Latest / Overwhelmed Working Woman: Boost Productivity, Master Time Management, Overcome Overwhelm & Stop People Pleasing / #178| Declutter Challenge Day 1: Setting Intentions & Micro-Decluttering
Transcript
- 0:00Michelle Gauthier: Clutter doesn't just take up space.
- 0:01Michelle Gauthier: It takes your time and your energy and your peace of mind.
- 0:05Michelle Gauthier: You're listening to Overwhelmed Working Woman, the podcast that helps you be more calm and more productive by doing less.
- 0:17Michelle Gauthier: I'm your host, Michelle Gauthier, a former Overwhelmed Working Woman and current life coach.
- 0:21Michelle 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.
- 0:36Michelle Gauthier: Hey friend, welcome to day one of the declutter challenge.
- 0:39Michelle Gauthier: I'm so glad you're here.
- 0:41Michelle Gauthier: Over the next five days, we're going to clear clutter from your space, your schedule, your digital life and even your brain, taking little steps every day so you can feel lighter and calmer and more in control.
- 0:54Michelle Gauthier: And I just think it's fun that a bunch of people have signed up and if you haven't yet, you still have time to do that, because then you know you're doing it alongside all of the internet people who are also listening to this podcast.
- 1:06Michelle Gauthier: When you listen today, you'll learn why clutter is a problem.
- 1:09Michelle Gauthier: I know there's some real obvious reasons, but I'm going to tell you more about that.
- 1:13Michelle Gauthier: I'm going to ask you a few questions to consider for your intention for the decluttering for this week, and I'm going to explain how to do a micro declutter.
- 1:23Michelle Gauthier: Doesn't calling it that make it sound so cute and fun Like, oh, just a little micro declutter?
- 1:27Michelle Gauthier: If you have not officially joined the challenge, you can still do it.
- 1:31Michelle Gauthier: The link is in the show notes and when you join you'll get automatic access to a beautiful workbook with each day's summary and journal questions and the instructions for what to do for that day.
- 1:42Michelle Gauthier: You'll get a link to submit questions and wins to me, so you can either submit them via email or via a voice note.
- 1:49Michelle Gauthier: I'm going to be sharing some of those on the podcast.
- 1:53Michelle Gauthier: Every time you reply back with a question or a win, you get entered to win a prize.
- 1:58Michelle Gauthier: I have some really great prizes, including a label maker, which I had to get for myself, you know, just to test it out, and I've been labeling everything.
- 2:06Michelle Gauthier: My kids might or might not appreciate that.
- 2:09Michelle Gauthier: I'm also giving away a coaching session with me and a Sunday Basket.
- 2:14Michelle Gauthier: If you don't know what the Sunday Basket is, there's an episode on that.
- 2:17Michelle Gauthier: It's a system used for organizing paperwork etc.
- 2:21Michelle Gauthier: And I had the woman who invented it and owns the company on and it was a great episode.
- 2:27Michelle Gauthier: So you can go back and listen to that if you want to, but if you want to win that, do the declutter challenge.
- 2:32Michelle Gauthier: Okay.
- 2:33Michelle Gauthier: So let's talk about why clutter is a problem.
- 2:35Michelle Gauthier: So I think it's a problem just the stuff, like if you think about stuff on the floor or piles on the counter.
- 2:43Michelle Gauthier: That's just annoying and it's inefficient to have stuff everywhere.
- 2:47Michelle Gauthier: But also if you think about the impacts, like the trickle down effects of clutter.
- 2:51Michelle Gauthier: For example, if you have a messy closet, it makes your mornings way more stressful.
- 2:56Michelle Gauthier: You probably have clothes in there that don't fit you anymore or that are out of style and you wouldn't wear anymore, and it takes way longer to get dressed than it should.
- 3:05Michelle Gauthier: And walking into a messy closet at least it makes me feel like my whole life is out of control.
- 3:11Michelle Gauthier: Or think about when your inbox is super full.
- 3:14Michelle Gauthier: It just automatically gives you that feeling of being behind.
- 3:17Michelle Gauthier: Or an overflowing calendar.
- 3:19Michelle Gauthier: When I used to look at mine when I had my corporate job and I'd be like triple booked during some of the hours, I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm trapped, I cannot, I don't know what I can do with this, and all that gives you a cluttered mind, which probably makes you feel anxious and or overwhelmed and or stressed.
- 3:36Michelle Gauthier: So clutter doesn't just take up space, it takes your time and your energy and your peace of mind.
- 3:41Michelle Gauthier: And you know, on this podcast we are all about creating ways, easy ways, to feel less overwhelmed and less stress, and so decluttering is one of those ways.
- 3:51Michelle Gauthier: I don't want it to be like a huge home makeover.
- 3:55Michelle Gauthier: If you get inspired to do that by doing this declutter challenge, that's great, but this week is really just about taking small, doable actions that create space and relief, physically and mentally, and by the end of the week you'll have some real wins, even if the wins are small and momentum, and you can make a great plan to keep going on that.
- 4:15Michelle Gauthier: One thing I recommend that you do is reach out to a friend and see if a friend wants to do this challenge with you or maybe you know a friend who has already signed up with this and help hold each other accountable.
- 4:26Michelle Gauthier: It's so much more fun to do things.
- 4:30Michelle Gauthier: So let's dig in with today's specific topic.
- 4:32Michelle Gauthier: The question that I want you to ask yourself, and if you've got the workbook.
- 4:36Michelle Gauthier: This is in your workbook, and then there are several more additional questions in there to consider.
- 4:41Michelle Gauthier: But what I want you to think about today is where does clutter feel the heaviest in your life right now?
