Mind Over Clutter

My Mind and Clutter
by Sharon Crosby

I have made the claim that you can do something about clutter by changing the way you think. I’m using myself as the main case study. I still sometimes find myself dealing with clutter, but let me tell you a little about what I’ve accomplished...

I remember one day looking at a shelf full of items I didn’t use and didn’t care for and actually crying because I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of them. Perhaps that I cried is a little extreme. But many would agree that parting with clutter is hard to do.

However, I went from feeling that it was nearly impossible for me to get rid of stuff, to getting rid of the equivalent of my small car filled up five times over with stuff I no longer wanted or needed in my life.

Here’s a condensed description of how I began to change:

Step One: Making Priorities
It all began with the decision that I wanted to change my life. I made a list of what was most important to me, only to realize I didn’t have time or room for those things
in my life. I vowed to eliminate anything that took even small bits of time from my top five priorities. And getting rid of clutter could save little clumps of time here and there. Though formerly reluctant to get rid of a single ounce of my belongings, I now grasped at this new concept desperately.

And that’s when I realized how difficult getting rid of clutter could be. As I mentioned above I even cried because I couldn’t bring myself to part with stuff. Despite the difficulty I knew I had to do something drastic if I really wanted the better life I craved.

Step Two: Take Action
I had been reading Steve Chandler’s 100 Ways to Motivate Yourself. The following paragraph led me to an important step forward: “When you find yourself worrying about something ask yourself the action question, ‘What can I do about this right now?’ And then do something. Anything. Any small thing.” I didn’t feel like I could get rid of the stuff right then, but surely there was some form of action I could take. So I began something revolutionary to help me get rid of clutter. I always wanted to be a writer, so I wrote about clutter.

Step Three: Self Discovery
I started a journal in which I wrote solely about things related to the clutter. I wrote about what bugged me about the clutter, theories of why I kept the clutter, I even wrote about what I liked about the clutter. At times I would even pretend I knew the answers I was looking for by acting as if I was an expert at getting rid of clutter. I was surprised that by pretending I came up with real solutions that actually worked for me. I recommend that you try this yourself. Start writing as if answering a letter to somebody who has asked you for help and act as if you know the answer. You might surprised yourself.

By writing about clutter I realized that my thoughts were largely responsible for why I was disorganized and kept things I didn’t care for. Odd little ideas I’d erroneously created from childhood ruled my behavior as an adult. For example, I discovered deep down I believed that getting rid of things (even if I didn’t use or want them) was wasteful or irresponsible.

Step Four: Challenge Yourself with More Difficult Action
Now I could have written until I was blue in the face, and never got rid of any clutter. Writing is a very helpful tool, but that’s all that it is. Eventually I had to go back to Step Two: Take Action, again. What I discovered through writing was valuable. But if I hoped that solely by writing I would could become completely comfortable with letting go of clutter I probably would not have got rid of anything. Because it is only through doing what you fear that you can fully conquer that fear.

I couldn’t face getting rid of a large chunk of the clutter all at once though. Instead I got rid of things a little bit at a time. Once a month I’d take a small bag or two filled with stuff I no longer used, wanted, or needed to a local charity that runs a thrift store and donated my stuff there.
Finally, after months of getting rid of stuff bit by bitI one day I filled my little Suburu to almost overflowing with stuff I had formerly clung to and donated it to that same thrift store. And I have got rid of much more since then.

Where is the Mind Over Clutter in all of this?

Through prioritizing you shift the order of your thinking. Your thoughts will be focused on what you’ve consciously decided is most important, rather than focused on things that may not really matter that much after all. Having priorities also creates incentives for motivation. A must for changing the way you think and behave.

Taking action changes the way you think. For example, if you have a bad habit and take action to replace it with another your thought process has changed. Through self-discovery you can find out what beliefs you have. From there you can alter those thoughts to reflect how you really want to act.

Through challenging yourself you create one of the greatest changes to your mind of all. You discover that you can do something you didn’t think you could do after all. You grow and become more confident and ready for more difficult challenges that may lie ahead.

These is just the foundation of using your mind to conquer clutter.

Copyright 2001 Sharon Crosby - Mind Over Clutter
All Rights Reserved. Permission is granted to reproduce, copy, or distribute articles from Mind Over Clutter written by Sharon Crosby so long as article(s) is kept intact, & the copyright notice & web site http://www.mindoverclutter.com is included.