The Magic Of A Few Minutes A Day: Daily Decluttering
I often feel like a broken record saying it over and over “a few minutes a day keep the chaos away” but recently I had to learn that I still don’t say it enough or not clear enough.
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So I want to tell you this story from a while ago. I was on a coaching call with a client. The client had made some progress since we started working together but it was all more mentally, having insights and awareness of what’s going on and why there was as much clutter in their life.
That is very valuable and it’s awesome progress, it’s the inside work that a lot of people don’t do when they (try to) declutter their environment. But just like only decluttering on the outside isn’t getting you the results you want, mental decluttering alone, without taking action in the outside, gets you nowhere.
When mental clutter keeps us from taking action
My client seemed to have a mental block that kept them from using the awareness and insights to actually start doing something about it.
Maybe you had this experience too in the past, or even right now? You realize you need to or want to do something. Maybe you even already planned it in your calendar but then you find yourself not doing it. You are aware of why you are not doing it, you are aware of your excuses, but you still feel stuck and can’t get past the realization into taking action.
Have you been there? I sure have, and then we beat ourselves up for it, can you spot that this is mental clutter which creates emotional clutter? And it doesn’t make things better does it? We’re just packing more clutter on top of the clutter we already have, and what happens then? More beating ourselves up, more overwhelm, less action.
Again, awareness and insights are awesome, they are the best first step ever, but eventually we need to take a second step, start taking action, because only action changes things, and only action can really give you clarity and results.
The saying goes, as within so without, if we just stay within, we’re blocking the flow.
Take small actions: 3 principles for successful decluttering
Remember my 3 principles for successful decluttering which are:
Principle 1: Divide your area you’re wanting to declutter into small, manageable chunks
Principle 2: Start with the least personal area and things
Principle 3: A few minutes a day keeps the chaos away, taking 5 minutes to declutter daily is more powerful than a three-hour purge on the weekend
You want to think of these principles holistically—because they work together. By starting with small, manageable chunks in the least personal areas, you will actually get traction spending only a few minutes a day over and over, easy peasy, no heavy lifting required.
I had to find a way to help this client to take action, to move from just thinking about it and having insights to actually starting to declutter. I always say start with the easy stuff, the low hanging fruit so to speak, the stuff you know you don’t want, the obvious stuff, but even all these suggestions didn’t get my client to be able to take action.
Tie it to your priorities
That was until I discovered the key to help this client. The client wanted to live in a more supportive environment but at the same time felt there was no time to create such a supportive environment because all the time and energy was dedicated to building a thriving business.
Working on the business all day left no space for anything else, not even for self-care really. And as you may remember i also say over and over decluttering is self-love and self-care. So what I realized was that I need this client to see what a great benefit a supportive clutter-free environment would be to her most important goal of having a thriving business.
If there was less clutter, less distraction and less stress in life and business and how all this excess energy then could be put into the business, the most important goal. That was when I finally got through.
See the magic happen: 10 minutes of decluttering
The client committed to really do 10 minutes of decluttering a day and see what happens. On the next weekly email check-in the client wrote that on a few days the decluttering was done but on other days it was forgotten.
I suggested that I would be the daily accountability buddy and that I expected to receive an email every day with just the word done, once the 10 minutes were accomplished. Sure enough, from then on I got an email almost every day and this client showed up to the next coaching call like a changed person.
The energy was up, with a big gorgeous smile, and a glow in the face that wasn’t there before, and those are the words my client said to me:
“Conny, this is like magic! It really works! You should use this in your marketing material!”
Isn’t that funny, I feel I do use it in my marketing material, I say it so often that I feel I am annoying people and here was my client, that knows of me for at least 3 years and was working with me for a while already and it seemed like those words “a few minutes a day keep the chaos away” were never heard. Crazy.
Once my client understood, really heard and understood, that a few minutes a day doesn’t take time away from the big goal, on the contrary would help and even accelerate to get to the goal, the goal of a thriving business, the willingness to really try and invest the 10 minutes was there.
The 10 minutes became the most important stepping stone to get to the big goal because it created the precondition to thrive with more energy and clarity.
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Let me wave the magic wand
If there is a magic wand that I can wave for my clients, and for you reading this, it’s exactly that, to get you to understand, that “a few minutes a day keeps the chaos away” is the way you reach your most important goals in life and business
Don’t just read this blog, go take action, start today, start right now, and create space, calm and ease in a few minutes a day.
Start decluttering and make space in your home, office, files, and finances to create the life you love and achieve your goals and dreams.
All it takes is: A few minutes a day…
CONNY GRAF
Conny Graf is a Swiss certified Expert in Finance & Accounting, a certified Clutter Clearing Practitioner, Astrologer, Coach, Podcaster and the founder and owner of From Chaos to Peace Consulting Inc.
She’s helping people create supportive, clutter-free environments in their home, office, files, and finances but more importantly, she helps them develop habits and systems that prevent clutter from creeping back in. Clutter Clearing is not just about purging and organizing, it’s about exploring and releasing the limiting beliefs we tell ourselves and the stories that keep us stuck in the past. Dealing with clutter brings us up-to-date with who we are right now and where we are heading in your life and business while being organized is simply a side-effect.
Her mission is to help people understand that decluttering is self-love, and a few minutes a day keep the clutter away. Come on a journey from chaos to peace with ease.
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