“Clutter is caused by a failure to return things to where they belong.”
Maria Kondo
What a powerful statement. How many times have you been in a hurry and just left things laying out and telling yourself I’ll put it back later? How many times did you tell yourself I’m just too tired, I’ll deal with the mess later? How many times did you have someone pass off their baggage or challenges to you and you agreed to take them instead of letting them go back to where they belong?
Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey, has a chapter called First Things First. If we could get in the habit of taking those few extra minutes and putting things back where they belong, it would really help the clutter but also help relieve some of the stress we see as we live in the clutter we created.
You notice the title of the book is directed toward Highly Effective People. If your goal is to make a bigger impact, to maximize your time, to lower your stress level, then returning things to where they belong is a great first step. This not only applies to our stuff, it applies to other peoples’ stuff. If you have those family members, friends, or coworkers who continue to try to drop their clutter into your life, you need to stand up, give advice, but let them take their junk, their challenges, back with them. No need to add their clutter to your life. Force them to put their stuff back where it belongs. You do not have any extra storage areas in your life for their clutter.
So what do we do? Begin with First Things First. Take that extra moment and put things back right away. Don’t wait until later. Begin to reject the clutter those around you try to give you. Give advice, offer to help, but let them keep it and deal with it. You don’t have room for their stuff and your stuff.
You got this! Begin the journey toward Highly Effective and start dealing with the clutter.
“Clutter is caused by a failure to return things to where they belong.”