Week #1 - Declutter Your Head - Mental Preparation
Treatment Plan: Declutter Your Head #1
Declutter Your Head: Week #1 Mental Preparation
-1 -
Week #1: Mental Preparation Hello, and welcome. We're Betsy and Warren Talbot, and you are listening to the Declutter Your Head Treatment Plan from Declutter Clinic. In this week's lesson we're going to start with getting your head on straight so your decluttering efforts will be easier, faster, and – most important of all – permanent. But first, we want to thank you for listening (or reading). On the surface it may seem like you're just tidying things up, but what you're really doing is creating a base of operations to achieve the lifestyle you really want. And that's pretty spectacular! No matter what your dream lifestyle is, it certainly doesn't include clutter, guilt, or stress. So let's start getting rid of it, shall we?
SETTING A GOAL The first step in any decluttering project is to define a goal. If you don't know what kind of result you want, it will be hard to make any kind of progress. We're starting with this vision first so the rest of the lesson can specifically support the lifestyle you want to live. And lest you be tempted to skip over this, keep in mind that writing down your goals and action items is the most reliable path to success. Gail Matthews, PhD, of Dominican University conducted a goal-setting study for 4 weeks (the same length of time as this course) with 5 groups of people who had business goals ranging from increasing revenue to starting new projects to learning new skills. Declutter Your Head: Week #1 Mental Preparation
-2 -
• Group 1 was simply asked to think about their business goals • Group 2 was asked to write down their goals • Group 3 wrote their goals plus their weekly commitments to achieve them • Group 4 also wrote their goals and commitments but also shared them with a friend • Group 5 did all the above plus provided a written report to the friend of the results The results? Group 5 achieved 76% of their goals, and Group 1 only 43%. If you want to make the most of your efforts in this course, it means writing down your vision, your weekly actions, analyzing your performance, and sharing your experience with another person. Don’t worry, though. We’re going to make this ridiculously easy for you to do and walk you step-by-step through the entire process. Besides, the most fun piece of homework you'll ever have is to write down the ideal vision of your daily life!
Declutter Your Head: Week #1 Mental Preparation
-3 -
EXERCISE 1: CREATE THE VISION FOR YOUR IDEAL LIFESTYLE IN YOUR HOME Sit down with a piece of paper (we like the old-school feel of writing on paper, but you can use your laptop, phone, or even a whiteboard) and answer these questions: • Why is decluttering this space/these rooms/my house important to me? • What benefit do I want to gain from freeing up my space? • How will my life look, and how will I feel, when it is complete? If you're a more "to the point" kind of person, you can simply fill in the blanks: “Decluttering my home will give me freedom FROM ___________ and give me freedom TO __________.” That's really it, in a nutshell. Focus on the end result and what life will look like when you are done. Do not dwell on how you feel now or the frustration you may have with failed previous attempts or what roadblocks you see ahead. Write only about the goal and your vision for the fully decluttered space. This is a positive exercise focused only on what you want to achieve. A few example goals to help get you thinking. Perhaps you want to: • Reclaim your workspace in the office to start that business you've been dreaming about • Convert your den back into a sanctuary to read the paper on weekend mornings with your cup of coffee Declutter Your Head: Week #1 Mental Preparation
-4 -
• Park your car in the garage so you don't have to scrape ice or sit in a sauna every time you get in • Entertain your family and friends without embarrassment over your junk or the dust (because it's hard to keep that much stuff clean every week!) • Save on storage unit costs (how could you better use that cash in your life?) Whatever your goal, make sure to document it clearly so you can visualize yourself standing in the middle of the room with the end result. You want it to be so clear you can see every aspect of the room/house in your mind's eye. One way to make it easier to visualize is to use action-oriented verbs instead of passive ones, like we did in the examples above (convert, reclaim, park, entertain, save). We call this a "day in the life of" exercise. To help you get started, think about life in your newly decluttered space. How would a typical day flow? When you can imagine living the vision, you'll be far more motivated to make it real – especially if you have strong feelings and emotions around it. Extra Credit: Write your vision down. Post your goal for each room as you work on it and keep your overall goal of a clutter-free home in a prominent place to see it every day. Always remember why you're doing this and what prize you have waiting for you at the end.
