Before I was a professional organizer, I was a professional illustrator. What’s the connection?

Al Hirschfeld.

Here’s why.

If ever there was an artist who understood that less is more, it was Al Hirschfeld. With his style of drawing, minimal makes movement. The drawings came alive with action because his lines were so simple, clean, and fluid. To clutter those lines with shading, crosshatching, or color, would be to compromise the movement he achieved.

Hirschfeld influenced my drawing style and, by extension, he influenced my approach to organizing. It’s all about the movement.  I believe that not only does minimal make movement, but movement makes minimal. In fact, that’s very close to my circulation prevents accumulation philosophy. To stay organized, you need a plan for movement, in a series of manageable, reliable steps.

There is a plan for movement in rivers, in seasons, in our blood stream, and in all things natural. It only makes sense that there is a plan for movement in our home and office environments. It’s one thing to tidy up a space, but there nothing to stop the clutter from piling up again, unless there is a plan for movement.

Getting back to the way Hirschfeld’s minimal makes movement, I remember a great episode of TLC’s Clean Sweep years ago, where organizing guru Peter Walsh is working with a woman, who collects way too many eagle figurines, because the eagle was a symbol she shared with her late brother.  Mr. Walsh has a knack for putting things in perspective. He told her that if she wants to soar like an eagle, she’s never going to do it if she’s weighted down by all this clutter. That was the moment she let go and started realizing her goal. What was most important was what the eagle’s symbolized, not the physical representations getting in the way.

Al Hirschfeld’s line-work is similarly unweighted. The space between the lines is almost as important as the lines themselves. There’s balance, harmony, and rhythm. That’s why it moves so effortlessly. Minimalism for it’s own sake is pointless, but if it allows for fluid movement in your life, then you have the freedom you need to be more organized, more productive, and able to live in the moment.

That’s the best stuff of all.