Sorting Using Elaine's Process
With the support and the feedback from clients of mine over the past 20 years, I have developed a sorting process where you scale the relationship you have to things and their importance to you so that you are sure to identify the I love it’s (the things that mean the most to you). Once you identify the relationship you have with the most important things, it is far easier to identify those that just don’t make the cut, helping you make “I can live with it” decisions.
Click The Quiz Below To Get Started:
Resource 16.5. Sorting Using Elaine’s Scaling Process
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Category 1, 2, 3 = Highest valued category: I can’t imagine life without it; that’s how important this item is to me. List the criteria that make this a 1, 2, 3 category item:
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Category 4, 5, 6 = This item is important, and if I don’t have to sacrifice a category 1, 2, 3 item, I would want to keep as many as I have room for. List the criteria that make this a 4, 5, 6 category item:
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Category 7, 8, 9, 10 = This item is nice but not a priority compared to category 1-6 items, and if I have to, I can let them go, hopefully to locations where or people with whom they will not be wasted. List the criteria that makes this a 7, 8, 9, 10 category item:
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Choose an item that is the absolute highest priority of your category 1 items.
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What gives this item such high importance?
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Feel the feelings connected to this absolute highest priority item. Remember the images connected to its importance.
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Stay with those feelings, really feel them, and remember what you feel for that item.
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Now consider which category another item belongs to compared to the absolute highest priority item.
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What criteria account for this decision?
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If the item is a category 4, 5, 6, based on the feeling it generates, is it closer to a 4 or to a 6?
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Place it with the other items of the same priority, that is, 4s with 4s, 5s with 5s, and 6s with 6s. Remember: you get to keep as many of these items as you have space for (acceptable space is only where the item would normally be used).
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If the item is a category 7, 8, 9, 10, then consider where you can let it go to.
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Letting go means donating, regifting (if space allows), recycling, discarding, or selling, but the latter only if the verifiable value of the item means selling makes sense and there is an available market for the item. Otherwise donate to a charity that will give you a receipt for income tax purposes.
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