Remember in grade school how your teachers would ask you, "what do you want to be when you grow up?". Well, I was the kid that never really knew. I had these "phases" where I thought I knew what I wanted to do but then something always seemed to change my mind.
I thought about gymnastics but that was shattered when I went to my first gymnasium and was told I was too tall at 5'9". Thanks to Dad, I was still able to flip around in the front yard with a makeshift balance beam plus some rolled out carpet. It was fun while it lasted.
Next stop was being a physical therapist. I went with my grandma to one of her appointments and I was in awe about how well they treated her and that in the end, she was going to be "better". I stuck with this plan for a few years but that all went south after taking Anatomy and Physiology my senior year in high school. Got a good grade in the class but didn't like it enough; something about cutting open a frog...
College years roll around and now I'm thinking a Math PhD all the way - I'm going to be a professor! I thoroughly enjoyed my first two years of college and kicked butt in Calculus and Physics. Transferred schools my Junior year and whelp, it was like I was on another planet. My teacher sounded like Kermit the Frog and some of my math homework involved solving equations with Egyptian symbols. Change of plans - let's be an Actuary! That was short lived after taking the first exam and finding it was a majority of statistics; only had one of those classes in my entire 4 years of college. Attempted the exam a second time in hopes of a better score; I should have saved my money.
I worked at a big box electronic store while in college and was unfortunately told my services were no longer needed because, get this, my hourly commission rate was "too high". They were converting to hourly and I was "too good". I reached out to someone I previously worked with and they said they may have an opening with a company that does space planning and custom/modular furniture design. This is when my raw talent shined in a professional way.
In my 7-1/2 years with this company I worked with a wide range of clients that needed to make more space in their home without adding on a room. So wait? I had to help someone add an extra bed in their home but not have an extra room? Solution? The Murphy bed! I spent 3 years solving for space issues in bedrooms, entertainment rooms, play rooms, closets, kitchen pantries, etc... before spending the next 4-1/2 years teaching other store owners and design specialists how to do the same.
I finished my MBA and figured I must use my degree now. Entered corporate America with a global company and got to experience so much in a brief amount of time. It was almost like living in dog years. Things I did in 4 years, others would have experienced over 28 years, if ever. I earned my corporate Lean Six Sigma certification after driving change within the organization and solving business needs.
Over the years, if my role wasn't directly tied to space planning it was always connected to improvement in some way. I struggled with figuring out what I was good at. Wait, let me rephrase - what I was great at and made me happy. Kind of always felt I was a "Jane of all trades" kind of gal. I'm great at organization and I'm happy helping others. Bingo! Professional Organizer!
Now, it would be wrong of me not to share some of my "attention to detail" that shined during my childhood and early adult life; some may call it OCD. Actually, I'm pretty sure some did tell me that. When I was 2 years old, I was the kid that would take out one toy, play with it and put it back when I was done before taking out another. I followed Mom around a lot as a kid so I'm most certain I picked up some of my "habits" from her. Get this, when I was young (~10 years old), I went to a friend's house for a sleepover but couldn't sleep. Any "normal" kid would go play video games or maybe even call their parent's to come pick them up. Nope, not this girl. I emptied every single drawer of my friend's dresser, sorted all the items and put them back into their new (neat) spots.
The list goes on - a closet that's sorted by style and color, my pantry with spin racks and shelves, containers and bags which sort all of my pens/pencils/markers, color-coded notes in college, different color sticky-notes used in a kaizen to keep my process maps straight, dividers in dresser drawers to keep the white socks separate from the others and... okay, I'll stop; you get the point.
Sometimes you just need to stop and think about what you are good at and what makes you happy. When you have both of things - amazing things will happen. I was born to be a professional organizer; it just took me three decades to figure it out!
I thought about gymnastics but that was shattered when I went to my first gymnasium and was told I was too tall at 5'9". Thanks to Dad, I was still able to flip around in the front yard with a makeshift balance beam plus some rolled out carpet. It was fun while it lasted.
Next stop was being a physical therapist. I went with my grandma to one of her appointments and I was in awe about how well they treated her and that in the end, she was going to be "better". I stuck with this plan for a few years but that all went south after taking Anatomy and Physiology my senior year in high school. Got a good grade in the class but didn't like it enough; something about cutting open a frog...
College years roll around and now I'm thinking a Math PhD all the way - I'm going to be a professor! I thoroughly enjoyed my first two years of college and kicked butt in Calculus and Physics. Transferred schools my Junior year and whelp, it was like I was on another planet. My teacher sounded like Kermit the Frog and some of my math homework involved solving equations with Egyptian symbols. Change of plans - let's be an Actuary! That was short lived after taking the first exam and finding it was a majority of statistics; only had one of those classes in my entire 4 years of college. Attempted the exam a second time in hopes of a better score; I should have saved my money.
I worked at a big box electronic store while in college and was unfortunately told my services were no longer needed because, get this, my hourly commission rate was "too high". They were converting to hourly and I was "too good". I reached out to someone I previously worked with and they said they may have an opening with a company that does space planning and custom/modular furniture design. This is when my raw talent shined in a professional way.
In my 7-1/2 years with this company I worked with a wide range of clients that needed to make more space in their home without adding on a room. So wait? I had to help someone add an extra bed in their home but not have an extra room? Solution? The Murphy bed! I spent 3 years solving for space issues in bedrooms, entertainment rooms, play rooms, closets, kitchen pantries, etc... before spending the next 4-1/2 years teaching other store owners and design specialists how to do the same.
I finished my MBA and figured I must use my degree now. Entered corporate America with a global company and got to experience so much in a brief amount of time. It was almost like living in dog years. Things I did in 4 years, others would have experienced over 28 years, if ever. I earned my corporate Lean Six Sigma certification after driving change within the organization and solving business needs.
Over the years, if my role wasn't directly tied to space planning it was always connected to improvement in some way. I struggled with figuring out what I was good at. Wait, let me rephrase - what I was great at and made me happy. Kind of always felt I was a "Jane of all trades" kind of gal. I'm great at organization and I'm happy helping others. Bingo! Professional Organizer!
Now, it would be wrong of me not to share some of my "attention to detail" that shined during my childhood and early adult life; some may call it OCD. Actually, I'm pretty sure some did tell me that. When I was 2 years old, I was the kid that would take out one toy, play with it and put it back when I was done before taking out another. I followed Mom around a lot as a kid so I'm most certain I picked up some of my "habits" from her. Get this, when I was young (~10 years old), I went to a friend's house for a sleepover but couldn't sleep. Any "normal" kid would go play video games or maybe even call their parent's to come pick them up. Nope, not this girl. I emptied every single drawer of my friend's dresser, sorted all the items and put them back into their new (neat) spots.
The list goes on - a closet that's sorted by style and color, my pantry with spin racks and shelves, containers and bags which sort all of my pens/pencils/markers, color-coded notes in college, different color sticky-notes used in a kaizen to keep my process maps straight, dividers in dresser drawers to keep the white socks separate from the others and... okay, I'll stop; you get the point.
Sometimes you just need to stop and think about what you are good at and what makes you happy. When you have both of things - amazing things will happen. I was born to be a professional organizer; it just took me three decades to figure it out!
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