About the Author | Shira Gill is a home organizing expert, author, speaker, and founder of the “fifteen-minute win” productivity hack. Her online makeover programs, popular lifestyle blog, and Instagram feed have inspired a global audience to get rid of the excess in their lives and focus on what really matters. Shira’s work and home have been featured in Apartment Therapy, Domino, Forbes, Goop, Harper’s Bazaar, HGTV, InStyle, Parents, Real Simple, Rue, and Remodelista. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, two daughters, and their Australian shepherd, who sheds all over their very organized home. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. IntroductionHi, I’m Shira. I started my home organizing and lifestyle business in San Francisco, California, because everyone I spoke to, regardless of their occupation or income level, was overwhelmed by clutter, and I knew that I could help. My superpower is the ability to help people clarify and home in on what they value most. Paring down to the essentials is the most direct route to figuring out who you are and what you truly care about. In fact, there are few things I enjoy more than teaching others how to create living spaces that help them improve their lives on every level. Over the course of my career, I’ve helped clients all over the world declutter and organize their homes. I’ve worked with students who lived in run-down studio apartments, and I’ve helped multi-multi-millionaires in mansions that took up entire city blocks. My clients have included actors, tech entrepreneurs, brain surgeons, and NASA scientists, and here’s what I’ve learned: A cluttered living space is a universal stress trigger; it doesn’t matter who you are or where you live. (Clutter doesn’t care if you’re smart or famous.) More than that, your stuff tells an important story. Your belongings are a physical manifestation of your life―your stuff can reveal what you value, what your priorities are, and where you’re stuck or struggling. The good news is that you get to decide what story you want your stuff to tell moving forward. Like any superpower, mine has a complicated backstory. I grew up as an only child, and my parents went through a pretty rough divorce when I was eight. My court-appointed joint custody schedule was bananas (I traveled back and forth every other day), and I discovered that having my personal space feel under control was essential for my overall sense of well-being. Organization became an important form of self-care for me and a way to reclaim some control in a world that often felt out of control. Before I knew that someone’s life could be changed by teaching them how to edit and organize, and before I even knew what those words meant or that they could add up to a career, I knew that I needed my room to look and feel a certain way. |