Letting Go Experiment: Month 16

The Letting-Go Experiment I started in June of 2006 is now in its sixteenth month. When I originally began this experiment, I intended it to go for a year. The idea was born out of a desire to visually de-clutter my home, and especially my office, and to prepare for an eventual move. I simply did not want to have to move any unnecessary or unwanted stuff to a new place. The move still has not happened, and this is a good thing, since I still have way more "stuff" than I need or want.

From the beginning, the Experiment was intended not only to apply to material things but also to non-material things, such as thoughts, beliefs, habits, behaviors, and the like. It also covers things in the realm between material and non-material, such as body weight and subscriptions of various kinds.

In the non-material realm, I am happy to report that I have released 26 pounds of body weight (so far), 3 subscriptions, and some non-productive thoughts and behaviors.

Of the 464 "things" I have released beginning June 10, 2006, approximately 90% fall in the material realm. This means that I have released from my possession approximately 418 items. Why then, do my rooms, drawers, cupboards, and closets seem as full, and sometimes as cluttered, as they did when I began the experiment? [And the answer is NOT that I replaced them with other things, because for the most part, I did not.]

The answer came to me recently while watching Wayne Dyer's newest PBS show, based on his book Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao. I heard him mention this statistic: The old 80/20 rule applies to our possessions in that we only use about 20% of the material things we own. The other 80% are superfluous. This statistic blew me away, and reinforced my desire to stay with this Letting-Go Experiment.

Chinese Feng Shui practitioners tell us that the excess stuff we have around us blocks the flow of chi (energy) through our homes and lives. It uses up space that we could use for new things (material and non-material) to come in. It distracts us from tasks we need to do and from contemplation and other inner work. Suddenly, I could see why backpacking and old-fashioned tent camping have such appeal, as does the old Japanese way of living in wood-and-paper houses with minimal necessities.

All this was brought home to me about a week ago, when at 5:30am I was jolted out of a deep sleep by the fire alarm going off in our condo-ized apartment building. I am on the top floor, and the fire escape routes aren't great, so I quickly put on some street clothes over my p.j.'s, frantically searched unsuccessfully for my cat (who had hidden behind a heavy bookcase where I could not reach her), then grabbed my keys and purse and headed downstairs and outside.

Fortunately, this was a false alarm. But in that space of time before knowing that there was no fire, I thought about all I might lose. And very little of it mattered. First and foremost, I was alive, and my life mattered the most. The other things still in my apartment that did matter to me were my cat, my computer and business records (the heart of my livelihood), and my photos (especially old ones of past generations of family and new ones of my son's recent wedding). I quickly realized that almost everything else could be replaced, and that this was an amazing experiment in letting go. Most of all, I realized that although I appreciate and enjoy many of my things, I am not overly attached to any of them. In some ways, starting over from scratch held some appeal, like starting a brand new painting on a blank canvas - an opportunity for something new to be created.

Since that day, I have decided that this Letting-Go Experiment is no longer a time-dated project, nor is it any longer an "experiment". It has become a way of life. And I will continue to release unnecessary or unwanted stuff from my life - material and non-material - until I am left with the approximately 20% of "stuff" that really does matter in my life.

If you could only keep 20% of your material possessions, what would you keep? Or, if you were exiting a burning building and could only bring with you what you could carry [excluding people, whom we will assume will also get out safely], what would you bring with you?

Food for thought.

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Although this blogsite is not set up to be interactive at this time, please feel free to email me with your comments:

Email: connie@conniekomack.com
Web: www.conniekomack.com

How Do CRAMPS Relate to Goal-Setting?

What is a Goal?

A Goal is the ongoing pursuit of a worthy objective until it is accomplished. [from The Power of Focus, by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, and Les Hewitt, 2000.]

In the world of goal-setting, it is important to understand how to create an effective goal, a goal in which Success is the end result.

In my previous blog (Mega-Goals, Mini-Goals, and Office Organization, July 23, 2007), I described a goal-setting method called Setting SMART Goals.

