I'm a member of the Peter Walsh fan club

14 May 2008

Peter Walsh, organizer on TLC’s show Clean Sweep, as well as Oprah’s go-to guy for hoarders, gave the keynote address at this year’s annual conference of the National Association of Professional Organizers.

I’ve enjoyed him on TV, but somehow didn’t expect him to be such an insightful, humble, and engaging speaker. I liked his talk so much that I bought a CD of it, so I could hear it again. (CDs and DVDs of his talk are available for purchase here.)

When I listened a second time, I jotted down some notes. Peter told his audience of 800 professional organizers that he has five visions for his work:

Helping people redefine their relationship to their stuff.
Helping people reassess the material goods themselves and recognize that they purchased not just the product, but the promise of the product. (“We go into homes that are filled with the products, but the lives are littered with the promises,” he said.)
Helping heal homes, because when you you heal a home, you heal something far deeper.
Helping people bring mindfulness to their decisions and lives.
Helping people understand that organization is a path to incredible freedom.

In addition, Peter gave the organizers a sense of pride and purpose when he said,

When we change an individual, we change a room.
When we change a room, we change a home.
When we change a home, we change a family.
When we change a family, we change a community.
When we change a community, we change a world.

I decided to write about Peter today, because I was just listening to him on a radio show, Organizing Playground, hosted by Allison Carter and Sara Fisher in Georgia. I’ve subscribed to the show on iTunes, as a podcast, and look forward to listening weekly. Anyway, Peter was a guest a couple of weeks ago, along with Monica Ricci and John Trosko. You can listen to it, as I did, by clicking here.

Thanks for what you do for our profession, Peter!

Tagged with: clutter, napo, oprah, organizing playground, peter walsh