I just returned from the NAPO conference in Los Angeles. Almost 700 professional organizers convened from around the world to attend sessions about building organizing businesses, discovering relevant products and services, and learning new skills or concepts to help our clients. We took copious notes, conversed, laughed, saw old friends, and made new ones.

Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus, better known as The Minimalists gave the opening keynote session, “The Art of Letting Go.” Their following is far from minimal with over four million readers. Their story is inspiring.

Without going into great detail, because you can read all about them and their journey on their website, I will share my big takeaway. Their story reinforced what I’ve observed for 20+ years working with my organizing clients. While we might want to let go, reduce clutter, and change our lives, until we’re ready to do that, letting go is challenging. The desire to let go might exist, but the motivation to do so doesn’t.

Sometimes it takes conditioning, slowly exercising those letting go muscles to move forward. Sometimes it takes a major life change like divorce, death of a loved one, new job or a move to shift into re-evaluating life and energize the letting go process.

When we’re able to let go and keep only what’s meaningful, beautiful and useful, we create physical and emotional space for what’s truly important. Defining “important” is unique to each of us. As Josh was evaluating and letting go, he’d ask, “Does this thing add value to my life?”  Particularly with his sentimental objects, he was able to let go of the majority of them when he realized . . .

“Our memories are not in our things. Our memories are inside us.”

Linda Samuels at NAPO 2015 with Josh Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus

Josh and Ryan’s stories are inspiring because they shared how they shifted from overwhelmed and dissatisfied by their “stuff” to calm, happy, and more fulfilled through the letting go process. They shifted their focus to experiences and relationships instead of things. It was also inspiring how the change in Josh’s attitude and minimalist living style inspired Ryan, his childhood friend, to pursue a similar way of being.

This brings up another interesting point. You never know how many people you’ll inspire in the process of changing and growing.

What have you noticed when someone lets go? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Join the conversation.

Letting go lessons can be found in the most unusual places. This past weekend my husband and I traveled to South Carolina to watch our daughter, Cassie, and her teammates (Go QC Boston!) play in the Quidditch World Cup tournament. There were 80 teams from around the country (and Canada, too) vying for the number one spot. In two days the teams played anywhere from 5 to 10 highly energetic and physically taxing games.

All teams had spent many months preparing, practicing, and participating in other Quidditch tournaments. They arrived at World Cup ready for the ultimate challenge to play the best of the best.

This was the lesson. I don’t know if it was like this for all the teams, but for QCB, it was about letting go of the outcome. They approached each game with the best they had. They enjoyed working as a team, supporting one another, staying focused and in the moment. While they played to win, as each game ended, they let go of the outcome and focused on learning more from their wins or losses. It was quite extraordinary to witness.

How often do we invest so heavily in an outcome that we miss the joy that’s part of the process? Maybe we’re so concerned with the outcome that we prevent ourselves from potential learning and growth.

“How often do we invest so heavily in an outcome that we miss the joy that’s part of the process?”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVPO

I’d love to hear your thoughts. How does letting go of the outcome change your perspective?

Life includes both holding on and letting go.

Loss is often associated with letting go. In these past weeks, my heart has ached for my friends, family, and colleagues that have lost their loved ones. I’m thinking of Judy, Steve, Laurene, Karen, Gail, Kathleen, Stacey and Deb who have laid to rest their father, mother, aunt, brother, son, and friends. As they’ve been covered in a blanket of sadness they’ve also found comfort and strength in sharing treasured stories with their community of friends and family.

Losing our loved ones is the most direct, visceral type of letting go. It is painful. Yet even when someone’s physical being is no longer with us, we’re able to remember and feel joy through the memories we have.

We’ve all been there, haven’t we? You know the feeling. Our sea of to dos, projects, and lists overwhelms and paralyzes us. We feel deflated or defeated before we’ve taken action. No matter how much we’ve accomplished, we’re convinced we’ll never get organized or be done.

Last week I wrote about the value of taking a breath and pausing. Let’s add another strategy, the idea of going “smaller,” to our conversation about next.

Do you want to feel wonderful instead of overwhelmed? One effective technique is to make “next” smaller. Hold the big picture in view yet focus on that next tiny action step that will bring you closer to your goal.

Let’s say you want to organize all the papers in your home. They’re around the house in piles, bags and bins. The sheer volume is overwhelming. Break down the large project into smaller ones. Organize one room at a time. If one room is overwhelming, go smaller. Try one drawer or stack at a time. If that’s still too big, think even smaller and decide about one paper at a time. Make the next step small enough to motivate forward movement.

Here’s what will happen. With each decision you’ll get closer to your goal and experience a mini success. Do that happy dance. With each decision, you’ll feel better (wonderful in fact,) and less overwhelmed.

How do we eat an apple? If we attempt to devour the entire apple in one single bite, we’ll choke. Instead by taking one small, manageable bite at a time, we’re able to enjoy our snack with the energy to continue on.

What will next look like for you? How small can you make your next step? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Come join the conversation.