Changing Your Physical Space

“If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.”
~ Henry Ford
I have spent most of my life surrounded by clutter.  Piles of unfiled receipts, financial statements, projects, articles, books, unused clothes, and kitchen appliances we barely use have occupied our living spaces.  For a long time, I had spent more time avoiding my clutter than considering there might be another way.   Avoidance is a self-directed brain skill.  If avoidance is your strategy, your brain does exactly what you tell it to do. It figures out how to avoid fixing the clutter. We have all kinds of messes we avoid because we tell ourselves there isn’t time, resources or energy to solve.

Changing a home space as a coaching goal comes up frequently with new clients.  In evaluating your mess, put your avoidance aside just for a moment.  Ask your brain a few powerful questions, “What is possible with this space if I repurposed what I already have and discarded what I don’t need anymore?  What would this space look like if I only had things in it that were useful or beautiful?  “What would be my first step for cleaning up this mess?”   The right questions can be transformational as the brain shifts into genie mode providing problem solving and creativity.  But better yet, clients get excited about the possibilities in transforming an old space into a new space with limited time and resources.

When our kids were little, our garage, office and kitchen were cluttered with multiple piles of stuff, junk mail, important papers, unopened mail, old toys, unused or outgrown clothes etc. I was working, commuting and had two kids under five at home.  I had cultivated a fair amount of avoidance about my home-based mess.  David offered to hire a professional organizer to do the clean up.   My vision was I would take the kids to the park and the professional organizer would clean up my clutter. I was still thinking I could avoid the hands on process right up to her arrival at my front door.

I learned at the first visit, that I could throw a lot of money into organizing but there would be little progress unless I was willing to partner with the organizer.  In a few visits we organized the kitchen and home office.  Here is what I learned.

1. In order to clean up clutter, the first step is to create space.  Creating more space means parting with some of your stuff.  Never organize what you can discard.
2. If you need to store some stuff in the garage to create new space and the garage is full, you need to start with the garage first.
3. You can’t delegate cleanup or organization of a mess or job to someone else.  You have to be present to decide what you are throwing away, donating or keeping.
4. Resist purchasing more possessions.  New things may require more time, energy, and physical space in your home.  Be intentional about what you add to your home.
5. Rethink the new space with a couple of questions, What’s possible if I didn’t have all this stuff in it?  How do I really want to use this space?

Recently I took on another mess in our home.  David wanted to convert the guest room into a separate office for writing his next book.  This was a complicated request because it meant reorganizing the garage, my daughter’s room, our office and the guest room.   But when I let go of my initial resistance and instead asked my brain, “Ok how do we do this?”  My brain had a series of “genie moments” with creative ideas about how to get it done cheap and quick. It took planning, but we have uncluttered home office spaces, a cleaner garage, and a better functioning bedroom for my daughter when she is home.  The best part was we repurposed furniture we already had and pared down possessions we had outgrown.

Health coaching allows a client to examine all areas on the wheel of health and set priorities.  Cleaning up a mess often results in building creative energy, confidence and a place in your life for better health.

Updated Feb 6, 2012
Cleaning up a mess resonated with our followers. Several of you sent me photos of your best mess. Thank you. I love seeing the starts and finishes of your best messes. You can see my office a month later, I REALLY am in a better place. It took very little money, just time sorting, organizing, cleaning and purging. A few hours a week netted big changes. Organizing books by color gave my tired cluttered bookshelf an overhaul. The only splurge was a new rug and some baskets for storage. The first step for you is the question what can I do today to start my clean up?