Today I’m going to tell you how to empower yourself to get rid of the clutter in your life and make room for what you REALLY desire.
Have you ever found some paperwork on your desk or in a closet that you kept because you thought it was important but it was never used? A good example of this might be your auto-insurance coverage. Being the smart individual that you are, you held onto the coverage plans and the descriptions of what the different coverages mean on the off-chance you may need to reference it later.
“I’ll keep this around, just in case.”
In fact you did need to reference the information later, maybe once or twice when shopping for cheaper car insurance, but you realize you *didn’t* actually fetch the paperwork. In the spirit of the moment, you called the 800 number, asked about your current coverage, and you wrote it down. Or maybe you looked it up online.
Let’s examine the malfunctioning clutter life cycle:
- You take the time to file the papers away (or toss them somewhere nearby)
- As time passes, the papers become outdated
- You will eventually find the paperwork again, and you’ll stare at it trying to figure out what it is and why you kept it
- You’ll become repulsed by the material and throw it out because it is outdated
Along the way this paperwork might even lay on top of and cover up something more important you should be doing, and this creates a small but cumulative amount of drag on your lifestyle and productivity. It doesn’t have to be this way.
How to turn this process around:
For each and every thing that flutters into your life, be realistic and–standing over the garbage can–ask yourself these questions:
- Am I going to fetch this later, or am I going to Google it?
- Have I needed and successfully used something in this category in the past?
- Where do I envision myself being when I need this? Will it even be nearby or not?
- What are the consequences (if any) of not having this?
- How long exactly do I expect to keep this? Should I be buried with it?
- Do I have a reliable and inherently fun system for getting rid of this, once it gets old?
- How much joy will I feel knowing this will not be in my life or on my desk or in my inbox any longer?
- Is keeping this getting in the way of things that are more important to me?
If you are doing this correctly, you’ll be throwing away 95%-99% of the items you encounter. Marvel over the fullness of your waste basket, and the space you’ve made that can now be filled with things you enjoy.
It should come as no surprise that this also works in the digital age, with files and email for example; In fact, it is pretty much required. Just ask yourself the important question: Why am I keeping this around? You may find that what you could be doing instead far outweighs your psychological need to keep the item. Toss it, and be happy. On a roll? Look around you and strike while the maturity iron is hot.
Help me think more like this.