The Stuff Behind The Stuff®
On Fish, Rocks, and Going With the Flow
Most weekends, I get up before dawn to walk in a green space in my neighborhood. Our subdivision sits on what used to be a farm, so there's a lovely large field with paths leading down to a wooded area by the river. It's incredible that so few people use the...
Time In A Beer Stein
From The Stuff Behind The Stuff™ Vintage Archives, here's an updated post from back in 2018 that got some nice attention and interaction. So grab your favorite cup or glass, and join us in a fresh discussion! __________________ I don’t know why it still surprises me...
Overprotecting Ourselves
When our kids were little, they were obsessed with the movie Finding Nemo - my daughter in particular. I've seen it probably, oh, at least 30 times start to finish - more than that if you add up all of the snippets I've caught as I walked through the room while they...
Improvised Order
I've written before about my years of volunteering for Destination Imagination (DI) - the short explanation is that it's a creative, problem-solving teamwork competition for kids in kindergarten through college. You can look up the organization at this link (and it is...
The Tale of Left-Behind
Once upon a time, in a kingdom not so far away from here, there lived a young princess and her royal siblings. The princess was the youngest - spirited and intelligent - and she was quite the favorite at court. She painted lovely pictures, and created fantastical...
Good and Done…oh, wait…
I have a phrase I often repeat with clients: "Good and done is better than none." But it’s not always apropos. A few posts back, I talked about the organizing myths we try to tell ourselves, and as I think back on it I realize I left something out. I didn't...
All Or Nothing, Or Something…Or Anything
A cautionary tale about overcommitment is the topic of this week’s Stuff post.
A Do-Nothing Productivity Retreat
I'm pretty sure no one out there who knows me will be surprised that I'm an extrovert - with a capital "E." Extroversion and introversion get a lot of pop psychology attention due to all of the readily available online quizzes, mentions in profiles, and memes setting...
Drawing a Blank
I've started at least four different paragraphs for a blog entry this week - with topics as far-reaching as weathering transitions, prioritizing goals, post-online-school-year organizing, and summer trip planning. I looked through the idea list I keep, and checked out...
Truth in Organizing
Let's say you're scrolling your Instagram feed, and an ad for a fabulous-looking brand of shoes made from beautiful, butter-soft Italian leather pops up. You impulsively click and purchase, they arrive, and you discover they are actually made of cheap,...
