Professional development and education are some of my top priorities. I continually invest in learning to understand, nourish my curiosity, grow, and better help people. This past week, I attended the Institute for Challenging Disorganization’s (ICD) conference, celebrating its 20th anniversary. I’m an ICD past president (2014-2016) and have been a member of this stellar educational association for 19 years.

Due to the pandemic, the conference was virtual. Using the Remo platform, people attended from eleven countries around the world. We had four days of workshops presented by leading experts with networking time with colleagues new and old. Possibilities, hope, compassion, and a zest for learning and sharing permeated the sessions and conversations.

In my effort to assimilate a small portion of what I discovered, I distilled ideas from 11 sessions and 20 plus pages of my notes to share with you. I couldn't include everything, so I focused on sharing incredibly inspiring concepts full of possibilities. 

Favorite New IDEAS to Empower Possibilities

1. Power of Reframing

Our first speaker was Dr. Edward (Ned) Hallowell, an expert on ADHD, founder of Hallowell ADHD Centers, podcast host, and author of 20 books, including his newest ADHD 2.0. His presentation was so uplifting and poignant. I became emotional several times. He focused on the gifts accompanying ADHD, such as being creative, intuitive, curious, entrepreneurial, intelligent, and original. Dr. Hallowell has ADHD and has devoted his life to helping people with ADHD “develop a vision of greatness.” He believes that everyone is capable of more than they think they are, can combat negative self-talk, and develop good self-care hygiene.

He reminded us “what matters is the striving, not the doing or accomplishing.” The “victory is loving the game.” He spoke about the importance of connection and having supportive people to protect and believe in you. 

Hallowell shared the three defining hallmarks of ADHD, which are distractibility, impulsivity, and hyperactivity. He prefers focusing on the positive flipside- seeing distractibility as curiosity, impulsivity as creativity, and hyperactivity as energy. At 71, he said he was “happy to have a turbo pack on his back.”

When it comes to organizing and reaching his goals, he strives for “well enough organized.”

If you reframe your perspective, what is possible?

2. Living Your Strengths

As humans, we seek to understand ourselves and others. Dr. Ryan Niemiec, Education Director at the VIA Institute on Character, author of 10 books, and award-winning psychologist, shared that understanding your character strengths is essential for building your well-being, managing adversity, and increasing happiness. What would be possible if you lived using your strengths and appreciated the strengths of those around you?

In 2003, the VIA Survey of Character Strengths was created. The extensively researched survey emerged from the field of positive psychology. It focuses on 24 universally valued (cross-cultural) character strengths such as hope, curiosity, and gratitude. It has been taken by 16 million people and continues to be taken every 10 seconds. Click here for your free VIA assessment (it takes about 10 minutes) and discover your top signature strengths.

Niemiec made several key points: no strength is better than another, all 24 strengths matter, and they are in all of us. Your top strengths represent the positive parts of your personality, which can change over time. Our strengths reflect our identity, produce positive outcomes for ourselves and others, and contribute to the collective good.

I’ve taken the survey three times over the past ten years, and I’ve seen some shifts in my top five strengths. With the most recent survey, my top strengths are love, gratitude, perspective, appreciation of beauty & excellence, and humor.

I’d love to know more about you. After taking the survey, please share your top five strengths in the comments below if you feel comfortable doing so.

“What matters is the striving, not the doing or accomplishing.”

— Dr. Edward Hallowell

3. Designing Your Space

Andrea de Pavia, MA, architect, urban planner, author, professor, and founder of NeuroAU, shared her expertise and insights on NeuroArchitecture. This interdisciplinary field connects cognitive science, architecture, design, and urbanism, focusing on “the brain, behavior, and their interconnection with the physical environment.” De Pavia explained how our spaces affect our physiology, making changes in the brain and body. Her goal is to “make science-based choices to improve the environment” and not design solely based on creativity or aesthetics. 

With sensation transference, elements such as light and sound can affect how things taste, your perception of others, and your memories. Perceptual fluency relates to how easy or challenging it is to be in a particular space. In a “fluent space,” it will be easier to process and experience cognitive restoration. Our physical environment can affect stress levels and health. Lack of multisensory coherence can impair perception and attention, deplete mental resources, and impair decision-making. Imagine being in a cluttered space (whatever ‘cluttered’ means to you.) Notice how you feel. Are you calm, relaxed, anxious, or agitated? 

Our space can help or impair our cognitive restoration. De Pavia shared several ways to design and organize spaces to decrease stress and save mental resources, such as incorporating nature. Include pictures of nature, use natural light, add plants (real or not,) water features, and natural materials. This is known as biophilic design.

