6 steps to a more fulfilling career + before & after pictures!

Jan 23

+ ALL NEW TIP SHEET: HOW TO CLEAN & CLEAR YOUR HOME WITH INTENTION

As a part of this month long focus on Career & Journey, I was thrilled to have an excuse to put a magnifying glass up to that area of my own home & life.

My spaces devolve and stagnate, just like anyone’s (even though, in my line of work, I do spend a good deal of time thinking about and improving the feel of my spaces). That is the natural way of things, dust settles, random things end up in random places, life fills up with more important things that demand attention.

Creating flow and function in your space is a work in progress, not something you achieve once and check off your list. So my spaces had plenty of opportunity for a refresh!

Knowing that I was going to refresh my Journey & Career area, I began to focus my attention, my energy on that area of my life & what I wanted it to look like. As I did so, amazing things began to happen… before I’d even lifted a finger to refresh my space.

But before I tell you about that, I lay out for you 6 clear steps to follow in order to refresh the Career & Journey Gua of your home and attract what you desire into your life. Without those steps, it is easy to feel unsatisfied with life, with no clear plan around how to get where you want to go.

In addition to these steps, at the bottom of the post, you’ll find a great new Tip Sheet: How to Clean & Clear Your Home With Intention. It lays out the most powerfully important pieces to remember & makes it easy to start & get your inspiration flowing.

STEP 1: CLARITY

Get clear on what you want. Hey, we already did that! All right! If you missed this step, check out this post. Review what want in the Journey & Career area of your life. For me, it boils down to increased simplicity, ease, clarity and a lightening of the load. Sounds pretty nice, eh?

STEP 2: FIND THE CAREER & JOURNEY AREA OF YOUR HOME

Determine where the Career & Journey area of your home is.

Check. Already did that too! If you missed that, check out this post.

STEP 3: SCHEDULE IT IN

Find a chunk of time when you can focus on one area of your home & schedule it in.

There are a million other things I could do with my weekends (which is when I tend to accomplish these things), but scheduling it reminded me that refreshing my Career is a priority and it gave my weekend some welcome structure. I still got out and had fun with my family. We even had a gathering of friends at our house (there’s nothing like having friends over to make you whip your space into shape!). And I found that I was able to accomplish A LOT even with my young kids present, needing my occasional attention.

STEP 4: remember your intentions as you work

Infuse your space with your intentions as you clear and clean. Think about what it is you desire.

Look for ways you can reflect this into your space.

For example, I am looking for simplicity in my career & journey. In working with the space, I removed anything extraneous and organized what was left. This made it easier for me to find what I was looking for, which literally made my life simpler!

STEP 5: DECLUTTER & deep clean

The easiest way to give an area of your life space, a feeling of lightening the load, increased clarity or simplicity, is to declutter and deep clean that area of your home.

Remove any objects that you don’t love, that don’t need to be there. Let your Career & Journey reflect what you love & what is necessary.

Once an area is clear, take 5 minutes to wipe it clean of all dust and debris. Like attracts like. When you leave detritus behind, the space will clutter easily and be more difficult to maintain.

I repeat, the easiest, fastest way to allow your space to support & inspire your life, is to remove objects that you DO NOT LOVE.

STEP 6: INFUSE WITH THE APPROPRIATE ENERGIES

Once you clean and clear a space, the next step is to intentionally infuse it with the energies associated with that particular area as well as the feelings you want in that area of your life.

If you didn’t catch my post all about the qualities of the Career & Journey Gua, check that out here.

Infuse the space with water & metal energies to powerfully support your Career & Journey, but also be sure to place things in the space that represent what you want in that area of your life. Every time you see them, you will be reminded of your intention and it will come into your life more easily. For example, if you desire to lighten your load, you might place an actual lamp to light the area up, or something else that represents lightness (like a feather).

With those steps in mind, I will walk you through the ways in which I refreshed 3 distinct spaces within the Career & Journey area of my home.

But first I’ll share with you the shift that came into my work life before I’d even lifted a finger.

The way in which freeing up space allows new opportunities into your life, never ceases to amaze and delight me. But in this case, the opportunities that began to flow my way started before I even touched my space. How fantastic is that!

This time around, as I began to think about refreshing my Journey & Career area, I did the short journaling exercise I shared with you earlier this month. I got clear on what I wanted in the Career & Journey area of my life. When I boiled it down, it came to the feeling of simplicity in my work processes, clarity around what is important and the ease of abundance flowing into my life.

After that exercise, I sat on the feeling for some days as I took note of the spaces in the Career & Journey area of my home and recognized the bits and pieces that were not congruent with my desires.

As I sat on these desires, opportunities started opening up in my career, without any effort or work in the physical realm. I had people getting in touch out of the blue to do workshops for their teams. Private clients coming into my life who are perfect for the work I do, the transformations I help incite. People wondering when my next Clear Your Space, Clear Your Mind Course begins (April!).

It was glorious to recognize those manifestations as they flowed in.

Then came the actual work...

And I will get to that… the before & after pictures of the subtle shifts I created in my own home. I promise I will. One last tangent before I do, because it’s important.

