Move Mountains of Clutter Away

Do you find yourself looking at the mountain of paper on your desk every morning and automatically think “Uggghhh, I’ll sort this out later”, or “I’ll do it after lunch” or “how did these get here”? What about the time you have to use brute force to close the back closet because it’s full of knick-knacks and old things? Same thing? Well, as much as you can push the deadline for organizing day after day, it will come to a point where you have to deal with it. At work, it might be due to a document that you need to find urgently or you’re toast. At home, it might be as crucial as having fire hazards in your garage or as basic as not having space to store anything anymore.

Face it. Procrastination does not do anybody any good – you’re just delaying the inevitable and will only lead to more things to do. You really need to discipline yourself to avoid mountains of clutter from rising. So how do you start?

First, admit that you have a problem. Wishing alone will not make the clutter go away on its own. Yes it’s true that not filing paperwork or sorting out old things to a later date is freeing you from work now. But when it becomes a mini-mountain of files and clutter, chances are the ten-minute sorting time you needed in the first place became ten times more. The more it grows, the more reluctant you will be to start doing it.

Next, take a deep breath, get up and do the work. Do it even if you have to start the first few minutes gritting your teeth while working. The important thing is to for you to start. Slowly, you’ll see that your mountain will become a hill; then a small mound; until at last, it’s all gone! Not only will you get additional space, you will really feel satisfied.

Now that you know the hard work doing that entails, keep it in mind. Remember that you didn’t have to do it in the first place if you’ve just taken time out to file that memo or throw out that broken toy, etc. So, the next time you’re tempted to pile things again, just remember how long it took for you to clear up a mountain of work away!