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Be A Better Version Of You

Letting Go Is An Act Of Bravery

By Be A Better Version Of You 11 Comments

As a professional organizer I often talk about letting go. When a client reaches out to me it is often because they are feeling overwhelmed by clutter. Sometimes it’s just in one area of their home. Other times it is pervasive throughout the house. No matter how much clutter or stuff there is, it is causing a problem for the client. Releasing things they’ve held onto for a long time is difficult and can make a person fearful. My goal is to provide my clients with strategies to help them be as comfortable as possible while they make decisions about…

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5 Reasons Not To Follow The Messy Trend

By Be A Better Version Of You

One of my organizing friends sent me the article from the New York Times “This Trend Is A Mess” and asked me what I thought about it. My first thought was that it upset me. I work with people who struggle to become organized. Why would someone purposefully create a mess in their home and then create a video of it to post on TikTok? The answer, of course, is to get followers. This article talks about a young social media influencer who creates messes in their homes. I was so annoyed that I decided to reach out to some…

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The Truth About Being Kind To Yourself

By Be A Better Version Of You

There’s all sorts of advice out there which tells people to be kind to themselves. This advice also says to treat yourself the way you would a friend or to give yourself grace. I was sharing this information with a friend of mine who asked me what being kind to yourself really means. I told him what it means as it applies to organizing. Since I am a professional organizer, I can tell you about the ways you can be kind to yourself as you go about decluttering and organizing your home. Let’s review these two expressions one at a…

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Thanksgiving

How To Avoid Difficult Conversations At Thanksgiving

By Be A Better Version Of You

I come from a very large extended family. Growing up Thanksgiving Day always involved lots and lots of family members. There were tables of people here there and everywhere at my Great-Uncle John’s apartment in New York City. Loud and often boisterous conversations filled the air. As a little girl, I was never one to join in. Listening, observing, and melting into the background was where I felt most comfortable. There was an understanding that this was a day of peace and harmony. A day to give thanks. No one dared raise topics which may provoke difficult conversations. When I…

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When Someone Has A Well-Organized Life, What Does That Really Mean?

By Be A Better Version Of You

Having a well-organized life does not mean that nothing is ever out of place because that would be boring. Honestly, if you ask ten people what it means to have a well-organized life and you will most likely get ten different answers. I will answer what this means to me personally as well as what it means to me as a professional organizer. Here are the 5 key components to a well-organized life 1. Routines to follow Someone with a well-organized life has routines to follow that allow them to close the loop with their chores. This does not mean…

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reason to be productive

What is Your Reason to be Productive

By Be A Better Version Of You

The most common reason to be productive is to make money so we can fund our way of life. But are there other reasons for being productive? Or rather, are there other reasons for being continually doing something? My friend and colleague, Julie Bestry, has been writing recently about Toxic Productivity. These blog posts have fascinated me. Julie always, in every article or blog post, provides lots of interesting background information and research. Are you wondering why I am writing about this? Well, I started thinking about my own reason to be productive. I asked myself some questions. Am I…

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Paper Calendar: Two of the Best Reasons to Use One

By Be A Better Version Of You

Do you use a paper calendar? I do. In the past, I tried to use a digital calendar but found the process frustrating. I could only see dots indicating there was something scheduled on the day in question when I looked at the month view. It took a second step to see the details. Every now and then I enter a date in my phone but frankly I never think to look in my phone for appointments. I always check my paper calendar. Why is that? It’s because I can easily see the appointments for the day I’m curious about…

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Want a More Balanced Life? Harmonize

By Be A Better Version Of You

Last week I talked about bringing harmony into your organizing systems. I shared a quote from Daniel J. Levitin’s book (The Organized Mind). It goes like this, “It is important to harmonize your organizational style and systems with your personality.”  In case you didn’t read last week’s blog you can find it here. Today I want to talk about balance in your life. Honestly, I don’t believe it’s always possible to have a balanced life. However, I believe there is a way to create a more balanced life by bringing harmony into the equation. Let me explain. We know that…

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Habits Help to Ground Us in Times of Stress

By Be A Better Version Of You

Often at the beginning of the year people talk about breaking bad habits and creating new routines. Just as often these efforts fail because our habits; good and bad, are ingrained in us. It is very hard to change an established habit. We have set routines we follow whether we realize it or not. Most of the time we don’t recognize that we are following a routine we just automatically follow certain steps to complete a task. Today I want to talk about the ways in which habits help to ground us when everything else in our life is up…

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with my son and his family

Time Spent with Family

By Be A Better Version Of You, How to Organize Your Life Blog

If you are like me and live far from family, you know that time spent with family is precious. There can be long stretches of time during which I don’t see my children and grandchildren. One of my sons lives near Lake Tahoe and the other lives in Seattle. Since I live in Atlanta and because of this Pandemic I have not been traveling to see them as often as I would like. I’m so happy to say that I have just spent 10 days at the beach with one of my sons and his sweet family. Alex and his…

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