Have you ever wondered why you feel tired and drained in some environments and energized in others? My clients often ask me: “Why do I feel so drained when I walk into my office? Why do I have such a hard time deciding what do with my clutter?”

Well, we all have a connection to everything in our space. Every piece of furniture. Every piece of paper.

When we look at it or think about it, we connect our attention to it. And that connection is either raising our mood and energy level (“I just love the artwork my son created for me!”) or lowering our mood and energy level (“Oh, no! I forgot to mail that letter! Oh–that credenza is so stuffed, I can’t fit another thing in there. I really need to clear that old stuff out, but I have no time. Where can I put this file so I don’t forget it?”).

Pretend with me that we each wake up with 1000 units of attention every morning, to spend on anything we wish.

If you walk into your clear, clean, organized, lovely office, you can use those attention units to get your work done (not just the projects due by Friday, but the BIG ones, the ones that will really move your career forward).

But what if you walk into your office and you see piles of papers, overdue bills, books you meant to read, reminders of unfinished projects? Right — you’ve spent those 1000 units of attention before you even sit down at your desk! No wonder you feel so unfocused!

You might have lived with clutter so long you don’t even recognize it’s there, draining you. It might be hidden in your drawers, files, closets. Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it isn’t affecting you. It’s clogging the space you work in, like plaque clogs arteries.

• How would you like to walk into your work space and experience feeling peaceful, positive and powerful?
• How would you like to feel in command of your environment, and your work?
• How would you like to feel that the very room where you work is a sacred space, a space that is literally partnering with you to help you become the Leader you are meant to be?

I want you to feel that way, too! I’ve worked with hundreds of clients to permanently declutter, organize, and feng shui their space — I’ve coached them from the level of incompetence to Genius and celebrated every minute of their successes!

Do you feel PEACEFUL in your home and workspace? Creating an environment that gives you the body-sense of peace is the SINGLE most important thing you can do for your future success!

Why? You have a connection to everything in your environment — and that connection is either raising your stress level or lowering it. Every piece of furniture, every book, every piece of paper. It’s all either contributing to your wellbeing — or NOT. Right now, look around the room you’re in. Do you love it? Yes? Then, it’s creating peace for you! Awesome! Stop reading this article and pat yourself on the back!!

But if you look around your workspace and see stacks of articles to read, papers to file, things to sort, bills to pay — well, you may not be feelin’ the peace! Your cortisol levels may be rising as you think of all the work demanding your attention! And that’s the biggest problem – the more demands on your attention from items in your space, the less attention you have for your work!

And what happens over time if this problem is not solved? My clients tell me they:

• can’t find what they need when they need it, without a frustrating search
• feel distracted, like they are spinning their wheels
• have a hard time focusing their attention
• get only the urgent, immediate stuff done — and feel guilty about “procrastinating” the important work, the work that would really move their career forward

What I remember from when I was in this situation is that the higher my overwhelm (cortisol level) rose, the lower my self-esteem sank. I felt awful, all the time. If you find yourself in this situation, please take a deep breath (Deeper! Great…. now, another one! Wonderful. Breathing always helps.). What I want you to know is: There is a WAY out of your Mess. I know, because I found the way out of mine and I’ve helped hundreds of clients find their way to PEACE ON EARTH, in their own workspace.

Step #1: Take Ten and Clear The Desk
Take everything off your desk (except your computer, phone, lamp). I mean really. Just clear it off. Put things into piles on the floor according to what you’ll need to do with it next. Now clean the surface and admire it. Schedule time to put the piles into containers (file folders, colored magazine holders, bins) with labels and find a home (drawer, shelf, basket on the floor) for them.

Step #2: Create Your Desk as a Focal Point
In my first Natural Childbirth class, we were taught that birthing is easier when we focus our attention deliberately. I chose a drawing of a mother and child as my Focal Point because it represented the powerful love I felt for my unborn child. During labor, when it got hard, I practiced my deep breathing and deliberately brought my attention back to my focal point. Again, and again. Until she was born–and in my arms–and then, my heart opened in celebration and JOY.

How does childbirth apply to your workspace? Well, most of my clients are in the process of giving birth to new versions of themselves, new versions of their careers. The workspace supporting their birth process needs to be clear, clean, uncluttered, and to contain everything needed to facilitate a healthy birth–including a focal point. So, remove from your desk everything that doesn’t feel like Success.

Now you’re ready for an altar item. What can you put on your desk that would remind you of Your Future Self as the Leader of Your Business? Fresh flowers? An orchid? My altar item is a lovely GoldenFlow hand-blown glass pyramid snow dome, filled with floating 14karat gold flakes. It was a gift from my coach Elizabeth Purvis, and when I look at it, I’m instantly connected to the celebration and JOY I felt during our retreat, and to my vision for my business.

Step #3: Set Your Space Up for Success
At the end of each work day, clear your desk and ready it for the next day’s work. Even if the rest of your workspace isn’t completely organized, a clear desk will help you feel more PEACE and remind you that it’s possible to keep the process of de-cluttering going!

Please let me know how these steps work for you–and stay tuned, as my “Mess to Success” Tele Seminar series is coming in May!

