Organizing Your Life
By Paris Love
“Organize your life around your dreams – and watch them come true.” ~ Unknown
To start my new year, I began exploring this unattributed quote that I found recently and that really made me stop and think. As an organization and planning expert, I like to think I live an organized but spontaneous and fun life helping others learn the skills that I have accumulated over the years.
But what does it mean to organize my life around my dreams? When I was a kid I certainly didn’t dream that I would become an organizer when I grew up. And like you, I’ve had some dreams that came true and some that didn’t.
I was at a business luncheon and sat next to a woman I only knew by sight and we started to talk about what I do and what she does and as we seemed to connect more and more, we began to talk about our New Year’s goals.
She told me that she always had a goal in any given time in her life and she always reached her goals: a horse farm, a Ph.D., a successful business, a loving relationship. She added that was not to say that she hadn’t had disappointments, but she believed those to be part of reaching her goals.
“But do you mean you just decided on the goal and it happened?” I asked her, because I want to bottle that if it works.
“Not so easy,” she told me. “But when my goal was to earn a Ph.D. in my 50’s, all the decisions I made were around that goal, like trading in my truck for a smaller car, finding part time work, connecting with supportive people in my field, quitting one association to join another.”
I thought about that a little, and my mind sort of whizzed around inside on the brink of some kind of recognition.
“What about the things in life that didn’t fit with your getting that Ph.D.?” I asked her.
“I either put them aside for later, or I let them go from my life,” she said, adding that not everything or everyone could fit into where I was going at that time in my life. “I had to pick and choose,” she says, “and there were times it was really hard, like selling my horse – but I knew I couldn’t give the horse a fair amount of time and effort and go to school full time. So I found a great home for her and sad as it was, moved on.”
Now I am seeing the parallels. Words that make sense to me like “letting things go”, “putting them aside for later”, setting goals, making decisions.
It isn’t much different than what I help people do all the time. It’s just that the approach is applied to life instead of things, goals instead of attics.
It sounds a whole lot like organization to me. And it just so happens I know something about that.
A very happy organized and dream-come-true New Year to you!
Paris Love is a Productivity and Organizational Consultant specializing in helping overextended professionals strive for a better quality of life infused with meaningful work, wealth, good health and well being. Paris has written articles for NAPO News, Star Lee Magazine, Baldwin Parent, San Diego NAPO News, Organizing A to Z, BrownSkin Magazine, Online Organizing and Home Base Quarterly. You can catch Paris on A & E “Hoarders” where she helps a family in crisis. Her most recent book, Fifty Tips to Get You Organized in Ten Minutes or Less and Growing Pains, along with more information on her life’s work and business can be found at www.ParisLoveInstitute.com or by calling 770-722-2748.
About the author, Kelly
Kelly Galea is a creative, multi-passionate entrepreneur and luminary blessed with a unique combination of wit, grit, intellect and intuition. She helps you navigate the work-life maze of ever-shifting priorities and transform your life through holistic self-discovery techniques and immersive, fun and magical mini-quests. Working with Kelly will inspire you to unveil, express and celebrate your vital personality and lifestyle preferences to create a more harmonious life.