- 4:48Michelle Gauthier: Is it in your home?
- 4:50Michelle Gauthier: Is it in your inbox?
- 4:52Michelle Gauthier: Is it in your calendar?
- 4:53Michelle Gauthier: Is it your mind?
- 4:54Michelle Gauthier: If it is in your house, where is it specifically?
- 4:57Michelle Gauthier: I don't know about you, but I can literally feel clutter Like I'm sitting in my office right now and I can close my eyes and I can picture the spots in my house that feel cluttered to me.
- 5:07Michelle Gauthier: There's that hallway closet.
- 5:09Michelle Gauthier: There is the basement storage room which, by the way, I just cleaned out last winter, but it's somehow has stuff back in it again and I can literally feel the pressure of that clutter, and those are both in places that I rarely look and don't need to go to often.
- 5:24Michelle Gauthier: So when you think about where in your life is there clutter that's weighing on your mind, jot that down and think about what the effect is of that clutter.
- 5:37Michelle Gauthier: Just one small example for me I do a lot of interviews for the podcast and I sometimes do them far in advance of when they actually are out.
- 5:45Michelle Gauthier: So I just had a bunch of interviews on my computer backed up but on my computer and I didn't know when they were supposed to be scheduled and I need to do some work before I can send them over to Kari to do editing.
- 5:57Michelle Gauthier: So I just spent about an hour and I scheduled all of them and I put them on our podcast calendar and I noted where I still need to record an intro or where it was done and I just felt so much better knowing that they were all reviewed and taken care of.
- 6:13Michelle Gauthier: So just think about that, for you Could be something in your house, could be something digital, like I just talked about, and then consider also how that clutter makes you feel today and how you'd like to feel by the end of this week.
- 6:25Michelle Gauthier: All right, today's action.
- 6:28Michelle Gauthier: I think this is a fun one, the cute little micro declutter.
- 6:31Michelle Gauthier: So let's get into your first one.
- 6:33Michelle Gauthier: Today I want you to spend like five or ten minutes clearing one tiny area.
- 6:38Michelle Gauthier: Don't overthink it.
- 6:39Michelle Gauthier: Here's some ideas just to get you started.
- 6:41Michelle Gauthier: You could do your wallet, your bathroom counter, your car cup holders or your glove box, the top of your nightstand, the door of your refrigerator, where all the expired sauces live, if you are in my house, one pocket of your backpack or your work bag, the top of your refrigerator where all the expired sauces live, if you are in my house, one pocket of your backpack or your work bag, the top of your desk, your phone's home screen, a drunk drawer, your makeup bag you get the idea.
- 7:04Michelle Gauthier: Just pick one of those areas, set a timer for five minutes and if you're not finished after five minutes and you want to do five more, amazing and just go for it.
- 7:14Michelle Gauthier: So remember, the steps for decluttering are always the same.
- 7:17Michelle Gauthier: It's take everything out, sort them into piles of, keep, give away, throw away or recycle.
- 7:23Michelle Gauthier: Give away the giveaways, throw away the throwaways and neatly put the rest back into wherever you took them out of in the first place.
- 7:32Michelle Gauthier: After you finish, just notice how you feel.
- 7:36Michelle Gauthier: What I notice is, let's just say, I clean out my purse, which I actually need to do.
- 7:40Michelle Gauthier: Maybe that will be my micro declutter for the day, but when I do, I find myself looking in it all the time.
- 7:45Michelle Gauthier: Or if I clean out a cabinet, I'll just like open it and look in there and be impressed with myself.
- 7:49Michelle Gauthier: So how does it make you feel when you've done just that one small declutter, and are there other people in your house who could do a small declutter too?
- 7:57Michelle Gauthier: Kids actually thrive in organized environments.
- 8:02Michelle Gauthier: Even though my kids always resist it.
- 8:03Michelle Gauthier: When they do it they feel so much better.
- 8:06Michelle Gauthier: Okay, now, don't forget, I want to hear from you so you can either reply to the daily email you get from me.
- 8:11Michelle Gauthier: If you've signed up for the challenge, you will have gotten an email from me this morning and you're going to get one every morning, so you can reply back and you can tell me any of the answers that I asked today.
- 8:22Michelle Gauthier: Where is the clutter feeling so heavy for you?
- 8:26Michelle Gauthier: How does it make you feel?
- 8:27Michelle Gauthier: How do you want to feel by the end of the week?
- 8:30Michelle Gauthier: You can show me a win.
- 8:31Michelle Gauthier: I love when people send me pictures of your decluttered wallet or fridge door or junk drawer or whatever you clean out.
- 8:37Michelle Gauthier: You can just tell me about your win any of those things.
- 8:40Michelle Gauthier: If you send me a message, a voice memo, there's a chance that I'm going to share it on the podcast tomorrow.
- 8:47Michelle Gauthier: So if you want to get a shout out for your wins, or if you have a question that you think other people might also want the answer to, which is probably the case.
- 8:58Michelle Gauthier: If question that you think other people might also want the answer to, which is probably the case, if you have a question, somebody else probably does too, so be sure to send me a message and when you do, you'll be entered to win one of our prizes.
- 9:02Michelle Gauthier: All right, that's it for day one.
- 9:03Michelle Gauthier: Enjoy your micro declutter and get ready for tomorrow when we talk about simplifying a slightly bigger space in your home.
- 9:09Michelle Gauthier: Thank you for listening to the Over working woman podcast.
- 9:17Michelle Gauthier: If you want to learn more about my work, head over to my website at michellegauthier.
- 9:21Michelle Gauthier: com.
- 9:23Michelle Gauthier: See you next week.