Since writing my last article about living in our Zone of Genius, I’ve been pondering my past, remembering the 30-odd homes I’ve lived in, and asking myself: did I feel peaceful, positive and powerful in this home? During my time there, what zone (incompetence, competence, excellence or genius) was I creating my life from?  It’s been an interesting exploration, and confirms my belief that any home and workspace, whatever it’s limitations, can partner with us to up-level our lives.

Every home and workspace has it’s positive qualities (the way the light enters the kitchen in the morning, the craftsmanship of the woodwork, the shape of the family room) and it’s limitations (the tiny entry, the cramped closets, the drafty windows). But whatever challenges your space offers you, you can always partner with it to up-level your life there. (Yes, even if…. No, especially if you want to move to bigger and better quarters!!)

And the same qualities that up-level US will up-level the rooms we live and work in. As within, so without.

PEACEFUL (the quality that moves us from incompetence to competence)

How do we create more peace in our rooms?

1. Release all judgments we have about our spaces
2. Release clutter
3. Create visual peace (use the same kind of hangers for everything in the closet and the mind will register all those hangers as one item; same thing for picture frames on a wall; group books on a shelf by category, then size)
4. Create auditory peace (use a water fountain or your favorite music to drown out traffic or unwanted neighborhood noises)
5. Create kinesthetic peace (use your favorite textures in your living areas and bedroom)

POSITIVE (the quality that moves us from competence to excellence)

How do we create a positive environment?

1. Release everything that lowers our mood and energy level when we look at it or think about it. (yes… even if it’s hidden in a drawer, it’s still affecting you, and especially if it’s under the bed — no wonder you’re not sleeping well!) (and YES: this gives you permission to give away those family heirlooms you don’t like and will never use.)
2. Edit your artwork, accessories and collections; keep only what you love
3. Paint your rooms uplifting colors
4. Create a Feng Shui Altar to anchor your intentions, with items that give you the body-sense of having, being, doing or enjoying what you prefer!  (an Altar is any grouping of items that alters the way you think or feel)
5. Use Vision Boards to remind yourself of how it will feel when you meet your goals!

POWERFUL (the quality that moves us from excellence to living in our zone of genius!)

How do we create an environment in which we feel powerful?

1. Treat your home and workspace–and each room in it–with respect, so that it can powerfully serve the measure of it’s creation
2. Ensure that you are in the Power Position when sitting at your desk and in your bed
3. Attend to ergonomics — you can’t feel powerful if you are not comfortable!
4. Accessorize your rooms with colors that make you feel powerful when you wear them (colors that flatter, not black or navy, the old-school power wardrobe colors)
5. Give each room a gift (even the attic and utility closets!) from the natural world–a smooth river rock, a crystal or gemstone, a nautilus shell–that anchors your gratitude for that space and honors it’s connection to the whole
6. Create a monthly ritual to energetically clear your space and dedicate it to your intentions

When we allow our homes and workspaces to be Peaceful, Positive and Powerful, they will help us become Peaceful, Positive and Powerful. As without, so within! Transform your space, and that process will transform you!

COMPASSION FOR YOUR CLUTTER AND FOR YOURSELF

Know where the word “clutter” comes from? From the old English word “clotter” which means to coagulate. And that’s what’s happening to the chi, or life-force, flowing through your home when it comes to an area with clutter.

If you have clutter (items you neither use nor love) clogging up your home or workspace, it’s likely you also have some resistance to those items. Resistance is another way to describe judgment.

So you have the clutter, and the stagnant energy that accumulates around clutter. And then you ALSO have your judgments about the clutter and about yourself-which are also slowing down the chi, or energy, in your space.

Want to know how to make your space feel instantly better?

RELEASE YOUR JUDGMENTS!

Yes, release all your resistance to the clutter!

“What?” I can hear you thinking. “If I release my resistance to the clutter, won’t the clutter just take over?”

NO. Your clutter won’t be any better or worse if you release all your judgment and resistance. It will still be there, waiting for you to attend to it.

But something very powerful WILL happen. The stagnant energy in your over-stuffed rooms will flow a little better. And you’ll find yourself better able to keep those dates you make with yourself to clear it.

And while you’re at it (this game of discarding your non-helpful judgments), please consider trying on a more helpful perspective. Try it on, like you would an article of clothing—look at it from all angels, see if it raises your mood and energy level.

COMPASSION

What if you believed that everything in your life right now–even your clutter–is PERFECT….. given the circumstances that preceded it?

What if you gave yourself mercy, or grace? What if you forgave yourself–and all roommates and/or family members who’ve contributed to the clutter?

What if you forgave the space itself? Maybe you believe your rooms are too small, or your closets inadequate. But what if you just forgave the space for being the size and shape it is…. and allowed yourself to just be present with it?

If you’re still with me, you are ready to do the following exercise. It may take 10 minutes, but it will jump start your clutter-clearing process. Keep me posted on your results.

COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR CLUTTERED ROOMS EXERCISE:

1. Walk into the room of your home you most dislike, with a pad of paper and a pen.
2. Notice your immediate reaction, even if it’s a strong desire to leave. Just notice your inner reaction.
3. Stand there and ask yourself: What is it that I most dislike about this space? Write down your answers.
4. Then ask the space: What is it that YOU most dislike? Imagine that the room itself could speak to you. What would it say? What does it want? What is it asking for? Write down the responses.
5. Circle the ideas that will be easy to implement and schedule them for the next week.
6. Put a star next to those that will take more time/money and schedule them for later this quarter.