A Clutter Clearing Victory!

My weekend plans were changed by a car problem. As a result, I was blessed with most of one day to do whatever I wanted. I could have done some writing. Or, I could have finished some tasks I couldn’t get to last week. Instead I chose to tackle the attic. Why? Because it was the first cool day when I had some time to work up there. And, the attic holds the energy of my hopes and aspirations. I have some compelling wants right now. I figured I could use all the positive energy I could get!

My attic is smaller than most, due to the pitch of our hip roof, and it can get congested very quickly. In the hot summer months it’s much easier to just drop items at the top of the pull down stairs instead of putting them where they really belong. So, my attic was a jumbled mess of negative energy. What a blessing to get most of a day to tackle that hot spot! Now I have a collection of items at the front door, including two bags of shredded supporting documents from our 2005 taxes. And, I have a neat, organized attic! Wonderful!

The next time you’re gifted with an unexpected block of time, consider it a clutter clearing opportunity. What will you clear?

© 2012 Clutter Clearing Community | Debbie Bowie

“Author, Organizing Expert and Feng Shui Practitioner, Debbie Bowie, is a leading authority on clutter clearing to attract more of what you want in life. If you’re ready to clear clutter and move your life forward, get your FREE TIP SHEET, “Feng Shui Tips for Instant Success” at http://www.clutterclearingcommunity.com.

Let me give you an example. Today I was getting ready to buy a cup of coffee at one of my favorite Starbucks stores. I pulled out my gold card to make my purchase and then opted to go to the bathroom before ordering my coffee. I thought I would be saving time by going to the bathroom first because there was a line to order coffee. Instead of putting my gold card back in its usual place, I put it on top of my wallet and put the wallet and my purse on the edge of the sink while I took care of business. When I went to order my coffee, the gold card was nowhere to be found. Gone! I retraced my steps–twice. I looked in the trashcan in the restroom. I searched my purse. Gone!

I initially felt like I was losing my mind. I felt out of control. Then I felt annoyed. Then I went to, “What’s the lesson? What can I learn from this experience?” First, I need to put any credit card type item back where it belongs immediately, even if I’ll use it in the next few minutes. It’s just too easy to lose something like that! And, I became aware that I had a choice: to obsess about the lost card or move on. If I chose to obsess I’d pay for it in lost time and quite possibly still not find the card. If I moved on, I’d have to accept that I lost the card and the money on the card, but I’d be able to get some important computer tasks done. I chose to disengage from the drama of the loss. I asked about replacing the card and ordered my coffee with my debit card. That whole search and evaluation process took about 7 minutes. Not bad–in terms of lost time!

What do you do when you lose things? How much time do you lose per incident?

When you’re young your time is scheduled for you: school, playtime, doctor’s appointments, piano lessons, etc. When you become an adult some of your time may be scheduled for you, your work hours, for example. Even then you get to choose the kind of job you seek with its corresponding work hour requirements. And, you get to choose what you do with the rest of your time. Time is an important commodity in our lives, something that requires constantly making choices and deciding how best to use it.

Why is it, then, that many people feel compelled to regularly fill it completely with activities and obligations? Why is it so difficult to leave spaces for rest, for play, for spontaneous activities?

Could it be that you have not learned to accurately assess the time requirements of the activities you choose? Perhaps the ideal life that you seek takes more time to achieve than there are hours available day to day. Or, are you so programmed by our culture that rewards over-functioning even at the cost of family relationships and physical health that nothing less than being overcommitted all the time seems laudable?

Stop and think about how you spend your time. If you feel dissatisfied with the harried pace of your life and the paucity of pauses, playtime and rest, remember that you are in the driver’s seat of your life. You can’t control every time consuming demand that comes at you. But, I’ll bet you could excavate some “me” time from your busy schedule, time that has no agenda, if you work as hard at that task as you do at fulfilling all the obligations that eat your time.

It’s difficult to change when what you are doing is swimming upstream to cultural norms like busyness and workaholism. But, it can be done. The quality of your life depends on it!

PS If you schedule regular “me” time for rest and play, you’re likely to find you are more productive in the rest of your life!

Last weekend I attended a day long workshop entitled, “Meditation In the Garden”, because it included Tai Chi instruction by Cass Overton, a Tai Chi instructor I had heard about for many years. The class was a wonderful experience! I learned many things that day, both with my mind and my body. One of the statements Cass made that particularly caught my ear and that kept coming back into my thoughts was, “Look for the spaces between the plants. You have to have space in order for new things to come to you.”

In my work as a professional clutter clearer, feng shui practitioner and professional speaker I have often urged people to clear clutter from their homes and offices. I let them know that new good things cannot come to them unless there is space available for them. The echo of Cass’s words got me thinking about how I make space in my life.

When I am feeling stuck or frustrated with my own personal and/or professional progress I quite often look for a closet or drawer to clear knowing that by making space I am signaling to the Universe that I am open to new opportunities and change in my life. In fact since the seminar I’ve cleaned out desk drawers, supply drawers, and the vase shelf in the utility room. I’ve also taken photos off the refrigerator and have removed several decorative items from my family room. Everything in my house is open to scrutiny because I am hungry for open space!

