Latest / Overwhelmed Working Woman: Boost Productivity, Master Time Management, Overcome Overwhelm & Stop People Pleasing / #180| Declutter Challenge Day 3: Digital Declutter
Transcript
- 0:04Michelle Gauthier: You're listening to Overwhelmed Working Woman, the podcast that helps you be more calm and more productive by doing less.
- 0:12Michelle Gauthier: I'm your host, Michelle Gauthier, a former Overwhelmed Working Woman and current life coach.
- 0:17Michelle Gauthier: On this show we unpack the stress and pressure that today's working woman experiences and in each episode you'll get a strategy to bring more calm, ease and relaxation to your life.
- 0:31Michelle Gauthier: Hello, friend, and welcome back to day three of declutter challenge week.
- 0:36Michelle Gauthier: Yesterday, we simplified a space in your home.
- 0:39Michelle Gauthier: I say we, like I was there with you, maybe the podcast was there with you, whether it was a drawer, a part of a closet part of the bathroom, your car, whatever, it's so great to make that small progress.
- 0:52Michelle Gauthier: I've already heard wins from people saying they feel calmer just walking into that space now, or just even knowing it's there from the other room, and that's exactly the ripple effect we're after, because when you get that good feedback, it makes you want to continue.
- 1:05Michelle Gauthier: So today we're going to think about digital clutter and I'm going to explain some of the places where digital clutter could be, how to take action for today and some of the things to consider before you get started.
- 1:17Michelle Gauthier: So, if you think about all the digital clutter in your life.
- 1:20Michelle Gauthier: Think of our phones, our computer or computers, iPad, inboxes.
- 1:28Michelle Gauthier: These are the sort of invisible messes that take up space in our brains.
- 1:32Michelle Gauthier: So clearing even one area digitally will give you a surprising amount of mental relief.
- 1:39Michelle Gauthier: I remember a couple years ago - and I still love them, Clea and Joanna from the Home Edit.
- 1:44Michelle Gauthier: They sort of organize everything in colors and I cleared off my home screen of my phone to only have the apps that I always use and then I put them in color order and I'm telling you, every time I pick up my phone I'd just be like, oh so beautiful, I love it, it just made me so happy.
- 2:02Michelle Gauthier: So it's amazing, even doing a digital declutter can really just make you feel so much better.
- 2:08Michelle Gauthier: So today I want you to think about where do you feel the most digital overwhelm or clutter in your day and what effects does it have on your day.
- 2:18Michelle Gauthier: So if we think about, as an example, my example of picking up my phone, and if I want to use an app and I don't know I don't have all the ones that I use all the time on the home screen, maybe I've got to scroll like three or four pages or do a search or something to find the app that I'm looking for.
- 2:33Michelle Gauthier: So let's think about what the impact would be if my home screen only has like the nine or so apps that I use on a regular basis.
- 2:41Michelle Gauthier: First of all, it just makes me feel better, and how much time I'll save every time that I go to open one of those apps.
- 2:49Michelle Gauthier: I just read that the average person picks up their phone 150 times a day, which is, in my opinion, an underestimate.
- 2:56Michelle Gauthier: I feel like my teenagers pick up their phone 150 times before breakfast, but let's just say that that 150 number is true.
- 3:02Michelle Gauthier: And every time I pick up my phone I have to look at a home screen that makes me feel low-key, anxious, and then I have to search for whatever it is that I'm looking for.
- 3:10Michelle Gauthier: Let's just imagine that I waste like I don't know five seconds and feel kind of anxious every time I pick it up.
- 3:17Michelle Gauthier: And then I just eliminate that.
- 3:19Michelle Gauthier: I eliminate that five seconds and I eliminate that little bit of discomfort.
- 3:23Michelle Gauthier: Times 150, times seven days a week, times 52 weeks a year.
- 3:28Michelle Gauthier: Imagine the incremental impact of that just adding up over time.
- 3:34Michelle Gauthier: Also, when you're following along in the workbook, you'll see some follow-up questions for after you do the decluttering to help you think about how you keep going on this.
- 3:43Michelle Gauthier: So you take today your one step and then you can make a plan for how you want to continue in this area.
- 3:48Michelle Gauthier: It's not too late.
- 3:50Michelle Gauthier: Even though today's day three, you can always go back and listen to days one and two and do the declutter challenge at your very own pace.
- 3:56Michelle Gauthier: So if you want to, you can still go.
- 3:58Michelle Gauthier: Click on the link.
- 3:59Michelle Gauthier: You will get the workbook that goes along with the declutter challenge that you're listening to right now.
- 4:05Michelle Gauthier: So grab that if you haven't done that already.
- 4:08Michelle Gauthier: Okay, so for today, after you think about what area is causing you the most stress, make it something small that you can do in 30 minutes or less, depending on how much time you have today, or if you happen to have, you know, two hours today.
- 4:21Michelle Gauthier: You could really get a lot done, but I'm guessing no one listening is like, oh yeah, I have two hours today.
