Creating Space for Others | Stuffology with Nicole Kincaid | True Snacks
What Do You Know To Be True?August 27, 202400:12:45

Creating Space for Others | Stuffology with Nicole Kincaid | True Snacks

Yes, this conversation with Nicole Kincaid is about her superpower of helping individuals better manage their stuff and their space AND it’s a masterclass in empathy, holding space for clients, and self-regulation.

Our relationship with our physical possessions, our stuff, is never just about the stuff.

****True Snacks is a bite-sized learning excerpt from the full What Do You Know To Be True? podcast episode. To watch the full episode: https://whatdoyouknowtobetrue.com/nicole ****

We know this. We know this because we have a box in our closet of things we’ve had for decades, haven’t looked through it, and provide provides no functional value to us today, and yet it remains in the closet.

Maybe it’s the watch your wife gave you 25 years ago, your grandfather’s pilot wings, the old hockey jersey…it’s stuff with meaning, and you are never going to get rid of it.

And then there’s the stuff that had meaning, but no longer has meaning. That stuff, once you think about it, can go.

Energy worker, Nicole Kincaid, helps clients understand the relationship and energy with their stuff, so that they can be more intentional about the stuff they surround themselves with. With empathy, non-judgment, and the realization that the solutions she comes up with and not the right solutions for the client.

Nicole knows only the client can create the right solutions for themselves.

Nicole also leans into the value of creating systems for success. And this is where the masterclass level knowledge shows up as Nicole shares “You can’t create the systems before you’ve gone through the stuff.”

Ever feel like you’re in that MC Escher image where the hand is drawing the hand? Where the thing is about the thing, but it’s also about doing the thing?

On one hand, it’s about helping client’s with their physical stuff. At the same it, it’s about helping clients’ with their emotional relationship to their stuff.

While it is about the material possessions in one’s house, Nicole also shares some masterclass level learnings about how to create the container for her clients to explore and unblock the things, emotional and physical, that are getting in their way, literally and metaphorically.

When we work with clients, whether in the office or in the coaching space, what Nicole shares feels a lot like what Org Development giants like Edger Schein, Peter Senge, and Peter Block have been teaching out: Never forget the client owns the problem and the solution.

While I’m reminded of comedian George Carlin famously quipped the following question: “Have you noticed that your friend’s stuff is shit, and your shit is stuff?,” (I’m sure he came up with that line after helping a friend move), it feels like it’s all really important, not the stuff, but the relationship with the stuff.

In this episode, Nicole answers the following questions:
- What is Stuffology?
- How to declutter your space?
- Why is decluttering hard?
- What are the steps in decluttering?

My favorite quote from the episode: “You can’t create the systems before you’ve gone through the stuff.”

While this advice has practical applications, like this whole conversation, there’s more to it than what meets the eye. Experience matters. Getting into it and doing it before designing or finalizing plans for how to do.

What I know to be true about the episode: I need to spend more time thinking about my relationship with my stuff and sitting with the deeper understanding of what my relationships with my stuff means. And to timebox that *stuff* - only so much emotional heavy lifting one can do in anyone setting.

What I learned from the episode: I love how so much of what Nicole talks about in helping her client discover their relationship with their stuff is relevant to the work I do with my consulting and coaching clients, from discovering the emotional connections to honoring the agency and brilliance within the clients to own their issues and design their solutions.

Resources mentioned in the episode:
- Nicole’s website: https://nicolekincaid.com/

Music in this episode created by Ian Kastner.

"What Do You Know To Be True?" is a series of conversations where I speak with interesting people about their special talent or superhero power and the meaningful impact it has on others. The intention is to learn more about their experience with their superpower, so that we can learn something about the special talent in each of us which allows us to connect more deeply with our purpose and achieve our potential.

For more information about the podcast or to check out more episodes, go to: https://whatdoyouknowtobetrue.com/

"What Do You Know To Be True?" is hosted by Roger Kastner, is a production of Three Blue Pens, and is recorded on the ancestral lands of the Duwamish and Suquamish people. To discover the ancestral lands of the indigenous people whose land you may be on, go to: https://native-land.ca/
Energy Management, Energy Clearing, Stuffology, Clients, Client Management, empathy, holding space, self-regulation, Purpose, Agency, Joy, Adaptability, Courage, Potential, Meaning, Coach, Coaching, Mentor, Leadership, Impact, In Service of, Meaningful,