Lisa Lawmaster Hess - Know Thyself: The Imperfectionists Guide to Sorting Your Stuff

Minimalism is trending right now, but living a well-ordered life and embracing simplicity are timeless Christian truths. Hess takes a personalized approach, inviting readers to identify their innate tendencies towards organization and clutter, and to proceed with this personalized knowledge in hand. Equal parts motivational and practical, this book is a gem.

Jenny Uebbing, writer, speaker, and blogger at Mama Needs Coffee

Ive followed the organizational wisdom of Lisa Lawmaster Hess for years and am thrilled that she has now compiled her wisdom into a single easy-to-implement guide! Know Thyself is the one system Ive discovered that doesnt try to apply a one-size-fits-all solution, but rather helps me work within my personal tendencies to have a lifestyle, career, and spiritual life that work together to bring satisfaction, productivity and peace. Transform your systems, have fun and see terrific progress working your way through this book!

Lisa M. Hendey, founder of CatholicMom.com and author of I Am Gods Storyteller

Lisa Hesss book, Know Thyself, is an entirely new approach to helping people find a workable solution to organization. Its especially refreshing to read positive and affirming comments throughout. No shaming or blaming permitted in Lisas world! Her positivity motivates the reader to discover their own step-by-step personalized solution. I highly recommend Know Thyself as a must-read.

Cindy Bernstein, professional organizer and owner of Aim 4 Order, LLC

Lisa Lawmaster Hess explains how to turn your organizing liabilities into systems that work for you, encouraging you to build on your unique, God-given strengths. In organizing, one size does not fit all; Lisa shows you how to find what fits you best.

Barb Szyszkiewicz, editor at CatholicMom.com and managing editor at Todays Catholic Teacher

Know Thyself will change how you think about organizing your life. Lisa Lawmaster Hesss STYLE approach puts strategies in your hands to best determine how, when, and where you organize. Packed with straightforward advice, she will guide you in the right direction.

Matthew Randall, Associate Dean of Career Services at Lebanon Valley College

Know Thyself

Know

Thyself

The Imperfectionists Guide
to Sorting Your Stuff

Lisa Lawmaster Hess

www.osv.com

Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division

Our Sunday Visitor, Inc.

Huntington, Indiana 46750

Except where noted, the Scripture citations used in this work are taken from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible Second Catholic Edition (Ignatius Edition), copyright 1965, 1966, 2006 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Every reasonable effort has been made to determine copyright holders of excerpted materials and to secure permissions as needed. If any copyrighted materials have been inadvertently used in this work without proper credit being given in one form or another, please notify Our Sunday Visitor in writing so that future printings of this work may be corrected accordingly.

Copyright 2019 by Lisa Lawmaster Hess

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All rights reserved. With the exception of short excerpts for critical reviews, no part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means whatsoever without permission from the publisher. For more information, visit: www.osv.com/permissions.

Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division

Our Sunday Visitor, Inc.

200 Noll Plaza

Huntington, IN 46750

1-800-348-2440

ISBN: 978-1-68192-323-9 (Inventory No. T1996)

eISBN: 978-1-68192-324-6

LCCN: 2019936406

Cover and interior design: Amanda Falk

Cover and interior art: Shutterstock

P RINTED IN THE U NITED S TATES OF A MERICA

To my mom, who would have loved this book and who, given her always immaculate home, could have written one of her own.

Contents

Introduction

I praise thee, for thou art fearful and wonderful. Wonderful are thy works! Thou knowest me right well.

P SALM 139:14

When it comes to organizing, there are two kinds of people. There are Type A organizers, for whom organizing is easy and automatic. Practical, time-tested tools work for them. Theyve successfully (and consistently) mastered the use of three-ring binders, file cabinets, and pocket folders. Type A organizers are the embodiment of the phrase a place for everything and everything in its place.

And then there are the rest of us.

We want to get organized, we really do. Tired of feeling scattered, we buy three-hole punches so we can corral all those loose papers into binders. We buy boxes of multi-colored file folders in an effort to restore order; and we spend hours setting up filing systems only to be stymied by them later and revert to stuffing, cramming, jamming, and putting things in safe places.

We know that getting organized is a worthwhile goal a life skill we should cultivate. We understand that we save time and energy when we can find what we need when we need it. We secretly (or not so secretly) envy our put-together, Type A organized friends who make it look so simple.

But for us, its not. In our best moments, we trust that were smart enough to master this skill, creative enough to cook up new solutions, and fabulous enough to make our homes look stylish in the process. In our moments of weakness, however, we wonder if we somehow got in the wrong line on the day God was handing out organizational skills.

And it makes us feel lousy. And maybe even broken.

But were not broken; we are wonderfully made, and we each organize differently. Traditional tools might not be a good fit for us, but thats a technicality, because organization is more than just the tools we choose. Successful organization requires three components working together:

styles + strategies + tools = organization

Did you notice what came first in that equation? Styles your styles, your very self. God has created each of us to be just the way he wants us to be. If we can tap into the skills and talents he has given us, not only can we organize in a way thats sustainable, but we can also be the best version of ourselves. Instead of trying to mold ourselves to the tools and strategies we think should work, we can look for tools and strategies that fit the way we think and the way we organize. We can use our gifts, double-edged swords though they may be, to develop a life skill that saves time and energy and helps us to appreciate how wonderfully made we really are.

When we are organized, we can find what we need when we need it. We have systems that work, and we know where things go. We even develop a sense of peace about our surroundings because we feel in charge of our stuff, not the other way around.

Does all this sound just a little too good to be true? Then, in the spirit of full disclosure, I need to let you know that this is a process one that takes time and effort. But organization is also more than a process. At its core its a feeling, one that ebbs and flows as we endeavor to maintain balance between the stuff that comes in and the stuff that goes out. Its possible to look organized without feeling organized (as anyone can attest whos ever tossed stuff into a closet when companys coming), to manage the stuff without creating a system but, when we do, we cheat ourselves. When we feel organized, we worry less about how we look and more about how we function, which is what makes the process worth the time and energy it requires.