- 4:26Michelle Gauthier: I could definitely do that.
- 4:26Michelle Gauthier: So here are some examples you could delete your emails, just from this week so far.
- 4:33Michelle Gauthier: You could remove just the unused apps from your phone.
- 4:37Michelle Gauthier: You could delete duplicate photos you know when you go on vacation and there's like 15 good ones and you have like 150 pictures.
- 4:46Michelle Gauthier: You could clear out your old voicemails, turn off unnecessary notifications, so go through and change the notification settings on things.
- 4:55Michelle Gauthier: Think about your computer.
- 4:57Michelle Gauthier: When you open your laptop, what do you see on the home screen?
- 5:01Michelle Gauthier: Does it make you feel calm?
- 5:02Michelle Gauthier: Or is that something that you could clear out?
- 5:05Michelle Gauthier: And when I'm talking about deleting like your emails or your old voicemails, really again be brutal on this.
- 5:13Michelle Gauthier: I think I've told this story on the podcast before, but I was cleaning out my email.
- 5:18Michelle Gauthier: I've had this same email for like 10 years.
- 5:20Michelle Gauthier: That's sort of our family one where I get all the school emails and all my your order from Bowdoin has arrived or whatever emails.
- 5:27Michelle Gauthier: And there was some stuff in there that I had saved.
- 5:30Michelle Gauthier: And I accidentally it's like the universe made me have this accidental move where I literally deleted everything from like the past 10 years, deleted the delete box.
- 5:44Michelle Gauthier: I mean it was gone and I panicked for like 10 seconds and then I was like wait, maybe this is actually a huge gift and I'm here to tell you there is not one thing that I can think of that I have missed from that Nothing, literally nothing.
- 6:00Michelle Gauthier: So think about and maybe even just ponder this.
- 6:03Michelle Gauthier: You don't have to do it, but think about what if you just deleted all of your old emails?
- 6:07Michelle Gauthier: What would seriously really happen?
- 6:09Michelle Gauthier: Voicemails for sure.
- 6:11Michelle Gauthier: What if you just that's what I do on my phone?
- 6:13Michelle Gauthier: First of all, half of them are stupid digital calls where it's just spam anyway.
- 6:18Michelle Gauthier: But first of all, who leaves voicemails anymore?
- 6:20Michelle Gauthier: Send me a text?
- 6:22Michelle Gauthier: I just delete them all at the same time.
- 6:23Michelle Gauthier: Okay.
- 6:29Michelle Gauthier: So whatever area you pick, it's a little bit interesting when you're thinking about digital decluttering, because you know the rules are usually take it all out, sort them into piles and then get rid of what needs to be gotten rid of and put everything else back.
- 6:39Michelle Gauthier: You can't exactly do that in an inbox.
- 6:41Michelle Gauthier: I guess you could maybe drag them all to a folder where you're looking at them, but you can start when you're doing it digitally by doing the delete step.
- 6:50Michelle Gauthier: So think about what for sure you don't want and just clear that out, and then look at what's remaining and sort those into piles.
- 6:58Michelle Gauthier: I would also here's a free tip on emails.
- 7:01Michelle Gauthier: I had a phase where I had a folder for everything that is not useful or necessary.
- 7:06Michelle Gauthier: So either it's in my inbox, in my deleted box or in my save box.
- 7:11Michelle Gauthier: So if something really needs to be saved, I just put it in the same folder, because the search features are so good now that it will find it.
- 7:17Michelle Gauthier: You don't have to put it in a specific folder.
- 7:19Michelle Gauthier: So get rid of maybe that's something you can do for today.
- 7:22Michelle Gauthier: Get rid of all those random save folders and if you really need to save something, just put them all in one box.
- 7:29Michelle Gauthier: Okay, and don't forget when you finish, pause for a moment and see how it feels to have that space cleaned up.
- 7:36Michelle Gauthier: Notice the difference in your energy and your focus, and then, right after that, reply back to the email you got from me this morning.
- 7:43Michelle Gauthier: If you're doing the challenge, you will have gotten an email from me or send me a voice note, and the voice note link is in the show notes.
- 7:50Michelle Gauthier: Every time you do that, you'll be entered to win one of our prizes and I love hearing from you.
- 7:55Michelle Gauthier: It's just fun to hear the progress that you're making and that way I can share it on the podcast tomorrow and you can inspire other people as well.
- 8:01Michelle Gauthier: Okay, that's it for day three.
- 8:03Michelle Gauthier: Clear one digital spot.
- 8:04Michelle Gauthier: Celebrate your mental breathing room and get ready for tomorrow when we'll talk about your calendar.
- 8:09Michelle Gauthier: Thank you for listening to the Overwhelmed Working Woman podcast.
- 8:20Michelle Gauthier: If you want to learn more about my work, head over to my website at michellegauthier.
- 8:24Michelle Gauthier: com.
- 8:26Michelle Gauthier: See you next week.