The moment you’ve been waiting for… An Interview with my Husband of 35 years! We will share just a few tidbits regarding our life together, as another Sneak Peak of my new eBook, entitled Order, Organize & Obedience!
As I was preparing content for my blog and most recently for my new eBook; Order, Organize & Obedience, my lovely daughter, Mya, had agreed to write “TheOrganizing Story” for me. In addition, this story is a great lead in for my 2nd Annual Order Your Steps Women’s Workshop: DeClutter Your Mind, Coming in April. So please allow me the pleasure of presenting to you, none other than my own daughter, Ms. Myiesha.
Although she is not aspiring to become a world renowned author, she has been an avid writer since she was ten and self-published her first book “Last Look Back” at the age of 21. Myiesha is currently attending Graduate School at University of Maryland pursuing a Master’s degree in Library Sciences. Shehas also graciously agreed to pen “The Organizing Story”, a creative work of fiction to further illustrate the Psychology of Clutter.
So without any further ado, enjoy “The Organizing Story”….
“I’d like to explain how I work”, Rhonda said. She was having a sit-down with her newest client, Mariah Kellar. Rhonda is a professional organizer and usually liked to have a conversation before she began. “But first, would you consider yourself an organized person?” She asked Mariah.
Mariah took a moment to think about it. “Um,” She said. “I don’t know…yeah…maybe…yes! Definitely yes~”
Rhonda smiled at the woman’s indecisiveness. She was used to people being unsure about their organizing habits. After so many years as an organizer, she had seen people at every level of organization and she knew how to effectively help them proven in her 100% success rate. The reason for her success was simply because she was no normal organizer. “Organized? Well, there’s only one way to find out,” She said. “Let’s have a look see, hmm?”
Mariah was confused. “I don’t think I understand.”
“Give me your hand,” Rhonda said. Mariah eyed Rhonda warily, but put her hand in Rhonda’s anyway. “Please take a deep breath and close your eyes.” Mariah did as she was told. She was beginning to get worried that her time was being wasted. Rhonda was known as the best in her field, but for what Mariah was paying, she wouldn’t be able to afford it if Rhonda was wasting time. A few minutes passed and it seemed that nothing was happening. Mariah opened her left eye to take a peek, but to her surprise, Rhonda was gone.
“Wait, where’d you go?” Mariah asked, looking around annoyed. She definitely deserved a refund if all Rhonda was going to do was play hide-and-seek.
“I’m in here,” Rhonda yelled. She added, “And I don’t appreciate that last statement, I don’t do refunds. Good Lord, it’s a disaster area in here.”
“What?! Where’s here?” Mariah asked.
“I’m in your mind, Mariah, and I’ve got to say, you’re not organized at all,” Rhonda said.
“How can you say that? I’m not perfect, but I’m not a slob.”
“I know better than that. Just because you look organized on the surface doesn’t mean you’re an organized person. If the state of your mind is of any indication, I have my work cut out for me. Goodness gracious, when’s the last time you cleaned up in here?”
“Well, excuse me.” Mariah replied. “I’m not really sure how to clean up something I can’t get to. Besides you don’t understand, I’ve got a LOT going on”
“Good thing you called me then. You see, organizing begins in the mind. You need to get your mind in order first before you can begin organizing your space. You have to start getting rid of the things you’ve been holding to. Pick your priorities. Pick what’s really important to you and just let go of the rest.”
“You make it sound so easy.”
Rhonda chuckled. “It’s not, but it has to be done. I can’t organize your area if your mind is cluttered with things you don’t need. If I don’t start with your mind, it makes my job a lot harder because there’s no guarantee you’ll keep up with the order. If there’s no order to your brain, I’d be wasting my time organizing the rest of you. Does that make sense?”
“Yeah,” Mariah said and she understood how Rhonda became the best.
“Excellent,” Rhonda said, rolling up her sleeves preparing for the feat ahead of her. “Let’s get to work, shall we?”
Available for Pre-order, scheduled for release in June, 2019.
Now that the DMV has survived our first major winter snowfall, it’s the perfect time to go through all our old winter coats, hats, scarves, etc. and find those items that can be donated to those less fortunate!
Warm woolen knitted winter and autumn clothes, folded in a pile on a white table. Sweaters, scarves, gloves, hat, headphones. Place for text. Copyspace
2019 is gonna be busy, but a GOOD busy! I feel that there are sooooo many NEW ideas that will be implemented this year! Many of you may be feeling the same way, so I was wondering if you would be interested in a “CONQUER THE PAPER CLUTTER MONSTER” Workshop? I haven’t worked out all the logistics, but I’m thinking 3 LIVE Interactive sessions, which would focus on developing an organized system to manage MAIL! … Personal & Business papers.
I’m working with a client now, who’s a single mom AND she is literally managing 4 small businesses. As we began to organize the papers, we realized that she needed to establish an Order to her life, which would allow her to operate a lot SMARTER, because she was already working HARDER!
With any new organizing system that we introduce, we must take the time to explain the system, how it is to be used and the benefits to the child as well as the parent. Organizing is a learned behavior — repetition, repetition, repetition and reward, reward, reward!
The Christmas Holiday is almost here and we really need to make room for more toys! In my opinion, we must remain very flexible when introducing an organizing system to young children. I would suggest that we keep it simple! Many times, the organizing system looks really “neat & organized”, but it may not be very practical and difficult to maintain.
With any new organizing system that we introduce, we must take the time to explain the system, how it is to be used and the benefits to the child as well as the parent. Organizing is a learned behavior — repetition, repetition, repetition and reward, reward, reward!
We have three (3) main objectives:
We really want them to put their toys (and maybe clothes too?) away.
We want them to be able to find the toy(s) that they play with most, without emptying the entire toy box every time.
Periodically, we want to purge their toys, with their help, to make room for new toys. I’d suggest that you start a trade-off system, for each toy you give your child, they should also give up/donate a toy that they no longer play with.
We also need to make clean-up time fun!
Music always seems to make clean-up time go a little faster (that goes for adults too.)
Try to make clean-up time a game…. Toss the Toy, Hot Potato…. I don’t know I am trying to be creative.
Maybe we could try not to play with all the toys, all the time. Of course, we have to remain flexible, but if we divided playtime up into smaller segments, we could clean-up as we go.
Doll time, Dress-up time, Lego time, Race car time, etc. etc. Again, I am trying to be creative. 🙂
Remember, if the play/clean-up time becomes a routine (repetition, repetition, repetition), it will not appear as restrictive…. and the reward, reward, reward would be less clean-up time!
We are still in the “De-clutter the Mind” and put a little Order in your space mode! Thanksgiving is behind us and Christmas is ahead! So now we may also be in Shop mode? I remember the days of Toys, Toys and more Toys! So Stay Tuned for a few tips….
The Holidays are a Time for Family! However, unfortunately, these times may also be hectic & stressful! Take a moment or two to de-clutter the mind and put a little Order in your space… and make this a time of rest, relaxation and reflection!