Book Review - The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down Part II

As professional organizers we try to read and educate ourselves continually on new ways and techniques to organize, as well as new trends in the industry. The book, The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down is continually mentioned by our clients and fellow organizers. In that regard, we thought it was worth a second look. The book written by Haemin Sunim discusses mindfulness and “how to be calm and mindful in a fast paced world.” You may ask how this applies to organizing, and we can assure you it has EVERYTHING to do with organizing.

Mindfulness is about being in the present moment. It is important to not worry about the past or dwell on the future. In our fast paced lives, that is a skill that is hard to do. Think of all the times you said “wish I could get more organized, but every time I try I just feel so overwhelmed.” Or, “this project is hopeless,” or, “I’ll try again tomorrow”. You are not alone. Mindfulness brings patience, therefore we are more kind to ourselves. We realize that things take time and do not happen overnight. We learn to treat ourselves and others with compassion.  Mindfulness teaches us to be open-minded. When we are open-minded we explore options we did not consider before.

The book is written in 8 chapters; Rest, Mindfulness, Passion, Relationships, Love, Life,

The Future, and Spirituality. Each chapter opens with an essay, then short messages, then a shorter essay, followed by another series of short prompts for meditation. The book is interesting and easy to read with many outstanding tips on how to improve one’s daily life.

Some of Sunim’s insights are as follows:

p.41 “On a piece of paper, write down everything that stresses you out. List everything you ought to do including minor things-watering plants, replying to emails. The stresses are now contained on a piece of paper, away from your mind. So relax tonight, tell yourself you will go through the list tomorrow, item by item, starting with the easiest. When you open your eyes the next morning, your mind and body will be ready.”

p. 68 “Do not lament that the world has changed. Do not resent that people have changed. Evaluating the present through the memoires of the past can cause sadness. Whether you like it or not, change is inevitable. Embrace and welcome it.”

p. 212 “ Dream big but start small. A small adjustment can have a big effect on your life. For example, if you want to be healthier, then start by going to bed a half hour earlier. If you want to lose weight then start by drinking more water instead of soda. If you have an important project to complete, then start by getting your desk organized”.

The majority of the concepts in the book are simple such as slowing down, maintaining good relationships and having self-compassion. Mindfulness has shown to increase self-control, objectivity and improve concentration, which are all important organizing skills.  Truly if we all could practice mindfulness, our stresses would be less and our lives would be more productive, calm, compassionate and full.

Haemin Sunim was born in South Korea. Educated UC Berkeley, Harvard and Princeton. He is a Zen Buddhist teacher a former professor of Buddhism at Hampshire College. His books have sold over 3 million copies.

Guest Post - Disorganized and Debt

You're disorganized and in debt. That puts you in good company.

You just tossed that Final Notice letter on the table where it landed with its fellow notices, late payment charges, and unpaid bills. You sidestep the overturned chair in the kitchen and make your way to the couch where you slide a pile of laundry aside to make room to sit down. You’re in a mountain of clutter and debt. What happened to you?

The answer is nothing. At least, not to you specifically. Believe it or not, the same thing that brought you here affects thousands and thousands of others.

Every day we’re bombarded with suggestive and sub-suggestive marketing, playing on every emotion with only one goal in mind - to separate you from your money. Seriously, Perrier is using sex to sell seltzer. Big data is unearthing ways to increase customer responsiveness, to price products more optimally, and even to up consumer loyalty. The point is, we live in an environment where coming home with something new, however niche, is looked upon as “helping the economy” or shrugged off with a blasé “YOLO.” It’s part of the territory now.

To wit, American children make up 3.1% of the world’s population under 18 and yet account for an astonishing 40% of global toy ownership. Indeed, why go to the grocery store when you can go to Costco and get so much more, even if it means purchasing a freezer chest just to store it all? You can buy the freezer on Amazon, and with only a few more clicks you can pick up more items that only increase in absurdity: dedicated quesadilla makers, pens just for her, and banana slicers.

The rampant consumerism is taking a toll, and it’s doing so in ways that no pre-1990s American would ever conceive possible. James Wallman, author of Stuffocation, puts it bluntly: clutter kills. Wallman’s book discusses a study that found that women who are asked about the uncontrollable clutter in their homes begin to exhibit the same levels of the stress hormone cortisol as those who have experienced post traumatic stress disorder. That’s a sobering discovery. Basically, it’s quantification of just how damaging to our very being it is to over accumulate stuff to the point of saturation. If you’ve gotten there, you have increased risk of everything from fatigue, to depression, to death. No amount of sexual innuendo is worth taking that on.

