Letting go of things is hard because they evoke memories of times past. That sounds like a pretty important reason to hang on to a lot of things, but is it really?

We all have items in our collection of things at home that we keep only for sentimental reasons: they remind us of places, situations, adventures or friendships long past. To a certain degree that is a good thing, of course, but some of them could contain an unhealthy element of being tethered to the past when that is not really a positive thing.

Vague terms are your worst enemy: they allow your mind to hang on to things without ever expecting a clarification what you really mean.

If you use words like “someday”, “someone”, “something” for your considerations about keeping something in your home, try hard to replace those words with concrete terms. If you can’t, it’s time to face reality and maybe let go!

How’s your memory doing these days?

There is a good reason to ask that question with regards to any communication you conduct over the phone. Most of us are so ensconced with social media and online communication that it sometimes feels that is all we are actually doing.

I have recently been confronted with a client I quickly pegged as disorganised and troubled by anxiety and attention deficits. Sadly, that first impression persisted and we never managed to get into a stride before he stepped out of the organising process. This is not an unusual state of play: it’s sometimes hard to gauge what the client actually wants and needs, and to ascertain if what they think they want is actually what I need to provide.

In this particular case, I believe I went in a little too blue-eyed.