Enjoy the latest edition (v56) of the “What’s Interesting?” series, featuring my most recent finds that inspire, spark curiosity, and relate to organizing and life balance. These unique motivation discoveries reflect this month’s blog theme.

You are an engaged, vibrant, and generous group. I am deeply grateful for your ongoing presence, positive energy, and contributions to this community. I look forward to your participation and further contributions to this curated collection.

What do you find interesting?

What’s Interesting? – 5 Best Motivation Discoveries

1. Interesting Read – Motivation Truth

Are you curious how motivation works? If so, you’ll love Drive – The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by bestselling author Daniel Pink.

Drawing on 50 years of behavioral science research, Pink argues for rethinking conventional wisdom about motivation. He explains that the outdated “carrot and stick” approach rarely works.

The most effective motivation stems from three elements: autonomy, mastery, and purpose. He says, “Human beings have an innate inner drive to be autonomous, self-determined, and connected to one another. And when that drive is liberated, people achieve more and live richer lives.”

Drive covers topics, including:

• Differences between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation

• How extrinsic rewards can demotivate and lead to worse performance

• Strategies to awaken motivation, including creating a “To Don’t List”

• Contrasts between Type I (internal satisfaction) and Type X (external rewards) behavior

To learn more about your motivational behavior, take Pink’s short and enlightening survey.

2. Interesting Research – Motivation Incentive

A recent @goodneuroscience Instagram post caught my attention. It asked, “What happens to your brain when you spend most of your time in a cluttered space, according to neuroscience?”

The post cited three studies, including:

• Home clutter and mental well-being - ScienceDirect

• Clutter and the visual cortex published - Neuron

• Home tours, mood, and cortisol published – NIH

Some of the research conclusions indicate:

• Clutter keeps the visual cortex in a state of low-level processing.

• Constant low-level processing of the visual cortex (due to clutter) raises cortisol levels over time and makes it harder to rest, even when you’re sitting still.

• Greater home clutter was associated with lower mental well-being.

• People with more clutter experienced more negative emotions and lower life satisfaction.

• Clutter reduced people’s perception of their home’s beauty, which was linked to poorer well-being.

Defining why you want to declutter can boost motivation. Consider these ideas:

• Decluttering isn’t just about getting organized. It’s not only about having fewer things. It’s about improving how you feel at home.

• Removing items from your home to experience more peace and beauty is more motivating than “I should clean.”

• Focusing on enhancing the beauty of your home is a more positive goal than simply saying, “I should get rid of stuff.”

• Finding simple ways to transform your home into a source of restoration instead of a place of constant visual stress.

These studies offer compelling motivation, especially if you are affected by chronic disorganization or feel overwhelmed by clutter. Shift your focus from letting go of things or from “I should get organized” to creating a home that feels calmer, more peaceful, and enjoyable.

“Defining why you want to declutter can boost motivation.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™

 3. Interesting Resource – Motivation Recycling  

Recycling has become part of our everyday experience. There are many differences among towns and cities in what can be recycled curbside and how to do so. This often leaves households with many categories their municipalities don’t pick up. Then what happens?

The plastic bags, wrappers, unwearable textiles, bottle caps and lids, bread tags, pill bottles, electronics, batteries, light bulbs, styrofoam, and more either get thrown out with a side order of guilt or are saved, taking up precious space, until you find a viable recycling source.

Stress no more. Ridwell has you covered. They partner with innovators who help reuse or recycle trickier items.

Ridwell Stats:

• 97% of what they collect is reused or recycled

• 35 million pounds have been kept out of landfills so far

Ridwell Services:

• Bi-weekly pickups starting at $20/month (available in select US cities)

• Mail-in nationwide service starting at $9/bag

Learn more about the options here: ridwell.com

If your recycling woes are demotivating your efforts, yet you want to become more eco-friendly, consider using Ridwell to bridge that gap. Your motivation will increase as you simplify your recycling plan.

4. Interesting Product – Motivation Tracker

Do you find it hard to build new habits? If so, you’ll love K’arst’s sleek Habit Tracker Pro. The pad helps you:

• Track up to 8 habits per week

• Build momentum

• Reflect on your progress

• Notice patterns

• Keep yourself accountable

The Habit Tracker Pro is compact and portable, and its paper is made from recycled stone, which is especially smooth. While many digital trackers are available, if you prefer analog or just want a break from your devices, K’arst’s tracker is an excellent option.