Let's review the SMART goals model and then explore a new one - the CRAMPS model.

The model of setting SMART goals has been used by coaches for many years now, and it incorporates many of the qualities of successful goal-setting. SMART goals are:

S = Specific

M = Measurable

A = Achievable

R = Realistic

T = Time-framed

The CRAMPS model is one that I developed a few years ago for my goal-setting workshops. This model incorporates all the qualities of SMART goals and adds a few more that refine the goal-setting process even more and build in an even higher probability for success. Although the CRAMPS acronym is not nearly as elegant or as sexy as the SMART one, it IS memorable, and that is what is important.

So, a CRAMPS goal is:

C = Clear (Specific. Simply and clearly stated. One concept at a time.)

R = Realistic (Is this a realistic goal for me?)

A = Attainable (At all? Within the specified time frame? Am I willing to do what it takes?)

M = Measurable (Usually includes numbers and measures; always time-related.)

P = Positive (Framed in positive language; states what you want, not what you don't want.)

S = Supported (By you and by selected other people and/or other resources.)

How could the CRAMPS model help you to set more effective goals in your work or personal life?

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Although this Blog site is not set up to be interactive at this time, feel free to contact me with your comments.

Email: connie@conniekomack.com
Web: www.conniekomack.com

Mega-Goals, Mini-Goals, and Office Organization

Sometimes the goals we set for ourselves are small and very doable in the allotted time frame. Other times, the goals we set for ourselves are huge - complex and often time-urgent. These I call Mega-Goals. Usually a Mega-Goal involves a big life change. Examples: deciding what to do after graduation, selling and/or buying a home, relocating to another part of the country, beginning or ending a significant relationship, changing jobs or careers, preparing for retirement.

When faced with a Mega-Goal, it is easy to become overwhelmed and discouraged. And the typical response to this kind of overwhelm, in addition to frustration and fatigue, is often either to procrastinate or just shut down and back away from the project altogether.

This feeling of overwhelm is something I experienced recently at the end of my year-long Letting-Go Experiment. I had completed my 365-day experiment of releasing one material or non-material item per day. I felt very proud of my accomplishment. However, my major reason for starting this experiment in the first place was still staring me in the face. My office! While the other rooms and storage areas in my home now had been relieved of their excess clutter, my office had not.

I need to begin this story by saying that, typically, organization is one of my strong points, my skills. I like my living space to be clean and uncluttered. The state of my office for the past couple of years has been atypical.

One room in my small home is totally dedicated to my office. While once there had been a futon in my office to accommodate overnight guests, this was now long gone. On every wall, there are bookcases, filing cabinets, or desk surfaces, and all overflowing with stuff. There are also several extra storage bins and boxes jutting out into the room. While some of the clutter involves having too many books, magazines, and working notebooks, most of it involves - what else! - too much loose paper!

Piles of paper cover every surface in my office. Mail - a lot of mail!- (most of it junk, but occasionally something valuable), computer printouts, files waiting to be filed, notebooks full of notes from various conferences, and all sorts of miscellaneous bits and pieces of paper - scraps with important notes or phone numbers. My numerous filing cabinets (I count 15 filing cabinets of various sizes) are crammed with paper, which is one of the reasons why there is so much stuff on the surfaces.

When the computer first became the primary home office tool, one of the selling points was that it would cut down on paper files. In my experience, this has not turned out to be the case. After two or three disastrous computer crashes involving total wipe-outs of my C-Drive in a three-year period, I no longer depend on back-ups. Despite the fact that I do an automatic nightly backup of my C-Drive onto a separate drive, I still keep my important documents in paper form as well. I also print out lots of information from the Internet for my personal or professional research, because I'm not confident that I'll be able to find it again on the web if I go to look for it again down the road.

