I think we almost divorced with this move!  We have moved before, a long time ago, from an apartment to a house with little stuff.  And, the house was just across town. We recently moved out of state from that home after 16 blissful years, raising our two daughters into teenagers.  Although I did a ton of sorting and pitching before the move date, somehow, we arrived in Atlanta with a lot more “stuff” than I thought.

I realized very quickly that my husband and I have very different unpacking styles!  But, as much as we fought, in the end, I found they complemented one another.  I like to unpack it ALL and place piles of “stuff” in the rooms where they belonged.  My husband wanted me to open one box at a time, putting away its contents immediately.  He hated the chaos I was creating.

Piles were everywhere, and he wanted the stuff put away. Don’t get me wrong, it was overwhelming, but I knew I could create an organized way of living and beautiful interior design through my approach.  But, my piles were messy and stressed him out.  He yelled and yelled and pushed me to put things away under his timeline.  At some point, I ignored him and just focused on my strategy and execution.  I zoned him out!  By the way, I was putting obvious things away in the right places (dishes, silverware, towels, etc.).  Things that were a little less obvious were in the infamous piles (random kitchen appliances, random sporting equipment, etc.)

But, to save our marriage, I knew I had to operate quicker and, in some instances, with tremendous uncertainty.  I could not remember what we had and I wanted to pick a location in the house that made the most sense.  I thought about how often we used things, how much we had of a category, and how each category complemented one another:

• Frequency determined the location within a room
• Amount determined the size of the location
• Complementary determined what categories should be next to one another (for ease of finding stuff)

As I have done in all my professional roles, I kept an eye on the long term while focusing on immediate accomplishment.  And, those accomplishments are most often driven by a mix of long-term strategy and executing in uncertainty. On day 3, we were all unpacked with no more boxes, and everything was in its “permanent” place.  Warren pushed, and I did not sleep much, but it got done!   I believe that one day I will find something that was placed in an odd location, and I will move it, but I think 95% of our belongings are right where they should be.

During the unpacking process, I often pondered about our “thinking styles.” My husband likes to take a problem, solve it, and move on. I realized I enjoyed uncovering all possibilities regardless of how chaotic it makes me feel.  Because I know I can make an ordinary outcome something extraordinary!