Then it occurred to me that I can also make space on my calendar to make it possible for me to have time to reflect on where I’ve been, what I really want, and what I can do to get more of what I want. Too often my calendar is full with few open spaces available just for me. This week I took a careful look at my calendar and blocked off time for client appointments so I won’t be inclined to schedule too many clients. Now the challenge will be to limit myself to those scheduled times. If that doesn’t work my plan is to schedule open space in my calendar just for me!

Do you have space in your home and on your calendar to attract more of what you really want from life? If not, why not? Claim the space you need to grow where you want to go!

If you know you are not good at estimating how long it will take to get something done, double or triple your best guess and act as if that’s the time it will take to do the task.

Clearing clutter takes time. Excavating a neglected space can take an incredible amount of time. I remember spending two hours sorting the contents of three drawers for a client. Areas that melt down over time and become disorganized masses of stuff truly take more time to confront and resolve than most people have day-to-day and week-to-week. On the other hand, putting items back where they belong on a daily basis usually takes just a minute or two. Yes, you have to do it over and over again, day in and day out. But, doing that ensures that you don’t end up with a nightmare of your own making.

We all have avoided doing an unpleasant task because we thought it would take forever to do and we just couldn’t face it. When we finally made ourselves tackle the chore, we found that it took much less time than we expected.

I remember helping Elsa clear out a bathroom that she had neglected for months. It was loaded with a huge tumble of dirty clothes, cosmetics, toiletries and cleaning products on the floor and on every flat surface. It was also filthy. Dust and soap scum combined to form a grime everywhere that was truly off-putting. It was very difficult to face. It looked like a job that would take days to do.

Focusing on the big items first, the clothing and towels, we saw immediate progress. The task Elsa had avoided dealing with for a month was put in order in 45 minutes.
That kind of progress would not have been possible had Elsa been working alone. It did require a professional who knew where to start and how to make things happen quickly. But, this story clearly demonstrates that the timeline in your head, the one you form when you look at the mess before you and imagine the work that must be done, may not be accurate. If you use an effective process for clearing clutter, it can happen more quickly than you expect.

You have some time to get something done! Oh boy! What to do? Do you just jump into the first task that passes into your consciousness? Or, do you stop to think about what’s most important given your current goals and priorities? The frantic pace of life today makes the first choice the easy option. Heck! You’re still getting something done. So what if it’s not something with a high payoff! Who cares if doing that less consequential task keeps you from getting where you really want to go!

There are always so many choices when it comes to deciding what to do at any given time. If you don’t stop, even for just a few minutes, to get clear about what really matters to you, you’ll find yourself treading water in your life. You’ll be staying afloat, but not thriving, not really happy. What really matters to you is your guide when you must make decisions about how to spend your time.

We all have a need for down time. We need time to do whatever we want to do–rest, read, play on the computer, visit friends, anything that is pleasurable and gives us a break from the many essential tasks of living. I have a hunch that if we don’t make enough time in our busy schedules to take a break, we find ways to take it anyway or we pay for not doing it by being only halfway present for essential tasks.

What may look like poor time management could really be an expression of insufficient down time. You fritter away an afternoon at work, spending more time than is necessary on email and surfing the web. You are exhausted and what you really need is a mental health day. Instead you show up and take the time anyway, procrastinating doing essential tasks, instead playing on the computer.

Imagine having worked for weeks with no quality down time. It’s time to put together an important proposal. How well are you going to be able to work? The part of you that is committed to your survival is going to wage war against the dutiful part of you. You may not procrastinate by wasting time, but it’s quite possible that you will only be able to attack the proposal with half the energy and focus that you would give to it if you were really rested. And, the proposal may get done, but its quality may be half what it could have been–the price you pay for not scheduling sufficient down time.

Have you heard the saying, “We teach first that which we must learn?” I’m writing about this challenge as much for me as for you! It’s time to make down time as essential as going to work!

One thing I’ve learned while recuperating from bunion surgery is that I am far more productive when I have a busy schedule than when I have an open schedule. I thought I’d get so many tasks done that require chunks of time to accomplish. Not! I guess the pressure of the busy schedule helped me be strategic with my time, given that the windows that were not scheduled were few and far between. Conversely, the lack of structure and consequently the lack of pressure of an open schedule make it easy for me to drift about.

For years speech participants have shared that they had high aspirations for the projects they’d get done once they retired. Once retired, however, they found they got less done than when they were working full-time. Now I really understand how that could happen!

Being able to drift for a little while is probably good for me. I’m a slave driver with myself. I really love getting things done, so I work hard and long and play very little. But, if the unstructured schedule was to become my norm, I’d have to create a structure and hold myself to it. Otherwise, life could get out of control pretty quickly!

Are you drifting when you’d rather be productive? Create a structure specifying when specific activities will be done. Or, hold yourself to doing a specific number of important tasks per day. If you find yourself cheating on the structure you’ve established, find an accountability partner who is regularly informed of your goals and timelines and to whom you can report your progress on a regular basis. Then watch your productivity soar!