If your ability to enjoy life is being destroyed by chronic disorganization and the emotional and physical clutter that comes with it, isn't it time for a whole new approach? Agile Life Design™ helps you cultivate your personal agility with organizing and discover how to organize in way that FITS you. Strategies that simple, tweakable, sustainable and yes, even energizing for you.

When you invest in coaching and learning new skills, you are investing in yourself, your future, your relationships, your career, and your heallth - physical, mental, and emotional.

With Agile Life Design™ you will gain insights, knowledge, skills, habits and processes that will empower you to start taking action immediately to reduce anxiety and overwhelm and create more success, confidence and peace in your life.

I founded NEAT & SIMPLE LIVING™ in 2005 and to help people transform their lives and experience the life-changing positive energy, stress relief, self-confidence and self-esteem that comes from discovering they CAN get reasonably organized!

In 2008, I founded Lotus Bridge, LLC to design, develop and deliver multidisciplinary, integrative learning and life coaching, giftedness, productivity, motivational, ADHD coaching resources to help people achieve optimal performance, cultivation of their "raw" gifts and ultimately, realization of their potential.

In 2011, I built on this foundation and gave birth to Agile Life Design™ - a mindset, skills and tools for

• Cultivating “agility over stability”  AKA rolling with the FLOW.
• Reclaiming your right to design your life and work to FIT your unique sensibilities.
• Refocusing our attention from self "control" to  ”cooperating” with ourselves and each other to make life work.
• Embracing the art of “trigger re-design” and “spontaneous organizing”to gracefully change habits, heal your relationship with yourself, release the clutter, and fill the holes in your soul that current habits and possessions are simply not able to fill.   

In 2012, I'm working to share the tools for using “The Healing Power of  Agile Life Design™ to heal your relationships with the “8 Dances of Life™” and design chronic overwhelm, indecision, and exhaustion out of your life - from the outside in and the inside out.

I combine my coaching services with learning programs because, contrary to what many people believe, you actually can learn to enjoy organizing - no matter how much you hate it now. Organizing is a set of skills and concepts you CAN learn - but you can't learn them by having others do it for you. It often also requires emotional healing + love as well as experiential learning, feedback, and "tweaking" that only personal and / or group coaching can provide.

Learning in a safe group environment with people going through the same challenges enhances and accelerates learning. It works so well I generally only work one-on-one with people who participate in my small group learning experiences.

I have found that integrating learning and coaching in a way that addresses the psychological, biological (e.g., giftedness, ADD, Creativity, Personality Type) and emotional aspects of organizing as well as the technical aspects is the best way to truly conquer chronic disorganization. Once you are good at designing your own organizing solutions to fit you, I promise you will enjoy doing it!

I know because I wasn't born organized either. I'm a natural sentimental packrat. I had to learn on my own over many years to change the way I relate to my things so I could release clutter to make room for the future I truly wanted.

Because traditional complex organizing methods never worked well for me, I had to figure out how to organize for my creative personality style - using extremely simple and creative approaches to DESIGNING custom solutions. It changed my life!

I was able to change my attitude toward organizing, my habits and move forward to create the life I always dreamed of. Today, organizing and clutter clearing is my number one go-to strategy for relieving stress - no longer is organizing and clutter-releasing the source of my stress.. It's not always easy to do, but it CAN be done. Having support from someone whose only concern is making your life better and helping you reach your personal goals makes the process, easier, faster and much more enjoyable.

My greatest reward is helping people go from feeling overwhelmed and defeated to feeling confident and empowered - like they can let go of clutter, organize anything AND maintain it!

Even if you have been painfully disorganized for a long time and are convinced there is no hope for you, you can succeed at getting "organized enough" to have a more fulfilling life.

Why become organized? The benefits of organizing...

Because being organized allows you to live your life the way you choose to - not as a slave to your stuff and to other people's priorities and expectations!

You don't have to be perfect or rigid about it. Just being reasonably organized enhances your self-confidence, self-respect, and overall well being.

Letting go of clutter and becoming more organized DRAMATICALLY lowers stress and improves your physical, mental and emotional health! Effective organization allows you to have more time and energy for the things that matter most to you, like spending time with family, pursuing hobbies, eating healthy, exercising or just hanging out with friends.

I think of it as "organizing around purpose." The idea is that if you aren't passionate about what you want, or clear about what you value, where is the motivation to get and stay organized going to come from? Once you are clear about where you want to be and what's been holding you back, you will have more motivation and drive to overcome the obstacles.

If you aren't making progress on your organizing goals because you have a hard time making decisions or are unsure of how to go about it, then I'll work with you to establish an easy decision making "process" and "criteria" that work with your personality type so that you will be empowered for the rest of your life to make decisions more easily!

What is NEAT & SIMPLE LIVING about?

Finding the balance between “NEAT” and "SIMPLE LIVING”
that is good enough and works for you!

It's about using neat ideas and simple organizing strategies to simplify your life! It’s about having more time and money for what you really love doing! But most of all it's about feeling good about yourself - just as you are. It's about getting over trying to live up to other people's standards and finding what works for you.

Neat & Simple Living is NOT about being perfectly tidy all the time.

One of the great myths about being organized is that you have to be perfectly tidy all the time. Many "tidy" people are actually quite disorganized. They may focus on making things look good, yet their closets and drawers are stuffed to the brim with stuff they can't find when they need it!