One reviewer said, “This is so easy and so motivating.” And who doesn’t like something that’s easy and motivating?

5. Interesting Thought – Motivation Capable

“Never forget how wildly capable you are.” You already have everything you need to make progress. Embodying that idea will help you take action. Action cultivates motivation, which keeps you moving forward.

Being “wildly capable” means you already have the tools to accomplish what you want. These include hard and soft skills, resources, and the ability to find additional support when needed.

Don’t hesitate. Take that first step. The next steps will become clear as you go.

Which Motivation Ideas Work Best?

When clutter feels overwhelming and paralyzing, what will help? As I shared, there are many types of clutter and strategies to help you move forward.

Which of these discoveries resonates most with you? Do you have any decluttering resources or ideas to share? I’d love to hear your thoughts and invite you to join the conversation.

How Can I Help?

Do you feel overwhelmed, stuck, or disorganized? Is clutter preventing you from living the life you want? I’m here to help. Virtual organizing is an extraordinary path forward – Local feel with a global reach.

Let’s talk. I’m easy to reach.

• Schedule a Discovery Call

• Fill out the Contact form

• Email me at linda@ohsoorganized.com or

• Call 914-271-5673

Decluttering, getting organized, and nurturing motivation are possible, especially with support.

You and I share at least two things in common. We both have 24 hours in a day, and our days are finite. Yet how we experience and use our time varies widely.

Perhaps you are time-aware. You know how much time you have and spend it intentionally. Or maybe you have difficulty keeping track of time, feel time-poor, are easily distracted, and never have enough hours to get things done.

If you think of your relationship to time on a scale from zero to one hundred, with one end representing a total lack of time awareness and intentionality and the other representing high time awareness and intentionality, where would you place yourself? Whether your number is zero or one hundred, several concepts can improve your relationship with time and help you approach it more compassionately.

Time Management Scale

Before I share the strategies, review the Time Management Scale to get a sense of where you are right now. This isn’t an exact science, but the scale will help you identify your strengths and challenges. Understanding your relationship with time, combined with the concepts I’m about to share, can be a game-changer for you.

How to Use the Scale

• Reflect honestly on where you are today

• Identify your target range and desired habits

• Take consistent action to improve your score over time

Remember that small choices about how you spend your time today shape your future.

3 Ideas to Encourage More Compassionate and Aligned Time Management

There are three ways to align your time in a more compassionate and powerful way. As I mentioned earlier, the time available each day is fixed. Your life and the time you have left are finite. None of us knows how many days remain. How you use this precious resource shapes your life.

1. Energy

Have you noticed how your energy ebbs and flows throughout the day? For example, I have more energy and mental clarity earlier in the day, and my energy lessens as the day goes on. Matching high-brain-demand tasks, such as planning or writing, with the time of day I’m ‘fully charged’ works better for me. Lower-brain-demand tasks, like resetting spaces or grocery shopping, can be done when my energy is less.

As you plan your available time and how you will spend it, factor in your energy. A while ago, Executive Coach Marcy Stoudt introduced me to the reframing of time management as energy management.

It’s helpful to consider how you’re planning and using your time. One thing I’ve learned is how much longer tasks take when my energy isn’t aligned. For example, when I’m tired and my energy is low, it takes me two to three times as long to do certain tasks as when I’m well-rested and in my high-energy, brain-power part of the day.

Aligning your energy management with how you use your time is a compassionate practice.

“Small choices about how you spend your time today shape your future.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™

2. Priorities

Have you noticed that some priorities, especially those tied to values, are fixed while others are flexible? For example, family might always be a top priority, so you’ll drop everything if someone in your family needs you. Or, when planning, family considerations drive your choices.

Flexible priorities are tasks, goals, and commitments that matter but don’t require immediate action or have a set deadline.

Flexible priorities could include:

• Projects with open deadlines

• Buy groceries sometime this week

• Meet a friend for coffee in the next few months

• Edit belongings to downsize

• Plant flowers in the garden

• Clean out the garage this season

• Improve sleep habits

• Try a meditation app

When considering your available time, aligning your priorities with your values and clarifying which tasks are fixed or flexible can lead to a more compassionate way forward.

3. Reality

Ah, yes! The old reality check. Here’s where time management can go sideways. Many people I know, including clients, struggle to align their available time with how long tasks take. This is where optimism needs to be balanced with a realistic understanding of time.

