SHED Your Stuff, Change Your Life: A Four-Step Guide to Getting Unstuck »

Julie Morgenstern, founder and owner of Task Masters, is the author of the New York Times bestseller Organizing from the Inside Out and Time Management from the Inside Out. Her column, "Getting Organized," appears monthly in O, The Oprah Magazine. A speaker, media expert, and corporate spokesperson, she lives in New York City.

Are you eager to make a change but unsure what's next?

Organizing works when you know where you're going but don't know how to get there. But sometimes organizing isn't enough. When you're eager to make a change in your life, but you are unsure of your new destination, you need to SHED.

Expert organizer and New York Times bestselling author Julie Morgenstern has developed the four-step SHED plan to help you get unstuck from the defunct, obsolete objects and obligations preventing you from living a richer, more meaningful life. SHED picks up where other organizing processes leave off — helping you purge the physical and behavioral clutter holding you back so you can finally create real change in your life.

But it's not just about throwing things away! The SHED process is more about what comes before and after you heave the clutter, so that the changes you make really stick in the long term. Learn how to:

Separate the treasures — What is truly worth hanging on to?

Heave the trash — What's weighing you down?

Embrace your identity — Who are you without all your stuff?

Drive yourself forward — Which direction connects to your genuine self?

Whether you're facing a move, a promotion, an empty nest, a marriage, divorce or retirement, When Organizing Isn't Enough provides a practical, transformative plan for positively managing change in every aspect of your life.

Publishers Weekly

Morgenstern, a professional organizer with clients like Time Warner, shares advice and anecdotal revamp stories for anyone who ever needed to clean out a drawer, closet or personal planner. Her guiding principle in fighting clutter, over-scheduling and bad habits is called SHED: Separate treasures, Heave the rest, Embrace identity from within, and Drive yourself forward. Morgenstern's chatty advice includes ways to let go, develop a "theme" for your future and "heave" successfully (with lists of places to send stuff). Her theory is that, although one may miss certain possessions or habits, freed-up space will inevitably open unseen vistas, allowing the new you to move forward. Morgenstern supplies timelines, entire chapters on living in the moment and breaking the mold, as well as quizzes and work sheets. She also examines, in-depth, typical emotional reactions to shaking free of the old, and encourages small steps toward revolution: "Don't be so quick to reenact the Boston Tea Party." Client case studies pose intriguing challenges, from obsessive email checking to good but unfulfilling jobs to an overabundance of shoes and accessories.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Getting Unstuck     1
What Is SHED?     5
Name Your Theme     17
Pick Your Point of Entry     35
Separate the Treasures     53
Finding Physical Treasures     57
Finding Schedule Treasures     75
Finding Habit Treasures     86
Heave the Trash     101
Heaving Physical Attachments     105
Heaving Schedule Attachments     117
Heaving Habit Attachments     138
Embrace Your Identity     155
Trust Yourself     159
Discipline to Deliver     177
Live in the Moment     195
Drive Yourself Forward     205
Break Your Mold     207
Experiment with Your Theme     222
Beware of the 30 Percent Slip     235
Resources for Heaving     245
Acknowledgments     255
About the Author     259