How effective can a professional organizer be if they work with someone over the phone? Apparently, pretty helpful. I learned first hand this weekend.

A client of mine called to tell me she was feeling extremely anxious about me coming for our scheduled session. She asked that I not come over. I easily could have rescheduled our session and hung up. However, I could tell it was a pivotal point and I had to at least attempt to help her break her anxiety cycle. For years her anxiety has taken over her and it shows in the condition of her home. She has a strong desire to organize but once she begins a project an overwhelming feeling takes over and paralyzes her. So she quits. The guilt, feelings of inadequacy, and stress stick with her and increase each time this cycle occurs. 

So I asked if she would be willing to chat for a moment to collect her thoughts. She agreed. We discussed her past anxiety attacks and found she has had worse. So we both knew she would survive this one. We discussed her last project (organizing the bathroom) and she was able to get to a point where she felt she made progress. Since that space was small and manageable I asked her to choose another small project. She did. She admitted she was concerned that she would have a difficult time staying focused. Once she sees all the other areas that need her attention she starts to get that overwhelming feeling. 

I suggested that she set a timer for 10 minute intervals. Work until the timer goes off. Once it does go off ask yourself if you’re working toward the goal you set to achieve that day. If you have stayed on track you can decide to keep working or stop working. If you got distracted you can stop what you’re doing and get back to the original task. She also mentioned she was concerned that once she completed the small project, all the other projects seem so big. So I suggested, rather than use the timer, choose ten items that can be tossed. Once you have done that you can decide to do 10 more or stop working.

We discovered her magic number was 10. Which made it easier to remember and became a new little motto. 10 minutes, 10 things! She worked for as long as she could and called me back when she was done. She accomplished her goal by discussing her concerns with me over the phone. Our conversation was no longer than 15 minutes and it was very effective.