When Organizing Isn’t Enough: SHED Your Stuff; Change Your Life by Julie Morgenstern
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Listened to the Audiobook. Ridiculous amounts of “stories” from four fictional archetypes going through different life changes bludgeon you over the head with the same points over and over, and there’s really nothing new here.
- Envision the outcome of your change.
- Does your current status and/or stuff support this change?
- If not, get rid of it.
Organize what’s left over according to the “kindergarten” cubbyhole method outlined in JM’s Organizing from the Inside Out:
- Everything has a home
- Label the home
- If it doesn’t have a home, it needs to either be given a home (and displace something else) or it needs to go.
Likewise, organize your time according to her ideas in Time Management from the Inside Out and Never Check Email in the Morning, giving priority to things that support the change you have envisioned.
Not terrible for someone who’s never heard this stuff before (thus the two stars), but nothing new either.
The one thing I felt that wasn’t covered: how do you figure out what change it is that you should be envisioning? The examples given seem to go over obvious changes (empty nest, lost a job, etc.) that happen TO you, but no real suggestions on finding your own path. I suppose that wasn’t designed to be the core of the book, but it seems that’s the crux of the problem if it’s not a change that’s been thrust upon you. No cure for ennui. 😛