So, ever since I began my Letting-Go Experiment, in June of 2006, I had my eye on the ultimate prize - a clutter-free, highly functional office. The year came and went and the office was still cluttered and dysfunctional (and my business reflected this in some ways). So, I decided that de-cluttering my office would become my summer project. Well, not my "summer project" at first. My first goal was to complete the project in one week in June. I barely made a dent that week. Then the deadline was changed to the end of June. Then, the end of July. And a few days ago, I re-vamped this deadline once again.

Why? Because this is a project that kept throwing me into overwhelm. Every time I began, one thing led to another, such that nothing really got completed. I might work on the project for several hours and then feel as though I had nothing to show for my efforts. Office organization was on my To Do List every day, but I began to find myself procrastinating. I'd do anything else rather than tackle my office - clean out a closet, take a walk, do errands, read a book, take myself off to a movie, even pay bills (something else "painful" but yet less painful than organizing my office).

Finally, I decided to coach myself through this situation. If I were working with a client who had this challenge, what approaches might I suggest?

First, I asked myself, "Other than the obvious physical mess, what else might be blocking your efforts to clean this place up?"

Eventually, I got to the underlying emotional block. For the past year, I have been thinking about re-designing my business and taking it in some new directions. But I wasn't ready to make the decisions or the changes. So, my energy has been conflicted and scattered, and my office was reflecting this. And, I was hanging on to all my stuff, even things that were seriously outdated, "just in case" I might need them in a new endeavor. However, even though I now recognize that I am in transition in my business, and still have not made any firm decisions, I have come to understand that I cannot function well in chaos and I need to get my "career house" in order.

Next came the understanding that this office project is a large and complex one. I had been treating "de-cluttering my office" as a mini-goal, where in fact it is a Mega-Goal. I began to understand and accept that I could not complete this project in one day or one week or even one month unless this were a full-time job (which it cannot be).

So, then I did what I would encourage my clients to do with this Mega-Goal: I CHUNKED IT DOWN. [This is the main tip in this article!]

On my computer, I set out my Mega-Goal (De-Clutter and Organize My Office). Then I began breaking this Mega-Goal down into mini-goals: projects I could accomplish usually in 30 to 60 minutes - a few might take longer. I looked around my office in a circular direction and identified, listed, and defined each mini-project. Next to each, I put a check-box so that I could easily check each one off as it was completed. Altogether, this project chunked down into 50 mini-projects!

Almost immediately, I felt a sense of relief, and a relaxation of the muscles in my neck and upper back. I did not have to do everything at once. And I could experience a sense of accomplishment for each mini-goal along the way: 50 wins instead of just one!

I also gave myself a different timetable - a minimum of one mini-project a day. Some days, I only have time for one, but I can always find a half-hour to do a little one. Other days, I have time for two or three, or a more time-consuming one. A few, like sorting through old piles of mail, I can do while watching TV at night. So now, I have a more realistic and reasonable time goal: 50 days. Most likely, I will be done ahead of schedule.

Coaches often work with clients on creating SMART goals, these being ones that are:
S = specific
M = measurable
A = attainable
R = reasonable
T = time-related

Chunking this large goal, which was not SMART, into 50 mini-goals that are SMART, is already making all the difference.

So far, I have completed 5 of the 50 mini-projects, or 10% of my goal. Slowly, surfaces long-hidden are reappearing, and I am finding things I thought I'd lost. On the first day, I uncovered a refund check for $73.09 - found money!

And, best of all, my business is beginning to pick up. By about 10%, I figure. This would not come as a surprise to a Feng Shui practitioner, but it did to me - a very pleasant and welcome surprise. I can't wait to see what my business looks like in 50 days!

What is your next big project or Mega-Goal? How are you going about it? It gets much easier if you take it one small chunk at a time.

If you have had experiences similar to this one, I would enjoy hearing from you. And if my story has given you some ideas about how to approach a project that seems overwhelming to you, I would love hearing about that too.

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Although this Blog site is not set up to be interactive at this time, feel free to contact me with your comments.

Email: connie@conniekomack.com
Web: www.conniekomack.com