Has this happened to you? I see it most often on ambitious to-do lists. For example, you sit down to write your daily list. You have twenty or thirty items and expect to do them all today because they’re all “equally important.” Yet as the day goes on, you’ve only gotten to a few items. It’s clear you won’t finish everything. The day isn’t over, and you’re starting to feel stressed and defeated. Believe me, I get it. Reality and intention are two very different things.

• Reality Check 1: Not everything is equally important.

• Reality Check 2: Your list is too ambitious to complete in one day.

• Reality Check 3: Optimism is great, but balance it with a realistic understanding of your available time and how long tasks take.

• Reality Check 4: Reduce the size of your list. Curate a daily list of 1-5 items. Get those done, then review the time you have left before adding more to your day.

When you stop planning for an ideal day and start planning for the day you actually have, you gain a greater sense of control, accomplishment, and ease.

Are You Ready to Bring a More Compassionate Approach to Time Management?

The number is 24, as in the hours in a day. The number of days you have left is unknown. You have choices about how to spend your time. Use understanding and compassion as you plan and decide.

What will that look like for you? Which time management ideas resonate most with you? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.

How Can I Help?

Do you feel overwhelmed, disorganized, and time-stressed? Are you struggling to manage all your tasks, goals, and commitments? I’m here to help! You don’t have to do this alone. Virtual organizing is an extraordinary path forward – Local feel with a global reach.

Let’s connect! I’m easy to reach.

• Schedule a Discovery Call

• Fill out the Contact Form

• Email me at linda@ohsoorganized.com or

• Call 914-271-5673

Managing your time, getting organized, and living with more ease are possible, especially with support.

What are you holding onto that’s getting in your way? Are there physical things, like clothing that no longer fits, stacks of magazines you’ll never read, or expired food and medicine? Are there habits that don’t serve you, such as not getting enough sleep, doomscrolling on your devices, or acquiring things without ever editing them? Are there behaviors that create more stress, such as constantly berating yourself, ruminating on interactions, or not taking time for play or joy?

Are these things holding you back from living the life you want? Do you want more calm, joy, or ease?

What happens, though, when you begin to let go of clutter and the things that create blockages and stress? What happens when you approach them in a new way? It’s not that challenges won’t appear or that stress triggers will disappear. However, when you begin to work with them differently and let go, you will have more bandwidth to embrace the good stuff.

A Tiny Shifts Learning Journey

21 Days

For the past few months, I’ve been learning from clinical psychologist and author Dr. Elisha Goldstein. Although he’s been on my radar for years, I signed up for a 21-Day Tiny Shifts Experience in January.

The program featured short, daily practices designed to help you better manage stress by supporting your nervous system. By the end of the course, I was better able to regulate my emotions through simple, intentional breathing practices.

6 Weeks

The experience was so wonderful that I wanted to learn more. Next, I registered for Elisha’s 6-Week Tiny Shifts Emotional Longevity course. It included two live sessions each week: one led by Elisha and the other an Integration Lab led by mindfulness teacher Susan Beckman Reagan.

There were simple, doable practices to work on between sessions, along with a virtual platform for communication. We learned more about emotional loops, supporting the nervous system, and the 4Rs: Recognize, Release, Refocus, and Reinforce.

The Book

Simultaneously, Elisha released his new book, Tiny Shifts – How Emotional Health Transforms Stress, Relationships, and Longevity. While I was taking the courses, I read it, which helped me better assimilate what I was learning.

Elisha says, “Real change doesn’t come from doing more. Feel free to let go of that burden. It comes from shifting how we relate to what’s already here-one tiny emotional pivot at a time.”

If you haven’t read Tiny Shifts yet, I highly recommend it. Elisha presents his research-backed, doable strategies clearly and compassionately while sharing captivating stories.

The Retreat

The next part of my learning journey took place last weekend. Elisha offered a three-day Emotional Longevity Retreat at Kripalu in the Berkshires. It was especially meaningful to attend in person, since the previous courses were online. My husband, Steve, went, too.

What I had learned before was clarified or reinforced during the retreat. It was an emotional weekend—lots of crying, smiling, laughing, meditating, and pausing. While the strategies are simple, applying them in the moment takes practice. I’m still working on it and remain hopeful. I can see my progress.

“What would it feel like to let go and embrace more joy and ease in your life?”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™

Embracing the Good Stuff

In these chaotic, uncertain times, there is no shortage of things beyond our control or that make us anxious. We can dwell there or let go. Elisha’s practices help tremendously with letting go. When you do, you will have more capacity to

• Embrace joy, play, fun, and quiet.

