Clutter is discouraging and debilitating. It makes every task take longer than it needs to and drains your energy, ultimately adding to your stress and decreasing your everyday satisfaction.
So, finding time for decluttering is an excellent way to make two very positive and vital changes in your life:
- Decreasing your stress and
- Increasing your productivity and satisfaction.
If clutter holds you back and makes your daily life unnecessarily stressful and challenging, you are not alone. And if you are ready to start making some changes, here are 3 Timely Tips that will help!
And remember – you are unique and one size actually doesn’t fit all … so please adapt these tips to match what you need. This is about finding time for YOU – not anyone else!
1. Break your challenge into pieces. Focusing on the whole of it (whatever “it” is) is bound to be overwhelming and discouraging. If you bite off too much, you are simply sabotaging your efforts, so start small – very small!
2. Clutter is sometimes a function of not having places to put things. Whether you’re talking about clutter in your house or in your mind … if you have places to put things where you know they will be accessible when you need them, you’re more likely to be able to “let go.” Try to add shelving, reorganize closets, or maybe explore ways to create a more useful to-do list for yourself.
3. Always, always, always validate the effort! You may be good at validating others’ efforts … but it is fundamentally important to validate your own efforts, too. This energizes you and builds positive momentum. In a very real way, it keeps you going!
So be sure that you give yourself plenty of pats on the back every time you follow through on a goal that you have set for yourself. DON’T minimize what you accomplish.
BONUS TIP: You may also want to start a “Clutter Journal” so that you can track your progress, the challenges that crop up, and how you overcome them.
As you chip away at the chaos and create more time and space for yourself, you will be amazed to see what emerges! That’s because clutter doesn’t only clog your space and your time … it also clogs your creativity, your energy, and your confidence.
As you start letting go of your clutter, whether it’s in your bedroom or on your to-do list, you will find that your energy is freed up in all sorts of new and exciting ways!
Now, ask yourself: What are there other things you can do to increase your energy and responsiveness?
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I absolutely hate clutter! Luckily, my bedroom isn’t too messy!
That’s great, Sophie!!
Clutter really is debilitating. I’m struggling with it right now, and finding time to deal with it is really a challenge. I like the idea of a clutter journal. Maybe that would help me!
I am a big fan of the ‘whatever works’ approach, Amy. And you may be on the right track. Often a journal will uncover whatever is UNDER the clutter – then it gets easier to clear it out.
I agree with you! I’m trying to unclutter my home, one room at a time!
Hi Claudia – That’s the best approach, I think. Breaking your de-cluttering tasks into chunks … the smaller the better!
Well, I must say I am not good at keeping my work area clutter-free. Actually, now that I think of it, everything in my room is full of clutter except for my desk.
I have to keep my desk perfectly clean!
HA.
Great post!
Thanks very much, Timothy – very interesting comment. What do you think is underneath your choices about clutter? 😉