Over the holidays I met with a personal image consultant.  Why? Because I recognize that I am not objective about the best personal choices for hairstyle, makeup, and wardrobe.  There were too many options to choose from, and I inevitably made choices that I was not happy with.

Take my hair, for example.  Until I met with my image consultant, I didn’t know what hairstyle I wanted -- I just knew that I didn’t like the style I had!  I needed someone objective to give me limited choices, based on what would work best for me.  Prior to working with a consultant, I had always selected hairstyles I liked from fashion magazines.  The problem was that these styles were not necessarily right for my hair type, face shape, and lifestyle.

Then there’s make-up.  Going to the department store or the drug store to buy make-up is a mind-boggling experience. There are so many different types and shades of make-up to choose from.  How do you know which products are best for your skin type and skin tone? How do you know what you need in order to enhance certain features and diminish others?  Once you get these products home, how do you most effectively apply the make-up to achieve the right effect?  Before meeting with my image consultant, I had a cabinet full of skin care products and make-up that I would never use because they were not the right products for me.

Last but not least, there’s clothing.  What ever happened to the days when you could just go into a department store and ask for a pair of jeans?  Purchasing clothing used to just take a few minutes.  Now it’s a complex decision that can become a day-long project.  Today’s store clerk typically asks much more than what size you wear…do you want slim fit, easy fit, relaxed fit or baggy?  Do you want stone-washed, acid-washed, distressed, faded, or regular?  Do you want boot cut, flair, or straight leg?  Do you want button-fly or zipper-fly?  Do you want hemmed or cut-off?  And the list goes on.

A Plethora of Choices

Modern life and increased affluence brings with it a plethora of choices.  For example, there are more than 360 types of shampoo, conditioner and moose, 80 types of painkillers, and 40 types of toothpaste to choose from.      

Do more choices bring us greater happiness and fulfillment?  According to Barry Schwartz, social scientist and author of The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less, our unprecedented material abundance has become a cause of unhappiness. Depression has skyrocketed.  There comes a point, Schwartz contends, at which choice becomes debilitating rather than liberating.  

Schwartz suggests four steps you can take so the choices you have don’t overwhelm you:

1. Choose when to choose.  Decide when it is important to consider all the options, and when limiting you options is okay.
2. Learn to accept “good enough.”  When is good enough good enough, and when does it have to be perfect?
3. Don’t worry about what you’re missing.  Limit how much you focus on the choices you turned down.
4. Control your expectations.  How you rate a choice is influenced by how it compares with your expectations.  You’ve heard it said, “Don’t expect too much, and you won’t be disappointed.”  Perhaps this is good advice to follow some of the time. 

Limiting Choices

We naturally limit our choices in some circumstances.  For example, my brother-in-law is getting a PhD in linguistics in Indo-Austranesian languages.  There are only three universities in the USA that offer studies in this highly specialized field, so he is clear about his limited choices.

When we are not clear about the goal or result that we want, we tend not to limit our choices.  That's when all of the options can become overwhelming.     

My work with an image consultant has already paid for itself.  Now that I'm clear about what choices are best for me, I won't waste my time and money shopping for products that will not meet my needs.  No more experimenting with dozens of products to make my hair look "better" without having any idea as to what I really want.  When I go shopping at the cosmetics counter, I know exactly what I need, which saves me time and money.  Now I'll purchase only the products that are right for my skin tone and type that will produce the effect I want.  When I go shopping for clothes, I'll know what colors and styles look best on me, so I won't waste my time considering the other choices. 

I can now aim for my targeted look with a precise arrow rather than with a flying barn!  I recently saw a t-shirt that said, "Whatever look you were going for, you missed it."   There's a lot of truth to that statement when we don't limit our choices to what is right for each of us.

What's Cluttering Up Your Life?

Research shows that 80% of what we keep we never use.  Companies offering off-site storage facilities and garage organizing systems are doing very well these days.  Let's face it -- we are a nation of material goods.  Ask yourself these questions:

• Are my closets, drawers, cabinets and files filled with things I never use?
• Am I wasting time looking for things?
• Would I like more space in my life?
• Do I feel stressed and overwhelmed in my environment?

