The truth can be a bitter pill to swallow. But honesty is the best policy, so grab a glass of water and watch this video for the unvarnished truth. These truths just might set you free.
(Click here to watch on YouTube if you can’t see the embedded player. Or watch the video at http://bit.ly/tcdtruth.)
Transcript:
Hi. I’m Lorie Marrero, creator of the Clutter Diet book and on-line program, and today we’re going to talk about the uncomfortable truth about clutter and getting organized. I want to talk today about some things that maybe another expert might not say, some things that could be really hard to hear. So, let’s go through these things together.
So first, you’ve always had the power. Remember Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz? She had the red shoes, and all she had to do was click her heels together to go home, but she didn’t know that. So the whole time she had the power. And you do too. So, there are tools out there to use, there are products and books and plans, and there are experts like me and those are all external authorities. You might get conflicting advice, you might get tips that say one thing and someone over here says something different. And what you need to know is that you need to trust your internal authority to do what’s right for you. And you need to know that the motivation for getting this done comes from you. An expert like me can’t make you be motivated. You have to have a reason. We’re going to talk more about that too.
So secondly, the state of your home is a reflection of your inner self. This one is really hard to hear, because if you are depressed, your home is probably going to look like a depressed person lives there. When you’re tired, when you’re sick, things start to get out of hand. You’ve probably experienced this. So this is kind of a chicken and egg thing. So does the clutter make you depressed? Or does your depression create the clutter? Well, the answer is both. You know, Winston Churchill said, “We shape our buildings and afterwards our buildings shape us.” So I believe that our environment does contribute to our state of mind, but our state of mind absolutely contributes to our environment. If you are depressed, or sick, or tired, fatigued, whatever that is that’s causing you to let go of some of your maintenance, please get some support for that, because when you improve your environment, you’re going to improve your state of mind.
So thirdly, let’s talk about how making any changes in your life are only going to happen if something is important to you. People can make massive change in their lives. They can quit smoking cold turkey. They can lose 100 pounds. And what happens is they finally decide that that’s important to them. So, if you want to get organized and you want to lose the clutter, you have to find out why. That has to come from you. It’s that internal authority, that motivation that only you can bring to this equation. So, you may have a ton of stress over this. You may have embarrassment over the clutter. You may have issues with what you’re teaching your children; you may not want to teach them bad habits. You may have some kind of massive deadline or some kind of really important goal and you realize that the clutter and the disorganization in your life is holding you back. Whatever those reasons are, latch on to that really hard and get in touch with the why and you’ll get it done. If you don’t, you won’t.
So my fourth uncomfortable truth I want to talk about is that getting organized takes time and energy. So Rome wasn’t built in a day, and if you have been accumulating things in your home for decades, it’s going to take quite a bit of time and energy to go through these items and make those decisions. So, if you watch a television show about organizing and you see some kind of really huge clutter problem get solved in 30 minutes or an hour, you’ve got to understand that that doesn’t work that way in real life, and you’re going to have to do some hard work. It’s going to be very taxing on your decision-making skills, and you’re going to get fatigued, and you’re going to need help. So let’s get real about that and set our expectations appropriately. And you can create that motivation, and you can build that stamina and get that project done, but you can’t get disappointed thinking that this is only going to be a 30 minute to an hour process. So be prepared to put in the time and energy that it’s going to take to get this done.
The last thing I want to share with you is that the answer you’re looking for is not going to be found in a product. The answer is in a system. So you can go to your favorite discount store or specialty store, and you can stock up on bins and all kinds of neat little gadgets for organizing, but the very best gadget in the world is not going to work unless there is a system and a method around using that gadget. And there’s maintenance required. So even if you have something as simple as a trashcan, that needs a system of actually throwing things into that trashcan for that to work for you. So anything, whether it’s a jewelry organizer or some kind of snazzy thing for your laundry room or your closet, make a system around that with the maintenance steps that are involved so that you will be successful with that. Do not think that going out and buying all these products are going to solve your organization problem.
So if you’re having trouble creating these systems, this is what we do. We are external authorities and you should trust yourself, but if you are stuck, that’s why we’re here. So, we help people get unstuck every day in our on-line program. You can come in there and ask our experts, and you can upload photos and show us what’s going on. We’ll get you unstuck so that you can move forward and get this work done.
So we are there for you at clutterdiet.com, if you want to check us out. And we’ll see you next time. May you always be happy and grateful for having more than enough.
You may have been searching for how to make organizing habits stick or making lifestyle changes.
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