I want to highlight that creating a space that supports the life you desire, has nothing to do with going out and buying the pieces you think will make your home look perfect. Sure, beautiful things are lovely to have in your home, but if you’re reading this, I am sure that you have plenty of beautiful things that already grace your space. You may forget about them since often they are surrounded by things that do not bring you joy, but when you give them a little space, they will shine.

It is important to realize that the latest greatest things don’t lead to happiness the way we often think they will. You will see that my space is not filled with the most stylish, expensive pieces. My home is not perfectly furnished, but it feels amazing. We all love the spaces so much that it is hard for us to want to leave (even though we love the out of doors and being active).

When you want your space to feel great, look to what you can remove (that doesn’t make you feel great).

“Great design eliminates all unnecessary details.” - Minh D Tran

The feel and function of your space are much more important than the things. How do you want your home to feel? Comfortable, easy to maintain, light, loved?

Recognize the things already in your space that make you feel that way--those are the items to keep.

Now on to the before and after pictures!

My entrance is smack dab in the middle of my Career & Journey area (as it will be for many of you). There are so many reasons why the entrance to your home is the most important area.

Later this month, I will share with a great resource on this most important space. For now, let’s say the entrance to your home is where all the energy enters your life. It is your first impression (for you and your guests), and can incite feelings of calm connectedness or feelings of overwhelm and stress. Your first impression sets the tone for the time you spend in your space when you arrive home.

This is the first thing I see when I enter my home.

An expansive painting--with depth to extend the space--that I adore (my great aunt painted it),
A water fountain that brings vital energy into the space.

The bench, however, is a holdout, something I don’t really love.

It is for little people (of which I have two in my home), but it is too tall for anyone that small to sit on, and too small for anyone larger to occupy.

I attempted to get rid of it a year ago, but my daughter (who was not quite two at the time) protested mightily… so much so that I gave in and it remained.

But this time I was determined. It was time to thank the bench for its service and pass it along to someone who would find joy in it.

I no longer want anything taking up space in my life that I do not absolutely adore.

I had no idea what I would put there. I left it empty for a spell, moved some things around, a chair, a low shelf, and settled on this old crate turned boot bin. It is quite rustic, but somehow it brings me joy and functions well enough (for now).

One great thing about bringing new life into an area of your home, is that it almost always inspires projects in other areas as well.

In looking for pieces to function in our entrance, I removed a "lego table" from the kids' room. It ended up back in their space, but inspired a much needed quick and effective refresh of their room. Hooray!

kids room after the refresh-still a bit cluttered, but it'll do for now :)

Next up, our “mudroom.” This area is one I have tried in a few formations. This setup is the one that allowed the most light into a space that is otherwise a bit dark.

It needed to be decluttered, to have some items tested for joy, to find new ways to store what remained. The furniture piece is not perfect, but it's functional and inspires joy, so it remains. I am, however, visualizing the ideal setup in this space, so when the time is right, it will get a serious face lift.

One bag went to good will. A few unloved cold weather accessories did too. To achieve more space on the waist high shelf, I consolidated my plants onto a window-sill shelf--another project inspired by the attention to my Career & Journey area--where they can soak up the precious sun on these short winter days.

Last, but not least, my mini coat closet also falls into the Career & Journey area of my home. Years ago, I put up hooks in place of the short rod for hanging coats. This makes my life easier when I arrive home with full hands (most of the time) and it also increased the capacity within the closet to house my sizable coat collection.

In our home, per Marie Kondo's suggestion, I devoted one place for each of the different family member's gear. We don't have cubbies near the front door (and we use all of our doors equally, particularly in the summer), so my son has the hooks by the front door, my daughter by the back, my husband by the side and I have the mini coat closet. It is wonderful to look in one place for any one person's items--I highly recommend it.

I had originally intended to put a shelf up above the hooks, but had never gotten around to it. Turns out, it took me less than an hour to pop that shelf up there, cull through my coats (2 went to goodwill), and thoroughly clean out the floor area (which was pretty darn gross). And that was with a 2-year-old helper!

On the shelf I chose a white metal basket (rather than a wicker one) because white metal objects support the the Career & Journey area.

The one spot in the Career & Journey area of my home that I did not touch, is a linen closet on the back side of this coat closet, that opens up onto the hallway. It houses sheets and laundry detergent and the next step is a built-in that functions more fully and looks a lot nicer. It was not calling to me with any grand plan, so I just cleaned out the overflowing lint basket and gave it a deep clean.

I love how those instincts highlight how your space is a reflection of yourself. Within your space, there will be areas that you are inspired to touch and areas that will come later. You peel back the layers you have access to now, in order to reveal what comes next. This mirrors your own growth: you work on the outer layer, the one you have access to, which allows you to eventually reach the inner layers.

Even though we do not yet have everything we desire, it is of utmost importance to enjoy the journey and find joy right here in the present moment... both because that is truly all we have (the future is but a thought) and because it helps draw more joy and happiness toward you.

"Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift, which is why we call it the present." -Bil Keane

Are you planning to refresh an area in your home? Check out the all new TIP SHEET: How to Clean & Clear Your Home With Intention. It highlights powerful tips that make your job a whole lot easier and helps you get past that most difficult block: starting. Enter your email address below and I'll send it directly to your inbox.

May you live your greatest desires, today & enjoy the attentions of your home,

:) Tenaya

Tenaya Kolar