De-cluttering Your Life: Get Rid of the Distractions and Find More Time

For people who struggle with time management, clutter reduction is often the first step to having more time in your life. When you simplify your environment and organize your life, it makes tasks go more smoothly, and helps you make the most of your limited time.

For me a lack of clutter is like a breath of fresh air. It helps me THINK more clearly. I'm not distracted by "stuff" cluttering up my desk, the floor or my life. It frees up my creative energy, allowing me to approach tasks more directly and move through them more efficiently.

At least once a year, sort through the mounds of paper you've saved. Be ruthless about what needs to be thrown away versus saved.

Evaluate those piles of magazines you have intended to read, or articles you have wanted to save. Determine if you REALLY want them. If not, recycle them. Look at files and records and determine whether or not you really need to save them ALL. If so, box them up and get them out of your way.

Recycle books you've already read. Send them to friends throughout the country and ask them to pass them along when they are finished. If you don't want to do that, donate them to your local library. Determine if you really need to hang on to all those professional books or if they can be passed along to a colleague or college library.

Commit yourself to getting rid of the things that no longer serve you. You don't need the clutter anymore. Don't you want "your space" to be clear for the opportunities to come?

It makes a profound difference to get rid of clutter. Somehow, getting rid of the "stuff" that clutters up our lives frees us up to use our energy differently. The Chinese art of Feng Shui is all about this–the arrangement of our environments to allow for the free flow of energy. I'm not sure exactly how that works, but I DO know that when we get rid of things that clutter up our lives, we simplify our lives.
Sometimes it's as simple as getting rid of the piles of papers on your dining room table, or the jumble of unmatched socks in your sock drawer. Other times it is clearing out the garage to make room for the car and lawn equipment. It might mean cleaning out your freezer so that you know what's there.

Whatever form clearing out takes, it makes life easier. You can find things. You don't have to plow through the things you DON'T need to find the things you DO.

When you take the time to clear the clutter out of your everyday life, you can discover all the things you can gain—space, creativity, and best of all, time.

(c) 2009 Linda S. Pucci, Ph.D.