The Office Clean-Out That Turned Into Something Else Entirely

I’ve been putting off a deep dive in my office for a while.

You know the kind of project I mean. The kind that looks simple on paper and somehow turns into a full-blown expedition. You estimate six hours, and two days later you’re still knee-deep in rabbit holes, memories, and mystery piles.

Like I always do, I assessed the situation, made a logical plan, and jumped in.

One wall at a time. Clockwise. No detours.

I was doing well until I hit the three piles of wine and food magazines I’d convinced myself I’d “get to” two-plus years ago.

They sat untouched, judging me quietly.

It took every ounce of strength I had to pick them up, gently, like they were fragile heirlooms, and haul them to the recycling bin one load at a time.

The whole time I wondered what great recipe I was missing.

But you only know what you know you know, and apparently I didn’t know anything in those magazines because I never opened them.

Back to work.

Then I found something unexpected: an assessment I had taken in 2018 on my strengths.

I had completely forgotten about it.

And because I had just taken the Kolbe A and Working Genius earlier this week, those results were still fresh in my mind.

So of course I had a wild idea.

What if I looked at all of them together?

Naturally, that led to a deeper hole.

Now I wanted to pull in my Myers-Briggs from 1996 and see how it lined up with the other three.

And I did.

Suddenly, as I continued around the room, I wasn’t just cleaning.

I was contemplating.

Like all projects, I eventually found myself at Menards buying shelving. But even as I wandered the aisles, the results were front and center, not letting go.

When I got back home, I sat down and really looked at all four assessments.

They had been taken over the course of nearly three decades. Each one measured something different. But the way they fit together was astounding.

For the first time, I had a visual of the wiring that is, in essence, me.

The why, how, what, and where of how I roll.

What motivates me.
What drains me.
Why I notice what I notice.
Why I move the way I move.
Why every pivot I’ve made in my life makes more sense than I realized.

So yes, the office project turned into a two-day event.

But what I didn’t expect was that the clearing would happen in more than one place.

On the shelves.
In the drawers.
And somewhere inside me.

I didn’t anticipate shedding so much clutter, both physical and internal.

Putting words to what I’ve lived, and why, was eye-opening. It validated something I have known in pieces for a long time.

Why I started Bloom.
Why I feel so led to do this work.
Why I care so much about women finding their own answers, their own wiring, their own clarity.

I don’t need validation to do what I do. I made decisions long ago that set me on this path.

But I’ll admit, when my client asked me to take the Kolbe A and Working Genius, I resisted.

At 65, I thought, what else is there to learn?

What could possibly surprise me now?

Turns out, a lot.

It’s as if my office had been begging me to get it organized, like the clutter was standing in the way of something I needed to see.

I didn’t expect the unexpected gift that came with it.

For women in midlife and beyond, self-understanding can arrive in surprising ways. Sometimes it comes through a conversation, a memory, an old assessment, a cleared shelf, or a story we did not realize we were still carrying.

I’m still sitting with what I saw when I looked at those four assessments together. Each one told me something different. One showed how I instinctively take action. One showed the kind of work that gives me energy. One named the strengths I naturally reach for. One reflected the leadership wiring I have carried for decades.

Alone, each one was interesting.

Together, they told a much fuller story.

And maybe that is true for all of us. We are not one label, one role, one season, or one result. We are a collection of threads, experiences, instincts, choices, gifts, and hard-won wisdom that keep revealing themselves as we are ready to see them.

So the next time you keep putting off a project, remember this:

It might be more than a project.

It might be the doorway to something you didn’t know you were ready to understand.

**Kitchen Table Question:**
Have you ever found something from your past that helped you understand yourself more clearly in the present?