Clutter in the workspace, clutter on the kitchen table, clutter underneath the bed, clutter in the basement…clutter everywhere! And clutter everywhere leads to a cluttered mind. When one of my clients and I were discussing some very important goals with her home business that got her really excited, the next week she hadn't done a thing with regard to her new goal. Why? "I can't stand to be in my messy and cluttered office," she said.

It's so easy to let clutter pile up. In fact, in the short-term, it's probably easier to just let it build, rather than taking the time and energy up front to do something about it. Did you know that the number-one reason that clutter builds up is from the inability to make a decision? That's right. A piece of mail comes in that we don't know what to do with, so we set it aside for later. We come back from a meeting with a folder full of notes but don't have a good place to file it, so it sits. And then those single pieces of mail and those single folders seem to somehow multiply, until we've got ourselves…a bunch of clutter!

While the easy way out might seem to be to let it pile up, clutter needs to be dealt with right from the start—before it takes over. It's important to be in charge of clutter, rather than it being in charge of us! Holding on to clutter is like holding on to old baggage. Clutter is anything in our lives that is not useful or that we don't love. An organized environment where everything has a function or we love it—now that is useful!

The state of your environment will give you a clue about other areas in your life, just like it does for that client I mentioned. Once we can finally remove the clutter, we create space in our lives to dream about what we want, to set those important goals and begin working on them. What clutter actually does is stand in our way of what we want. The bottom-line: Clutter is an obstacle to our dreams.

If tackling clutter is a priority in your life, respect it enough to set aside time to deal with it. There's that old saying that "nothing changes until something changes." Schedule small blocks of time to begin the process. When a goal is too big and overwhelming, it can be literally paralyzing, and so we throw in the towel too early and say "Forget it!" So make the blocks of time manageable, do-able, and realistic. Maybe that means 20 minutes every day for the next three weeks. That adds up to five hours! And that even includes giving yourself the weekends off. A lot can be done in five hours.

Pick one space, whether that is an office, a closet, or even something as small as a desk drawer. Then make three piles: 1) "Keep", 2) "Toss", and 3) "Sell/giveaway/donate". And only focus on that one task.

Moving forward, remember that whatever clutter you might have in your life didn't build up overnight, so it will take some time to deal with it all once you decide to roll up your sleeves and dig-in. You may want to try using this acronym: "F.A.D." When a new piece of mail or information comes in, "File it," "Act on it," or "Discard it."

As you journey through the process of tackling the clutter, check in with yourself on why you've felt the need to hang on to so many things. There's a positive intention behind every behavior, so if you've held on to clutter, you've done it because there is something that you've inherently gained from it. What is it? Comfort? Security? A need to control? A fear of it disappearing? Find out what's at the root of all the clutter…and even more importantly, what lies ahead for you once it is cleared.

Sign-up now for an Ultimate Living Jump-Start to: 1) Understand what's behind the clutter, and 2) Devise a system to tackle it once and for all!

Michelle Stimpson is a Personal Success Coach who works with her clients to be their best and create outstanding lives…and close the gap between where they are now and where they want to be.

Back to top