Dear Andrew: A question about core values

Dear Andrew:

I am just beginning the book on audio. Are the five core values supposed to be analyzed in relation to the questionnaire: "Are You Right With Stuff"? I am having trouble understanding how to do this step. Can you help?
Janie H.

Dear Janie,

Thanks for an excellent question!

When we look at getting AND staying organized, we're doing two things:

1) We're cleaning up historic messes, challenges, and clutter.

2) We're building new habits that prevent the additional accumulation of the above.

The questionnaire is a way to freeze our actions and reactions in time -- to get a picture of the past and the present so we have a baseline for our growth and development. We want to clearly name and recognize historic patterns of behavior around stuff and get out of any vagueness or fuzziness around what we do and when we do it.

When doing the core value exercises, we want to look at what we value today and see if our snapshot is in alignment with our core values and if not, where and how much are we out of alignment.

Then, with our new clarity, we can begin to shift areas where we've been stuck or dissatisfied with our relationship with stuff and bring actions into alignment with those values.

For areas that are deeply ingrained, very tender or very stubborn, the hope is that we can at least become conscious and aware of when we're still doing things that don't serve us but feel safe or comfortable or familiar. That awareness may allow us to soften our grip on old, obsolete behaviors and adopt new more useful behaviors.

I hope that helps!

Best regards,

Andrew