Let go of the stuff, not the stories

Today, I’m sharing a couple of resources to simplify your life while still keeping the memories that contribute to your personal stories.

Minimize THEN Organize

If you find yourself constantly reorganizing and not feeling like you are making progress, you might well be holding on to too many things.

The more effective way to organize, is to first reduce your stuff, which can be easier said than done for sure.

There are a number of approaches to cutting back on the material things.  Two of the most popular approaches are:

• Start with the easiest stuff first and build confidence as you get better at letting go, learning more strategies
• Start with the hardest stuff first and gain the satisfaction of accomplishing the most difficult hurdle, making the path easier as you go

Both these approaches have merit and which you choose can depend on many things including the type of stuff you want to clear, your personality type, where you are in your journey.  You might even mix them up or combine one of both of these ith other methods.

In this video, The Minimalists, Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus, make a strong case for starting with the easiest first. They also share some tips of what has worked for them.

Sometimes we take the action [to let go] and not only is it not as difficult as we anticipated but there are some amazing benefits that happen from letting go.

Ryan Nicodemus

Tell stories with your photos

Photography can be an effective way to tell a story, either as an accompaniment to written stories or as a stand-alone record.

In this video, photographer Matt Day encourages viewers to be intentional about the placement of everything in a photo to help tell a story, whether or not there is accompanying text.