Don’t underestimate the importance of windows and natural light. Uncover the windows and position yourself closer or facing them. Seeing the sky (day or night) helps control our circadian rhythm, which affects our biological clock. It syncs our body with the environment and affects our energy during the day and quality of sleep at night. Natural light supports the production of serotonin, a hormone that stabilizes our mood, feelings of well-being, and happiness.

I often write about organizing homes and offices to support who you are and what you do. This science-backed research reinforces the importance of decluttering, creating calm spaces, and being in environments that allow us to restore, reset, and be productive. What would be possible for you as you imagine being in a cognitively supportive space?

Possibilities are all around as we look at ways to reframe our perspective, live using our top strengths, and create spaces that support our minds and bodies. So much is possible. Which ideas resonate with you? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.

For almost three decades, I’ve been joyfully helping my clients embrace change and work through their organizing challenges. I love helping people get organized, especially when they are stuck or overwhelmed. When the pandemic hit in early March, and New York went into lockdown, I stopped all in-person home and office organizing visits. As an alternative, I’ve been offering virtual organizing sessions to new and existing clients. It has been amazing! I love working in this more profound way, and my clients do too.

To give the best help possible, I continue to invest in my education. While I have attended many individual classes on virtual organizing, I wanted more in-depth knowledge. I recently completed and passed a six-week course, that credentialed me as a Certified Virtual Professional Organizer (CVOP.) It included 12 hours of class time, 20 plus hours of independent study, 15 hours of client work, and an exam. The training confirmed what I observed before. There is something extraordinary about working with clients virtually. Progress is faster, sessions are more focused, and there is a better transference of skills. 

Are you curious about what my clients appreciate about virtual organizing? I thought you might be, so I compiled a list, including several of the benefits. As an organizer or a client of an organizer, are there other positives you’ve discovered about doing remote organizing work?

8 Reasons My Clients Love Virtual Organizing

1. Time Help – Do you find it too intense to schedule three or four-hour in-person organizing visits? If so, you’ll love going virtual. VO delivers organizing support in short one-hour sessions.

2. Consistency Help – Do you find it difficult to regularly work on your organizing goals? VO sessions are more frequent (ideally, twice a week,) which encourages consistency, repetition, and progress.

3. Accountability Help – Do you need help with motivation and accountability? In-between session support by text or email is an integral part of VO work.

4. Focus Help – Do you have difficulty focusing on your organizing goals and projects? The short, highly focused VO sessions are less distracting due to the need for heightened listening and self-implementation.

“There is something extraordinary about working with clients virtually. Progress is faster, sessions are more focused, and there is better transference of skills.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVPO

5. Clutter Help – Are you overwhelmed by clutter and don’t know where to begin? VO sessions can quickly get you unstuck, offering support and accountability throughout the decluttering process.

6. Reflection Help – Do you value time to process the changes you’re experiencing? VO clients love reading, discussing, and commenting on the notes I share, including session description, accomplishments, challenges, and ah-ha moments for each session. This communication document helps to reinforce learning and neuron development in the brain.

7. Accessibility Help – Do you want organizing help, but there are no professional organizers in your area, or you have safety concerns with in-person work? Pandemic or not, VO is an excellent option that eliminates geographic and physical obstacles. Oh, So Organized! can now work with clients anywhere in the world.

8. Loyalty Help – To express appreciation and gratitude for my wonderful virtual organizing clients, Oh, So Organized! created a Client Loyalty Program. The more virtual organizing sessions you have, the more organizing credits you will receive. 

Life is changing all around, as we learn new ways to navigate the new landscape. Virtual organizing has become an avenue that allows me to continue doing work I’m passionate about with clients that I love. Have you offered or engaged in virtual organizing? What has your experience been? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation!

Having just returned from a wonderful ICD conference with over 150 diverse and talented professional organizers from around the world, I can understand potential clients' challenges in choosing an organizer to work with. There are so many great choices. When you combine the vast array of organizers with other factors to consider, like expertise and availability, selecting the “right” organizer might feel overwhelming.

Are you ready to hire a professional organizer? Do you want to experience success with your organizing goals? Are you confused about what questions to ask?

Wonder no more. In the recent video How to Choose A Professional Organizer That's Right for You, John Hunt interviewed me for Smead’s Keeping You Organized series. I shared many questions to help you find an organizer that will be a great fit. We focused on questions about assessment, indicators, availability, research, intuition, and education or experience.

How To Choose A Professional Organizer - Smead Podcast

What question do you find most helpful for ensuring a successful fit? If you’ve hired an organizer, which question was most important for you? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Come join the conversation.

Thomas Armstrong, Ph.D.

