I was working with my client the other day when her friend popped by to say hello.

We were busy organizing my client’s entire photo collection, and there were piles of them covering every inch of floor around us.

“Oh wow, you guys really get into it, don’t you?” The friend remarked at the sight of us. “I’ve been trying to get a handle on my stuff, but it’s like, where do you even start?”

Her jovial tone revealed the genuine overwhelm she was experiencing, just as it always does when people ask me similar questions (which is often).

How do I get started when the task seems so daunting? I can’t see a way to the end. I’m dreading dealing with this. I feel like I don’t have what it takes. But how?    

They all seem to want me to tell them some magic strategy, the editing and organizing secret sauce.

The only answer I have to give is: you start.

Where?

Anywhere.

Where doesn’t matter so much, so long as it’s somewhere; start with whatever’s bugging you most, keeping you from being your best self, most interfering with your daily functioning. Start with what feels to you like the easiest if you like, the project you can most fully envision in its completed state.

How?

You just start.

The answer is Simple because the question is. It’s merely the difference between inaction and action.

Like all things in life, you do them or you don’t.

If you want to start exercising, you buy a pair of gym shoes, lace them up, and get jumping.

If you want to start eating healthily, you educate yourself on good and bad foods, find a handful of new recipes, and head to Whole Foods.

And if you want to start ridding your life of clutter, you dump out the contents of that drawer, that shelf, that box, and get busy making decisions.

Start today. Start this very moment. Start by changing your thoughts about it and watch as it changes before your very eyes.

If it’s truly a priority to you, the solution will present itself. But only if you begin.