Neat & Simple Living is NOT about buying lots of fancy containers.

Yet another myth about organizing. Containers are great - I love them! They are needed for many things, but the containers don't organize you. You do the organizing and then find the right container for the organized things.

If you don't buy containers with a specific purpose in mind, they just become more clutter. In my experience, clients don't always need to buy more storage containers, they just have to use what they already have effectively..

Although some people have the opposite problem. They are so afraid of not buying the "right" or "perfect" containers and storage that they just don't buy any. If you need storage, I'll help you learn how to decide what is the right storage for your organizing needs AND organizing style.

Organizing Tips for Choosing Storage

ASSESS & MEASURE: Before buying containers, assess how much you have to store in them - now and over the next year - then measure the space where the containers will be located.

AVOID SPECIALIZED UNITASKING CONTAINERS: When buying containers, the less specialized they are, the more likely you'll be able to re-purpose them when your needs change - and your needs WILL change. I guarantee it!

Neat & Simple Living is about YOU finding ease with the process of figuring out your priorities, utilizing your space, storing your stuff, and making confident decisions about what you want to do with your time and your life.

It's about being PROACTIVE and not just REACTIVE to all the stuff and noise out there competing for your attention and your money. For example, learning how to say NO gracefully when other people offer you their clutter. Or learning to shop only for what you need, rather than reacting to advertising and gimmicks designed to "create needs" and tempt you to shop impulsively.

Neat & Simple Living is NOT about making you perfect. It's about finding the simplest, easiest organizing systems to fit:

• YOUR personal definition of "Neat & Simple"
• YOUR personality and lifestyle
• YOUR space
  
  

An organizing solution works when:

You really enjoy using it, looking at it and touching it

Putting things away is just as simple and easy for you as
dropping them on a surface

You can clean up for company in less than 20 minutes!

You know what you have and you can find most of your things
in less than a few minutes

It fits your personal organizing style - a key factor in STAYING
organized

Neat & Simple Living is about truly understanding your needs and style before choosing organizing solutions.

Sometimes what holds people back from becoming more organized is that they aren't truly clear about what they actually need to suit their unique brain style and personality traits. It is very difficult to see yourself objectively - especially if you wish you had different personality traits, or don't like yourself the way you are. Almost every client I've had (including myself at times) wishes we could be more like those people who are "born organized." But we weren't born that way. So we need to use unconventional organizing and time management systems and stop trying to fit ourselves into systems that will never work for those of us who are ultra-creative and have ADD or ADD-like traits.

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"Making the simple complicated is commonplace--
making the complicated simple, awesomely simple--
that's creativity."

--Charles Mingus

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Most people aren’t even aware that there are organizing styles (just like there are personality types). For example, natural "Maintainers" don't mind using traditional organizing systems. Give them a system and they will maintain it easily. Natural "Innovator / Creative" types and Highly Sensitive Personality types though, usually require ultra-simple, completely custom, non-traditional systems - because even one extra step, like having to open a lid or drawer, could be that one step too many that will be the downfall of the system.  

To learn more about organizing styles, see Organizing for your Brain Type by Lanna Nakone

We start with developing an understanding of your needs and empower you to choose the right organizing solutions for you. Then we partner to figure out how you are going to stay organized. With a solid foundation, even if you let things go for a while when things get hectic, getting back on track will be easy!

My Personal Office Before Becoming Organized...

Office Before


Newly Organized and Redecorated Office

See more professional organizer projects in our
Neat & Simple Organizing Solutions Photo Gallery!

Change Isn't Easy.. But you CAN do it!

We have strong relationships with our things. Even if you want to change, old habits are hard to break. But if you are committed to changing your life, and are ready to learn and try new ways of doing things - we can help you succeed!

I'll help you see things you don't see anymore. You will gain insights into what's really underlying the emotional and physical clutter and disorganization in your environment. You WILL become increasingly clearer about your goals and priorities, able to make difficult decisions much more easily, and make your vision a reality.

Wondering where to start?

Before you do anything else, if you resonate with my message so far I suggest getting on my mailing list so that you will start receiving occasional emails from me with free articles, classes, and other resources I make available. don't worry, I won't start sending pushy emails every day after you sign up. I hate that myself so I can't bring myself to do it to people.

Options for Working with Me

My mission is to facilitate painless change, build your self-confidence, decrease stress, and make a positive difference in your life. If you would like to consider working with me as your guide and partner on the journey to conquering clutter and succeeding at organizing, visit www.arianebenefit.com to find out about my latest offerings and availability.

Want immediate options for learning on your own?

 Below are some of my most popular articles  – recently updated

• Are you an adult with ADHD or ADDish traits? Ever thought you might be “gifted”? How about Neurodiverse?“
  
• “The Truth about Chronic Disorganization:  What Causes Chronic Disorganization – How to Heal the Trauma”
  
• “Is it Adult ADHD or Creative Personality Type?”

Interesting Facts About Clutter

We get more mail in one month than our grandparents got in a lifetime.

Many people waste 1-3 hours a day searching for things because of disorganization and clutter.

Being disorganized and having lots of clutter costs families an average of 10-15% of their income and even more!

About 80% of the clutter in your home is a result of disorganization - not lack of space.

Getting rid of excess clutter would eliminate 40 percent of housework in the average home.

Courtesy of NAPO.net