One of my favorite lessons I learned from David Allen, author of the book Getting Things Done, is that before we set goals, it helps to clear space.
When we clear space, we can’t help but feel more creative and open to new ideas. So to start out this year, I taught a decluttering class to our LearnDoBecome community and shared a simple process for decluttering in microbursts (10-minute, focused periods of work).
You can click the “play” button above on this page to listen to the audio version (or listen to LearnDoBecome Radio on your favorite podcast player!), or you can watch the class on this embedded video below. A written synopsis is below!
The Facebook Live Video is here, if you’d like to watch from that platform. 🙂
Summary of the Class:
Quick Intro: I grew up in a very lovely, nurturing home, but I always had piles of stuff. I didn’t even know that decluttering was a thing, and so I would constantly dig through piles, try to organize piles, and just shove piles of things under my bed whenever I needed space. When I learned to declutter, my entire life changed. 🙂
Brief Overview of LearnDoBecome: We help people who are drowning in the details of life to create simple systems so they can do what matters most. A lot of our resources are free–see the “Connect” page–and then for those who want to work with us on a deeper level, we have our STEP and ARISE programs. We love working with our community and invite you to check out our programs page here!
Congratulations on Being Here! Because you are showing up here on this site, and because you want to declutter your life, you’re saying that you’re ready to step more fully into your purpose and live a life where you wake up excited and go to bed content. We’re so grateful for the chance to get to know you!
Outcome for Today: Create a plan to systematically clear space in your home–in just 10 minutes per “session,” and even if you’re in the middle of a busy phase of life.
All You Need:
- a spot for donations
- a recycle/trash area
- a commitment to work on this for a couple of weeks
We are NOT:
- clearing other people’s things
- diving into projects (clearing clutter that requires multiple steps/decision-making, etc.)
In the Future: You can build a full STEP Command Central and really get your projects rolling–and organize every piece of paper and every digital piece of clutter and every random thought in your mind–but for now, we’re just taking care of the simple items that are totally within your control that can be tossed or donated.
Identify Your Microbursts: Because we don’t want this to feel overwhelming, we recommend that you get out a sheet of paper or a digital note and write out all the areas of your home that you would like to declutter in the next couple of weeks. If an area has multiple microbursts, note each one separately. Below is the sample list I created on the class.
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Top shelf
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Middle shelf
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Bottom shelf
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Floor
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Front drawer
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Side shelves
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Bookshelf
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Top shelf boxes
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Jewelry box
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Shirts
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Dresses/coats
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General shelves
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Exercise clothes
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Cupboard
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Middle drawer
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But it is still useful
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But someone I love gave it to me
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But I might need it someday
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If I clear space, I might have to deal with harder things (This is worth it…)
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A few minutes won’t make a difference – I need a full week (Microbursts add up…)
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It will just come back (Not if you slow down your shopping/impulse buys and focus more on experiences)
Example from My Bathroom Drawer: There were a few things in there I never use, so I removed them that morning while I was getting ready.
And this cute story in our community Facebook group totally inspired me!
Ready for Next Steps?
Come participate in this decluttering challenge by joining the free LearnDoBecome Community Facebook group and using #clearspace when you post!
Our Four Weeks to Finished group coaching program kicks off Thursday, February 2nd, and if you want to build your full STEP Command Central and get your mind calm and organized in one month, there is tons of support in this group! Click here to learn more!
Have you become a STEPper yet? Our signature program will help you learn the secrets to creating a seamless system to organize everything that’s important to you! Sign up here!
And ARISE is a membership unlike any other. If you’d like to wake up excited and go to bed content, come join this fantastic community that focuses on one topic per month and provides lots of support and inspiration!
Love this, and I want to do this! Appreciate you saying that this is possible, even in the busy stages of our lives 🙂
Spent last month recovering from the atmospheric rivers of weather over December along with still trying to catch up at work. Looking into the organizing aspects as I have now til April to sort through all my soft goods and papers while I have the space to organize in. Need lots of support as all soft goods must be washed and hot dried to remove the moth issue that hitched a ride with my things that were stored by a horrid mitigation Co Service Master. Once that is done, I have to put them in sets to create an Air BnB which I need in order to raise the funds for the repairs that company caused to my home. I’m struggling on how to set up what I will need for each room/ bed etc. Any ideas??
Kris, it might be helpful to create a document template or file folder for each room. You could do a general brainstorm once, then duplicate it for each room, adding or deleting as necessary for the specifics of that particular room. Wishing you all the best as you work through this project!