“Inertia” is a word I use often when talking about organizing. Even if relatively little progress is made in the beginning stages of a project, I always want the client to know how darn important it is that they’ve broken the inertia. It’s a point that usually gives someone pause.

Not surprisingly, Bali was magical in so many different ways. From the views that were more than human eyes can take in, to the traditional healer who all but wiped out years of back pain, to the steady drip of raw and fresh food, we felt so appreciative for each beautiful moment.

I’ve been waiting to write that subject line not just all year, but since the last time I was in Bali in 2002! I had the great pleasure of studying abroad in Bali for four months in 2000, and returned the following two years for a month each.

It’s not often that I see an approach to organizing that is totally novel, but it happened when I worked in LA last fall. I helped a client organize a home office that was adjacent to her master bedroom.  As I was frittering away with supplies in the office, she was slowly covering her bed and bedroom floor in at least a dozen piles of paper, each no more than a couple inches thick.

“I’ll get rid of it once I learn how to wipe it clean” is something I hear every time I encounter a laptop, phone, iPad, or any other device that’s been discarded to the bottom of a drawer or back of a closet. Thankfully, Apple just made it infinitely easier to do this by announcing their buyback program for all Apple computers and devices.

At the end of every year I compile a list of things I learned about organizing in the previous twelve months.  6 Things I Learned About Organizing in 2017 listed #5 as “Be explicit.” It was last year that I realized I had become much better at this, and that this is what the majority of my clients need from me.