If you’re freaking out at this point, pause and take a breath. There are two things to consider here. First, one more click on Amazon won’t be the difference between a clutter-free life and a breakdown. Second, there’s a difference between you wanting something, and your brain revving its instant-gratification engine. That second one is a powerful piece of knowledge to have. It means that given time and dedication, you’ll be able to rewire your brain to look for gratification elsewhere.

Psychology Today discusses the Four Steps program to literally change your brain. 

Relabel: Be aware of your mindset when the urge to buy hits. Label the experience with whatever word you want: impulse, craving, desire, need. Whatever you use, what it is not is you consciously saying to yourself that it’s time to purchase something you objectively need. In other words, identify if you are actually looking for something necessary, or just something to buy and then explicitly recognize each.

Reframe: Understand that the need is coming from your brain, not something you’re consciously doing. Here you can change your own perception of the importance of the urge.

Refocus: Refocusing mean redirecting your attention to something more constructive. Take a walk, work on something important, or call a friend. This will distract you until the urge passes.

Revalue: If the temptation continues, simply acknowledge it and move on. While your brain can whine about something it wants, you are ultimately in control and you are the one who decides whether or not to act. The urge has far less power to act than you do.

Ben Oatis is a freelance writer based in Connecticut with over 10 years of experience as a technical writer for global tech companies. In addition to writing about technology, he also covers politics, lifestyle, and health and nutrition. He can be reached at boatiswrites@gmail.com.

Guest Post - Trouble tossing your old things? Blame the Endowment Effect

It’s summertime. Your family has chosen today to finally tackle that mountain of stuff that’s been slowly filling the garage over the years. The work starts smoothly enough - no one wants to hang on to old bank statements. But then you notice something happening. You’ve started reasoning why you should keep clothing that you haven’t worn in years because, seriously, who wears Hammer Pants anymore? Your son bursts into tears because you tossed his water wings despite that fact that he’s now on the swim team. Your daughter loudly demands her teeball set back; the one that broke after she started on her path to the All State player she is today.

What’s going on? Why is it so hard to part with things no one’s used in years?

Blame the Endowment Effect.

The Endowment Effect, coined in 1980 by economist Richard Thaler, is the act of ascribing greater value to something by virtue of you owning it. Here’s the gist: you could dump your neighbor’s old clothes in a donation box and never look back. But yours? You’re already breaking a sweat thinking about parting with these pants you haven’t looked at since people listened to cassette tapes. That’s the Endowment Effect at work.

The effect has evolved over time, originally pinned on a person’s innate aversion to loss, a sort of “I’ll miss it when it’s gone” idea. More recently, however, researchers have looked more closely and discovered that our attachment is due more to a perceived link between the object and the self. In other words, “I own this, it’s part of me, and therefore it must be good.” Indeed, sometimes simply touching the object can trigger enough of a sense of ownership to get the Endowment Effect going.

Looking deeper, researchers found that the link becomes stronger the longer you own the object, meaning those Soviet-era pants in your hand may need their own coup before they can break free.

So we’ve established the cause. But your mission today is to clean the garage of things you objectively know that you can do without. What techniques can you use to do an end run around human nature and convert that cluttered space into the cavern of tidiness that you want?

Here are some ideas:

• Keep only the items that spark joy. By now you’ve heard about Marie Kondo and her decluttering cleanup method. Pick up each item in your pile - yes, you’ll have to touch it - and decide if it’s really something that’s a joy to have around. If not, it’ll be easier to part with.
• Do you say yes when you ask yourself if you really need something? Try asking yourself a different question instead. Imagine you’re seeing this item for the first time and ask yourself how much effort you’d really put into acquiring it now. If going to the store or even to Amazon is too much, then it’s a good bet you can toss it.
• Find out the real value and see if you’d pay it. This can really help you gauge how much you value that item. Go to Amazon, eBay, or Bonanza and find it or something similar. Would you spend what it’s worth to get it? If you don’t think you’d buy it, try selling it!

Cleaning out your own stuff doesn’t have to be a relentless fight against yourself. A simple change of perspective may be all it takes for you to give yourself the space you need.

Ben Oatis is a freelance writer based in Connecticut with over 10 years of experience as a technical writer for global tech companies. In addition to writing about technology, he also covers politics, lifestyle, and health and nutrition. He can be reached at boatiswrites@gmail.com.