Removing clutter can have a double benefit. Your work or home space is easier to use and more inviting. Additionally the time spent clearing out the clutter can be a release for more imagination and intuition. So problems get solved and you move forward more easily’
Clutter stops us moving forward, slows us down, and prevents us from the big bold steps we want to take. Whether it is for home or work it can be difficult to get rid of it. Removing clutter takes emotional energy. So we may end up doing something easier instead like buy something, put the kettle on, or look at social media. The easy thing looks like a quick win but over the long term it is not.
The cycle can continue as we feel bad about not doing the clearing up, and then beat ourselves up so feel worse., And so it goes on until a crisis happens. When we are down we are more likely to want a “magic pill” an amazing experience that may (but is unlikely) to instantly make us feel good. When the magic pill approach fails we can feel worse (again) as more precious money and time may have been wasted.
Approaching a milestone event can be the perfect incentive to take action. The end of the month, the end of the first half of the year, before you move, before re-decorating the office can all be used as external triggers to help you to get on with it!
Removing clutter can feel scary
Clinging to clutter can help us to feel secure. There is an emotional charge about keeping things, or a sense of comfort and fullness about having “plenty”. In the home it can be having a freezer, fridge or cupboards that are packed that helps to feel prepared for problem times.
At the beginning of the pandemic supermarket shelves were emptied, supplies of food and toilet roll were depleted and grocery shopping increased by 70%. The fear of the pandemic drove all the additional demand which contributed to the empty shelves, and gave rise to more “need” to buy.
Logically there was no need for the shortfall – but logic was not the reason for the buying frenzy! I know I bought in some extra supplies. Although food waste was reducing in the UK I imagine the pandemic has made an impact. Even if groceries were not wasted much would have become clutter in the cupboard and the freezer.
In times gone by it was important to store food, and a well stocked larder meant a well run household. Now we have many more opportunities for buying that it can be tempting to shop for no reason.
Just in Time supply principles reduce excess stock
Most larger businesses have a just in time ordering procedure now. The days of keeping stock because it might be wanted have gone, and demand is now met on a need basis. Stock that sits on supermarket shelves, in stockrooms or warehouses costs time and money if it is not on the way to the customer.
Personally I find it a joy to go into a shop and discover all kinds of unexpected items. Stationery shops, bookshops and hardware stores are my particular love. It gives me an enjoyable experience as a customer but is probably strictly not based on harsh economic principles, unless they have a good customer base and the ability to supply through their website.
Work based excess is paper and digital
Working from home means that home/work boundaries can be fuzzy. But on the other hand any improvements that make you feel good in one are will spill over to the other!
We all have less paper in our businesses as we work more digitally. But paper can be really useful and personally I prefer to write notes with an old fashioned pen on paper. And when on zoom I like the contrast of having a real life experience as a contrast to the screen. So I personally do have notes from meetings still waiting in limbo. I am not sure if I have acted on them, but nor have I re-read them and thrown them away.
Notebooks also can be stored easily and neatly but they do take up space. Not only physically but emotionally.
Digital hoarding can include emails that you have glanced at but not deleted, digital courses you have bought and only looked at once, as well as financial accounts that are not yet filed.
Plus you may have projects that only need a burst of attention to be completed.
Sorting out physical clutter frees your mind and imagination
As more people have been working from home there is less division between home and work. A downside of this is that your energy is drained if you look at stuffed cupboards or drawers. Clearing kitchen cupboards, your wardrobe, the prized shoe collection or the bookshelf will make you feel more like the architect of your life. You keep what you want to keep, you know what you have got, and let the rest go.
You gain from trusting that you don’t need it, and the receiver gains from what you have released.
But there is an additional benefit to clearing up, cleaning and sorting physical things. Doing something with your hands can be relaxing, which is when your best ideas appear. That knotty problem you couldn’t sort at your desk suddenly becomes simpler and easier to deal with.
Personally I find if I have to write something for my business or for a client it can help to simply do something physical. the subconscious can takes over and ideas can flow when I am least thinking. I have a client who often has difficult problems to sort out which no amount of thinking seems to resolve. So she gets out her cleaning equipment, gets her hands dirty and the space clean, and magically the answer appears.
Feeling good about yourself is the ultimate clutter clearing force
The long term way to keep the clutter down is simply to feel secure in your identity. When you feel good about you it becomes easy to let the old stuff go. You can keep what you love (as Marie Kondo says what sparks joy ) and your sense of purpose and clarity makes it easy to let go of the rest.
When you have more emotional space around you there is more room for new experiences. In a perfect world clutter doesn’t build up but is dealt with regularly at the end of every day, week, quarter, season or simply as things change.
Guidelines to help you clear up paper, emails drawers etc
1. Identify a clearing-out project that you could do (but haven’t yet felt the energy to do.) It doesn’t matter whether it is from “home” or “work”. When you run your own business feeling good in one area helps the other. Give yourself a clear time to do it. Half an hour to 40 minutes is a good start point.
2. Get clear on an issue you want resolved or a recurring thought that keeps niggling you.
3. Set to work to enjoy the clearing up! You have given yourself this time so put your whole self into it. Get physical with it too. If it is a work project you might end up with 4 piles: Do (Urgent) Decide (Important but not Urgent, Delegate or Delete.If it is a home project you could have Keep, Donate (to charity), Trash/Recycle, Re-organise.
4. Note any thoughts you have had during the process related to your question or anything else.
5. Release all the unwanted stuff and get it out of your space. (Charity shops, recycling or whatever is appropriate).
6. Enjoy the new clutter free space and celebrate!
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