Maeve’s Method: A Photographic Journey

Sep 1, 20118 min read

Maeve helps Nicole to conquer her biggest fear - #organizing her home office.

Meet Nicole Wells. Nicole turned her greatest fear – public speaking – into her greatest asset, teaching others how to speak with confidence. Here's how she got organized at home.

Nicole is my public speaking coach. She is one of the most professional, fun and hilarious women I know, and when she asked if I’d help her to get her home office in order, I jumped at the chance: Nicole gets results. #goals

Enjoy Nicole’s two-hour journey, as we discover the joys and challenges of the home she shares with her husband Mark. And, we get to work! #couples

Nicole and I did a two-part coaching session: two-hours one week, then two hours a few weeks later. The first two-hours we did the Home IQ, found our 'anchor spot' (her home office) then worked Maeve’s Method. The second two-hours we dove deep into her home office systems, all in an effort to help her improve her productivity and get better results.

Nicole is married to the lovely Mark. Mark did not participate in these sessions, but was home for a portion our first session, long enough for me to get some feedback on how he likes to live inside his home.

And shout out to Pulitzer Prize winning photographer, Kelly Guenther, who tracked us silently and captured the emotional reality of a Get Your House in Order session. We thank you so much!

My journey with Nicole was tracked by Pulitzer Prize winning photographer, Kelly Guenther (thanks Kelly!). Kelly captured the emotional range of the process, and made Nicole’s #clutter… look as pretty as a bride.

Click through our slideshow below ↓ and enjoy Nicole’s journey as she discovers both the joys – and challenges – of bringing order to home using Maeve’s Method.

The Tour

I always begin sessions with a tour, or what I call the Home IQ. This is a chance for me to get a lay of the land in a client's home, and to ask critical questions that help me to understand someone's behavior, and to help pull out a client's buried goals. #HomeIQ

I notice as we tour that the apartment has tall ceilings, creating a lot of "up high" space, primarily used for storage. Paying attention to how a home is structured is important on the home organization journey, as we tend to use space as it is given to us. I ask Nicole how she is using the space up top. She explains that she and her husband Mark tend to just "stuff stuff up there..." #lookup

A quick look at the primary kitchen cabinet shows a space that is being used, but perhaps not to its best potential. I know that with a few trays or low-side square baskets we can improve this space, increasing ease of use and doubling storage capacity. #welovetrays #storagesolutions

Once again, the trend to "stuff high" appears, this time in a hall closet. It can also be seen on the shelving unit to the left of the door, where a handful of unused office binders have been stored. Now that I've seen this trend in a few spots in the home I bring it to Nicole's awareness. "There are high ceilings in this apartment," I tell Nicole, "and you and Mark are very tall. I have noticed that you tend to stuff things way up high on all the top shelves, and on top of furniture, I am guessing because you can. Do you enjoy placing things up high like that?"

Nicole was grateful for the question. She said, "You know, I never gave it much thought. You are right, I guess we do tend to put things up there because we can, but I don't really like how it looks, or how stuffed those spaces get. I'd much rather keep it clean or take those things down, and use that space for something else." I was proud of Nicole for her insight, and for being open to change. #habits #behaviors

The #bedroom reveals more habits, including once again, the tendency to stuff things up high (notice items on top of the shelving unit -- between Nicole's hand and face in the background). It also shows how Mark may need a dedicated office space for his own life, a bridge we can cross later.

Back in the living room, I ask Nicole about the apartment's furniture. She tells me that all the big stuff, including the arching lamp, came from Mark's former apartment, before they got married and moved in together. Nicole got that it was oversized for their home, but also accepted that in the city, you often just "move with what you have".

Mark came home and joined in our conversation for a bit. Nicole's good-natured husband had only one request: "A spot to dump my stuff." Since our intention that day was to organize Nicole's home office (seen here in the corner of the background of this picture), I tucked Mark's request into my mind noting that, even if we didn't have time today to create that space, I'd make sure as we wrote down Nicole's Next Steps that 'a spot for Mark' was on her list. #nextsteps

As a last stop on our tour, we finally got to Nicole's Home Office, a likely project for the day. I loved how serious Nicole became when focused on her professional world, I could really see how high the stakes were for her to get this area right.

When I asked her how she currently feels about her space, she threw hands up to her head. Her frustration over the chaos was apparent.

A quick look at her filing system showed a working system, but one far too vast for Nicole's preference. As she shared with me, "It works, but I wish I had one drawer not four."

