THE CLUTTER SERIES
The ‘Clutter Series’ discusses all important aspects of the clutter in our homes and minds, including the close relationship between clutter and our general wellbeing.
The main goal of the series is to analyse and explain
- How decluttering our homes can help us to declutter our minds,
- how decluttering our minds can help us to create a clutterfree life,
- how creating a clutterfree life enables us to live the life we want to live.
The ‘Clutter Series’ – Overview:
- What is clutter? – Why is your clutter different to mine? (read more)
- What are the negative side-effects of clutter? (read more)
- What are the benefits of a clutter-free home? (read more)
- What causes clutter? – Part 1: The inflow of new possessions is too high (read more)
- What causes clutter? – Part 2: The outflow of no longer needed belongings is too low (read more)
- What is decluttering? (read more)
- What are the benefits of the decluttering-activity? (read more)
- How decluttering helps us become better decision-makers (read more)
- Why is the preparation of decluttering projects so important?
- How our values and our vision help us to make (declutter) decisions
This is the ninth article of the ‘Clutter Series’.
Click here to read all articles that have been published so far.
Why is the preparation of decluttering projects so important?
For most of us, decluttering our home is a challenging project. Like other bigger projects it needs proper preparation.
Example: Running a marathon
Running a marathon is a good example of another project that – like decluttering – intends to combine the achievement of a special goal with a general improvement of life quality.
Most of us wouldn’t put on running shoes and (try to) run a marathon after a year spent on the sofa.
Instead, we would make sure that we get properly prepared before we step on the starting line on the day of the race.
Our preparation might look like this:
- We define our goal in detail and ensure that we understand our motivation behind it: Why did we choose this goal and why is it so important to us? What exactly do we wish to achieve?
- We analyse our starting point – our fitness and experience levels -, and determine the steps that we have to take to make ourselves well prepared for taking action (running a marathon).
- We create a detailed action plan to make sure that we use our time, energy and other resources in an efficient way. We get active and start to follow our training plan
Preparation of a decluttering project
A proper preparation is equally important if we want to ensure that we have a good start with our decluttering project and to increase our chances to arrive safely at the finish-line.
Removing the clutter without a deep understanding of its causes and its ‘purpose’ in our life is like ‘sending it on a short holiday’. We remove the symptoms for a while but we don’t resolve the underlying problem(s). The clutter will come back!
To make real change happen, we need to invest some time and mental work before the practical activity of decluttering physical belongings begins.
That’s why it takes 5 steps to walk into a clutterfree life –
The 5 steps of the ‘Declutter-Life Program’ (read more):
The first three steps are the foundation of the project’s success.
- Step 1 – Get Started – Assess the status quo and define your goals (read more here, and here)
- Step 2 – Map the Space – Understand your home – and yourself – better (read more here, and here, and here)
- Step 3 – Plan for Action – Develop a strategy and prepare the decluttering process (read more here, and here)
Only after having gone through Step 1 to Step 3, we are well prepared to begin the actual decluttering work:
- Step 4 – Let Go – Get your home and your belongings sorted out
- Step 5 – Move On – Celebrate the change. Evaluate your progress and adjust.
Conclusion:
If we prepare the process carefully, if we organise it in a systematic way and conduct it consciously, step by step, we can use our decluttering project to create positive changes, in your home and in our life.
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