Life and Money - This article was submitted on 1/2/08 to be published in the 1/11/08 issue of the 9 newspapers of Rising Publications (formerly Martinelli Publications) in Westchester County, NY including The Westchester Crusader, The Rye Chronicle, The Eastchester Record, The Pelham Sun, The Sound View News, Home News & Times, The Mt. Vernon Independent, Harrison Independent, and North Castle News.

Written by:

Frank Sisco, 30 Mill Road, New Rochelle, NY 10804

Home office - 914.740.4422, Cell - 914.740.4422; Email – ideasmoney@aol.com

www.LifeAndMoney.com

Life and Money - "Start with Your Closets"

By Frank Sisco, CPA, PFS

(Word count = 1,000 word count plus 8 words for References Across the Media and 61 words for About the Author)

New Year's resolutions for me this year began in mid December, two weeks early with closets. First, I reorganized the physical closets in my house when I started alterations in expanding my home office preparing for a major increase in my business. Secondly, I started reorganizing the closets of my mind, resulting from a heart scare. The changes have been quite exhilarating, filled with zest and excitement about the future, together with a respect for the past and a deeper enjoyment of the present. Closet reorganization yielding big benefits is worth sharing with others.

I'm expecting many clients to visit my home office to discuss a relatively new investment strategy that has brought very unusual results. I needed more room for people, files, equipment, etc. and so I'm expanding. When clearing each room for improvement, I decided it was an opportune time to zero-base how I was organized. So I went into those dark recesses of each closet, pulled the stuff out, reviewed each item, and decided whether to toss it, to save it and if so where. As I did this, I was swept up with feelings. Seeing old dolls and toys harkened back days twenty years ago when my wife Lorrie and I were parenting a three-year old Kelly. Of course, save them. (Reaffirming love and relationships). Where? Upstairs in her old room. A box of my old audiotapes. Save, near the audio equipment. I listened to a "La Bamba" soundtrack tape and recalled the movie that had an important formative impact on my daughter's love for music. (Refocused on cherished hobbies.) The inline skates. Save them but on a top shelf of the utility room closet. Yes, we need to go to Central Park like with used to do and spend a day out of doors, enjoying the skating and the sites, being part of a crowd experiencing mutual enjoyment. (Idealized community.) The microphone and speaker. Take it out of the closet and put it next to the piano to do some sing-a-longs soon (done with Kelly on 1/1/08, a good start to the year). (Improve on the prior pastimes.) The balls that were in 4 different boxes in 4 different closets. Consolidate them. How could it be that I haven't thrown a ball recently, when my boyhood was consumed with ball playing? Got to throw and catch more, not just watch others doing it on television. (Energize.) Phone wires and electrical stuff. Get rid of the broken ones. Use some of them to run new connections. Save the rest. Reflect on the several prior offices that the wires strung. (Utilize.) The people in those offices. The years how quickly they sped. Promising to slow it down. The dust accumulated. Clean it up, starting fresh. (Recognize). The old videotapes of a prior invention presentation. The hundreds of books. Separating them into categories. Building bookcases that could store them better and make them more accessible. The clothes that don't fit into bags for Salvation Army. The rest sorted, boxed, hung. Consolidated. Oh look at that navy blue suit I wore to appear in court as a witness. Here's the jacket my mother gave me one Christmas when she did lots of shopping. (Appreciate.) Tools, save. Paint cans, label and discard dried ones. Old electronic equipment, trash. Realizing the speed of change and that one day soon all the wonderful equipment I now have will be obsolete and of little value. Boxes of old tax returns and support. Sort through and keep most. Magazines, throw out. Old personal videotapes, priceless. Yet, in the future, record less and live more. The wrist holder for carpal tunnel syndrome I never wore. Into the back of the linen closet upstairs. My guitar. Put it out with the piano to start playing again. The basement files. Workers constructed plastic shelves and I sorted and reboxed and stored the files, throwing out many. (Realign.)

As a first pass, go through your physical closets, letting the stuff trigger in you a life review of your past and find out what you want to bring forward into your future. I think at this stage you'll discover that although you are a new person, there is much of who you've been that is worth saving, worth continuing.

Then do the harder task. Look into the closets of your mind. When I did, I found several ways worthy of change. The severe chest pain and shortness of breath I had experienced in early December most likely was the result of a heart infection (pericarditis) and not seriously life-threatening. Except for a very low-level of occasional pain, I feel fine. (Not all tests are complete, but the echocardiogram from today shows no underlying problems. Hopefully, an upcoming 64-slice CT scan will show no blockages in my arteries.) As in a prior essay, the heart scare had a silver lining in getting me to focus on the blessings in my life and to realign my priorities. (ATM1) One major closet in my mind that needed reorganizing was how I overloaded my life with activities sometimes cutting out time with loved ones or taking care of their needs. One technique I've adopted is looking at the loved ones around me and adopting some of their ways of being that are effective, as a way to better appreciate their concerns, leading to even better relationships and bonding. . Who needs a book by Giuliani on leadership when my own spouse is the perfect model of excellent thinking and wisdom? Another closet has been my obsession with information and analysis, nearly having to second-guess even the smallest decisions, pulling others along into my analytical thinking. Why look to spiritual leaders and decision gurus when my mother and father are filled with intuitive common sense approaches, as well as motivational and inspirational lessons. It's a reassuring feeling it's all there, all along. Right in my closets and right next to me. All that's needed is a little shaking up, reorganizing, and prioritizing.

References Across the Media:

(ATM 1) -- http://www.lifeandmoney.com/1newlifeandmoneyfiles030707/articles/Article_FinancialPlanningMP_LyingInAHospitalBed.htm

About the author:

Frank Sisco is a CPA and Personal Financial Specialist and writes on topics related to life and money. You can contact Frank by email at ideasmoney@aol.com or by phone at 914.589.1013 in order to express your opinion about this article or to obtain copies of prior articles. Frank, and his wife and daughter, reside in New Rochelle, NY