Small consistent efforts equal big impacts. I tell my clients all the time ‘pick 3 things up and put them away any time you leave a room’ – that small act done consistently makes for a consistently peaceful and relaxing home.

Well that’s what is on my mind this sunny New Years Day. Gus and I are headed out to start 2024 off on the right foot – Happy New Years All!