Declutter Your Head: Week #1 Mental Preparation
-5 -
WHY THE GOAL IS IMPORTANT You've tried, and maybe even failed, to save money "for a rainy day." Or you've tried to lose weight without any target in mind only to slide back to fast food and soda a week later. You may have even had goals for cleaning out a specific room in your home, only to get halfway through and leave it worse than when you started. (Thank heaven for doors so you can hide the mess!) Without a goal you have little reason to get motivated (or stay motivated) to get it done. You know that you want to save money, lose weight, or get rid of all the stuff you no longer use or want, but without a driving reason it's just too hard to get started or to stay motivated once you do. It's human nature. We all need a goal, a deadline, and a reason to take action. It is easier to save when you have a big vacation in mind. It is easier to skip the sweets when you have your class reunion in 2 months and you want to lose 20 pounds. And it's easier to declutter your home when you have a lifestyle goal in mind: more fun with the family, a relaxation zone from the world, a place to write or paint your masterpiece. Decluttering is your path to achieving what you want, not an unpleasant chore with an unclear result. A goal will keep you focused on why you are doing it. Not only will your goal help you take the first step and get started on the project, it will become your mantra to keep you motivated and excited with each step of the decluttering project until you achieve your target.
Declutter Your Head: Week #1 Mental Preparation
-6 -
EXERCISE 2: CREATE YOUR MANTRA Look back at the vision you created in Exercise 1. Pull out the phrase or idea that is most meaningful to you, like clearing the space at your desk to write a book, enjoying time with your family in the new basement family room, or using the money from your decluttering efforts to finance a vacation or pay off your debt. Now take that phrase and turn it into the mantra you'll use when faced with keeping or buying an item that doesn't fit your vision. “Do I want this item more than I want (my vision)?” This is how you determine what really fits into your vision and what doesn't, and it's also how you understand the ways that your possessions are tying you down. Freedom doesn't mean getting rid of everything, but it does mean getting rid of all the things that aren't supporting the kind of life you want to live. And it's up to you to make that decision on every item in your home.
REAL WORLD EXPERIENCE When we began saving for our big round-the-world adventure, we used a similar mantra to curb our spending. We called it the Phrase to Save, and we wrote about it in our book, Dream Save Do: An Action Plan for Dreamers. Our proposed budget for the trip was (and still is) $100 day. When faced with spending money on any item, we’d ask: “It this more important than X days on the road?” It was very effective at making spending decisions that seemed very small in comparison to the big number we were trying to save. A mantra can help you in the same way as you Declutter Your Head: Week #1 Mental Preparation
-7 -
make small decisions about your possessions every single day to combat your overall clutter problem.
ASSESS YOUR SITUATION You've identified why you want to declutter and the goal at the end, so now it is time to see what your starting line looks like. Like the first 2 exercises, this one is easy.
EXERCISE 3: DOCUMENT YOUR SITUATION Take a small notebook and a camera (or your camera phone) and go to each room of your home. Take a photo of what it looks like right now from all 4 corners. Sometimes it's hard to analyze what you see on an everyday basis, so these photos are going to give you a different perspective from which to work. Once you have the photos loaded on your computer, take a look through them. As you go, make a short bullet-point list of the areas you want to improve in each room to support the vision you created in Exercise 1. An example of the list could be: • Remove the clothes from the treadmill so I can use it • Take out that chair we never use so the kids have more room to play on the floor • Sell the books I don't plan to reread and use the funds to buy a Kindle • Devise a better system for putting away laundry so I can use my dining room table for eating and entertaining Declutter Your Head: Week #1 Mental Preparation
-8 -
• Get rid of the junk in the guest room so I can invite friends and family to come visit The list of projects per room doesn't have to be complicated, and you don't have to figure out a plan (we've got you covered on that). The main goal is to document where you are right now and the areas that are impacting your overall goal for an easier lifestyle. If your morning routine is complicated by the 100 bottles and tubes cluttering your bathroom counter when you only use 5 of them, it's time to figure out a plan for the other 95 to achieve your vision of a stress-free sanctuary. If your bedroom closet is packed so full of clothes that they come out wrinkled from the compression, you'll need to address the problem of overcrowding so you can look polished and professional each day as you climb the corporate ladder. If you crave a better social life but are too embarrassed to invite anyone into your home, you'll need to figure out how to create social gathering places within it. Imagine your work being done in small sections, not overall projects. This makes it more manageable logistically as well as mentally. Take the time to evaluate how you want your home to support your lifestyle vision and you'll see how these projects can be broken down into manageable tasks. Once you have a good idea of where you are, you can more easily move on to making a schedule to get it done.
