Discover how your bookshelf tidy-up can reveal the real you. One day to Discover Your True Identity

One day to Discover Your True Identity: Discover how your bookshelf tidy-up can reveal the real you.
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Have you ever had a bookshelf or e-book clear-out and used the time to take a really good look at its contents and thought what it’s says about your identity? Does it replicate the life you live, and the career you have? In other words does it reflect your authentic-self. If not, this article you will teach you how to create a strategy to either ‘Retain or Remove’ items from your life, discover the best time for all your decision-making, and reveal your true self and focus on the life that’s authentically you.

Here’s how I discovered my authentic-self, and you can too.
A few years ago, at my home in Hounslow my bookshelves were in disarray. I’d slowly amassed a huge personal collection, many I hadn’t seen or read for years.  I’d been showing symptoms of procrastination for months to tackle my bookshelf. It seemed a daunting task, because I thought it might be too difficult, time consuming and demoralising. After running out of excuses, I decided that this could no longer be ignored. So I withdrew all the books that no longer resonated with me. For example there was an old edition of a Viz annual; what was that all about? Some misguided Christmas present was my only conclusion!
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I needed a plan to decide which titles would be deserving of my very limited bookshelf space, and which one’s would be passed on. I created a strict ‘Retain or Remove Strategy’ in order to simplify my decision-making process. The strategy was based on this criteria;

o   Does this bring me pleasure or entertain me in any way?
o   Do I really need it?
o   Does it teach me something?
o   Will I refer to it or use to it again?
o   Is there something more useful or similar I have?
o   Can I bear to part with it? If not, why not?
o   Is it a true representation of who I am, what my core values and interests are today?
o   Would others benefit more from it than me?

As I worked through my collection, I realised it wasn’t the daunting task that I’d convinced myself it was going to be. The strategy I’d created made the whole process relatively straightforward and enjoyable, not to mention rewarding. All the books that I’d decided to remove, found new homes with either friends, family or charities, even the Viz annual, I thought, if that’s what some enjoy reading then who am I to say otherwise!

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So what did my ‘Retain or Remove Strategy’ teach me?

On reflection, the strategy taught me that I’d created a list of questions to follow for life. This is because you can apply a similar series of questions, or at least a couple of these questions to any one situation. Such as your personal development, career, interests & hobbies, just about anything! I resort to this strategy when making decisions from the everyday, like cleaning out the cupboards, through to the bigger decisions I mentioned earlier.  

I still struggle with letting go of some items that have a small emotional attachment. So when I come across them, they are added to my memories box and reviewed at a later date when I need to reminisce. I can live with that, I’m human after all.

Discovery of my authentic-self!

I spent a day sifting, sorting, analysing and arranging, through the unnecessary, fictional, irrelevant and outdated me. The ‘Retain or Remove Strategy’ revealed a collection that revealed my identity, my authentic-self. The titles left on the shelf really reflected what my passions were, what I stood for, what motivated and entertained me and brought me joy and happiness. My career and life today stems from that 1 day of clearing down my bookshelf. So you see the answers were in my grasp all this time, and they can be for you too.

I would urge you to take regular breaks to make decisions. The reason I say this is a study I came across, often cited in journals, explains, the best time to make decisions. The study reveals that we tend to adopt different patterns of thinking at different times of the day. In the morning the decisions we make can take longer, but our judgements tend to be far more accurate. In the afternoon or evening we can make decisions that are much quicker, but can be more risky and less accurate.

Today my book collection continues to be a reflection of myself, as it’s reviewed every six months. It’s highly eclectic, spanning a broad range of topics from the fictional, inspiring reads, to titles that offer enrichment, educational and factual knowledge. The difference these days is that any new additions to my collection are now thought through carefully before allowing them to adorn my bookshelf. Yes I still occasionally receive the misguided book selections from kind contributors, but now I deal with them, by referring to my ‘Retain or Remove Strategy’. 

No space for a bookshelf, or no real book collection? Discover the authentic you using the same ‘Retain or Remove Strategy’ by reflecting on the company you keep, your social circles, personal and work relationships that you value, and the lifestyle you enjoy.

So if you’ve ever ask these same big questions about yourself, or you struggle to find your identity and feel the need to discover your true self, then I encourage you to spend 1 day using the ‘Retain or Remove Strategy’ to your bookshelves and find your authentic-self.   

I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas for discovering your true self, so please leave your comments after reading this article.​

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