It’s time again to share our popular “Ask the Expert” interview series that connects you with dynamic thought leaders. This year we’ve spoken with Harold Taylor about time management, Erin Rooney Doland about clutter, Francine Jay about letting go, Todd Henry about next steps, Dr. Debbie Grove about change, and Joshua Becker about fresh starts. For July, I’m excited to have with us prolific author, speaker, and learning and human development expert, Dr. Thomas Armstrong to share his insights about motivation.

I had the pleasure of meeting Thomas almost two years ago when he spoke about Neurodiversity at the Institute for Challenging Disorganization (ICD) conference in Denver. He’s a fabulous presenter who is knowledgeable and engaging. My gratitude goes to Thomas for taking the time from his busy travel schedule to join us. When we communicated this past spring, he was just returning from being away for a month lecturing in Abu Dhabi. Before we begin, here’s more about him.

Thomas Armstrong, Ph.D. is the Executive Director of the American Institute for Learning and Human Development, an award-winning author and speaker, and an educator for forty years. Over one million copies of his books are in print on issues related to learning and human development. He’s written fifteen books including The Myth of the A.D.D. Child and 7 Kinds of Smart. Dr. Armstrong has given over 900 keynotes and workshops in 44 states and 23 countries. You can connect with him on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, blog or website.

Linda Samuels:How has your expertise in neurodiversity and multiple intelligences influenced your ideas about motivation?

Thomas Armstrong, Ph.D.:  It’s clear to me that students are much more likely to be motivated to learn if they have an opportunity to learn using their most highly developed and/or most highly preferred intelligences.  Similarly, if a student has special needs (LD, ADHD, Autism etc.), they are more likely to be motivated in school if they are helped to learn using their strengths, rather than their weaknesses.  By focusing on words and numbers in the schools (rather than pictures, the body, music, nature etc.), we’re cutting off natural motivational channels for many kids.  And by employing a deficit orientation for kids with special needs, rather than a diversity perspective, we’re making it harder for these kids to get motivated.

Linda:  What motivates us to change?

Thomas: I’ve always liked Abraham Maslow’s schema on motivation, which he shared in the chapter ‘’Defense and Growth’’ in his book Toward a Psychology of Being.  He says you become motivated to change when a) you minimize the dangers of making a change, b) you maximize the dangers of not changing; c) you maximize the advantages of making a change, d) you minimize the advantages of not changing.  It’s a simple, elegant formula that anyone can use to develop a willingness to take a new job, exercise, not smoke, learn a new language, enter a new relationship, and so forth.

Linda:  What is one common motivation obstacle and a strategy for overcoming it?

Thomas:  Fear or anxiety seems to me to be the primary hurdle. There are many good strategies for overcoming fear/anxiety including meditation, strenuous exercise, psychotherapy, progressive relaxation, visualization, and yoga, just to name a few. I’ve used all of them, and to good effect.

Linda:  What has been your biggest personal motivation challenge?

Thomas: I’d prefer not to dig that deep into my past, but one very big personal challenge for me in the past several years has been my desire to write a novel.  I started sketching notes for a novel in 1990, began in earnest on it in the early 2000’s, and have been working intermittently on it ever since.  I’ve had to confront my own self-doubts about my ability to write fiction, my own difficulty in moving over from my left hemisphere (non-fiction) to my right hemisphere (novel), and my general difficulty in facing an empty page and moving into the unknown. I’m happy to report that I completed the first rough draft of my 120,000-word novel just last month while I was working in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. I celebrated by having lunch at Hemingway’s, a restaurant at the hotel dedicated to one of America’s greatest novelists.  Now, on to the revisions!

Linda:  What is your most surprising discovery about motivation?

Thomas: That you have to keep on re-motivating yourself. Motivation is not just one long surge. At least for me, it comes in spurts, and in different ways, and I guess, surprisingly for me, through dreams (which really helped motivate me to write my novel).

Linda:  What else would you like to add?

Thomas: So many parents ask:  how can I motivate my child to learn?  This is the wrong question. Your child was born with a natural motivation to learn, otherwise our species would have gone extinct. The question is, how do we re-motivate our kids, how do we reconnect them back to that intrinsic love of learning that they were born with. Here’s a hint:  tests, grades, ‘’rigorous’’ and demanding coursework, labeling, tracking, a standardized curriculum – these are not the ways!

Thomas, I love the positive, strengths-based approach you have about motivation and learning. Working from a place that energizes us makes so much sense whether we’re a child or an adult. Thank you also for highlighting Abraham Maslow’s model on motivation and change. Those ideas along with the strategies you shared for overcoming motivation obstacles are so helpful. I’m sure they’ll resonate with my readers.

Please join Thomas and me as we continue the conversation. Share your ideas about motivation, strengths-based being, and change. What are your thoughts?