SET YOUR SCHEDULE How much time are you willing to give this project? Rather than say "I'm going to get organized," you need a timed strategy and a system. We're providing the system for
Declutter Your Head: Week #1 Mental Preparation
-9 -
you (Treatment Plan: Room by Room Breakdowns), and it's up to you to devote the necessary time. We'd recommend a 30-minute daily commitment and then a longer one on the weekends to get this done. If you have only a moderate amount of clutter and a small space you may get by with just 30 minutes a day all the way through, and for a bigger project you may need more daily time or devote more days to each room. Either way, it's up to you to decide based on your vision, your current situation, and the list you made to get from one to the other. If you're unsure, start with 30 minutes a day and 2 hours on the weekend to start and adjust from there.
EXERCISE 4: PUT IT IN YOUR CALENDAR Go ahead right now and set your schedule in your notebook, smart phone, or online calendar. Mark out the specific times you'll be devoting to this project every day, your "Declutter Sessions," working around any prior commitments and reshuffling your day as necessary. We recommend 30-minute sessions because it is just enough time to not seem overwhelming and to easily fit in your schedule (and you can always add more 30minute sessions if necessary). We're big fans of time-boxing, and we use the Pomodoro Technique for all our work projects, setting a timer for 25-minute bursts of focused activity with a 5-minute break in between. It's surprisingly effective, and you can read more about the Pomodoro Technique at PomodoroTechnique.com.
Declutter Your Head: Week #1 Mental Preparation
- 10 -
Map out your schedule for the entire 4 weeks of this course. Remember, you can always adjust it later if you find it is too much or not enough time to get the job done. If you leave the schedule up to whatever time you have le"over, you'll never get it done. And it's not just us saying this: A study in the British Journal of Health Psychology found that 91% of people who wrote down specific goals and schedules to exercise achieved them, compared with 38% for the group who was "motivated" but not held to a specific written schedule. That's no fluke. Another study by the University of Massachusetts showed women who set a time and date for their monthly breast self-examinations did it 100% of the time, while the "good intentions" group only managed to do it 53% of the time. Putting your commitments on your calendar means you'll have a greater chance of achieving them, and when you make it part of your everyday life you'll have far greater results than booking out one full weekend a month. Once you have your overall goal and schedule in mind, it's time to develop a defense strategy for when distraction rears its ugly head.
GET YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME Like an athlete preparing for a big game, you've got to get your head in it. You're going to have a few external distractions, like other people in your home or events that conflict with your decluttering schedule, but by far your biggest distractions will be internal. Distractions come in many forms: • You'll encounter negative thoughts, especially ones focused on defeat and name calling. It's a lot easier to give up than to move forward in Declutter Your Head: Week #1 Mental Preparation
- 11 -
just about situation in life. You've probably already identified yourself as a clutter bug, made jokes about being on an episode of the TV show Hoarders, and even thought of giving up before you start. (We'll specifically cover the "identity" issue of being a packrat or clutter bug in depth next week in the Motivation + Maintenance Treatment Plan of Declutter Clinic.) • Dwelling in the past is another doozy of a distraction. You'll start working on a project and get derailed by memories, and before long you've taken a trip down memory lane, wondering what that old boyfriend is up to these days or what you were thinking when you bought that outfit. Or maybe you'll just wonder about the road less traveled and what could have been. All of these scenarios will take you down a long and winding path, and you can see just by thinking about it right now how quickly it can take you away from your designated task. This is a glimpse into how these possessions are impacting your appreciation of the present and expectation for the future. We'll be addressing this frequently throughout the course. • Another internal distraction is being preoccupied with the results so much that you don't pay attention to how to get there. You'll quickly purge to stay on track with the course instead of processing the lessons as you go. When this happens, it's usually just a few short weeks before the clutter returns, and you're back at square one. When you let your body get ahead of your brain, you won't have time to internalize what you're doing and WHY. It's the "what" that will get you decluttered now, but it's the "why" that will keep you decluttered in the future. This is why getting your head in the game is vital to your success. You might even get distracted just thinking about decluttering, which is why you need to master the following technique.