As you put away all those new gifts from the past holiday season, this is a great time to look at what you already have. My passion in life is helping people de-clutter their schedules, spaces, and minds so they can focus on what's most important. Here are three principles which help make that possible:

1. Eliminate clutter - anything you own, possess, or do that does not enhance your life on a regular basis.  You get to decide what the clutter is.  Once you've made that decision, you can create an environment that supports who you are, who you want to be, and what you want to do.  Look at everything in your life - from the expired prescriptions in your medicine cabinet, the clothes you haven't worn in years, the boxes of tax returns which are well past the 7-year statute of limitations, the file drawers stuffed with papers you have not touched in ages, to the piles of journals you've been meaning to read. Ask yourself these questions:
• Does it work?  Does it fit? Is it obsolete?  If it does not enhance your life, or get rid of it!
• Do I like it? If not, do you really want to keep it?
• Does it make me feel positive about myself and my life? If the answer is anything negative -- guilty, fat, uncomfortable, frustrated - give it away to someone else who will use and love it!
• Do I need or want it?  If not, would someone else benefit from having it?  If you are keeping something because someday it might be useful, while someone else within miles would use and love them today, you're missing a great opportunity to do a good deed and get a tax deduction in the process!
• What's the worst possible thing that could happen if I didn't have this?"
• If this place burned down, would I want to replace this item?
  
  
2. Have a place for everything. Research shows the average person spends 150 hours a year looking for information. Imagine what you could do with the time you waste looking for that extended service contract you need to get your laptop repaired, looking for your car keys, your glasses, or the birthday card you bought last week but never got in the mail?

If you don't know you have it, or if you can't find it when you need it, it's of no value to you.  As a matter of fact, it may be costing you a lot more than you realize . if you're like so many who go out and buy another of the same item because you cannot find the one you already own.

If you're wasting time looking for things and you're out of time, space, money or energy, there's no better time than now to simplify your life. Create a permanent home for everything.  Even if things don't get put back right away, at least you will know where it goes when you're ready to put it away.

3. Change habits that don't support a clutter-free environment.  Think of what causes the pile-up.  Here are some typical problem areas I find in clients' homes and offices:
   
   CAUSE:  Dishes pile up in the sink because the dishwasher is always full of clean dishes.
   SOLUTION:  Get in the habit of unloading the dishwasher every night before you go to bed. Train family members to put their breakfast dishes in the dishwasher rather than piling them in the sink or leaving them on the counter.  Once a pile begins, it's so easy to add to it!
   
   CAUSE:  Papers are scattered all over your office or home because the mail gets placed in several places.
   SOLUTION:  Have an In-box and place mail there until you have time to open it.  Once you open it, make one of five decisions: discard, delegate, do now, do later (and when), file.
   
   CAUSE:  Papers are piling up because: (a) you don't like filing so you keep putting it off; (b) there is no room in the file drawer to add new papers or files until files in each part of the alphabet are shifted to other drawers.
   SOLUTION:  (a) Carve out time in your schedule on a weekly basis to do administrative work such as filing. (b) Use a database to find your files rather than relying on an A-Z filing system.   With this kind of system you file by number, so when you need to add new files you add more numbers at the end.  This prevents the overstuffed file drawer problem inherent with an A-Z system.  If you do not already have such a database set up, check out The Paper Tiger system, which enables you to find anything you file or store in 5 seconds or less - guaranteed.
   

Get a Tax Deduction

Here's where this project becomes financially worthwhile. Research shows that people who donate to non-profit agencies generally take a much smaller deduction that is legally allowable. If you're concerned that taking a tax deduction will trigger an audit, check out ItsDeductible.  This amazing program guarantees you a $300 tax deduction - or your money back. I've been using this valuable tax tool for five years, and I have saved thousands of dollars of taxes each year because of this tool.  For example, I recently had two boxes of donations that in the past I would have claimed no more than $100 for - with ItsDeductible, the deduction was $467!  If you have kept record of in-kind contributions you donated to charities in 2003, you can still use this tool as you prepare your taxes!

The best way to encourage cooperation from others members of your family is by setting a good example, so begin the elimination process with your own belongings first.  If you have kids who are reluctant to part with toys they never play with, create an incentive for them to donate unwanted items to charity by offering them some of the tax savings to spend on something they've really been wanting. 

NOTE: To be sure you CAN find what you decide you really want to keep, remember The Paper Tiger enables you to find anything you file or store in five seconds or less.  I use it for a lot more than just paper!