First: See The Finish Line

It's been 2 months since my last blog entry. I don't understand why time is flying by so quickly. I almost feel like I'm being robbed of my memory. My oldest is 10 and my youngest is 6 and no matter how hard I wish for things to slow down, they won't. Does anyone else feel this way?

I'm sitting in my living room reading Spark Joy which is the follow-up to Marie Kondo's first best selling book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it. It's a refresher-course on tidying and it solidifies all the important reasons why it's necessary to get your living space in order. Some of you may have already started the tidying process (did you know she has an app that helps you tidy?) and some of you may have never heard of this book. I'm an advocate of the KonMari Method simply because she requires that before I can receive my certification to being a KonMari tidying specialist, I must first tidy all my belongings. That means walk my talk, practice what I preach, buy what I'm selling. It's genius. I've always felt this way about any profession. You must say what you mean and mean what you say. Otherwise it would be like hiring a dead doctor, paying for a life coach that has a drug or sex addiction, or donating money to a charity that pockets the profit. How does she verify if we are tidy? We must submit before and after photos of each category and if you know about her method you cannot fake it. 

Now I'm posing a simple question, does your life spark joy? Maybe you don't equate your living space directly to your level of happiness but I'm here to tell you they are woven as tightly as two hands clasped together and are mirror images of each other. You cannot have one without the other. I've had clients look at me like I'm nuts when I tell them that tidying their closet will change their life. I've actually had some clients roll their eyes when I ask them "does this spark joy?" We aren't taught to be intuitive. We're taught to rely on external data. I believe we are inherently intuitive beings and when you listen to your gut you make the best life decisions specifically tailored to you. Oh and by the way, those clients that rolled their eyes, I rephrased the words and said, "do you like this, does this make you happy, can you see yourself using this ever again?" and then they were on board. 

After my 3 day training with Marie Kondo's team and embarking on my certification I've come to a realization and it's something I originally posted on the very first version of my website about 3 years ago, long before I had ever heard of the KonMari Method.

It's very simple.....you must first envision the life you want to live or rather view from the end of your set goal.

Whether it be a photo on your bedroom wall, cut-outs on a poster board in the kitchen, a Pinterest page or even inspiring words written on a sticky note stuck to the dashboard of your car. We must have a tangible object that keeps us on track. Why do we do this? Because we must be able to see the finish line. We are all running a race and without a well-intentioned ending point we are merely floating along with no direction, rarely making progress, leaving our goals unmet. In sports, earning a college degree, child rearing, going to work, you have a deadline or an ending point. The quarterback sees the end zone, the working professional knows the date the project is due, the student counts the credit hours and days needed for graduation, the parent realizes they are raising an adult. All of life demands beginnings and endings...constantly.

Tidying your life calls for these same beginning and ending marks. But more importantly, without the vision of crossing over the finish line, starting the race holds no meaning. Have you ever heard someone say "I'm really good at starting things but I'm terrible at finishing them." It's because they failed to envision the end at the beginning. You can also call this setting a goal for yourself and once again, without the benchmark the goal is useless. I'm determined to lose 10 lbs and every day I wake up I envision what it looks like and feels like to be 10 lbs lighter and I'm getting closer to my goal simply by envisioning the end result. I have another goal of spending more quality time with my kids and before they come home I envision what we will do together that evening whether it be to put on a puppet show, bake cookies or paint and draw together. When I fail to do this, our evening tends to be a bit chaotic. I have also set a new business goal and it's to create a new blog entry once a month. I'm in the process of writing a book and these blog entries will allow me to develop more content for it. So I guess the blog is the starting point and the book is the end goal. Right now, my goal is to tidy the kitchen and laundry room. 

If you're terrible at finishing projects, if you find yourself in a living space full of clutter, if you have a job that you hate or if there is one little thing you wish you could change about yourself, close your eyes right now and envision the life you want. Next, put it out there, on paper, on your phone, on a sticky note and lastly, aim. Let's get out from under the physical and emotional clutter and start living!

The photo is of my first marketing product. A year or so ago I knew I wanted something tangible to give to people other than a business card and recently I was visiting my mom in AZ and she had a lip balm that had a business advertisement on it. I loved the ingredients so I called the manufacturing company and I now have 500 of them in a box in my office ready to give to new clients.

Thanks for reading and keep it tidy!

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