Declutter Your Head: Week #1 Mental Preparation
- 12 -
EXERCISE 5: CREATE A PLAN FOR DISTRACTIONS Tools: You'll need a rubber band, some paper, and a pen. To deal with these distractions when they arise, you're going to learn the 3 R Strategy used by elite athletes all over the world when they are mentally preparing for a big game or race. You can practice this technique on any project, not just decluttering, to stay on track. RECOGNIZE when you are distracting yourself from your objective. Easier said than done, huh? What it boils down to is awareness. This awareness of your present task is difficult when you're surrounded by clutter, so you might be a little rusty. (Betsy is well aware of this feeling from her former packrat days.) But when you keep in mind your task, it's easier to recognize the distractions that come your way. Once you realize you've gone off track, you can either go with it and lose the rest of the day, or you can simply "reboot" your brain. Since humans don't have a reboot button, we recommend a less high-tech option. Simply wear a rubberband around your wrist and when you get distracted lightly pop yourself. It's a physical reminder that you've gone off track and it gives your brain a little reboot (sort of like when you reboot your computer when it freezes). REGROUP and zone out the distraction.
Declutter Your Head: Week #1 Mental Preparation
- 13 -
A"er your reboot, it's time to block out the distraction. The best way is to remind yourself of your objective and how it fits into your overall goal. How does the task at hand fit into this overall goal, and where does the distraction rate on the scale of importance? But even when you realize most distractions are not as important as the task at hand, you'll still o"en be compelled to give in to them. You'll be knee deep in decluttering a closet and remember that you need to buy milk, so you go to the kitchen to write it down on the list. You see the dishes from the morning and take a few minutes to wash them or load them in the dishwasher. Then you notice the kitchen towel smells a little funky and you should put in a load of laundry while you work, and so on, and so on. Pretty soon the tiny distraction you thought would only take a minute has eaten an hour you had dedicated to the decluttering project. And worse, you le" it half done, so it is actually messier than when you started. Always keep a small notepad and pen nearby when you are decluttering. To help you refocus and get back into the game, you can write your distractions here and address them later. Do not leave the room or the project. Just write it down and let it go. You won't forget, and you can then clear your mind of distractions and move forward. This strategy of writing down your distractions to deal with at a later date is used by CEOs and successful people all over the world. If it can work for them, it can work for you. REFOCUS on the steps you need to take to succeed. To get your head back in the game, restate what you're doing and why, and what the very next step should be. Then do it. You've already taken care of your distraction, and by focusing on movement instead of thought you'll force yourself back into the game plan. Declutter Your Head: Week #1 Mental Preparation
- 14 -
(We'll cover motivation in more detail in the Motivation + Maintenance Treatment Plan.) Last but not least, remember to focus on small bits of progress, like penguin steps. It's more important to fully declutter one tiny space than to halfway dive into a big one. Are you ready? Let's go!
Declutter Your Head: Week #1 Mental Preparation
- 15 -
RECAP In this lesson you learned: • Why you need a goal • How to imagine a "day in the life" of your newly decluttered space • How to evaluate your current situation (with photos!) • What areas in each room need improvement to reach your goal • Why you need a schedule and how to create one • The tools to fight distraction
ACTION PLAN 1. Describe the end result you want from this decluttering project, including what an ideal "day in the life" looks like. 2. Create your mantra to evaluate each item. 3. Take "before" pictures of each room you want to declutter from all 4 corners and make as short list of the ways the room needs to be altered to support your ideal lifestyle goal from Exercise #1. 4. Set the schedule you'll use throughout this project to focus on decluttering and put it on your calendar.
Declutter Your Head: Week #1 Mental Preparation
- 16 -
5. Set up a system now to handle distractions so you'll be ready when they come (because they will!) Next week in the Declutter Your Head Treatment Plan, we'll cover the feeling of overwhelm and not knowing where to start. But first be sure to check out the Week 1 lessons from the other Treatment Plans in this course. You can find them all on your Downloads page at www.DeclutterClinic.com/membership/ Deal, Donate or Dump: Sell your first item (cash is a great motivator!) Motivation + Maintenance: Set up your systems for long-term success Room by Room Breakdowns: Closets and Bedrooms (time to get started!) Thanks for listening to this lesson from the Declutter Your Head Treatment Plan called "Mental Preparation." To make it stick, we recommend putting it into practice as soon as possible. Until next time, this is Betsy and Warren Talbot saying, “take the first step and keep on moving.”