The Sit Down: Learning 'The Skills'

Finally, Nicole and I sit down so I can teach her the 5 Maeve's Method Concepts, or what I call 'The Skills'. I teach all my clients these skills up front so that they have them to draw from once we get hands-on and begin to work. #TheSkills

As a last step, I guide my client towards their 'Anchor Project'. This is the project we'll work on today, and how my clients learn to use their skills. Sometimes the 'Anchor Project' matches the project a client has called me in for that day --- and sometimes it shifts.

"If you could bring immediate relief to one area of your home today, what area would that be?" Nicole chooses her home office. Our tour allowed her to share all her top trouble spots, but the one area she can't wait to relieve is her money-maker, the home office where she starts and ends her day.

Getting Started: Nicole In Process

My sessions always start with a tour, or HomeIQ, then move on to a project tour or ProjectIQ, and then we get to work. In order to get things done we have to deconstruct a space, or what I call being 'In Process'. To accomplish this, we take items one by one off a surface and move it to a workspace. In this case, we've moved everything from Nicole's desktop to her floor.

Once there, we begin a Maeve's Method 'like things' sort. I hold up each item and ask my client, "Tell me about this?" They tell the story of the item, perhaps how they use it, how they acquired it, or how it came to live in that space. This process leads to #categories, or what I call categories according to you. #CATY

Sometimes it can take work to find the story, and get to a category. If a client is struggling, I ask a follow up question. I'm known to puzzle clients with tough questions...

But I always get answers. In this case, Nicole was able to articulate a behavior that she knew was there, but for which she did not understand the implications. "I have this out of sight out of mind thing," she said. "I keep everything out." As soon as she said this, Nicole seemed relieved. I could see wheels turning in her head: Can I change this behavior? Can I stop this behavior? Do I even use all the things I leave out?

A tin of pens lay before us. I asked Nicole to pick out a few pens, only what she needs to live on her desk. She dug in, excitedly picking out her favorite pens (who doesn't have favorite pens). Left behind were broken pencils, dried up markers and pen backups that Nicole realized could just as easily live in her supply closet. While sorting pens can seem like the most mundane of organizing tasks, doing so allowed Nicole to see what it might look like to only keep 'active' items out on her desk, and to reduce the footprint of her 'out of sight, out of mind' need.

With habit tweaking on the table, we moved on to shelves. Our tour revealed that Nicole tends to drop things on top shelves. I ask her what it might feel like to curb that habit, to take away any space in her home office for clutter to live? Nicole loved the idea, so we set about clearing down the shelf.

With the shelf cleared, we focused on cleaning up all her dangling cables. Doing so visually opened up the space.

As a last step, I asked Nicole to find something special to anchor the space, perhaps a vase or picture or sentimental memorabilia. Something she loves looking at that would inspire her as she works, and keep her smiling through the day. Nicole looked around then selected a framed photo of she and Mark, and she placed it tenderly on the shelf. I love these moments, as my client's hearts open wide and after all that hard work and vulnerability a client gets to take total control of a space, and finally, make it feel like home.

With the basics set, and the desk cleared up, we work to tweak Nicole's systems. We discussed what she does when she opens her laptop each day, which helped us to place her pens, office supplies, and turned us to a discussion about the volume and placement of her files.

Despite the desire to reduce down to one filing drawer, not four, Nicole accepted that the system was in good shape and working for now, and reducing down would be a project for another day. We gathered her 'Next Steps' sheet. #NextSteps

Next Steps

As a final step to any session I ask my clients to list five achievable follow-throughs and goals, things like:

Take stuff to donation bin
Try to sell old laptop
Reduce four file drawers to three, two if I can (one if I can!)
Review books and aim to reduce by at least 10%
Test new systems for a week, make notes of issues to discuss with Maeve

A week out, we hop on our check-in call and talk issues out.

As a last step, I ask my clients to take a step back, close their eyes, take a deep breath, then open their eyes and view their new space through fresh eyes. I then ask, "So, how do you feel about your new space?" Nicole said, after a pregnant pause, "I'm thrilled." I could feel the weight of her response, both an acknowledgement of the hard work she put in that day as well as the opening of a pathway forward towards an improved workspace and work ethic.

Before we said goodbye that day, I grabbed a hug! Honestly, the best of my job are the hugs. There is a powerful process that goes on when a client transforms a cluttered, busy, overworked or underperforming space into something that will support their lives. A weight is lifted, and hopes and dreams burst through again, and overwhelmed, anxious faces smile. I call this the 'Home at Last' moment, and I reach for it on every session.