Posts tagged review
How to Actually Recognize the Simple Cues to Help Know Your Next Step

Life is full of signals and cues that often go unnoticed. Maybe you're distracted by thoughts, are overwhelmed, stressed, or feel too busy to slow down. The idea of being present or quieting yourself enough to notice a cue might seem out of reach.

Imagine you’re driving down a busy street. You approach an intersection with a red traffic light. That’s your visual cue to slow down and stop. What if you didn’t? If you ran through the intersection and ignored the signal, it could be disastrous.

What happens instead when you notice the cue (red light) and align your next action with it? You see the red light, take your foot off the gas, step on the brakes, and come to a complete stop.

By noticing the signal, you quickly identified your next steps. The direct benefit was that you chose an option that led to a positive outcome for you and those around you.

 

 

What Types of Cues Are Available to You?

Cues are sensory. They can come from what you see, hear, touch, taste, or smell.

The traffic light is an example of a visual cue that guides your next action. Many other types of signals appear in our daily lives.

Here are some common ones and possible next steps:

  • Green flashing light on the toothbrush > Recharge the battery

  • Red flashing light on the air purifier > Change the filter

  • Smell of coffee brewing > Review schedule for the day

  • Last piece of toilet paper > Install a new roll

  • Timer goes off > Wrap up what you’re doing

  • Magazines spilling out of the basket > Sort and recycle the oldest ones

  • Receiving W-2s, 1099s, and other tax forms > Prepare and file your income taxes

  • Jaw tightening and shoulders up > Take a few slow, deep breaths with slightly longer exhales

  • Purple crocus emerging > Smile because spring is almost here

What cue do you notice that guides you clearly to your next step?

 

  

Cues are sensory. They can come from what you see, hear, touch, taste, or smell.
— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™

  

The Value of Awareness

There are cues all around you. Spotting them is very helpful because it can lower stress, overwhelm, and feelings of busyness. Taking a moment to recognize an indicator gives you space to be aware of what you’re feeling and gently choose your next step.

What would help you put this into practice? In which areas could this be most beneficial? 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 take your next step but feel stuck or unsure? I’m here to help! Virtual organizing is an extraordinary path forward – Local feel with a global reach.

Let’s connect! I’m easy to reach.

Moving forward and getting organized are possible, especially with support.

 
 
Ways to Easily Make Next Step by Joyfully Losing Your Negative List

Yes. It’s still officially winter, and our recent run of several warm days has reverted to colder temperatures. Despite the fluctuating thermometer, I notice hopeful signs of spring as nature begins its blooming ritual. Frequent sightings of green plants push through the ground to greet the blue sun-filled sky. They don’t hesitate. After being dormant for months, rejoining life with gusto is their next step.

Nature’s confident growth got me thinking about things that prevent us from moving forward.

  • How about the mile-long to-do list?

  • Is yours dormant and paralyzing?

  • Or are you actively working on it?

  • Is your list meaningful and necessary?

  • Or is it filled with tasks that aren’t essential and you don’t care about?

  • Is your list so daunting that it brings up negative feelings, regret, and disappointment?

  • Or instead does it inspire you to act?

If you are struggling to determine your next step, here is a novel idea: Lose your ‘negative list.’ Crumple it up, let it go, and say buh-bye! That might sound radical, and perhaps it is. But can you imagine doing it anyway? And if you did, what might happen?

 

What’s On Your Negative List

Things holding you back can be concrete or emotional. They might include things like:

  • Thought loops with messages such as “I can’t” or “I’m not good enough”

  • Projects that would be nice to do, but realistically you’ll never get to

  • Thank you notes that are years overdue

  • Plans you wanted to make with friends or family, but never did

  • Piles of magazines with articles to clip and file

  • Stuff inherited from other people’s lives to sort and edit

  • Papers and objects representing previous careers or life stages to curate and edit

Without realizing it, I had a negative list. It included feeling bad about not yet:

 

 

Make Your Next Step Easier

It may sound too simplistic to lose or release your negative list. However, recognizing how it might be holding you back makes it worth trying.

Maybe you’ll decide you still want to attend to some things on that list. And if so, perhaps a reframe of how you think about that ‘thing’ will make the difference. For example, instead of the projects you’ll never get to demotivating you, celebrate the ones you have accomplished. Review the remaining ones to decide if one is worth pursuing. If so, think about it as a project you get to, not have to do. Release the rest.

As Oliver Burkeman says in Four Thousand Weeks, our time is limited. “The average human lifespan is absurdly, terrifyingly, insultingly short.” We will never get everything done or be able to pursue every possibility that exists. Burkeman says, “we’ve been granted the mental capacities to make almost infinitely ambitious plans, yet practically no time at all to put them into action.”