Declutter Your Head: Week #1 Mental Preparation
- 17 -
Declutter Your Head: Week #1 Mental Preparation
-1 -
Week #1: Mental Preparation Hello, and welcome. We're Betsy and Warren Talbot, and you are listening to the Declutter Your Head Treatment Plan from Declutter Clinic. In this week's lesson we're going to start with getting your head on straight so your decluttering efforts will be easier, faster, and – most important of all – permanent. But first, we want to thank you for listening (or reading). On the surface it may seem like you're just tidying things up, but what you're really doing is creating a base of operations to achieve the lifestyle you really want. And that's pretty spectacular! No matter what your dream lifestyle is, it certainly doesn't include clutter, guilt, or stress. So let's start getting rid of it, shall we?
SETTING A GOAL The first step in any decluttering project is to define a goal. If you don't know what kind of result you want, it will be hard to make any kind of progress. We're starting with this vision first so the rest of the lesson can specifically support the lifestyle you want to live. And lest you be tempted to skip over this, keep in mind that writing down your goals and action items is the most reliable path to success. Gail Matthews, PhD, of Dominican University conducted a goal-setting study for 4 weeks (the same length of time as this course) with 5 groups of people who had business goals ranging from increasing revenue to starting new projects to learning new skills. Declutter Your Head: Week #1 Mental Preparation
-2 -
• Group 1 was simply asked to think about their business goals • Group 2 was asked to write down their goals • Group 3 wrote their goals plus their weekly commitments to achieve them • Group 4 also wrote their goals and commitments but also shared them with a friend • Group 5 did all the above plus provided a written report to the friend of the results The results? Group 5 achieved 76% of their goals, and Group 1 only 43%. If you want to make the most of your efforts in this course, it means writing down your vision, your weekly actions, analyzing your performance, and sharing your experience with another person. Don’t worry, though. We’re going to make this ridiculously easy for you to do and walk you step-by-step through the entire process. Besides, the most fun piece of homework you'll ever have is to write down the ideal vision of your daily life!
Declutter Your Head: Week #1 Mental Preparation
-3 -
EXERCISE 1: CREATE THE VISION FOR YOUR IDEAL LIFESTYLE IN YOUR HOME Sit down with a piece of paper (we like the old-school feel of writing on paper, but you can use your laptop, phone, or even a whiteboard) and answer these questions: • Why is decluttering this space/these rooms/my house important to me? • What benefit do I want to gain from freeing up my space? • How will my life look, and how will I feel, when it is complete? If you're a more "to the point" kind of person, you can simply fill in the blanks: “Decluttering my home will give me freedom FROM ___________ and give me freedom TO __________.” That's really it, in a nutshell. Focus on the end result and what life will look like when you are done. Do not dwell on how you feel now or the frustration you may have with failed previous attempts or what roadblocks you see ahead. Write only about the goal and your vision for the fully decluttered space. This is a positive exercise focused only on what you want to achieve. A few example goals to help get you thinking. Perhaps you want to: • Reclaim your workspace in the office to start that business you've been dreaming about • Convert your den back into a sanctuary to read the paper on weekend mornings with your cup of coffee Declutter Your Head: Week #1 Mental Preparation
-4 -
• Park your car in the garage so you don't have to scrape ice or sit in a sauna every time you get in • Entertain your family and friends without embarrassment over your junk or the dust (because it's hard to keep that much stuff clean every week!) • Save on storage unit costs (how could you better use that cash in your life?) Whatever your goal, make sure to document it clearly so you can visualize yourself standing in the middle of the room with the end result. You want it to be so clear you can see every aspect of the room/house in your mind's eye. One way to make it easier to visualize is to use action-oriented verbs instead of passive ones, like we did in the examples above (convert, reclaim, park, entertain, save). We call this a "day in the life of" exercise. To help you get started, think about life in your newly decluttered space. How would a typical day flow? When you can imagine living the vision, you'll be far more motivated to make it real – especially if you have strong feelings and emotions around it. Extra Credit: Write your vision down. Post your goal for each room as you work on it and keep your overall goal of a clutter-free home in a prominent place to see it every day. Always remember why you're doing this and what prize you have waiting for you at the end.
