Clutter -- You Can't Carry It with You!

You probably won’t believe it, but until this year of concentrated clutter-busting in my office, I still had the bulletin boards that I created for my classroom in 1991.  Apparently, I come by this “saving stuff” mentality honestly.  In the last shuffle of stuff between my mom’s house and mine, she included a worksheet of mine.  This worksheet was not from a recent Extension class.  No, it was much, much more vintage.  It was from – get ready for this – 1972.  Yikes!  She kept a handout from my Sunday school class.  Why she sent it to me was not quite clear.  For a moment I stared at it.  I looked at the very bad coloring.  I guess I never was one to be precise.  I wondered what to do with it for a bit.  I let it sit on the counter for about 10 minutes.  And then I threw it away, with a little tinge of guilt, I might add, since my mother had bothered to keep it for all those years.  Why I’m saving certain things makes very little sense to me, so I’m not about to try to figure someone else out.  Maybe it was sentimental clutter for her.  A memory of her young child.  Probably the same reason I have a box in my shed of baby clothes that were last worn a decade ago.  It is hard to let go of your babies. 

                The bulletin boards that resided in my office closet were symbolic babies.  Creations from a different time in my life.  I know that the bulletin boards realistically were older than some of my colleagues.  I was, through researching the psychology of clutter, able to realize that I was holding onto them in an attempt to hold onto some place in time that is gone.  Keeping the clutter won’t bring that time in my life back.  That idea is as ridiculous as keeping a hairstyle you had at 18, hoping it will still look good on you at 45.  Clear the clutter, and keep the memories.  For most of us the memories store in a tidier fashion than the stuff.

                One of my colleagues was very eloquent in describing how she had kept everything from her first years as a professional.  “Every news article, every flyer, every class note, every iota was like one of my children.  I kept it stored on disk.  Even after I branched out into other careers, I still hauled the back-up disks from my first job with me, just in case.  When I came to my present job, I pulled out the trusty box of back-up disks and started uploading them on my new work computer.  After nearly two years in this job, I can honestly say I haven’t used them once.  Oh, every now and then I peruse them to reflect, but the times and places have changed.  If I were to hold on to the past, I wouldn’t see the needs of today and I’d become one of the professionals who got off the train back in 1988 or 1993 or 2000 or whenever they were most comfortable and successful.  No further inspiration.  Nothing new.  Just old recycled ideas from a time long gone.  As a young professional, I vowed never to get off the train.  To ride fast…no matter how often things change.  To continue to be current.  I finally realized my box of old back-up disks was tempting me to jump off the train.”

                So today, take a moment to see what you are hauling down the track with you.  Decide which things you can throw out.  It could be an actual physical thing, it could be electronic clutter or it could be a hurt from the past.  We tend to hoard a lot of clutter, whether it exists in our offices, on our computers, in our homes or in our minds.  A good friend of mine used to say, “Throw it out of your wagon.  You can’t keep carrying that with you.” 

               

Clutter Resources:

Disclaimer: The comments contained in any of the resources below are that of the originator.  Our providing them for you in no way is an endorsement of anything in particular at all.  Use your skills to determine their value to you at this place and time in your life.

Clutter Resources:

Disclaimer: The comments contained in any of the resources below are that of the originator.  Our providing them for you in no way is an endorsement of anything in particular at all.  Use your skills to determine their value to you at this place and time in your life.

How to De-Clutter Your Digital Mess – Katie Couric
Not all clutter takes up space on your desk, floor, or on the shelf. Your emails, social media, and photos all make up your digital clutter. Brittany Jones-Cooper ...
www.katiecouric.com/.../how-to-de-clutter-your-digital-mess/

Six ways to manage the computer clutter in your life
Vancouver Sun (blog)
The clutter may not be so obvious but it's lurking in your computer, ready to stall your system with a snarky message, gobbling up the email with that crucial presentation from the boss or leaving you so buried in digital debris you have trouble ...

5 Ways To Clear Out The Social Clutter In Your Life
Forbes
FOMO, or Fear of Missing Out, is the anxiety that comes with knowing that somewhere, someone is doing something more interesting than you, and you're missing it. It's hardly new, but Caterina Fake – the entrepreneur, investor and digital thinker who ...

On YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTugjssqOT0  Randy Pausch on Time Management.  EVERY lecture I’ve listened to on YouTube from Randy Pausch was absolutely worth my time.