• Be present and available for the people and relationships in your life.

• Have more ease.

• Regroup more quickly from stressful situations.

• Engage in better self-care and compassion.

• Release the things, thoughts, habits, and behaviors that no longer serve you.

• Be available for all the good stuff in your life.

What does the “good stuff” look like to you? A few years ago, I created my own list, which you can find here: Are You Making Time for ‘The Good Stuff?’ What’s one thing on your list?

Letting Go to Live with More Joy and Ease

What are you holding on to that causes you stress? What is keeping you from moving forward? What would it feel like to let go and embrace more joy and ease in your life?

I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.

How Can I Help?

Do you feel overwhelmed or disorganized? Do you want to let go of what’s holding you back but feel stuck or unsure where to start? I’m here to help! You don’t have to do this alone. Virtual organizing is an extraordinary path forward – Local feel with a global reach.

Let’s connect! I’m easy to reach.

• Schedule a Discovery Call

• Fill out the Contact Form

• Email me at linda@ohsoorganized.com or

• Call 914-271-5673

Letting go, getting organized, and living with more ease are possible, especially with support.

Do you remember the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears? One of the main themes is Goldilocks’ search for what felt “just right.” One chair was too big, and another too small. She rejected both. However, when she found the one that fit, she knew it was the one for her and used it. The chair was right-sized and “just right” for her.

At the core of the Goldilocks philosophy is finding the sweet spot, the optimal place where things feel balanced, comfortable, and supportive. Who knew Goldilocks could help with letting go?

Are you struggling to let go of things, ideas, habits, or commitments? If so, a Goldilocks approach could help. Her decision tree went like this:

“This bed is too hard.”

“This bed is too soft.”

“This bed is just right.”

What will “just right” look and feel like for you?

Why is Letting Go Overwhelming?

There can be a lot to sort through, which can make letting go feel overwhelming. Clutter can accumulate from:

• years of acquiring

• gifts and inherited items from others

• postponed decisions

• emotional attachments

• unclear or nonexistent organizational systems

• being overscheduled

• unclear boundaries

• not following through on closure loops

Time is part of the equation, too. You need time to make decisions and to align what you own with who you are and what you need now. This can be tricky if you feel stuck in the past or are holding onto things for an aspirational future or self.

However, when you start making decisions based on who you are now and your current needs, it brings greater clarity as you let go.

Are You Sacrificing the Present?

Many years ago, I attended an ICD class on consumerism, minimalism, and experimentalism, presented by my friend and colleague, Lynne Johnson. She shared a quote about letting go.

“How much of your present are you willing to sacrifice in order to save remembrances of your past to ponder in your future?”

— Anonymous

The question aligns with the Goldilocks philosophy of the three-point decision tree, but from a time-based perspective. Consider what you are holding onto in relation to the:

• Past - Are you willing to hold on to things from your past that keep you stuck and no longer serve you? Can you release them and move on?

• Present - Are you willing to let those things take up physical space and mental energy, distracting you from the present? Can you let go and be more aligned with the present?

• Future - Are you holding onto things with a glimmer of hope that you will revisit, use, or need them someday? Can you say goodbye to them in service of an unencumbered future?

What DOES Letting GO Look Like?

When you release what you no longer need, you invite more ease, better life alignment, joy, and growth. Even releasing one thing makes room for what’s most important, essential, and valued by you.

Letting go can look like this:

• Donate the never-used pots and pans to make the ones used regularly more accessible.

• Release rarely-used purses to make room for the ones you do use.

• Recycle the papers that ‘time took care of’ so you can focus on what’s current.

• Skip the to-do list to enjoy a beautiful spring weekend day.

What does letting go look like for you?

The Goldilocks of Letting Go

What happens when you begin to align your life so it feels “just right?” Will you release what no longer belongs, brings you joy, or is useful? Will letting go bring you closer to living your best life now? When you release what's blocking your energy, space, and thoughts, you create room for calm, growth, and happiness.

Which ideas resonate with you most? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.

How Can I Help?

Do you feel overwhelmed or disorganized? Do you want to let go of the unnecessary but feel stuck or unsure where to start? I’m here to help! You don’t have to do this alone. Virtual organizing is an extraordinary path forward – Local feel with a global reach.

Let’s connect! I’m easy to reach.

• Schedule a Discovery Call

• Fill out the Contact Form

• Email me at linda@ohsoorganized.com or

• Call 914-271-5673

Letting go and getting organized are possible, especially with support.