Declutter Your Head: Week #1 Mental Preparation
-5 -
WHY THE GOAL IS IMPORTANT You've tried, and maybe even failed, to save money "for a rainy day." Or you've tried to lose weight without any target in mind only to slide back to fast food and soda a week later. You may have even had goals for cleaning out a specific room in your home, only to get halfway through and leave it worse than when you started. (Thank heaven for doors so you can hide the mess!) Without a goal you have little reason to get motivated (or stay motivated) to get it done. You know that you want to save money, lose weight, or get rid of all the stuff you no longer use or want, but without a driving reason it's just too hard to get started or to stay motivated once you do. It's human nature. We all need a goal, a deadline, and a reason to take action. It is easier to save when you have a big vacation in mind. It is easier to skip the sweets when you have your class reunion in 2 months and you want to lose 20 pounds. And it's easier to declutter your home when you have a lifestyle goal in mind: more fun with the family, a relaxation zone from the world, a place to write or paint your masterpiece. Decluttering is your path to achieving what you want, not an unpleasant chore with an unclear result. A goal will keep you focused on why you are doing it. Not only will your goal help you take the first step and get started on the project, it will become your mantra to keep you motivated and excited with each step of the decluttering project until you achieve your target.
Declutter Your Head: Week #1 Mental Preparation
-6 -
EXERCISE 2: CREATE YOUR MANTRA Look back at the vision you created in Exercise 1. Pull out the phrase or idea that is most meaningful to you, like clearing the space at your desk to write a book, enjoying time with your family in the new basement family room, or using the money from your decluttering efforts to finance a vacation or pay off your debt. Now take that phrase and turn it into the mantra you'll use when faced with keeping or buying an item that doesn't fit your vision. “Do I want this item more than I want (my vision)?” This is how you determine what really fits into your vision and what doesn't, and it's also how you understand the ways that your possessions are tying you down. Freedom doesn't mean getting rid of everything, but it does mean getting rid of all the things that aren't supporting the kind of life you want to live. And it's up to you to make that decision on every item in your home.
REAL WORLD EXPERIENCE When we began saving for our big round-the-world adventure, we used a similar mantra to curb our spending. We called it the Phrase to Save, and we wrote about it in our book, Dream Save Do: An Action Plan for Dreamers. Our proposed budget for the trip was (and still is) $100 day. When faced with spending money on any item, we’d ask: “It this more important than X days on the road?” It was very effective at making spending decisions that seemed very small in comparison to the big number we were trying to save. A mantra can help you in the same way as you Declutter Your Head: Week #1 Mental Preparation
-7 -
make small decisions about your possessions every single day to combat your overall clutter problem.
ASSESS YOUR SITUATION You've identified why you want to declutter and the goal at the end, so now it is time to see what your starting line looks like. Like the first 2 exercises, this one is easy.
EXERCISE 3: DOCUMENT YOUR SITUATION Take a small notebook and a camera (or your camera phone) and go to each room of your home. Take a photo of what it looks like right now from all 4 corners. Sometimes it's hard to analyze what you see on an everyday basis, so these photos are going to give you a different perspective from which to work. Once you have the photos loaded on your computer, take a look through them. As you go, make a short bullet-point list of the areas you want to improve in each room to support the vision you created in Exercise 1. An example of the list could be: • Remove the clothes from the treadmill so I can use it • Take out that chair we never use so the kids have more room to play on the floor • Sell the books I don't plan to reread and use the funds to buy a Kindle • Devise a better system for putting away laundry so I can use my dining room table for eating and entertaining Declutter Your Head: Week #1 Mental Preparation
-8 -
• Get rid of the junk in the guest room so I can invite friends and family to come visit The list of projects per room doesn't have to be complicated, and you don't have to figure out a plan (we've got you covered on that). The main goal is to document where you are right now and the areas that are impacting your overall goal for an easier lifestyle. If your morning routine is complicated by the 100 bottles and tubes cluttering your bathroom counter when you only use 5 of them, it's time to figure out a plan for the other 95 to achieve your vision of a stress-free sanctuary. If your bedroom closet is packed so full of clothes that they come out wrinkled from the compression, you'll need to address the problem of overcrowding so you can look polished and professional each day as you climb the corporate ladder. If you crave a better social life but are too embarrassed to invite anyone into your home, you'll need to figure out how to create social gathering places within it. Imagine your work being done in small sections, not overall projects. This makes it more manageable logistically as well as mentally. Take the time to evaluate how you want your home to support your lifestyle vision and you'll see how these projects can be broken down into manageable tasks. Once you have a good idea of where you are, you can more easily move on to making a schedule to get it done.