Recognizing these limitations can be freeing. Don’t try to do everything. Instead, let go of what is holding you back and pursue what’s most meaningful and necessary.

Selecting next will become easier. Guilt will be gone. Action and intention will rule the day. What comes next will be joyfully embraced once you are unencumbered by the lingering tasks you’ve chosen to release from your list.

The average human lifespan is absurdly, terrifyingly, insultingly short.
— Oliver Burkeman

What’s Next?

I might forgo choosing a new word and motto this year and even skip a deeper review of 2024. Just considering that option makes me feel lighter and more energetic. After all, I imposed these things on myself, and I can just as quickly release them from my list.

My next steps will prioritize energizing and nourishing actions, projects, and ideas. What will be next for you? What can you release that is holding you back? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.

 

  

How Can I Help?

Do you want support organizing, planning, or figuring out your next step? I’d love to help! Virtual organizing is an extraordinary path forward – local feel with a global reach.

Please schedule a Discovery Call, email me at linda@ohsorganized.com, or call 914-271-5673. Change is possible, especially with support.

 
 
12 Promising and Best Loved Organizing Ideas of the Year

As this year winds down, I appreciate reflecting on the past before moving ahead to the future. For part of the year-end review, I selected my favorite organizing concepts from 2024, one from each month. I hope you discover or rediscover a seed idea that will bring inspiration and balance to your New Year.

Where will you focus on creating organization and balance? Which people and projects will receive your time, energy, and attention? If you’re ready for a fresh start, embracing change, taking your next step, letting go, decluttering, enlisting help, and more, this is for you.

 

 

12 Promising and Best Loved Organizing Ideas of the Year

It takes courage to move forward when you’re overwhelmed.
— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™
Yes starts the process of change. Yet keeps it going.
— Sharon Saline, Psy.D.
One small step in the face of fear is enough to dispel its hold on you.
— Todd Henry

 

One of the simplest ways to let go is to notice the things that don’t belong.
— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™
Clutter creates chronic inflammation.
— Oh, So Organized! Client
Progress is noticeable when you make a time investment.
— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™

 
What’s a quick completion?
— Cameron Gott, PCC
You don’t have to do everything yourself.
— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™
Virtual organizing is a flexible, creative, collaborative process.
— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™

 
Bringing possibilities to fruition is gratifying.
— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™
We don’t have to be perfect.
— James Clear
There’s immense power in knowing which things in our lives we can and can’t control.
— Mikael Krogerus and Roman Tschappeler

Grateful for You

Thank you for being an integral part of this vibrant community. I am deeply grateful to you. We’ve had an incredible year of conversations and sharing. You bring learning, growth, support, and inspiration to every exchange. Thank you for participating and sharing the best of who you are.

What inspired you this year? Which organizing concept resonates most with you? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.

How Can I Help?

Do you want help decluttering, organizing, planning, or creating more balance? I’d love to help! Virtual organizing is an extraordinary path forward – A local feel with a global reach.

Please schedule a Discovery Call, email me at linda@ohsorganized.com, or call 914-271-5673. Organization, balance, and ease are possible, especially with support.

 
 
12 Hopeful and Best Loved Organizing Ideas of the Year

At this reflective time of year, I love revisiting the past before moving ahead to the future. As part of this year-end review, I selected the best-loved organizing concepts of 2023, one from each month. I hope you discover or rediscover a seed idea that will bring inspiration and balance to your New Year.

Where will you focus to create organization and achieve your desired balance? Which people and projects will receive your time, energy, and attention? If you’re ready for a fresh start, embracing change, taking your next step, letting go, decluttering, enlisting help, and more, this is for you.

 

 

12 Hopeful and Best Loved Organizing Ideas of the Year

What would it take?
— Zoe Chance
Making a change involves taking risks.
— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™
Consider the big picture, yet approach it one small step at a time.
— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™

 
Is there simply ‘one thing’ you can let go of, reschedule, or delegate?
— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™
Clutter can create more stress and overwhelm than you realize.
— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™
Time passes in the blink of an eye.
— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™

 
… of all forms of human motivation, the most effective one is progress.
— Greg McKeown
When all else fails, flip a coin.
— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™
We’re doing now, not next.
— Twink McKenny

 
 
Does this belong in my life right now?
— Juliet Landau-Pope
The mosaic you create is the magnificent life you get to live.
— Cassie Holmes, Ph.D.
When your balance wanders too far in one direction, it’s time to adjust.
— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™

My deepest gratitude for being an integral part of this vibrant community. We’ve had an incredible year of conversations and sharing. You bring learning, growth, support, and inspiration to every exchange. Thank you for participating and sharing your best each week.

What inspired you this year? Which organizing concept resonates most with you? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.