Decluttering & organising our life makes starting something new easier

A clutterfree & organised start into a new chapter of life is a better and easier start.

The beginning of a new phase in our life can be a great opportunity to intentionally give ourselves a fresh start – creating more space, clarity, and order in all areas of our life. And in our mind.

Examples of new opportunities for a fresh start are:

• • Ending a relationship, or starting a new relationship
  • Renovating the house
  • Downsizing/Moving to a new place
  • Starting a new job
  • Entering retirement
  • Becoming an empty nester

These and other new beginnings become easier if we don’t burden them with the stuff of the past. We don’t want to take along what might hold us back from getting a fresh start in the new stage of our life.

It can be a relief to intentionally decide what no longer serves us (= clutter) and let it go before we move on.

So how can we intentionally manage the re-organisation of our lives?

The three main steps of any decluttering & organising project are always the same –it doesn’t matter if we re-arrange our home, our paperwork, our mind – or our whole life.

We apply the ADA Framework to actively take control and create the life we want to live:

A – Gaining Awareness

Gaining awareness of all the ‘stuff’ we currently have in their life – pulling it all out so we can look at it.

It is important to get crystal clear on what we really need and want to have in our future life and how we want to show up during and after the change. And how we want to bridge the gap between the present and the desired future.

D – Making Decisions

Making decisions about the specific outcomes we want to achieve.

Bigger changes must be broken down into a series of doable sub-projects. Then, we must prioritise and decide what we want to focus on first. Now, we can choose the strategies, actions, and first steps we need to take to start realising our plans.

A – Taking Action

Taking action to sort out and get rid of what we no longer need in our life because it belongs to the past, and then simplify and organise what we want to keep.

We work on one project at a time, taking one action step after another. This is how we consistently move forward to create our new life.

The ADA Framework guides us through a circular process.

As soon as we have completed the third step of the first round – taking action – we move to the first step – gaining awareness – again to start the second round:

We evaluate our progress (What worked well? What didn’t? What needs to be done differently?), then we decide on the next sub-project and a detailed plan, and then we take action again.

And so on. 

A (very simplified) Example

Imagine you want to downsize from your 4-bedroom family house to a 2-bedroom apartment.

The Awareness Step could look like this:

You get an overview of the current situation: You note the size of the house and the rooms, as well as extra storage areas like the garage and the attic. You create a broad inventory of your belongings, furniture, and paperwork.

Then you describe the future situation: no garage, no attic, half the square meter available compared to now. You realise you will have to let go of half of what you currently have. The ideal would be to only own what you need, use, or love. 

The Decision Step might look like this:

You decide to divide the work into a series of projects, like decluttering the garage, decluttering the attic, decluttering your clothes, decluttering your books, reorganising the kitchen and decluttering appliances, dishes, radically reorganising and decluttering your physical paperwork, etc.

You choose this rule for yourself: To take only along what is NOW important to you and to leave everything behind that is solely related to the past.

You also decide to start with the garage decluttering project and to ask a friend for support. You decide to sort out all car-related belongings and tools (The car will be sold at the end of the year) and any sports equipment you haven’t used for 2 years. First, you want to sort through anything covering the garage floor (The shelves will be sorted out on another decluttering day.)

The Action Step could look like this:

On the morning of the scheduled day, you meet your friend for breakfast and explain your plans, decisions, and the first action steps to her.

Then, you spend four hours together and work on all the loose things in the garage—anything that’s not stored on the shelves.

You finish this project day by driving a carload of decluttered stuff to the recycle centre and two bags of sports equipment to the charity shop.

The Awareness Step of round 2 might look like this:

You evaluate the success of the first sub-project (decluttering the open areas in the garage): What went well? Why? What didn’t? Why not? What will you do differently in the future? What did you learn from the first working round? About yourself? About your stuff? 

Based on your insights, you make decisions about the next steps and goals.

And take the next action steps.

And so on.

Now, back to you and your real life.

Are you planning any major life changes in the near future? Would you be well prepared to manage any unexpected or unwanted changes that could happen? 

Could you use the ADA framework to sort out anything that belongs in the past, reorganise the remaining things – and make any upcoming changes easier?