SET YOUR SCHEDULE How much time are you willing to give this project? Rather than say "I'm going to get organized," you need a timed strategy and a system. We're providing the system for
Declutter Your Head: Week #1 Mental Preparation
-9 -
you (Treatment Plan: Room by Room Breakdowns), and it's up to you to devote the necessary time. We'd recommend a 30-minute daily commitment and then a longer one on the weekends to get this done. If you have only a moderate amount of clutter and a small space you may get by with just 30 minutes a day all the way through, and for a bigger project you may need more daily time or devote more days to each room. Either way, it's up to you to decide based on your vision, your current situation, and the list you made to get from one to the other. If you're unsure, start with 30 minutes a day and 2 hours on the weekend to start and adjust from there.
EXERCISE 4: PUT IT IN YOUR CALENDAR Go ahead right now and set your schedule in your notebook, smart phone, or online calendar. Mark out the specific times you'll be devoting to this project every day, your "Declutter Sessions," working around any prior commitments and reshuffling your day as necessary. We recommend 30-minute sessions because it is just enough time to not seem overwhelming and to easily fit in your schedule (and you can always add more 30minute sessions if necessary). We're big fans of time-boxing, and we use the Pomodoro Technique for all our work projects, setting a timer for 25-minute bursts of focused activity with a 5-minute break in between. It's surprisingly effective, and you can read more about the Pomodoro Technique at PomodoroTechnique.com.
Declutter Your Head: Week #1 Mental Preparation
- 10 -
Map out your schedule for the entire 4 weeks of this course. Remember, you can always adjust it later if you find it is too much or not enough time to get the job done. If you leave the schedule up to whatever time you have le"over, you'll never get it done. And it's not just us saying this: A study in the British Journal of Health Psychology found that 91% of people who wrote down specific goals and schedules to exercise achieved them, compared with 38% for the group who was "motivated" but not held to a specific written schedule. That's no fluke. Another study by the University of Massachusetts showed women who set a time and date for their monthly breast self-examinations did it 100% of the time, while the "good intentions" group only managed to do it 53% of the time. Putting your commitments on your calendar means you'll have a greater chance of achieving them, and when you make it part of your everyday life you'll have far greater results than booking out one full weekend a month. Once you have your overall goal and schedule in mind, it's time to develop a defense strategy for when distraction rears its ugly head.
GET YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME Like an athlete preparing for a big game, you've got to get your head in it. You're going to have a few external distractions, like other people in your home or events that conflict with your decluttering schedule, but by far your biggest distractions will be internal. Distractions come in many forms: • You'll encounter negative thoughts, especially ones focused on defeat and name calling. It's a lot easier to give up than to move forward in Declutter Your Head: Week #1 Mental Preparation
- 11 -
just about situation in life. You've probably already identified yourself as a clutter bug, made jokes about being on an episode of the TV show Hoarders, and even thought of giving up before you start. (We'll specifically cover the "identity" issue of being a packrat or clutter bug in depth next week in the Motivation + Maintenance Treatment Plan of Declutter Clinic.) • Dwelling in the past is another doozy of a distraction. You'll start working on a project and get derailed by memories, and before long you've taken a trip down memory lane, wondering what that old boyfriend is up to these days or what you were thinking when you bought that outfit. Or maybe you'll just wonder about the road less traveled and what could have been. All of these scenarios will take you down a long and winding path, and you can see just by thinking about it right now how quickly it can take you away from your designated task. This is a glimpse into how these possessions are impacting your appreciation of the present and expectation for the future. We'll be addressing this frequently throughout the course. • Another internal distraction is being preoccupied with the results so much that you don't pay attention to how to get there. You'll quickly purge to stay on track with the course instead of processing the lessons as you go. When this happens, it's usually just a few short weeks before the clutter returns, and you're back at square one. When you let your body get ahead of your brain, you won't have time to internalize what you're doing and WHY. It's the "what" that will get you decluttered now, but it's the "why" that will keep you decluttered in the future. This is why getting your head in the game is vital to your success. You might even get distracted just thinking about decluttering, which is why you need to master the following technique.
