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October 30, 2006
Would you choose the same Stuff?
We had an flood in our bathroom and bedroom the other day. I discovered it via text message from my husband. He knew I was doing a seminar so he texted me with enough information to get my attention, but not too dramatic to freak me out. "Flood in bathroom. Getting new rug." It was serious enough to require replacing the rug and do some repainting. Hello new project.
I spent most of yesterday bringing the stuff back into the room. I thought it was interesting how my Stuff had proliferated and things had landed in the wrong place. How did the sleeping bags end up under the bed? Oh yah, after that last trip I didn't feel like taking them down to storage. Why am I saving all of these CD cases? Oh yah, I thought I might need them but now I'm realizing I haven't looked at them in two years.
It was actually quite refreshing to have a chance to look at everything that was going back into the room. Do I need this? How often do I use this? Is this exactly the way I want it?
If you took everything out of your office and then had to put it back in (and really gave yourself time to look at everything) would you choose the same Stuff? Would you change anything? Pick one thing that's been bugging you that you know has taken more of your attention than it deserves and change it. Are those pictures on your desk exactly the way you'd like them? Are your files working for you or do they need some purging? Are you comfortable in that chair you sit in 8,10,12 hours a day? Can you see your monitor clearly?
Try it. I bet changing that thing that's been taking your attention is going to be like taking a rock out of your shoe. You'll wonder why you didn't do it sooner.
Posted by Kelly at October 30, 2006 02:32 PM
Comments
Kelly,
Great post! When the Day Fire raged but 6 miles from our house, we did the "walk through the house, pick anything we would miss, and put it in the car."
At the end of the exercise, we had just enough stuff to fill the back seat of my car, with room to spare for the dog and extra clothes. Looking back at the house, as we drove away to Northern California, I turned to Jodi and said,
"What the heck do we HAVE that fills up our house?"
Upon our return, I have done three "tours" through the house and garage, each time filling up my car with things to donate.
An amazing exercise, thanks for bringing to us...
Posted by: Jason at October 31, 2006 07:39 PM
Great post. I've posted something similar recently about "The Delete Mindset" where I draw a parallel between the, "When in doubt throw it out" mindset that tends to come over me the farther into a move I get and keeping one's email inbox clean. Thanks for your angle.
http://movingthefulcrum.blogspot.com
Posted by: Randy at November 1, 2006 06:39 AM