Declutter Your Head: Week #1 Mental Preparation
- 12 -
EXERCISE 5: CREATE A PLAN FOR DISTRACTIONS Tools: You'll need a rubber band, some paper, and a pen. To deal with these distractions when they arise, you're going to learn the 3 R Strategy used by elite athletes all over the world when they are mentally preparing for a big game or race. You can practice this technique on any project, not just decluttering, to stay on track. RECOGNIZE when you are distracting yourself from your objective. Easier said than done, huh? What it boils down to is awareness. This awareness of your present task is difficult when you're surrounded by clutter, so you might be a little rusty. (Betsy is well aware of this feeling from her former packrat days.) But when you keep in mind your task, it's easier to recognize the distractions that come your way. Once you realize you've gone off track, you can either go with it and lose the rest of the day, or you can simply "reboot" your brain. Since humans don't have a reboot button, we recommend a less high-tech option. Simply wear a rubberband around your wrist and when you get distracted lightly pop yourself. It's a physical reminder that you've gone off track and it gives your brain a little reboot (sort of like when you reboot your computer when it freezes). REGROUP and zone out the distraction.
Declutter Your Head: Week #1 Mental Preparation
- 13 -
A"er your reboot, it's time to block out the distraction. The best way is to remind yourself of your objective and how it fits into your overall goal. How does the task at hand fit into this overall goal, and where does the distraction rate on the scale of importance? But even when you realize most distractions are not as important as the task at hand, you'll still o"en be compelled to give in to them. You'll be knee deep in decluttering a closet and remember that you need to buy milk, so you go to the kitchen to write it down on the list. You see the dishes from the morning and take a few minutes to wash them or load them in the dishwasher. Then you notice the kitchen towel smells a little funky and you should put in a load of laundry while you work, and so on, and so on. Pretty soon the tiny distraction you thought would only take a minute has eaten an hour you had dedicated to the decluttering project. And worse, you le" it half done, so it is actually messier than when you started. Always keep a small notepad and pen nearby when you are decluttering. To help you refocus and get back into the game, you can write your distractions here and address them later. Do not leave the room or the project. Just write it down and let it go. You won't forget, and you can then clear your mind of distractions and move forward. This strategy of writing down your distractions to deal with at a later date is used by CEOs and successful people all over the world. If it can work for them, it can work for you. REFOCUS on the steps you need to take to succeed. To get your head back in the game, restate what you're doing and why, and what the very next step should be. Then do it. You've already taken care of your distraction, and by focusing on movement instead of thought you'll force yourself back into the game plan. Declutter Your Head: Week #1 Mental Preparation
- 14 -
(We'll cover motivation in more detail in the Motivation + Maintenance Treatment Plan.) Last but not least, remember to focus on small bits of progress, like penguin steps. It's more important to fully declutter one tiny space than to halfway dive into a big one. Are you ready? Let's go!
Declutter Your Head: Week #1 Mental Preparation
- 15 -
RECAP In this lesson you learned: • Why you need a goal • How to imagine a "day in the life" of your newly decluttered space • How to evaluate your current situation (with photos!) • What areas in each room need improvement to reach your goal • Why you need a schedule and how to create one • The tools to fight distraction
ACTION PLAN 1. Describe the end result you want from this decluttering project, including what an ideal "day in the life" looks like. 2. Create your mantra to evaluate each item. 3. Take "before" pictures of each room you want to declutter from all 4 corners and make as short list of the ways the room needs to be altered to support your ideal lifestyle goal from Exercise #1. 4. Set the schedule you'll use throughout this project to focus on decluttering and put it on your calendar.
Declutter Your Head: Week #1 Mental Preparation
- 16 -
5. Set up a system now to handle distractions so you'll be ready when they come (because they will!) Next week in the Declutter Your Head Treatment Plan, we'll cover the feeling of overwhelm and not knowing where to start. But first be sure to check out the Week 1 lessons from the other Treatment Plans in this course. You can find them all on your Downloads page at www.DeclutterClinic.com/membership/ Deal, Donate or Dump: Sell your first item (cash is a great motivator!) Motivation + Maintenance: Set up your systems for long-term success Room by Room Breakdowns: Closets and Bedrooms (time to get started!) Thanks for listening to this lesson from the Declutter Your Head Treatment Plan called "Mental Preparation." To make it stick, we recommend putting it into practice as soon as possible. Until next time, this is Betsy and Warren Talbot saying, “take the first step and keep on moving.”
Declutter Your Head: Week #1 Mental Preparation
- 17 -
